Local Lager Beer Can Packaging Illustration

A fun character illustration to highlight the quirky sea-side spirit of Folkestone’s Local Lager on this beer can illustration.

The Brief: To create an illustration for the Folkestone Local Lager beer from Docker Brewery as part of the Folkestone Illustration Festival for a fun partnership and beer can packaging design

Role: Illustrator responsible for concept, design, and implementation of all lettering and illustration.

Tools Used: Procreate app, iPad Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, Apple pencil.

The Folkestone Illustration Festival paired up with local brewery Docker Brewery in Kent to create an illustration contest for a special edition beer can design for the November 2025 festival. The prompt was to create an illustration that had the words “Local Lager” for a limited edition beer label design and suited the template for the can. I created a fun character on the seaside with the local white cliffs in the background, and added some playful hand-drawn lettering. The color palette was kept limited to suit a beer can printing design. I began with a sketch on paper, and then as I sketched it out on my iPad, I made some changes that suited the can shape and layout a bit better. The final features a limited color palette suitable for easy printing on beer cans and is bright and colorful to stand out on the shelves. While I didn’t win the contest, I love the illustration I created for this beer can label, so I hope to collaborate with a brewery to make something like this a reality.

Initial sketches for a local beer can design illustration featuring a fun character and hand-drawn lettering for the beer label.

The final digital sketch for the beer can label illustration, complete with some fun characters from the seaside and the famous white cliffs of the area.

The final color illustration for the local beer can label illustration, featuring Local Lager in hand-drawn lettering, a fun character illustration, and seaside illustrated icons. The limited color palette suits beer can label printing well and shows bright and colorful shelf appeal for beer can packaging design.

Here’s the final beer can label illustration and beer can packaging, showing all the fun of the character illustration and hand-drawn lettering.