How a Father-Daughter Collab Yielded a Clio Music Winner
Whenever Matt Ryan Tobin, an illustrator and graphic designer, is working at his drafting table, it's more than likely that his 7-year-old daughter Ava is drawing right beside him.
"She loves to draw. She draws all the time, constantly all day," Tobin says.
And Ava is talented. So much so that her dad called upon her for help when he was commissioned by Mondo Music/Death Waltz Recording to create the artwork for the Smile original motion picture soundtrack.
"I was trying to illustrate some creepy, childlike drawings of smiles," Tobin recalls.
But he was stuck. "I just couldn't get it right. It didn't look authentic."
So, he asked Ava, who was 5 at the time, if she wanted to draw some spooky smiles for the artwork.
Ava was happy to oblige. She drew a whole bunch, Tobin incorporated them into the design for the Smile Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and the father/daughter duo's work won a 2024 Bronze Clio for Design Packaging Vinyl Soundtrack, making Ava the youngest person to ever win a Clio.
The Clio Music Awards ceremony takes place tonight at NeueHouse Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Muse by Clio executive director Charell Star interviewed the award winners and surprised Ava with her very own trophy:
