Pure pleasure is boldly reflected in Thomas Danthony's stunning illustrations for Magnum

With a clever use of light and negative space, bold compositions in his favourite blue and a whole heap of mystery, the resulting illustrations subtly, as well as successfully, sell the iconic cold treat to Magnum's key markets in London, Paris, Rome, Madrid and Barcelona in preparation for summer.

"I started by trying to understand the shape through lots of sketching," Danthony told Creative Boom. "Then I looked for situations that had nothing to do with ice cream, but pleasurable moments that I could incorporate. The Magnum adverts are traditionally quite sexualised but the goal was to take a completely different approach. I like to mix bold compositions with subtle ideas and this series seemed to be a great opportunity to do just that with vibrant colours.

"I hope people will see it as a new kind of advertising, in that although the main goal is to sell a product, it can also be visually interesting. It might be a bit naive but I would like to think advertising could decorate the city rather than make it uglier. If it stops people for two seconds during their commute it would already be a success."

Discover more about the Magnum campaign at lola-mullenlowe.com. For more info on Thomas Danthony, go to thomasdanthony.com. You can also follow Danthony on Instagram @thomas_danthony.