Illustrated Movie Poster

Here's another project I did at Full Sail.  I had to recreate this Wall-E movie poster in Adobe Illustrator... but there was a catch!  We could use nothing but the basic, somewhat cartoon-looking pen tool (see my previous tutorial on how to use it), and we were limited to a five-color color scheme (plus white).  The result was an image that was relatively close to the original poster, but stylized.

The original poster (left) next to my recreation again (right).

 

As you can see in the wireframe view below, everything in my Wall-E recreation was just plain shapes. (No gradients, meshes, blends, opacities, etc.)

I tried to give the illusion of the junk around Wall-E by making lots and lots of strange shapes (which took far more hours than I care to think about!).  I used shapes I saw in the original poster as a guide.  However, my professor thought all the shapes in the junkyard were too "busy" (a.k.a. messy, cluttered), and they took away from Wall-E, who should have be been the main focus.  What do you think?

Zoom in to the junk around Wall-E

Designing a Concert Flyer

A few months ago, I designed this poster in Adobe Illustrator for a Full Sail assignment.  The assignment was, in a nutshell, to turn an assigned, roughly-sketched-on-paper (or on-napkin) concept from a fictional client into a fully-designed, digital concert poster.  The project I chose was a poster for violinist "Ira Kozlov" from Ukraine.  This Ira Kozlov wanted the poster for his concert, which he allegedly scribbled out on paper for me, to evoke the style of Russian constructivism.  So, I did some research on this style.

Examples of Russian constructivism from Google Images







There were a few things I noticed throughout all the pictures I saw.

1) The posters were all very simplistic, using lots of geometric shapes and silhouettes.

2) Their messages were clear, bold, in-your-face militant, and easy to understand in a glance.

3) There was a pretty consistent color scheme of black, red, white, and yellow.

4) The posters generally followed a minimalist design, with an effective usage of blank space.

I kept these styles at the forefront of my mind as I turned Kozlov's poster concept into a clean, minimalist, bold design.  Choosing the violinist silhouette, conductor's hand, Kozlov's signature, and text at the top were all "Kozlov's" ideas.  But there were several decisions I made along the way to make this design work in the way I thought it should.

Wireframe view in Illustrator and normal view

First, I chose to make the background red, both to relate it to the Russian constructivist style, and to allow the black silhouettes to stand out.

Second, I decided to use yellow to draw the viewer's eye to what was important, and to allow those elements to pop off the page.  Ira Kozlov's name was most important, and also the silhouette of him playing violin was one of the focuses of the graphic. (You may notice, even the angles of the shadow, the conductor's hand, and the slanted text boxes draw the viewer's eye toward the violinist.)

Third, (speaking of the text), I chose to slant all the text to help give the flyer a sense of movement and interest, a technique I observed a lot in examples of Russian constructivism.

Fourth, I placed the info in black rectangles (again, constructivist style, and also very minimalist and modern), using white text against black to make that text pop - but still not popping as much as the yellow text, which is where the viewer's eyes would travel first.

What other design techniques do you see used in this flyer?  If you are a designer, is there anything you would have done differently, had you been the one in my place?  Leave your comments below!

A Tale of Two Chocolates

 

Once upon a time, there were two packages: Package Modern, and Package Exotic. These packages contained the exact same ingredient: Organic cacao powder. However, not all organic cacao powder packages are created equally. These two rivals each told a different story.

Package Modern, as indicated across the top of his groovy bag, tried to appeal to the "modern lifestyle"; to busy moms and families seeking a powerful health boost as they rushed between sports practices, classes, and workouts at the gym. His appearance shouted a message loud and clear, even if his beholders only perceived the message in their subconscious: I am modern; I am pure. The plain block shapes, the basic sans-serif fonts, the limited color scheme, and the simple silhouette illustrations all contributed to this message.

Package Exotic whispered another tale. Her design spoke of other lands, sparking connotations of places rustic and wild. The loose "Dagoba" title, the strong serif fonts, the seemingly stained and ripped banners, the calm and earthy color scheme, and the faintly seen, elegant, detailed illustrations all suggested a message of exotic value, as if the contents were obtained through careful trading with natives in a country far away. Package Exotic invited her beholders to travel to an adventurous place of their imaginations, and to partake in something old and clean of unhealthy modern pollutants.

Two packages told a different tale, yet each had the same audience and the same mission: To convince a consumer to purchase one of them, and not the other. Which package design do you think was successful?

If you were walking through a store, which would you buy?

Graphic Design Nails

Frequently, a well-executed design stands out to me. A couple weeks ago, I was especially struck by the cover design for David Platt's book, Radical.

The powerful simplicity of the overall design and the irresistible, bold colors inspired me to do something a little "radical" myself... to paint my nails according to the book's design! And so, I'm doing something a bit unconventional for this blog, by sharing with you how I turned a book design into a nail design.

Step 1: After applying a protective undercoat, (any clear nail polish works), I painted my nails a solid orange color.

Step 2: I painted a black band at the tips of my nails, resembling the band that runs across the top of the book cover.

Step 3: Using toothpicks to achieve the minor details, I added the shape of the upside-down house in white, then applied an orange dot and orange line to represent the window and door.

Finally, I added another layer of clear nail polish as a protective topcoat, giving my nails that glossy, shimmering look.

And that's it! Here's the final result:

A closer view of the nails:

Is there a book cover design that you really like? Comment below!

Moving to Full Sail

It's been a while since I've written, but much has happened. My passion for digital art has advanced from a mere hobby to a serious degree major. This November, I am moving to Winter Park, Florida, to study Digital Arts & Design at Full Sail University. I have already started online course work in advance, and I am stoked the skills I will learn in graphic design, web design, motion graphics, animation, 3D arts, and more.

What does this mean for you? Well, firstly, lots more information I can share on this blog! Secondly, however, I will be very busy with Full Sail's incredibly fast-paced, accelerated program, and I'm not sure how much time I will have for blogging. But I will try to post on here as much as I can, and share some of what I learn so you can walk this journey with me. I hope to see you along the way!

Me visiting the Full Sail campus in June, 2012

The journey begins here

Hi there! I'm so glad you've stumbled onto this site, whether by a chance Google search, through a link on another site, via a recommendation from a friend, by personal acquaintance, or by other means. I'm excited to begin this journey with you -- this journey of learning, discovery, and obtaining new skills.

So, who am I? I am a blogger of almost three years, and an aspiring novelist and filmmaking. In recent years, I have also acquired a fascination with all kinds of computer art: from graphic design to 3D modeling, from web design to desktop publishing, from video editing to gaming, and everything in between.

As this interest in "artsy computer things" has quickly grown into a passion, I've been trying to learn more in these areas, develop my skills, and increase my knowledge of how to use the necessary software.

So, what is this blog? This is where I'll share with you the skills I learn along the way. As I traverse the adventurous road ahead of "learning how to make computer art", I'll do my best to share the knowledge I come across.

So, what do you say?

Will you journey with me?