creative
` 200/www.CreativeGaga.com
VOL3/ ISSUE4
Jul/Aug 2013 the enthusiastic creative journal
Character design basics from Shreya Shetty
Tom J Manning explains his Sprited Strokes
r Cove
huri d a M by
vi a l l a P n Se
Graduate Showcase and tips from industry experts
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Contents EXHIBIT
GYAAN
08____TrendFeed Inspiring design with potential to be influential.
48____Warrior Ways/ Milton Das The concept artist shares a process to create a warrior from the fantasy world.
12____NewsFeed Just concluded creative events and news from the industry. 16____Everyday Sport/ Ashvini Menon The design student attempts to encourage the culture of staying fit through everyday routine. 58
17____Mod Move/ Project Dove Elixir Kanchan Dhankani details out how she created a modern perception for a brand of hair oil. 18____Street Sayings/ Tosay.it The street art project attempts to connect with the person on the street in a simple and meaningful manner. 20____SpendThrift Thoughtfully designed stuff that you can acquire. 22____TechFeed First look at recently launched tech products.
52____Nature Culture/ Veeresh Pathania The landscape photographer shares few tricks and tips. GRADUATE SHOWCASE 58____Classical Connect/ Tushar Ghei The design student opts for classical visual elements to strike a chord with the viewer. 60____Abstract Ambitions/ Chaitanya Krishna The design graduate loves to keep a hint of abstraction in his works while trying away different forms. 62____Design Intent/ Rahul Sharma The design student believes in keeping the design minimal to fulfill its ultimate purpose of communication. 64____Story Sparks/ Neerav Doshi The design student looks around to spot seeds of stories.
FIGURES
DESIGN PLEASURE
26____Fantasy Realism/ Shreya Shetty The concept artist believes that the success of fantasy characters is rooted in the story.
68____Visual Array/ Aarti Shinde The animation designer creates visual arrangements by using different patterns.
32____Spirited Strokes/ Tom J Manning The illustrator-designer chooses style, colour and elements to evoke energy and movement through his illustrations.
70____Space Art/ Wallcano The design house chooses walls as canvas and transforms each concrete space with engaging visuals.
36____Logic Act/ Khyati Trehan The student of graphic design infers her design thoughts through questioning. 40____Design Delights/ Pallavi Sen The designer believes that the primary job of visuals is to create aesthetic experiences that delight the viewers. 44____Graduate Gyaan/ Wise Advise Industry seniors put together their advices for fresh graduates.
72____Open Imagination/ Fan Club Selected picks for the latest issue from our Fan Club submissions.
EXHIBIT_NewsFeed
NewsFeed A quick take on the recently concluded events, exhibitions and workshops that explored a new dimension of design.
WatchHUNT To commemorate the presence of Longines watches in India for more than 135 years, the company has organised a unique contest for its customers, fans and followers. To win the contest one will have to hunt out the oldest Longines timepiece and submit it to the organisers. Started on June 17, the contest will be valid till July 22, 2013. Having such a glorious history in India, the contest anticipated satisfactory participation. As of now, it has seen hundreds of enthusiastic participation. And is expecting more such submissions. If you own or know of an antique Longines timepiece, this is your chance to be part of history.
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The winner is slated to win an all-expense-paid week-long trip for two to Switzerland. There are other goodies to be won too. For more details: www.oldestwatchindia.longines.com <
Jul/Aug 2013
Print Possibilities HP India created yet another milestone when it successfully installed the first HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press in India on June 28, 2013 at Mazda Imaging, Mumbai. The new B2 size offset quality digital printer will herald a new era of printing in the country. The HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press is the first digital offset quality press in a B2 (20’ x 30’) size format. It’ll help drive the adoption of digital into mainstream printing by fitting seamlessly into existing offset environments. An area that has already seen a huge shift is the photo segment where traditional silver halide prints are rapidly being replaced by HP Indigo Presses due to their excellent quality. Going ahead, publication printing is set to witness this change. With this new machine, personalisation, variable data printing and the ability produce cost effective short runs combined with the new size and productivity are going to radically change the playing field in the coming years <
CannesConquest Taproot India created history in Indian advertising by winning four Gold Lions for its Farmers’ Suicide campaign done for The Times of India at Cannes Lions 2013. This laurel comes in the footsteps of the ‘Best Agency’ award for Taproot at four platforms. The Farmers’ Suicide campaign for The Times of India was awarded nothing less than a Gold in almost every category, be it Outdoor, Press or Design. The campaign sought to highlight the plight of farmers across villages in India. Last year, owing to debts and crop failure, more than 300,000 farmers committed suicide. The campaign sought to sensitise people about their problems and raise funds for the needy families. For that, portraits of actual farmers were created using hay – the reason for their suicide. The symbol of ruined crops became the canvas for the hapless farmers. A set of 12 portraits were later auctioned and the money generated was distributed among the families. The campaign exemplified what brilliant idea, a fitting execution coupled with sensibility towards the job could achieve <
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EXHIBIT_ProjectShowcase A graduate in Illustration from Rachana Sansad College of Applied Art and Craft, Mumbai, Ashvini Menon is currently pursuing post graduation in graphic design from NID, Ahmedabad.
EverydaySport Staying fit has always been on the wish list of every urban inhabitant. For reasons more than one, the practise remains as obscure as a distant dream. Ashvini Menon thought upon a fictitious brand and its quirky way of solving this problem. She explains the process of creating this campaign. Checking the field of play. Part of a college assignment, the job was to come up with a brand of choice for an advertising campaign project. A love for physical fitness and the awareness of this problem resulted in a brand called, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Decathlonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. The aim was to create illustrations that had a driving thought behind them, which was just as powerful as the visual itself. The communication objective was to coax the working population to engage themselves in physical fitness routines using Decathlon sporting goods. Setting off the mark. There was no dearth of people who would skip their fitness routine due to long hours at work. Therefore, there was no lack of inspiration for characters. The style of illustration was purposely kept minimal to let people focus on the message. A flat patch of colour was chosen that worked in contrast with the corporate identity of the brand, without swallowing the intensity of the black lines. After few trial-nerrors, yellow seemed to work the best. The home run. The simple story of transforming your everyday accessories into fitness apparatus was depicted in two frames. The first frame was meant to build curiosity and the second one was to present a sense of completeness. This was inspired from the graphic novel style of narration. Humour was chosen as the emotion to make a better connect with the audience. The reasons for not working out were already enough sad. These frames were designed to bring little smile <
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Kanchan Dhankani. A Post-grad in Visual Communication from NID, Ahmedabad, she is a freelance designer and illustrator working out of Mumbai.
MoD MOVE
Oiling hair has been an age old practice in our country. But the wave of westernisation has rendered it a bad name, associating ‘down-market’ and ‘tackiness’ with it. Dove, the leading beauty care brand, was coming up with a new product of hair oil. It wanted to turn this popular notion about oiling your hair upside down. Kanchan Dhankani, the designer in charge explains how she achieved the feat. Setting the expectation. The first job was to understand the brand language and the product USP. Since it was Dove, ‘premiumness’ came along inherently. The name of the product, Elixir, conformed to this image. The USP remained health for the hair. But owing to the established notions about hair oil, the task was to project it in a premium and modern avatar. Finding the roadblocks. On deeper investigation, it was revealed that the process of applying oil to hair and the elements associated with it were the key reasons for this repulsive mindset. Unattractive logos and shabby packaging were thus the problem areas. Untangling the knots. The first job was to design a logo, based on the brand and product attributes. It created an image of classic feminine beauty. Next up was the 2D and 3D packaging design which completely changed the way women looked at hair oils. Basking in the glory. The branding and packaging of this product played an important role in modernising and ‘premiumising’ hair oils in Indian consumers’ mind. Dove Elixir brought back oiling regime in elite consumers <
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FIGURES_IconWatch
Fantasy
Realism
Fantasy and realism are conflicting thoughts. Yet, for a fantasy character to be believable, it is important to bring in a sense of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;otherworldlinessâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; while still keeping them anatomically and functionally viable, professes concept artist Shreya Shetty. She lays down few very important tenets to create fantasy-realism, as she likes to call it. 01
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A freelance concept artist and illustrator, Shreya Shetty studied Fine Art at Sir J. J. Institute of Art, majoring in painting. She moved to US to join Rhythm and Hues Studios, Los Angeles as a Texture Painter subsequently moving to the art department as a concept artist.
01 Aghori. An Indian mystic who deals with the darker side of religion and spirituality. 02 Lilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Owlie. An exercise at drawing a cute character. Lilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Owlie and a friend. 03 Vendor. An inter-dimensional alien vendor of sorts, he makes potions that can cause or cure anything. Inspired from the Troll Market scene in Hellboy II. 04 Flower Fairy. An uconventional looking fairy.
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FIGURES_GagaGod
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Spirited Strokes Originally trained as a product designer, Tom J Manning later turned to graphic design. Having done a course in sequential illustration at Oxford Brookes University, UK, he took up freelancing as his chosen way to work.
Critics, admirers and friends have in unison called his work controlled explosion of energy and movement. Tom J Manning believes this is true as it is his conscious effort to evoke positive and creative energy through his works. He presents an account of his design beliefs, thoughts and practices. Moving images are more alive than static. I am fascinated by the flow of time, particularly the moments that may never be repeated. I also realise that nothing is ever truly still. With these themes in mind I make very quick strokes using special custom brushes. Smudging and fast scratchy pencil lines add to this effect. The theme of movement relates to the energy in my work. I always add simple lines to the outside of an image to make it â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;moveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; even if it is portrayed as a static object.
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Contrast adds depth. I like to keep my images bright. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why I use vibrant colours, mainly orange. I find that I can isolate the brightness of the colours by using grayscale, which makes them stand out almost like highlights. I tend to work in darker colours first before layering brighter colours on top. I feel that this helps to create a more indepth kind of image >
Jul/Aug 2013
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03 01 Mind over matter. Represents creativity and how it can allow a person to move the world around them. Created using mixed media and paints. 02 Love and Pride. A large scale painting of a lion showing affection for his lioness. Painted in mixed media. 03 Conservation. Personal work where the beautiful creature was illustrated and laid out as if it were in a nature magazine. 04 Internal Confusion. Explores the emotions felt when an artist has lost his/her creative direction. Made using mixed media and paint.
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GYAAN_MakeBelieve
06 Fixed the overall composition. Also, made the edges of the twin blades pointing backwards which further reduced the chance of the eyes moving elsewhere. Did some colour corrections and added a stronger light coming from below.
07 Added some more elements in the background. Fleshed out the dead monster a bit and added some inscriptions on the sword. Time to render the details.
08 Started with the sword first. It is human nature to look at things the main character is looking at. So added two faces in the lower left corner to balance the large hydra (the 3-headed snake) from taking away viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention. Noticed that the left hand side of the image felt a bit heavy.
One should place points of interest at even places for the eyes to find something interesting and eventually come back to the main focal area 50
Jul/Aug 2013
09 Balanced the composition by adding 3 heads on the right. Rendered the lower blade with flames. Also, worked a bit on the armour. Lastly, added a bit of yellow on the parts that got light from the weapon. Made a point to not use burn and dodge tools while drawing the flames lest they went out of control. Used a soft brush to define the glow then did the details with a hard round brush.
10 Rendered the armour and added smaller details. Changed the hair beacuse it was looking a bit too stiff. One would require a lot of patience while detailing this part.
11 Finally, did some colour corrections. Copied the whole image and pasted it in a new layer to apply the effects. One could also use a masked layer to do this. Arrived at the final image <
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WE LIVE IN AN AGE WHEN PEOPLE HAVE TRUST ISSUES WITH JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING. BUT FOR SOME REASON, THAT DOESNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T SEEM TO APPLY TO MAGAZINE ADS.
54%
readers trust products more when they are advertised in magazine.
62 50
(% trustworthy and reliable)
Above information is based on two researches commissioned by AIM - a qualitative study by Quantum, and a quantitative study with 3600 people across 10 cities, conducted by IMRB. To read more about the research findings, please visit www.aim.org.in
MAGAZINE
NEWSPAPER
TELEVISION
RADIO
readers find magazines trustworthy and reliable (higher than any medium)
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INTERNET
62%
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Jul/Aug 2013
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Graduate Showcase
A bunch of select graduates from across the country who stand out with their design acumen, passion and a promise for the future. 62
58____Classical Connect/ Tushar Ghei
Watch how timeless visuals create narratives that all of us can relate to.
60____Abstract Ambitions/ Chaitanya Krishna Follow the journey of random inspirations and artistic wandering.
62____Design Intent/ Rahul Sharma
Discover the merits of keeping design at a minimum.
64____Story Sparks/ Neerav Doshi
Find out what makes for a compulsive storyteller.
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Jul/Aug 2013
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Design Pleasure Living a designerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life is not confined to creating solutions for clients or even creating a masterpiece. It transcends to redefine the ways we live our lives. Catch the featured creative minds who like it the unconventional way of living the times when they are off their daily routine. 68____Visual Array/ Aarti Shinde
Find out what happens when art and fashion comes together.
70____Space Art/ Wallcano
Watch walls getting a creative makeover with colourful and exciting visuals.
72____Open Imagination/ Fan Club
Go through an exhibition of inhibited display of design talents.
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Gaming For updates connect to www.facebook.com/designcalling, www.design-calling.com or call at +91 11 64722077 or email at DesignCalling@CreativeGaga.com