Naghmeh Ghafourian Professor Zinoveva Digital Arts I Summer ‘18
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Design Brief
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Inspiration - Silhouette
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Thumbnails - Silhouette
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Digital Roughs - Silhouette
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Final Direction - Silhouette
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Summary - Silhouette
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Thumbnails - Poster
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Digital Roughs - Poster
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Final Direction - Poster
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Summary - Poster
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We were asked to create a characer in the form of a black and white silhouette. Other then the character having to be a black and white silhouette, we had no restrictions on how we developed the character. With such an expansive range, we were able to be as creative as we wanted to be. Once the character was produced digitally and a final direction was choosen, we had to create a movie poster to pitch to a potential production company. At this step we were not refrained to only using our silhouette however the character and story line had to be the same. Here we were able to create a poster by any means in hopes of producing a final that best represented the movie’s concept.
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When searching for inspiration for my silhouettes, I narrowed my search to what I wanted my characeter to represent and the energy I wanted it to share. In these images I was able to see how to work well with negative space. Specifically on how to properly use it to emphasize the outline of my silhouette. I was also able to see here just how important the outline of an image is. It made me question how many lines were necessary in order to protray what I intended. Gathering what I learned, I was then ready to move on to sketching out thumbnails for my character.
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1. Meditating and experiencing a third eye opening
2. Sitting meditator with lotus flower in center of chest
2. Sitting meditator with a crown chakra experience
4. Standing meditator with crown chakra opening
5. Setted meditator with prayer hands to third eye
6. Rocker yogi in pose with ‘rock on’ symbol in hands
7. Punk rock yogi in tree pose with ‘rock on’ hands
8. Sitted meditator with ‘rock on’ symbol at third eye
9. Meditator immersed into a large lotus flower
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My main focus for my thumbnails was for each sketch to exude the essence of a meditator; someone who is balanced and in tune with themselves. I added the ‘rocker’ element because I wanted to show how we all are from one world - that the blending of two worlds does exist, if we allow it to. After discussions in class with the professor and fellow classmates, I choose to move forward with thumbnail number 2. This sketch was simple yet powerful enough to get the storyline and personality of my character across.
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Moving forward to my digital rough, I went back to my sketch pad and drew my character with great focus and purposeful direction. I then took it into Illustrator and digitalized it. I worked in Illustrator to find the smooth outline of my character and the intricate shape of the lotus flower that is placed within the center of my character’s chest. This allowed me to further clean my image up. I manily used the pen tool, path finder and compound path to reach my final design. During this phase I moved one of her arms above her head with the plam creating this line of balance vertically through her body - this further pushes the message that she is centered. The other hand is placed at her heart; sharing her gratitude and love of self. In this digital step I added negative space to the folded legs in order to emphasize them further; seperating them from the block of blackness.
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When I moved onto creating my final design, I got the urge to place my character on top of something. I wanted her to be grounded and setted on something that could be seen visually. I went to my sketch pad and free handed a design. As my drawing developed it began looking mystical and very fluid. It made me think of it being her energy source; the power that she gains from meditating. The stars above and around her is the energy she gives off during and after her practice. She is energy.
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Overall I really enjoyed this project. The challenge of having to tell a story with only a black & white silhouette and manage to still easily protray the personality of the character was not easy. This forced me to get creative with the negative space and decide where to use it in order to help emphasis different areas of the silhouette. My final direction does capture the essence of the character I created. The adding of the energy source that she sits on and the stars above her makes the design spritual and mystical, which further adds to the storyline and overall image. At this point I moved onto creating my poster piece.
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1. Meditating sitting on energy source in nature
2. Meditating on top of energy source with lotus above
3. Meditating and floating in the center of lotus flower
4. Meditating on top of a lotus flower
5. Meditating in the city
6. Lotus flower in city landscape
For my poster design I wanted to do without my illustrated silhouette because I wanted more practice working with full rendered images in photoshop. I was felxible in the idea development of this design. In many of the sketches I have both the women meditating and the lotus flower. My mind then shifted to how I could make the poster design a bit more mysterious. I didn’t want the full story laid out so plainly. Hence why in thumbnail number 6, I sketched for there to be no women and just a lotus flower in a city setting. I selected thumbnail 5 and 6 to move forward in the development of digital roughs.
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I had so much fun working in photoshop for the poster design. I worked mostly with the blending tool and the layer mask. I used those tools to lay images over one another as well as the fonts. My focus was to create tones for each posters through colors. Each rough has its own tone and color. This decision allowed me to stand back and look at all four and decide which one shared the full essence of the story.
I decided that the third one did just that because of the vibrant colors on top of the dark city lanscape. The overlay of the lotus flowers above the city lanscape tells viewers that this is a story of finding peace in a place of chaos. The image is intriguing enough to pull attention in but mysterious enough to not share the full story. The viewers intrigue will make them want to go look more into the movie, find its trailer and the cast that is playing.
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I made some minor changes for the final direction of my poster design. I took out the lotus flower that was in place of the “U” in the title and instead placed a silhouette of a person meditating in place of the letter “T”. This was a necessary change because there were too much focus on the lotus flower and bringing in the human silhouette will help the viewer understand that a person plays the main role in the movie and this not being soley focused on the lotus flower. I also got rid of the black block behind the credits becuase it was too distracting. I added an inner and outer glow to the font style in hopes of it standing out aganist the light background. I understand this portion needs to be further developed so it can be more legible for viewers. Other then that, I did not make any other changes becuase I was very pleased visually on how the design came out and did not wish to alter it. The vibrant colors embody hope, change and happiness. The visual image of the lotus flower shows growth from the most unlikely of enviroments. That being overlayed on top of the city landscape shares the portion of the story of finding peace in a land of busy-ness and chaos.
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The poster was by far my favorite project to work on. I got to work and play with photoshop in a way that I never have before. It has gotten me excited to go back to the program and begin new projects. I am very pleased of the direction that I took for my poster designs. Working with the blending tool and layer masks is how I was able to generate my digital designs. I still would like to work on the credits on the bottom of the poster so I could make them more legible for the viewer.
It was great that this project was broken out into two portions because it helped me connect with my character and storyline very well. It allowed my focus to grow day by day on how to protray the essence of my characeter and storyline. In that manner, I was able to reach my fullest potential creatively.