Illustration & Visual Narrative / Task 3 : Illustrated Typography Poster (Joint collaboration with DPI)

7/11/2024 - 28/11/2024 (Week 7 - Week 10)

Rachel Ng Jie Ting/ 0378902

Bachelors of  design (Honours) in creative media

Illustration & Visual Narrative / Task 3: Illustrated Typography Poster (20%)

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Table of content 

Instructions

- Task 3

Reflections

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Lecture

Lecture post

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Instruction 

Task 3 - Illustrated Typography Poster

For this assignment, you'll design a typographic poster that explores the art of typography as a visual and expressive element. Your poster should effectively convey a selected "Quote of the Day" through creative typography, using a combination of typeface families (primarily sans-serif) and unique stylistic choices. This is an opportunity to experiment with typography as a visual medium, incorporating Illustrator techniques and minor graphical elements to enhance your message.

Requirements: Quote Selection: Choose an inspiring quote of the day as the foundation for your poster.

Typeface and Composition: Select a combination of sans-serif typefaces from Google Fonts https://fonts.google.com to build visual contrast and emphasis.

Canvas Setup: Use an A4 portrait canvas in Adobe Illustrator.

SUBMISSION IN GOOGLE CLASSROOM:

1. Concept and Progression Board (PDF)

Inspiration and Art Style (5%): Provide references or inspiration for the chosen style. Consider including examples from graphic designers, typographic artists, or poster artists.

Rationale (5%): Write a brief description explaining your creative direction and how your typographic choices reflect the quote.

Sketches and Progress (5%): Submit initial sketches and progress shots to demonstrate your design development.

Final Artwork (5%): Final Illustrated Type

2. A4 Portrait Poster (PNG)

Final Submission : Your final poster design should showcase the effective use of Illustrator tools and thoughtful composition and applied into the Digital Imaging and Photography visuals/Visuals of your choice (if you are not taking DPI).

Week 7 and 8:

Research, reference and sketches

The quote that I have chosen for this task is “Every good thing in this world starts with a dream, so you hold on to yours.” from the movie WONKA 2023. After having my quote be approved by Mr. Fauzi (DPI Lecturer), I started finding inspirations to sketch out a rough plan for my poster. 

First, I gathered references for my work to build my research board. I went on the internet and found a few posters and artworks as inspiration. Mr. Hafiz has also given me a few pointers and ideas on how to plan the sketches.

Fig 1.1 - Reference art and posters from the internet.

Fig 1.2 - Rational.

Fig 1.3 - Sketch work and digital sketch layout.

After building my reference board, I sent it to Mr. Hafiz for feedbacks and checking. He said it was Ok, and I continued with my work.

                                                                                                                                                                            

Week 8, 9 and 10 :

Screenshot of progress in:

i) Adobe Illustrator

a) Planning layout

First, I planned and confirmed the layout of the poster before starting anything, this is to prevent myself from accidentally straying from the original plan and having to redo my work. Also, it makes it easier to see where things go.

Fig 1.4 - Digital planning and layout.

b) Creating background

In creating the background for the poster, I used a big rectangle and applied a Black- dark blue- purple gradient to it.

The background is hidden for later use.

Fig 1.5 - Background.

c) Creating custom brush

After that, I created a custom brush to use for sparkles effect in the poster.

First, I drew the elements that I'm going to put in the brush.

Fig 1.6 - Drawing elements for the brush.

Then, I selected them and clicked 'create a new brush' , selected the scatter brush option, and randomized the size, spacing , rotation and other stuff for the starry look I was going for.

Fig 1.7 - Brush settings adjustments.

With that, the brush is made and will be set aside for now.

Fig 1.8 - Brush testing.

d) Text design on the top half of the poster

For the text sitting on the top half of the poster, I decide to use a font called 'Starlight Runes" I found on the "1001 fonts" website. 

Fig 1.9 - Text with "Starlight Runes" font.

Then for the word "DREAM", which is the main focus of the quote and poster, I decided on a custom font that I made myself using pen tool, curve tool, shape builder tool, and knife tool.

Fig 1.10 - Custom font for "DREAM".

For the "A" in "DREAM", I drew two stars and stacked one on top of the other. Then, I arranged the letters together to spell the word "DREAM".

Fig 1.11 -  "DREAM".

After that, I drew a line with the pencil tool that loops and travels around the text.  

Fig 1.12 -  Making of the stardust trail.

Then, bringing back the background had created before, I started to colour the text and making sure it stands out from the background.

Fig 1.13 -  Text colouring.

Here, I used the brush I had made to apply the sparkling stars around the line I drew.

Fig 1.14 -  Using custom brush to apply stars.

Lastly, I used Intertwined on the text and line to create the effect of stardust weaving around the text. (Here I change the star colour, I realised that blue looks better).

Fig 1.15 -  Using Intertwined tool.

After this, I imported my file into Adobe Photoshop and work is continued in there.

                                                                                                                                                                      

ii) Adobe Photoshop

a) Choosing and selecting the cat in the picture.

After a photoshoot session with the subject of my poster (my cat), I chose a picture to use and started by cropping it to place in my poster.

Fig 2.1 - Selecting cat in the picture.

Fig 2.2 - Select and masking the cat picture.

Fig 2.3 - Placing cat picture in the poster.

b) Choosing and selecting the star in the picture.

Not just the cat, this star is also the core of my poster. Here I just repeated the same steps as above. 

Fig 2.4 - Select and masking the star in the picture.

Fig 2.5 - Placing star picture in the poster.

c) Applying glow effect to the star

Fig 2.6 - Glowing effect on star.

d) Removing background lines around the cat

Fig 2.7 - Removed background line.

e) Text design on the bottom half of the poster

For the text on the bottom half of the poster, I used the font "Magical_Shiny_Script" and arranged it in front of the cat. Then, using the pencil tool again, I drew a line that wraps around the cat and star, also the line connects with the text. Some part of the line was erased to create the weaving effect.  

Starry effect around the line was added after.

Fig 2.8 - "Magical_Shiny_Script" font.

Fig 2.9 - Connecting the line to the text..

Fig 2.10 - Adding starry effects around the lines.

f) Adding glow effects

Here, I added the outer glow effects to the star in "DREAM", the line that travels along the text, and the stars around it. 

Fig 2.11 - Adding glow effect on the star in "DREAM".

Fig 2.12 - Adding glow effect to the line.

Fig 2.13 - Glow effect showcase.

g) Added a light source behind the cat

Using an oval I drew behind the cat and applying the gaussian blur effect, I added a light effect behind the cat as suggested by Mr. Fauzi.

Fig 2.14 - Oval behind cat.

Fig 2.15 - Applying the gaussian blur on the oval behind cat.

h) Added bigger stars and applied glow effect to all stars

Mr Hafiz gave me feedback that the space between "DREAM" and the top of the cat looks a bit empty so I added some stars to that area.

Fig 2.16 - Big stars and glowing stars.

Final work:

Fig 2.17 - Final poster.

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Reflection

This task was tough but fun. I get to express my ideas in this poster, but before that I ended up changing my ideas many times before I settled for this poster layout and design. I also learned that the Intertwined tool sometimes does not work properly and was the bane of my existence for the past weeks. 

Using the brush tool in photoshop and erasing unwanted part was much easier.