Digital Photography and Imaging / Week 8

Week 8

Lecture 8 : (Self study week, no lectures) 

PROJECT 2B: POSTER DESIGN (30%)

Timeframe: WEEK 7 - WEEK 10

CATEGORY: VISUAL DESIGN

THEME: QUOTES OF THE DAY

SIZE FORMAT: A4 (100dpi)

Instruction:

1. Student are required to create a poster design composition using elements of photography, typography and vector graphics.  

2. Photography is from DPI.

3. Typography and vector graphics is from IVN.

Note: Please make sure to consult your ideas before go through the poster development. Update your Project 2B work in progress into E-Portfolio

Part 1 (week 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.

Screenshot of progress in 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.

(Continued in Week 9)

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.