It’s 1.23 Am, and I finally finished the Poster #2 Assignment for Monday. Forgot to blog about it, though, so here’s my entry before I go to bed.
I have a good grasp of Adobe Illustrator, but I learnt a great deal more things about the programme as well as about the creative process through completing this project.
The hardest part was figuring out how to incorporate the design I had made from the drawer handle into a poster that reflected my interests (namely, those of travel and exploration that I had chosen to portray in my first poster). Usually, I like to plan my designs completely in advance, sketching them in a notepad. Sometimes using this method frustrates me, because I’m always dissatisfied with the initial sketches I create for a piece of artwork.
This time, however, I just decided to have faith in a general idea I had (using the pattern to recreate the world) and to develop the concept for the design as I went along. In the end, I was quite pleased with the design, and I have learned that when creating a piece, sometimes I don’t need to have all the problems figured out, or know exactly how it will look even before I begin. All it takes is a little faith in meself, and I can gain valuable insight and ideas that will help to shape and structure the project along the way.
Additionally, I learnt some features I had never before used in Adobe Illustrator. I didn’t realize, for example, how easy it is to wrap text around an object (in the poster, for example, text surrounds the spherical shape of the globe). It simply requires clicking the corner of the ‘Type’ icon in the Tools window, and selecting ‘Type on a path’. This allows you to type on any path or line, no matter the shape.
I’m pleased with the fact that I was able to incorporate some of the principles we have been learning in class in my pattern. Last week, Mr. Bain (my multimedia teacher) showed us the ‘Gestalt’ principles, these visual rules and techniques which were developed years ago by some German psychologists (according to this site). These aesthetic principles are usually incorporated in logos and designs as they render them visually striking and memorable, and indeed I’ve recognized some of them in logos I've seen before (such as the Fed-Ex logo), though I never knew they had a name! I tried to incorporate one into my design. I used the idea of Closure, a principle that states that even when some pictures is actually incomplete, the mind's eye sees them as whole by filling in the missing information. In my poster, the image of the world is incomplete, as the countries are actually spaces. However, the mind perceives the image as the shape of the globe, as it seems to 'fill in' these spaces. I think it adds some texture and aesthetic appeal to my poster because it plays on the concept of space.
The image is inspired by my love of travel and adventure. It's a play on a quote from in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, "Not all who wander are lost." I added in the wonder part, because I think it works both ways- not all people who are lost in thought, curiosity, and fantasy, people who wonder, are 'lost'- are crazy, mad, or in any way less intelligent. I think it is high time that people begin to embrace and appreciate their imaginations, and realize that within them holds a key we can use to shape and enjoy our realities. I have a huge dream of becoming a children's writer, and I guess it shows!
This is only a small selection of what I’ve learnt, but I have to go get started on my project for Ms. Cameron which is due on Wednesday.
Final image can be seen above.
