Colour Tests

I tried hints of colour and also just certain elements but I think I might actually prefer them black and white. I think it suits the tone of what I want to achieve within the postcards. I was also having a bit of trouble on using the colour in Adobe Illustrator, if I put a hint over the whole thing then bits that I wanted light would go dark and vis-versa - there must be a better way of tackling the problem but I have no clue how!

Tree and Car Design

Negative Space

For a while I was looking at my design and thinking that it looked too grey, so I played around with deleting certain areas and leaving white space. Eventually I got rid of all grey in the general area of the tree to leave white space - this also represents the actual trees found in Lake Seneca much better.

Final Designs

I have four general designs that I am pretty happy with at the moment. I just need to tweak a few bits on some elements - so far I am happy with the way they are going and I think the general aesthetic links them all together. There is also a link in the composition, I have left a good amount of space/shape at the bottom of each image to add a sense of depth and isolation.

Jim Flora - Colour

http://jimflora.com/images/fineartprints/fap-pages/Mambo-giclee.jpg

During the Visual Language session I liked looking at the way practitioners use colour effectively. I was particularly drawn to Jim Flora's work and his use of shape combined with bold colours and pattern. Maybe its because I have been in a shape, vectors and screen print frame of mind but I am starting to look at these kind of illustrators a lot more for inspiration.

http://jrandomimage.com/images/illustration-by-jim-flora-.jpg

Underwater City Vectors

I tried many different ways of trying out tone and shades of grey to describe the Underwater City of Shicheng in China. I feel like my first idea was not relevant for the atmosphere I wanted to describe. I wanted a design that would show the isolation and abandonment of the city in the water, rather than the movement of the water. Although I like the arrangement of this one, I want to experiment with making the top of the black area a bit lighter, to create a sense of vastness, light and depth.

Eleni Karlorkoti

I found myself looking at Eleni Karlorkoti's work for inspiration during this project. Although she isn't using vectors here, the principals of shapes on composition are still evident. As well as tone, depth and line of sight. The imagery in itself is not necessarily representational but simple communicative shapes are used to replace things like hair, which is a great contrast to the lighter tones surrounding the figures. There is a great balance between Eleni's components of the imagery.

Karel Martens - Meaning

http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/karel-martens

“I think it’s important that like good wine, a design has a lingering flavour.”

After the crit I had a look online for Karel Martens and the views he holds on design and what makes it successful and exciting for an audience member. I really liked the above quote I found in an article on itsnicethat.com. It's exactly what's been driving me so crazy about my work recently and what I ultimately want to achieve in the final stages of design. A lasting impression and an ability to provoke conversation long after holding gaze of an image is very powerful when it comes to communication.