Project 4: Influences and Synopsis

Synopsis:

It takes a graveyard to raise a child.

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead. There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.

I've been poking around the internet, looking at what other people have done, and I've come across some lovely things! Photos, sketches, paper cutouts...

I'm trying to decide what scene I want to focus on as the cover art. There are so many pivotal moments that people have captured, but there are also these tiny moments in the book that I enjoy, like when Bod befriends the witch, or when Silas brings Bod food from town. So many ideas..

Project 4: Book Covers

The book I want to do for the next project is called The Graveyard Book and it's by the wonderful Neil Gaiman. I love all of his works, there isn't a single terrible one; or if there is, he's very good at hiding it.

But The Graveyard Book. It's my favourite one. This is the cover that I've always been used to: 

US version

I did some research, and there a great many of covers! Like the:

UK version

Alternative adult version

Alternative US version

And another

Special Edition version

With pages that have alternative covers in them

Yet, another alternative [I'm not sure if this one is a real cover, though]

Then, we go into international quarters.

Polish version

Italian version

French version

Another French version

Chinese version

Russian version

Lastly, there are the fan-made versions!

It seems I'm not the only one who loves The Graveyard Book. There are a lot of sources and influences for me to look through, which is awesome, and hopefully ideas will start going through my head.

Project 3: Detail

I worked so hard on the details of the band members, but some of it got lost by the textured layer [intentionally]. Still, I was a little sad to let it get covered up. So! Why not upload it without the texture and masks?

Here ya go!

Project 3: Poster Final

As of today, this is the final cut to my poster. I don't feel like it's finished, though, so I want to go back when I have more time and fix some things. For example, The mask cut-out concept didn't work exactly as I planned, so I want to tweak it a little.

Still! I think as an exercise for figuring out how graphic designing works, I feel like I learned a lot.

Project 3: WIP

I've been working non-stop on the posters. It's taking such a long time! I'm trying to get the basic shapes blocked out on all the figures before I go in and do details.

Project 3: Completed Sketches and WIP

The sketches are complete! The background image is the killjoys, and the overlay is the masks. I'm still not sure if I'm going to do just a silhouette of the masks or the entire thing.

 This is currently the WIP. It's going slowly, and I'm getting frustrated, but I'm keeping hope that I can finish this by Sunday night. 

Project 3: Sketches and Progress

These are the sketches that have been helping form my poster. For My Chemical Romance's Killjoy era, each killjoy has their own mask that represents them. In my poster, I want to use the bandits as the background image, and the masks in the foreground. In theory, the members will be in a washed out colour, like sepia, and the masks will be cutouts that will be kind of like a gateway into the true bright colours of the original pictures. 

This is the progress of the poster. At the top, it'll say "MY Chemical Romance: World Contamination Tour" and in the bottom section, below the picture will be the location, date, time, and ticket price.

Project 3: Subject Matter

So! I love posters. I love the idea of them, I love how cool they can look -- I am a definite fan. And if we're talking about band posters? I am all on board.

This is actually a project I've been really wanting to do! I'm not sure how I'm going to start out on the computer, as always, but when I start, I usually find my way around.

I'm going to do a poster for My Chemical Romance, when they stopped by here at the Tabernacle a few years back. They just disbanded this year, which sucks, but it would be nice to bring back some good memories. They played very well, and I have a fond recollection of the night.

Next post will contain some sketches, and the next after that should hopefully have some WIPS up!

Project 2: Ads Finals Part II

Part II of the ads finals for project 2! Initially, this was much brighter and green. However, since I'm trying to relay a feeling of grit, I felt like a dirty noise-infested brown [with some green] background would be more fitting. I also looked through fonts and decided on one called "dirty headline". This font is used through all of the ads. 

Honestly, I'm really pleased. This entire project was being so difficult for me to grasp [for some reason], but after Thursday, I figured it all out. I don't really know Photoshop, but I explored, and got some hints along the way. I really like the stroke effect! I feel like it's gonna be my friend.

Project 2: Ads Finals Part I

I'm pleased to say that over the weekend, I found the proper inspiration and worked diligently. True, it was on the floor, but it was diligent floor work! I finished these up last night, and I feel like they have unifying elements and present the product in the light that I was aiming for.

My only concern is the blood splatter on the 5 by 5 ad. I haven't printed it on the fancy paper and fancy printer, yet, but I did  a test run on my printer at home, and the blood comes up so dark it's basically not there. I've been trying to tweak it on photoshop, but nothing I've done is exactly what I want. So, before tomorrow, I want to try some other alternatives, and have two files to print for tomorrow. 

Look for the 8 by 10 ad in the other post!

Project 2: Progress

This week has been kind of an unlucky one in the progress department. Aside from normal school and exams, my back complications decided to reemerge, so I've mostly been on the floor if I'm not in class. 

Because I've had such a painful week [and an exploding computer], I haven't gotten much done, or not to the way I liked in the ads. I also kept running into the problem where the internet images were too small to properly render.

However, after Thursday's mid-point critique, I got some good ideas on how to present the ads. I'm going to keep to an obviously collaged advertisement with a simultaneous feeling of punk and grit and boldness. I think the common theme that will be in my ads will be the thick outlines of colour around certain aspects of the ad. 

I'm still having difficulty in placing the way the tag line and logo into the ads in a cohesive way. 

Currently, this is what I've got. I don't feel like they're done, but it's gone a lot further and I'm starting to finally be pleased with the results.

Project 2: Sketches For Ads

These are quick sketches of concepts I'm trying to work with. I constantly have to remind myself that more is not necessarily better. Some ads are so simple, so clean, and the convey their product well. So, I'm attempting to keep that idea in my head.

For the tag line, I think their "Label. Clothing. Family." line could be acceptable. Also, one of the most associated phrases to this label is the whole "I am a monster" schpeel, so I want to use that somewhere.

A difficulty I am facing is where to but the actual logo in the advertisements. I almost feel that, especially in one of them (the one with the guy holding up the sign "skeleton crew"), it doesn't need to the logo. But, I'm not sure if that's allowed, so I need to ask in class next time.

Hopefully this weekend I can gather my wits and try to actually place things in photoshop. I don't know why, but this project kind of feels intimidating. 

Let's battle that intimidation to the ground! YAH!

Project 2: Final Brand Decision

Skeleton Crew is not only a record label, but it is also a clothing company. Additionally, S//C likes to think of its customers as family. So, in my advertisements, I want to try to convey all three elements: music, clothes, and family. 

S//C is an underground-ish company (it's known more because of its founder Frank Iero, who was the guitarist to the band My Chemical Romance. However, since he has left the company, and since the band has broken up, a lot of S//C's popularity has kind of quieted down) that sinks its roots to the New Jersey music scene. 

I'm excited to make advertisements for this brand, but I also feel a little nostalgic. The associations that are tied with it go with my favourite band that doesn't exist any more. Also, because this is more of a punk-oriented label, their organization isn't the best that it could be. Organization is in the back of their minds, so I've been having to dig through obscure tags on tumblr to find some material that I think I may use for the ads.

And really, I don't know why, but I feel like this project is a little harder to get a proper start on. I haven't sketched yet, but I have been going through countless of sources, trying to find images that I can piece together and convey the right feeling for this band. It feels like I'm wasting time, but every time I try to actually get something on paper, like a tag line or a general idea of the way the ads should look, my brain kind of stops and nothing happens.

Ah, well, the weekend is coming, and I'm hoping to utilize it properly.

Project 2: Ad Choices

Last week, we were asked to bring in three brands that we liked, three brands that we could maybe do an advertisement for. It seemed difficult to choose, at first, but then I thought of the three basic things I like: comics, games, and music. From there, I picked a companies in each category, and narrowed from there. In the end, I was left with:

After some discussion with the professor, she pointed out that it would be a little more difficult to make a successful advertisement that also keeps up with the creativity of having not been done before with a company that's as well-known as Marvel. I felt the same would go for Valve, since it's  a big gaming company. So, I was left with the record labels. I explored further into that, and looked at some of my choices. Decaydance is an imprint of Fueled By Ramen -- so I looked at those two -- and Skeleton Crew is linked with Epitaph Records -- so I poked around in those sites as well.

The final decision was somewhat difficult for me, and I still kind of feel like I'm going back and forth. But, I'm trying to stick to one, and the one is Skeleton Crew.