[Bangkok] Posters

So school has been really overwhelming already even though it's only week three (and my first week of having all my classes; gods bless Monday holidays). This is going to be an intense semester, and preparing for internship and getting my portfolio ready (oops, I've got nothing!) is going to add to the stress. But I will triumph! (or die trying!)

So for Advanced Graphics we're supposed to enter a poster contest for the 8th World Film Festival of Bangkok and the theme for the posters was "Emotions Unleashed" (which some students actually literally put those words in their poster designs and I thought that was a bit much...). We were to come up with 3 designs, and do two versions of each.

Here's what I've got:

    

This idea is my favorite (my baby) and it definitely took the longest to create. It's basically a huge line drawing (which for me was no easy feat since the pen tool in Illustrator is not my best friend yet) and I love it. I could add more detail, but I don't think I will. The next step is to handle the text (gotta fix it at the top, and I may even remove it), and then play with colors. A friend in class said I should fill in some shapes with color, whereas I'm more inclined to just change the color of the lines. As for the one with the black background, I can't use black because of the stupid logo we have to use (it's an ok design and all, but the colors are cramping my style. A lesson in using the client's shitty artwork I suppose) so I'll have to make the background a different color...I was thinking a deep red, but a classmate (who said the design was beautiful! ^__^) suggested navy. Hmm.

    

This was my first idea, that I just sketched out real quick in class (in my nifty handmade sketchbook) when Krasner explained the assignment. The version on the left is the first, but I don't like it as much. I'm going to work on the grey version (my thinking is that everyone is so washed out, until  you find that special person). I like my little thumbnail sketch better than these two actually. I wanted to go for something very simple, design wise (which I think I achieved) however...I feel this is really amature looking. But everyone in class who looked at it really loved it...so what do I know, eh? ;]

    

These two are more of a...sarcastic play on emotions. With technology today *pats keyboard* we're doing a lot of our chatting and communicating via the computer, or cellphone, and many  youngsters are using "chatspeak" and other stupid abbreviations (I'll admit I'm a fan of smileys ^_^), so I wanted to play with that idea. I wanted to kind of do something that would showcase each emotion in it's own little space, but I'm not hyped on the lines (neither are my classmates), at least not in the pink version. I like the way I handled the text on the left. But I used the same font on the left to create the faces on the right (which I LOVE, and I think they're a bit more abstract, making the poster a little less literal), so I don't want to use it all on the same poster. I think I may replace the lines with the actual text? And boy, I wish I could get rid of that damn logo! I think the poster on the left is the only place it really works because it blends in a little.

So, at first I was really stressed out about this project (mostly because of time, and a lack of inspiration), but now I'm a bit more jazzed. I'm still stressed and constantly fighting the clock (though part of that is due to work, which will be over in a few weeks), but once I actually sat at the computer and started playing around, I got a lot more inspired. I do love to sketch (hence making two sketchbooks), but I don't like when it's required. Sometimes I get an idea, but I can only really get the feel for it when I'm messing around digitally. Paper screws me up at times (probably the biggest reason is because my teacher says "You have to have so many sketches" and then because a defined amount is required I get frustrated and they're not fun and easy anymore).

That's all for now! Once I get going on my 12 page brochure for Publication Design, I'll post some stuff on that. It has the potential to be really epic!