Creating the Magazine Poster - #7

Creating the Magazine Poster - #7

When creating the magazine poster, I used a lot of the same graphics from the bus poster template, this made the process a lot faster. It also meant that both designs were linked and recognisably together as part of the same advertising campaign.

This design also includes barbed wire, the prison tower and an actor playing the protagonist from The Walking Dead. I was wanting to create the same effect as the Bus poster. The apocalyptic feel is what I was going for and I felt that the graphics I used lent itself to this well.

This time, I decided to make the background layer look like a dramatic, stormy sky. This is stereotypical to the horror and drama genre. I did this by using the Paint Brush tool and selecting a grey colour. I turned down to softness and started doing strokes, making it purposely uneven.

I repeated this process a few different times but this time choosing a different shade of grey and doing stokes in different places. the over all effect was that the sky looked stormy and realistic.

When I used the barbed wire this time, I increased the size making the barbed wire look closer, making the audience feel more up close and personal with the action.

I also used a picture of the actor looking straight at the audience to re-enforce this effect. The effect is that the actor looks like he is aiming his gun right at the audience, involving them into the action and making them feel involved.

Adding Barbed Wire - #6

Adding Barbed Wire - #6

The next step to the Bus poster was to add barbed wire. Just like with the Prison tower, I drew the graphic myself and used Illustrator to trace the image onto the computer. Once I'd done this, the graphic look realistic and effective enough without having to add any effects.

All that was left to do with this layer, was to resize it and made sure it stretched the length of the bus. I l also made sure that this layer was on top of all previous layers so it ran in front of the Prison Tower.

The aim and purpose of this advertisement going on the bus is to promote BBC Cult and The Walking Dead. To do this, it needs text giving information to the public making it clear that its promoting BBC Cult.

The text is in a large font making it stand out and ensuring that public will be able to clearly see it and understand what the poster is about.

The colours I have used are red and brown. These colours represent the Horror genre and represent the apocalyptic theme i'm following. These colours help the text blend in with the rest of the graphics and stop it from looking out of place.

I also added texture to the text, making it look like mud, just like with the colour, this has been done to make the text fir in with the theme and the rest of the graphics. I have also put an outer glow on the text making a white light radiate from the text. This helps makes the text stand out from the background.

To complete the bus advertisement, I wanted to include an actor posing as the main protagonist from The Walking Dead.

 I took the photo of the actor stood against a solid white wall. This meant that when I placed the photo into Photoshop I was easily able to get rid of the background by using the Background Eraser tool.
I then re-sized the image and placed the layer at the top.

once this was done, I was left with the finished Bus poster design.

Creating the Bus Design - #5

Creating the Bus Design - #5

With all my ideas and designs done, I was ready to open Photoshop and start creating the Bus poster using a bus template, I have found using Google Images. 

I made this template the background layer and then duplicated the layer, leaving two identical layers. By duplicating the layer, I now have a template that I can start editing whilst leaving the background layer the same in case I need the original blue print. 

Because I'm going for a dark, zombie approach to the design imitating the TV series, The Walking Dead, I wanted the bus to look dirty and old as if it was a bus straight from a zombie apocalypse. This creates realism and helps create the apocalyptic effect. 

Above is the finished product after this first stage. I created the dirt and rust by using the Paint Brush tool. Once I had selected this tool, I chose the colours I wanted to use, which in this case were grey's and dark oranges. The next step was to bring the hardness down of the bush, this made the colours softer and less obvious. You can do this by using the tool bar at the top of photoshop when you have the Paint Brush selected.  

The next step was too create a Guard tower. This was to add to the prison setting I was creating. Again, this is similar to the setting in The Walking Dead.

As i'm unable to take a photo of a prison guard tower, I've had to find a different way of creating the graphic myself. I decided to draw the tower myself. This solution meant that I didn't have to travel anywhere and its a fairly quick and easy way of doing it.

The problem I had with this idea is that I'm a rubbish drawer. This meant that my guard tower didn't look professional or realistic. Its important that it looks both of these things.

To get around this problem, I used Illustrator. By scanning my drawing in and using the Image tracing tool. This tool recognises the lines I have drawn and traces over it with a computer generated black line.

I was then able to bring it into Photoshop, creating a new layer as I did and placed the layer above the template layer.

By using the Paint Brush and Paint Bucket tool, I was able to add colour to the graphic.

The problem I now had was that the Prison Tower was just made of blocks of colour and didn't look realistic. I needed to add texture, so thats what I did.

By double clicking on the layer I wanted, it brought up a list of effects I could add. I used the Bevel and Emboss and the Texture effect to add a stone effect to the Prison Tower, making it look more realistic. i could then choose how large and noticeable the effect was.

Designing the Designs - Diary #4

Designing the Designs - Diary #4


With the designs done, I now have started planning what props and actors I will need for the shoot.
I hope to be taking photos for my graphics this coming Friday.

I am going ahead with The Walking Dead style theme and therefore need an actor to play the protagonist, Rick from the TV show. After consulting with many actors, I have decided to use Thomas Ashwell as he has played the part before and is a good actor.

I will also have to travel to location to get background shots that will set the scene for the background. I will be going to Norland Moors to get atmospheric shots that will portray the drama and horror genre.

One problem I came across was that I found that there isn't an accessible prison near by for me to shoot.  This means that I've had to change my background slightly instead to just a field with a prison tower in a corner. Its at Norland Moors that I plan to get these location shots.

I plan to create the tower in Photoshop using tracing skills and fill effects to create a realistic looking prison tower.

In order to put my Actor in front of the location shot and Prison Tower, I will be taking his photo in front of a green screen.  This will allow me to key out the green screen and replace it with the setting shot and the Prison Tower.

I will be using the same shots for the magazine poster but ill also be adding barbed wire. This will be created through modelling wire.

 

Planning Sheets (Update 3)

Planning sheets

From having completed my mood boards and taking research in America, I moved on to the second stage. This involved me to start sketching my idea onto paper and placing my ideas onto a design sheet. From this I could start to see how my ideas would fit onto a bus blueprint. Underneath I analysed my ideas. This helped me understand the key points to my ideas and what the unique selling points were. From getting my ideas onto paper, I could identify the flaws and change them to fit.

A problem I came across when going through this process was that I struggled to get my ideas to fit around the door and wheels of the bus. When I included graphics on the wheels, they started to look tacky. To over come this, I changed the design so it worked around this.

Another problem I had was that I got a illness bug during this week. This made me very ill and meant that I was unable to work as efficiently as I would have been able to otherwise. The plan is to work double time next week to make up for the work i'm behind on. 

Although there was many problems, I hit success with the idea of having barbed wire across the windows of the bus. This makes it look like the passengers are prisoners on the bus and fits in with The Walking Dead theme which is Cult.

Designing Graphics for a Bus and a professional magazine

Researching into American audiences! 

This an ongoing diary of my research and pre-productiuon leading up to me creating digital graphics for  a bus and a professional magazine. 

Once I had completed my Mood-boards, I took two weeks out travelling to America. The purpose of the trip was to explore different cultures and what audiences are looking for abroad and what attracts different audiences. The aim of the trip was to broaden my knowledge on advertising and digital graphics in different countries.

Whilst in America, my tasks included reading and researching American Magazines and Journals. From this I learnt how digital graphics were used in the magazines and how they were edited/made to look aesthetically pleasing. 

I also went bus spotting and took notes of the graphics used on busses. Again this helped me understand what was successful in America. Whilst I was in Florida, many of the graphics on the busses included themes and images relating to parks in the area. This may be because Florida is world famous for its parks and people often travel there because of the many parks.  

Finally I relaxed and enjoyed the tourist life in America. Many people may think that this is slacking off the job and taking advantage of my time abroad. In fact, this allowed me to clear my mind allow me to arrange what i's found in America into creative ideas and solutions.

The successes of this trip was that I came back to the UK with an understanding of American audiences and how I can create my digital graphics to attract a larger audience. This in turn should mean that I make a larger overall profit from selling these graphics.

But I also encountered set-backs and problems from being in America for two weeks. The main one being that I was behind on work that needed doing in the UK. For example, my colleagues had started the designing stage of their graphics, getting their ideas onto paper and planning out how there graphics would look. This meant that when I got back I had to start playing catch up.  

Not only does this give me a larger work load for a tight time schedule, but my work may become more rushed because of this. Although the hope is that my ideas will be more creative because of my time away. 

Although this set back can also be used to my advantage. From everyone else being ahead of me, I can see first hand which of their ideas are successful and which ones flop. I can bare this in mind when designing my ideas to decrease the chance of failure. 

Mood Boards for Digital Graphics

For an upcoming project I have been tasked with creating a digital graphic for a bus and a magazine that will attract audiences and promote a new BBC channel; BBC Cult. My first task was to generate ideas and I did this by creating Mood-boards and following the unit below:  

The aim of this unit is to give learners the knowledge and skills needed to produce, process, control and

manipulate digital graphics used for a range of print, interactive and moving image media. On completion of this unit you should:

1.     Understand graphic file formats and applications

2.     Be able to use appropriate image design and manipulation software

3.     Be able to produce digital graphics in response to a brief

4.     Be able to reflect on own digital graphics work.

These Mood-boards will help me generate ideas when creating my digital graphics.