The Book of Lost Things: Final Advert

 Here is the final piece...

This is the final advert - I was happy with the composition and I thought that the image really worked well.  I liked the text in the window of the bus and the suggestion of an angel with angel wings around the girl.  I wanted to put the book cover on a blank template of a book but as I had limited time I decided that it was better to do this properly later as I wanted to really get this right using Photoshop. 

As a first draft of the design I think it works - I would improve using the actual template book so that the book really stands out and I would try to improve how the logo sits with the rest of the poster as I think this needed work. 

Creating the Advert: Lost Things

 I will be creating my advert using Photoshop.  Due to the short deadline I will be using a stock image.  When I create the real book I will shoot my own image for the cover. 

I will begin with the logo - this will be created using tailor brands logo generator.  The publisher I will create is called woodpecker publishing and I am hoping to make a simple and effective logo that will match my design well.

 

I created this logo, I used the woodpecker and grey so that if I used a black and white image this should work well without detracting from the main text.  I had other choices, please see blow however I chose this one and customised it as it was what I wanted for my brand.

Next I chose the image I would use for my background for the book and a blank book template to add to the image.  This will work to add my design to the book and the advertising around this

I then opened Photoshop and created a blank canvas A3 white 300ppi.  

I then added the blank book template and rotated the canvas for a landscape poster.

I then needed to choose an image for my cover  - these were the images I considered: 

I liked the idea of angels and this reminded me of the Wim Wenders film, and I remembered the angels over Berlin.

I chose this image, I then used the text tool and added the title to the window, I change the size using the transform tool and the font I used here was Lucida calligraphy

I then added my name and then selected the image, copied and pasted into my main canvas - I dropped the book template and just stuck with the cover and added teh logo 

I then added a quote from a magazine and hopefully, an advert would have an impact to interested readers!

See my next post for final poster..

The Art of Advertising: Ideas & Plan

 This week we are creating an advert, therefore, I am going to advertise the book I would like to create later in the term.  This book is called 'The Book of Lost Things' and will be a collection of poetry and prose.  

I have looked at how books are advertised and I shall discuss those here.  I will start with Philip Kerr as Bernie Gunther is one of my favourite detectives!

The Berlin Noir Series Philip Kerr

This is an advert for the three books and shows the title of the series clearly and the author so immediately I know who they are by and which books it is advertising. The books themselves are set down the right side.  The advert is made into three sections on either side.  The quote in the middle by another author champions the books and this is the selling point of this advert. The black and white of the background match the style and background of the three books and the colour scheme uses the orange from the third book in the title cleverly using the rule of thirds composition to draw the reader's eye.  The author's name is in black all the way through and the font matches the fonts used on the covers. 

Lauren Lakely Mister Q

I do not know this book but the cover suggests a sexy story of some kind, this would be aimed at women and the photo of the man on the cover the elegant script, and the tagline all suggest a female audience.  The advert again uses another author to praise the book and to encourage sales adding that it is a 'sexy, delicious, good time' 

Waterstones Book Advert

This advert is like many from Waterstones where it advertises 'book of the month' type adverts to lure customers into the store.  Here it is a thriller of the month so the reader knows the genre of the title. The backdrop again matches the book cover itself and all the typography is in yellow to match the title of the book linking this in the readers' mind.  There are no additional quotes or taglines on this - the tagline on the book 'you won't want to leave until you can't..'  supplies the concept for the story. 

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

This is a vintage advert for Stephen King.  At the top there is a quote that is clearly from a review - the title and cover picture and author name come from the book cover itself.  National Bestseller is saying that everyone is buying it.  This makes you want it as everyone else might have read it! 

These adverts show how books are advertised mostly through good reviews that are quoted or endorsed from other famous authors.  The most important thing is the book itself and in modern ads the book is the feature and then there are quotes placed around this.  All the adverts use typography and composition to draw the reader's eye to the most important point in the advert.

My own advert will show the book cover and then add a quote from a review.  I am intending to use a black and white photographic image and then I will need to play with fonts and colours to really draw the reader's attention.

I will make a logo for the publisher which I will also add to the piece.  

Class Sequential Images

 In class we created a set of sequential images in pairs.I created mine with... 

The concept for my sequential images was lambs in Spring.  The idea was I could show the movement and expression of the lambs as a practice project and to see how this worked creatively.

I used a Olympus E3 DSLR camera to take these images.  I used an ISO of 500, F5.6 aperture and shutter speed of 1/800

I then used Pixlr to create a canvas to present my images on my blog in a professional manner.

Next I opened my images in Pixlr to check these and edit for quality control

I cropped all my images using the crop tool 

IU also checked the lighting and quality to make sure they all looked consistent

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I selected each image using 'select all' and then edit - copy and then I pasted into my canvas.

I then added text using the text tool on Pixlr

I changed the font Adolfine and the font size to 120 for the title and 100 for my name.  I also made the text bold and left aligned the text for presentation.

Here is my final image that I have created for this practice 

Reflection: I was happy with my final presentation of my images.  This is a good practice using digital editing editing software.  In my final images I will plan and create a real concept that will express sequential photography that will look professional and have a deeper concept. 

Welcome to Spring Term 2022!

 Welcome to the Spring term.  Here we are again, still hanging on and not in lockdown!  As always I am writing a new post to bring in the new term.  I have recently been looking at contemporary women photographers and I thought I would share one with you that I found to be striking.

Haley Morris-Cafiero is an American photographer and I was drawn to her work as it is both self-portrait and performance.  In Wait Watchers (2011-15) Morris Cafiero takes portraits of herself on the street but it is the reactions to her that they portray.  In Cops (2011) policeman take the mickey out of her in the street, amazing this seems to be acceptable and below in Sunscreen (2015) a woman laughs at her with no shame.  

 

Cops (2011) New York By Haley Morris- Cafiero

Sunscreen (2015) Cocoa Beach, Florida By Haley Morris-Cafiero

Rogers and Houghton write; 'Cafiero manages to capture the palatable disdain f for her body is at once shocking and depressing but the photography empowers herself, cleverly turning the negative gaze back onto the viewer and in doing so, makes a spectacle of the audience itself' (Rogers & Houghton, 2017:43)  Gaze and Reflection are a reoccurring theme in Cafiero's work, she states about her work; 'I consider my photographs a social experiment and I reverse the gaze back on to the stranger and place the viewer in the position of being a witness to a moment in time. The project is a performative form of street photography. I place the camera on a tripod and take hundreds of photographs' (Morris-Cafiero 2021) 

In The Bully-Pit Cafiero takes on Cyberbullying as she had suffered this intensely herself. Here Cafiero investigated the social profiles of the bullies and she states: 'I photograph myself costumed like the people who’ve attempted to bully me. Finding photos online, I recreated their images using wigs, clothing, and simple prosthetics, while small imperfections mirror the fallacy that the internet will shield their identities. Finally, I overlay the parodies with transcripts of the bullying comments, almost as if I were “subtweeting” them.' (Morris-Cafiero 2021). In the image below the artist has parodied the social profile of the bully and placed their words on her t-shirt.  The image here feels almost classical in composition and the use of the colours and lighting.  The artist looks upward, as in a classical painted portrait.  The post-modern knowing comes from the bare light bulb, terrible rug, and leather armchair, This is a clever use of classical composition and postmodern performance photography. 

From The Bully-Pit (2019) By Haley Morris-Cafiero

References

Rogers F. & Houghton M. (2017) Firecrackers: Female Photographers Now, Thames & Hudson. London

Haley Morris-Cafiero (2021) Artist Website [Online] Available from: http://www.haleymorriscafiero.com/ (Accessed 09/01/2022)

Creating a Fashion Collection: Process Two

 I will now go through the Photoshop process for the portfolio. 

Begin by opening Photoshop and then opening the file you are going to use.  

I then went to Image - Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Colour.  I did this just to make the colours and tones stand out however I could also have used Curves for a more subtle effect. 

I then wanted to get rid of some of the smudges and roughness of the background so I used the Clone Stamp tool with a soft large brush just to remove the smudges - however, I did not actually want to remove all of these as I still want it t feel a little raw in design. 

I then create a new canvas by going to File - New, a dialog box opens and I go to Print in the top menu then A3 and it should be white in background with a 300 resolution for high print quality.  

I then went back to the original drawing  - checked the Image size and resolution so that it fitted well onto my canvas and had the same high resolution then went to Select - All and then copy and then clicked into my new canvas and went to edit - paste to past the design onto my portfolio page.

I then went to my logo which I had already created and added this to the top right-hand corner of the page.

I also added the title of the collection and tagline and underneath I will write a description of the clothing and materials

This is my finished page

I will then create my other pages, A front cover, and a page that explains the materials, origin and sustainability and target market/price point.  I will put the concept in my introduction and I may add a final page with all six designs.

Here is another example - we can discuss these materials in class!

Creating a Fashion Collection: Process One

 As an example of how to hand draw and then create a digital portfolio I created these drawings for a mens fashion collection. 

My fashion collection is for men aged 25-35 (Generation Y/millenials), I am targeting this age range as this is the 'largest generation to date—numbering over 80 million strong in the US alone' (Wertz, 2021). The collection will be called 'Winter Wonderland and will be urban chic in style.  The designs will use two solid colours; lilac and blue with an accent colour of orange.  This collection will feed into the current trends using oversized wool jumpers, asymmetrical design and skinny ankle-grazing trousers.

As millennials are socially conscious and want stylish but affordable clothing (Wertz, 2021). I will aim to use this in my branding and marketing.

To begin I gathered my equipment together, this included a croquis template of the male figure I wanted to use printed at A3, Tracing Paper A3, coloured pastel pencils, 2B pencil, rubber, sharpener and clip.  I also had my phone to hand to snap the process!

I laid the tracing paper over the croquis and clipped this carefully into place. I then began to sketch out my design using a pencil.

I carefully traced around the head and body parts that I wanted showing so that each design will be uniform in look, shape and size.

I began adding colours - starting here with the skin.

I used the two tones and pastel pencils to do this - I used these as I can colour and then use my fingers to smooth the colour and soften.  

The final design I then scanned and photocopied.  The scan I can then add to Photoshop for my final portfolio when I have chosen which designs to use. 

I used this process for all my designs.  Here are some further designs....

Ideally, you should have sketched out, developed and tried many many more than this!  In the next post I will go through the Photoshop process for the portfolio.

References

Wertz, B., 2021. The New Rules of Style, According to Millennials. [online] Men's Journal. Available at: <https://www.mensjournal.com/style/new-rules-style-according-millennials/> [Accessed 1 December 2021].