This is my final and strongest attempt at a constructivist-style poster. I wanted to do something that was a little bit conscious in some way. What with all the buzz about occupy wall street all over the internet, one can spend hours in front of their computer reading articles and watching videos. The movement is very inspiring but at the same time can be very heavy and draining if you let it. I thought that if we were to all spend as much time doing something creative, things probably wouldn't seem so bad. But if only creativity bailed out poor folks and payed the hydro bill, or bought groceries...
To start I created vector images of a piano, bass and congas in AI. I then fixed them by smoothing the edges and straightening lines using the handles and anchors function. I then i worked on the background in PS. I wanted a multi-layed look so I experimented with different colours and straight-lined boxes until I came up with what you see. I incorporated colours found in my inspiration posters by using the eyedropper tool. I opened the vector images in PS and arranged the sizes. I then went to a free font site and downloaded a font that reminded me of communism or constructivist-era typefaces. Finally i re-arranged all the images and words until I felt comfortable and it looked right. I wanted the poster to be direct and obvious in its message but also provocative, allowing the viewer to think independently of what it might signify to them, if anything at all.
If there's anything i would add or change about the poster it would be to give it a more naturally textured look. A silk screen texture for example. I tried a few different tools in PS to add a little noise but could not find anything that I liked. Likely I would obtain the look if I was to actually silk screen the image, rather than try to create a mock-texture.
I decided to turn all of my sketches into posters so i figured I should show them. I made this "double" bass vector image in Illustrator. I really like the texture i got on this one. It really feels natural and real like a painting or an actual print. I found a yellow vinyl texture and manipulated it in PS until i got those colors. I then set the opacity of the vector image to make it seem like it was printed onto the texture. I made it a "tour" poster to give an example of what it could be used for.
This one was really just for fun. I found that the bass in this one was a little bit more cartoony and resemble a Christmas tree. So I went for it as a x-mas party poster. I manipulated the opacity levels in the background images to create depth to the layers which allowed me to have the "A" bleed in specific parts into the red angled boxes. It's direct in its message but also visually interesting.
