Visual Communication Brief 2 - ' Greetings From…' (PT3)

 Onto the Macs and into Illustrator i go. Even though i had sketched out the animal shapes on paper i was still spending a lot of time, not designing on-screen, but tweaking a lot and striving to make the the few shapes i was using fit together as smoothly as possible. The pathfinder tool was invaluable for me here, in order to achieve those tricky, wobble-free curves and interlocking blocks of colour.

FINAL POSTCARD IMAGES

Mexico - Mexico City -
Lubber Grasshopper

Canada - Ottowa - Beaver

Democratic Republic of Congo -
Kinshasa - Okapi

France - Paris - Gallic Rooster

Peer feedback

After getting feedback from the rest of the class i was pleased to hear positive vibes concerning the 'upside down' layout and use of the colours and flag accents on the borders, which is a confidence boost for me as i always worry that i tend to lack in the ideas departament. Also the animal figures  and developments of the little world they they inhabit was praised.

PERSONAL PLUS POINTS:

+ Stepped slightly away from my normal production process comfort zone.

+ I'm glad i made the late decision to have a change of production style, it was made it more of a challenge.

+ Ditched (had a break from) the black line work! In fact looking at them now i don't think i used black AT ALL in them. Is still a struggle for me to let it go, but it did call me to think about how i was composing these pieces and switch off my Illustrator vector auto-pilot, for a bit!

+ The majority of the work time was spent researching before i even picked up a pencil, so i educated myself on the subject beforehand. This could be seen as a minus point tho..?

+ i noticed an impovement in my development sketches, and I'm finding drawing and re-drawing is becoming more natural and less of a battle.

+ Less was more. Didn't overcomplicate my images.

PERSONAL MINUS POINTS:

- Underestimated the business of the print room, so didn't have the finished card printed versions for deadline day

- Could have produced more sketches on my other possible subjects, street food & movie heroes and villains.

- Decisiveness still an issue, finding other peoples input a great help though.

- Even thought the flip-around design proved to be successful, i didn't really have any others to back it up, so i still need to be more exhaustive with my ideas.

- Wish i could've done more than 4 as i was enjoying building outline-less lands for these little critters to stand about in.

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