Visual Product

Post 1

As I am interested in graphic design, for my visual product I want to create a poster, a poster portraying the debut of a woman. In Film I watched Marilyn Monroe's movies and researched how she  managed to stick her image out there. One thing I noticed for sure from personal experience is that, I have never watched a movie that she made yet I know exactly who she is and what she used to do and so does everybody else. What made her immortal? How really striking is her image? This fascination about it made me want to try and pull some of that image into the character I want to create.

   

Deciding on using her whole self was not good, I felt it was not creative enough, I hence decided to create my own Monroe, another person completely so I had to start from scratch again.

Post 2 

Being inspired by Monroe's image, I had to decide what my character will be dressed in. As it is a singing performance, creating a whole dress does not feel very easy.  The 'Some Like it Hot' movie that I used for inspiration is a remake of a 1930's movie hence the fashion kept on with the 1920s. 

Two things that I kept noticing and screamed 1920s fashion are the fringe and the hats. The fringe is used practically in any evening dress and just plainly screams movement and while the hats look mostly for daytime, I still felt intrigued by it and wanted to take its element into my dress.

Post 3

 

I needed a pose for my character. How will she be put to attract people and show what kind of people to pull in? I needed movement, I want to show movement in her pose. Jules Cheret was a master of poster art. He drew countless of posters for such similar occasions, including Moulin Rouge. While looking at some of his posters, I was completely positive that it was exactly what I needed. All of his work showed such impact in movement and flowing grace in what he wanted to show.

                    

  

In the end, I decided to inspire myself from his Lidia poster as I felt it was the most alluring from all of them.

Post 4

My next step was how to design the poster. Jules Cheret's Lidia poster was quite good in my humble opinion, and as I like the quote 'Less is More' so much, I felt like I had to keep my poster simple. It has too many on its plate as it is. Overflowing it was not an option.

While leaving all my research around me, I started working on Photoshop and noted down the placement of where the typography will stand. Sketching my character and her dress while looking at 1920s ladies clothes. Taking note to also use dark colours as it is a nighttime dress.

Post  5

For the background I took inspiration from one of Tamara de Lempicka’s works – Portrait of Mrs. M, 1932. I wanted to put depth between my impersonation of Monroe and the background. Leaving her in front of a flat and empty background looked very unappealing and still hence this was perfect for my movement theme that I chose.

Post 6

 

 At the end it needed the lightning theme. I wanted to show impact, and for the character to look seductive and alluring like Monroe, chiaroscuro technique felt like the best bet.   A technique invented by Leonardo DaVinci but it’s used greatly in photography now, to hold a huge contrast between light and dark which fit perfectly for my poster setting. 

Post 7

When that was done, the only thing left was her name. I researched singers names and alluring names and ‘Maeva’ sounded like it fit her nicely. For the font I used one from Art Deco : Broadway but tweaked it a little bit to make it look more alive and fill it with movement.

Post 8

My final visual product: Advertising Poster. 

Film = Monroe’s Image from the movie “Some Like it Hot”

Art = Chiaroscuro technique that is currently used in photography,
Tamara De Lempicka’s Portrait of Mrs. M – 1932 for the background.

Design = Jules Cheret’s Lidia poster (the pose) and Broadway Font from Art Deco.

I spent over 50 hours working on her and I feel that I really learned a lot as she was pure experimentation. Honestly speaking, I am still not sure if I should change or add or decrease anything from it all, but I believe it was a good effort and as long as the poster is showing what I want it to, then I'd say it is good enough as it is. (Of course I am always open for suggestions.)

Reference:

Identifont, n.d. Broadway (URW) [image online] Available at: < http://www.identifont.com/similar?5ZI > [Accessed  January 18 2014]

Tamara de Lempicka, 1932, Portrait of Mrs. M [image online] Available at: < http://pictify.com/197425/tamara-de-lempicka-portrait-of-mrs-m-1932 > [Accessed  January 18 2014]

Quillcards, 2009, Chiaroscuro or 'Rembrandt' Lighting On A Pear, [image online] Available at: < http://quillcards.com/blog/index.php/2009/03/10/rembrandt-lighting-in-photography/ > [ Accessed January 18 2014]

Hazarfilm, n.d. film-slate, [image online] Available at: < hazarfilm.com> [Accessed January 18 2014]

Rhodesbishopsstortford, 2012, Activities-Art [image online] Available at: < http://www.rhodesbishopsstortford.org.uk/events/art-classes-with-julie-fonnereau/> [Accessed January 2018]

Azuremagazine, 2013, Textile, [image online] Available at: < http://www.azuremagazine.com/article/2014-design-trends-top-stitch/> [Accessed January 18 2014]

Glamourdaze, n.d. Cloche Hats -1920 fashion – Colour matching [image online] Available at: < http://glamourdaze.com/2013/04/1920s-fashion-illustrated-1928-dress-guide-for-an-average-girl.html > [Accessed January 18 2014]

Fashionyale, n.d. 1920s_fashion_for_women_fancy_dress [image online] Available at: < http://www.fashionyale.com/2013/8363-1920s-fashion-for-women/1920s-fashion-for-women-fancy-dress/ > [Accessed January 18 2014]

Fanpop, n.d Marilyn Monroe. [photograph] Available at: < http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/marilyn-monroe/images/30014109/title/marilyn-monroe-photo > [Accessed January 18 2014]

Jules Chéret, 1895, Lidia [image online] Available at: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cheret,_Jules_-_Lidia.jpg > [Accessed January 18 2014]

Jules Chéret, 1895, Plakat Cheret 95 [image online] Available at: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Plakat_Cheret_95.jpg > [Accessed January 18 2014]

Jules Chéret, 1896 - 1900, L´Amant des Danseuses [image online] Available at: < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cheret,_Jules_-_L%C2%B4Amant_des_Danseuses_%28pl_45%29.jpg > [Accessed January 18 2014]