Turn Back Now
So I dared challenge the Minimalist Movie Poster design assignment. Looking retrospectively at other legends such as Jim Groomâs The Birds, Audrey Williams True Grit, or Carlosâs Pyscho. I canât say my work has been a huge success, but sometimes itâs the journey that matters. So letâs go along and see what happensâŚ.
I didnât have a direction. Initially I was working on a Spirited Away poster, picking away at pixels to depict the bird holding the mouse for two hours. The next morning I scrapped it, and thought more about what I wanted to do. I was drawn to Princess Mononoke and the little ghost spirit.
Hereâs where the matter gets sticky. I was building some familiarity with GIMP but, as I was spending the day in Monroe, I was left without anything to work with. Searching through the computer, I found something intriguing. Adobe Illustrator CS5. And so I decided, why not?
If you arenât familiar with Adobe Illustrator, it does look strikingly similar to GIMP or Photoshop but those are Raster Editors, while Illustrator CS5 is Vector Editor. At its most basic level, vectors deal with points, lines, and polygons (geometry) while Raster deals with continuous cells of data.
While working on this assignment, I didnât know any of this. I was simply thinking, âWhat is this thing?”
CS5 Interface
Looking at the interface there are some familar signs. You have the toolbar on the left with various tools, similar options in the header, and on the right is an advanced layer board where you have great manipulation of colors, brush size, graphic styles, and transparency. There are some cool features, especially with graphic styles and trasparancey, that I haven’t explored yet.
Image Overlaying the Canvas Interface
So you bring in an image. Illustrator CS5 works a little differently, however, in that the template is a canvas that you can manipulate and the image is sort of a standalone piece. I can’t currently edit in to any significant extent, but I could some overlays with it and other images or stuff I draw on the canvas. To actually edit the image I need vectify the raster by clicking the live trace button in the header.
This Live Trace button is probably the coolest feature I’ve found and something that others can use in Adobe and then export it into GIMP. Take a look at this tutorial if you want to know more. I’m new to the program and don’t fully comprehend all the possibilites Live Trace does, but it’s relatively easy to use and allows you to actually manipulate the image.
Here’s some examples of some Live Trace Options using the image I found of Ashitaka:
Default Trace
Low Fidelity Trace
Greyscale Trace
From here, the world is yours. Turn on live paint and you can edit the image in any bizzare way you want. What I want to press here is that you don’t have to use Adobe. Live Trace an image, and then export it to a jpeg and throw it in GIMP or Photoshop and use what you’re familiar with. I’ve found selecting incredibly tedious (in any program for that matter) in Adobe, but I can easily bring it into GIMP where I’m more familiar.
And so the poster above displays my work. Keeping with the minimalist theme, I tried to keep the drawing simple but have some meaning in the film, going off the theme off Ashitaka confronting an overwhelming darkness both beyond and within himself.
Is it perfect? If I redo it ten times will there be a product I’m satsfied with? Most likely, but won’t be ashamed about my first. So, anyways, here’s the Thing 2.
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