Evaluation

Final Piece

Creating my Final Piece

After creating all the different elements of my design I took it all together into a double page in Photoshop.

I first started to play around with how the main stickers were arranged and see how I could place them. I realised that I needed to change the spacing, size and alignment of the images to make the whole design more appealing to the younger audience. I decided to make the signs smaller, and change the sizing of the different buildings to create contrast in my design. 

I then started to outline the buildings and signs.

I used the brush tool with a small brush to carefully go around the outside of the stickers. I tried to stay as close to the image as i could so that it looked more life-like and convincing. At first I wanted to see how it would look with one line around the images, but I changed my mind and decided to do a dashed line, which I think looked much better. I think this really helped my designs stand out on the page, ensuring the audience knows they are definitely stickers.

Then I went ahead and added in the map into the design, and decided to place the cupcake sticker onto the map. I think this would help the really young audience if they might be unable to read the instructions on the other page which i plan to put on the stickers page. 

I then started to add in the signs gradually, placing them carefully, just making sure that the same colours weren't put together, making the design look boring or too collected with one colour. I also made sure to put the sign for the cupcake next to it, so that the children knew how to place the stickers, ensuring they would know to match them up together.

After placing the images where I wanted to I added in the information so the kids knew what to do. For the main title i tried to use a typeface that was handwritten, but didn't conflict with the type on the signs, and so I chose the type called "Generally Speaking". I think this type works well for the type of magazine it is going in, because it isn't so handwritten that it clashes with the type on the stickers, but isn't too digital that it doesn't attract the eye of the younger audience. 

I also decided to add in a background behind the type so that it stood out on the page a little more on the white background. I also decided to change the colour to green and line it up with part of the map so that the pages linked together better, making it feel like all one page instead of 2 separate pages. 

I then noticed the stickers didn't fully stand out on the page, and so I went ahead and put a background on that page. I decided on a yellow colour as it brought in the 3rd primary colour. At first it was fully prismatic, but I realised that this was too full on and so i made sure it was a lighter colour and slightly more muted. When i did this I filled the entire background using the magic wand tool and then realised it filled the colour behind the stickers where i needed the colour to be white.

To make the background white I stayed on this layer and used the lasso tool to go around where the dashed lines were and took out the colour. This made sure that the images definitely look like stickers and stand out on the page more. 

I then added in the small extras onto my design, such as the page number and the name of the magazine. I knew these needed to be seen on the page and so I added in a box behind them and lowered the opacity so that they didn't cover the main image.

Working Progress for Final Piece - Map

I started off by drawing out a map type design on a piece of watercolour card. I then went ahead and used my watercolours to add in different shades of green, trying to keep them prismatic and fairly saturated. 

After scanning the map in, I placed it into Photoshop and edited the image to give a more cartoon effect, but still making sure that it was clear it had been watercoloured. I mainly changed the brightness levels, curves, shadows and highlights and the hue and saturation which helped to enhance the colours in the image.

I then decided the map needed something extra because it didn't quite look the way I imagined it. After looking at my Pinterest boards for inspiration I noticed many of the other illustrated maps I had seen had some form of line around the image which defined the actual map section much more.
So I did this for my map. I used the brush tool instead of the lasso tool because I didn't want it to be neat, and thought this would give the effect I desired. I tried to make the lines different thicknesses so that again it wasn't massively neat and still had the hand-drawn feel.

This is my final map image that I will use on my final piece. I really like how it came out and think it gives the look I wanted for my magazine double page. The bright, saturated green colour would definitely attract the young audience's eye, making it stand out to them in the magazine.

Working Progress for Final Piece - Text

 To use my type choices in my final I decided to make them 3d. To do this I printed out a copy of the text which i had put the threshold on and went around with a pencil to create the 3d effect, using a fineliner over it.

I then scanned it in a placed it into Photoshop, where i changed the threshold of the writing and took out the white in the background of the image, leaving out the 3 parts of the text.

I then decided to fill in the colour of the text using the magic wand tool. I decided to choose the two primary colours, red and blue, with full saturation. I did this to attract the younger audience's eye, as these are the colours they are most used to seeing.

 After finishing my actual type I developed it further by drawing out signs, scanning them in and adding them into the photoshop document. I decided to add colour into these also but didn't want them to over-power the type. I decided to use a more muted, lighter blue for the blue text and then a lighter red for the red text.

After finishing this process I felt I had used my type effectively, and thought I would be able use it for my final piece because I had created it the way that i imagined my text to look like for the stickers.

Working Progress for Final Piece - Food Buildings.

After doing my drafting images, I thought that I should carry on using this same process and idea.

I decided to take some of the other drawings I had previously drawn and watercolour them. I re-did the milkshake and ice lolly image because I wasn't fully happy with the other ones I had done. I also decided to create 2 new buildings. This meant I had more to work with.

I used the same process with these images as I did with the drafting, changing the 1st images aswell to change them slightly. I think this made the buildings look more life-like and much more realistic. I decided to again change the brightness and contrast of these extra watercoloured images, to make the effect of the watercolour stand out further on the page and add more definition. I also changed the shadows and highlights of the image to give the same effect.

Once again I decided to add outlines onto the buildings to add more definition to them. I used a pencil to create the outlines and scanned them in and put them into Photoshop and edited it slightly. I used the threshold to make the lines black and then used the brightness and contrast to make sure the lines were definitely black and the background was white. I then took out the white of the image and placed them onto the watercolored images, changing the size so that they weren't exactly the same size as each other.

Drafting - Food Buildings

 Firstly I started off by drawing out some building ideas with a crayon, keeping them fairly un-neat so that I could draw them out neater when I went to watercolour them. I decided to do the same as my emulation, moving away slightly from the disneyland theme and more towards the general idea of things at a theme park and doing this meant I had a lot more to work with and was able to create more designs.
After sketching out lots of different ideas in my sketchbook I decided to draw out my favourite ones onto a piece of thicker paper, that would make my watercolours look of a better quality. I made sure the lines I drew were fairly thin and faint so that it wasn't too obvious when i went over with the watercolours.

After drawing them out I started to use my watercolours to add colour to the drawings. I wanted to try and use the main primary colours, keeping them saturated and making sure they were the colour that were associated with those foods.

I then used the watercolours to create tone in my designs. First I used a darker yellow on the chips, which i really like because i think it adds depth to the design and makes the chips look more realistic. After I had done these I tried to do the same with the rest of them and I think it worked well on most of them, especially the doughnut building and the hot dog building. I also think once I put the whole design into Photoshop and change the contrast and saturation of the images they will stand out and the tone will look more effective.

 When I had put them into Photoshop i selected each separate part of the image and separated them into different layers. I used the brush tool to add in subtle parts of colour to the different images to add more depth and shadows to the images. I also changed the levels of the whole image to make the separate drawings brighter and more defined.

I then went onto the separate layers which the images were on and changed the shadows and highlights slightly to again add more depth into them and make it more subtle.

Print Analysis