Hypocritical Greed & Nasty Ideologues

I'm slowly starting to understand What A Carve Up more and more as I look further into the book.  I'm starting to understand the Winshaw family and their values as they display levels of greed. I feel this theme of greed could work in my favour when designing this book cover as I can generalise the characters without focusing too much on a particular character within the book.

This is a quick idea I had which shows a dial with a list of words that I find display the Winshaw family and as in the novel each of the family members meet their doom through their profession. This doesn't give away much other than the possibility of death within the story. 

Existing Book Covers of 'What A Carve Up'

This is a small range of existing book covers for the novel 'What A Carve Up' by Jonathan Coe. I can't say I am a great fan of these book covers as I feel there is much more to the story than what the cover depicts. Shirley Eaten who you can see in two of the covers was an actor from the film in the 1960's. In an interview with Jonathan Coe he says "Shirley became my novel's shorthand for female desirability" I think he is trying to say that this would entice readers by displaying this attractive woman on the cover of the novel. 

Gerald Scarfe Research

                   

                                          Geralde Scarfe, torydactyl                                 Geralde Scarfe, John Major & Thatcher

Gerald Scarfe is a more modern artist that uses social satire in his work and has become very popular with some of his pieces for example the torydactyl that is based on the not so popular public figure Margret Thatcher. He used his work to demonise Thatcher as a long nosed pterodactyl and to portray as an unwelcoming public figure. He was also not afraid to  make his images quite grotesque for example the image of Margaret Thatcher biting off John Major's head who was considered a grey, dull and boring prime minister. 

James Gillray Research

James Gillray, Plumb-pudding

This image is a prime example of social satire from the early 19th century it shows two strong public figures from this era Pitt and Napoleon. Napoleon was a war leader and politician and Pitt was a politician, it shows the two carving up an earth shaped plumb pudding as this dictates what was happening during this era as Napoleon has his eyes fixed on Europe and carves away countries such as Holland and France.  Also with Napoleon carving away using his sword displays his naval supremacy. 

James Gillray, Begging no robbery

This image is also social satire as it shows Pitt the younger who was prime minister during this era and who James Gillray liked to use in his work. He is portrayed as a money grabber and introduced income tax making everyone who works to contribute, this to a lot of people felt like robbery so GIllray has display this as Pitt commiting highway robbery.



"James Gillray was undoubtedly the most famous of all the caricaturists at work during the period with which this blog concerns itself and his caricatures were reproduced extensively throughout his lifetime and beyond."

Penguin Book Cover - What a carve up

In what a carve up Jonathan Coe is able to create this fictitious Winshaw family to portray the impact that strong interest groups had on public media, banking and healthcare during the Margaret Thatcher periods. These characters create a social satire with the book as it is critical of societal flaws. As this is a strong theme throughout the book I'm going to look at artists work that also use social satire and use a witty and sarcastic point of view within the image.

Poster Update : Part 2

I'm happy with how my poster has ended up, the colour scheme is appropriate and can relate to 20th century Sci-fi posters. I have also decided to aim my poster towards a specific area of science and being about space, physics was the most appropriate.

Poster Update

New Poster Idea

So I've had an idea that if I'm going to be creating a poster based around Sci-fi which are usually in space why don't I create the poster around outer space, planets and stars etc. These are few quick sketches I made, I could make this visually interesting on illustrator and would work well with my background that I have already created.

I will be looking to use a different slogan other than just 'SPACE' as this was just experimentation.

Illustrator Ideas

Now that I have a background that I feel is suitable for the 20th century sci-fi style I have been experimenting with different illustrator designs to display on this background. Within the criteria there was the option of aiming the poster towards Females as there is a lack of interest by females in the science department.

The Next Female Face Of Science

I had this idea of promoting science towards females by putting forward the statement, 'could you be the next female face of science?' This was just an idea and I later decided against it as I feel I cannot focus it on the 20th century sci-fi style that I am going for. 

Females Go Further With Science

I had the same idea with this by putting forward a statement of 'could you be the next big name of science?' I listed a range of popular female scientists who are all highly thought of, I had the same problem with this of still not being able to focus it on my theme of 20th century sci-fi poster. I actually developed this one further by placing it onto the background I had created but found it was still not appropriate. 

20th Century Typography

In order for the poster to have the 20th century sci-fi style I need an appropriate typography as this is a dominant piece for a poster and will help to catch the attention of the viewer. After researching a range of different fonts used in early 20th century poster I have found that the typography tends to be easy to read but with slight variations depending on the subject of the poster. Majority of the fonts also tend to be bold.

Poster Development

As I have decided to go for the retro looking sci-fi poster I decided it would be a good idea to create on Illustrator a background that looks retro and help to make the poster look dated and more suited to the era I am designing it around.

I now have a canvas that I feel is appropriate for the style of poster I am going for, this allows me to experiment with a range of graphics that could potentially work with this background. 

Colour Research

As I have decided to go with the sci-fi movie poster style I thought it would be wise to look at a range of colours that are commonly used in existing posters. This will help me to maintain a consistent house style with my poster and ensure that the final outcome can relate to existing sci-fi movie posters.

After looking at a range of colours used in existing movie sci-fi posters I have been able to gather an understanding of colours that appear to be popular with this style. Colours that stand out the most tend to be orange, yellow, cream and blues. The cream appears to be a popular colour used as a background in which the main graphic is displayed on. 

Early 20th Century Sci-fi Posters Research

This was probably one of my more favourite styles that we're allowed to use as there is a lot of character to the old sci-fi movie posters from the brilliant colours that really make them distinctive and the graphic art work. These B movies are usually quite low budget so where never very popular. I'm going to look at a few examples of B movie posters and look at what makes a sci-fi poster what it is because I feel like this may be a style that I decide to go with.

When Worlds Collide, 1951 

Forbidden Planet, 1956

These are a couple of sci-fi movie posters I think these are most appropriate for the research I am doing because they clearly display a range of colours that are popular for use within sci-fi posters along with some typography that seems to be consistent looking at a wide range of these posters. Negative space also seems to be quite a key aspect with B movie posters especially around the title which is a dominant section that stands out within the poster. 

Steampunk Research

Steampunk is a cultish mix of sci-fi and victoriana that was created in the 1980's it is commonly used with fashion and machinery. The reason steampunk is based on the victorian era is because this was when many different types of machinery where being invented due to use steam power. This machinery would consist of cogs and moving parts, which the steampunk style has used as the basis of all it's graphic art. I would say the best way to describe steampunk is a futuristic victoriana.

"Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery,especially in a setting inspired by industrialised Western civilisation during the 19th century. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the 19th century's British Victorian era or American "Wild West", in a post-apocalyptic future during which steam power has regained mainstream use, or in a fantasy world that similarly employs steam power."

 The image on the left is a prime example of steampunk fashion, the colours in the image are dark and quite powerful this is what would be commonly found for this style. The gentleman in the image is well dressed and has a sense of being upperclass, it was was common in the victorian era for wealthy people to have photographs taken of them in these poses. The only difference with this image is the strong eye-catching mechanical arm which consists of the trademark steampunk materials such as cogs and steam pistons. In this image the photographer has managed to display the link between the victorian era and the steampunk style by using the common victorian pose.

The image on the right is how I personally would describe steampunk if it was a real era that had existed, with giant exquisite machinery such as these trains that would require countless men to power and work. You can see the sheer size of the machinery but comparing the people to the train, i think this shows the power of the steampunk style.

Pop Art Research

I remember looking at Pop Art culture back in secondary school but this was at a very basic level so I'm going to research this again. The reason I'm looking at this style is because I know how aesthetically pleasing this style of art work is to look at so if I can implement some of these design features from pop art into my poster work then it could lead to a successful final product.

Pop Art was based on popular culture and consumerism in the 1950-1960's it included things such as advertising, packaging, public figures and comic strips.

This image has included four different popular Pop Art images, they include both advertising and famous celebrities from that era. The most visible aspect of Pop Art is the altered block colours on the images, especially with the Campbells soup. The colours used in this art are very simple and are not suppose to take away from the image but for the image to still look original. 

Because this is such a popular style and is known by most people it may be a good approach to take for the design of the poster as it may catch attention which is a main aspect I will be looking for with the poster. 

First Post

After starting the course slightly later than everyone else I have been given an extension on the first assignment which is to design and produce a poster for the Science Department.
The posters are required to include visual styles such as Steampunk, Victoriana, Pop Art, early 20th century sic-fi movie posters or book cover art. I will research a few of these styles further and find which will suit my final poster design.