After doing some research and learning about how this form of illustration has many different interpretations and themes, I found some examples of ones that I really felt inspired by, and wanted to take influence from. I either wanted to go for something that was extremely vivid or something that was like the first three images on the top left, where they are quite neutral with a pop of colour. I found this style to be really unique and exciting, and because I hadn't attempted it before, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do so!
After meeting with my collaborative group the first time, they told me about a website named Pinterest, which offers hundreds of images and idea inspiration for absolutely anything. I made an account and I found and followed this link, which brought my to a tutorial on how to pick any image and turn it into a geometric illustration. The tutorial used a bird and often used the colour picker tool in order to get the right representation of the true shades of the bird's coat. The tutorial also advised me that for parts of an image to look more realistic, you need to make smaller triangles, and to make it more obscure, create larger triangles. I noticed in my other mood board that not all of the images I picked out used triangles, just any geometric shape where there are no curves, but I really liked the look of the triangular outcome, so I opted to go with that one!
I then picked my image of choice to create the geometric pattern from, and I chose this one. I liked it because Jack Garrett's face is at an angle, which makes him look like he is pensive in thought, like his song title 'worry'. But I mostly chose it because I loved the unique hues within the image, and how there is a purple-ish/pink tone to his skin which I thought would look really interesting on a plain background!
Before I began the whole production process, I made some guidelines on the 184x184mm dimensions, to resemble the 3mm bleed that is outlined in the brief guidelines. I didn't do this on some of my penguin briefs, and from the interim crit, a lot of people commented on my feedback sheet that this was necessary. Therefore I made sure to do this immediately incase my design went right up to the edges.
Once I was set up, I simply began creating triangles! I started of quite small because I began with Jack's eye, which would be more detailed that for example his cheek. I noticed whilst I was creating this cover, it was often hard for me to visualise the face until I took a break and stepped further away from the image. I thought this was frustrating, but then also I am glad it is this way, because it is slightly like those images that look more vague up close, and more detailed the further away you stand, which is so fascinating!
This whole process took me a good few hours, because there were so many triangles to create. I also struggled with making them join up all the time, and as you can see above, there were a lot of instances where there were white gaps in between some of the triangles. This was an easy fix however, as I just created a layer beneath the one with the triangles and started to fill in with the brush tool, the gaps with a similar colour. However it was quite tedious and time consuming.
Once I had the amount of triangles that I wanted, I experimented with background. Initially I wanted to keep it plain and simple because there is so much detail going on within the portrait itself, however when I asked for some feedback, I was told to just have a go with some colours and see if it works. I spent ages trying to think of background ideas that would emphasise the illustration and not make it look too hectic and complicated, however none I was happy with. I liked the idea of having pink in the background, but none of the solutions that I came up with where cohesive with the central design.
I ended up also experimenting with some outlines and then changing the hue on them, and this was actually the one I thought looked most appealing.
I chose that one and then copied the design and placed it behind the triangle layer, and then used the smudging tool to make it look like the silhouette is blurry and spinning. This emphasises that uneasy feeling when you are worried, and confused, therefore I thought it was quite fitting.
And this is a small mock up of what the design could look like on a vinyl cover with some shadow. I am quite happy with my design because I got to experiment and learn a new technique as well as create something for a live brief. I am happy to submit this and glad I had a go at this competition.
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