Photoshop

Photoshop:

To begin the new set of learning digital illustration in the oncoming weeks after we had delved into more traditional illustration media. We were then surprised with a unique task to create two posters based around the city of Carlisle. We were set a task to create 2 individual posters that were separate from one another, were made on Photoshop, and had been finished with a traditionally made feel that showed very little giveaway details that it was made with digital software (i.e. no clean edges, messier edges, etc.)

The 5 themes that we could choose from are:

- Wild
- Revolutionary
- Industrial
- Social
- Resilient

I have chosen to go with Industrial and Social, I feel like I could make some intriguing and creative perspective work out of the elements that come with socialising and industrial, as both form a strong connection with people and environments alike.

Tutorials & Informative Material:

Carlisle Is.. Industrial -

Industrial Research:

For research, I found that I knew a lot of the Carlisle train station already, having done a project surrounding it before the year prior with a group on the collaborative project assessment.

However, I researched deeper to find that the station has a few more historical attachments I hadn't known before, such as it's opening the last 17th century and Carlisle station's history being tied to the architect William Tite; who had designed it at the beginning of it's lifespan. His design intentions incorporated elements of Gothic and Tudor styles, and I was interested in incorporating that into my poster somehow.

I am almost never out of the train station, as its my main means of transportation into university. And since I'm well-aquatinted with the Scotrail services, I found it very fitting to choose the Carlisle train station as a frame of reference for connecting the poster to Carlisle's past and present status in the rail works industry.

However, I have coupled the area of a train station, with the aesthetic choice of 2000s graffiti and the markings that boomed around that time to create an aesthetic that's indicative of industrial works and the sub-culture that had stemmed from it, forming skateparks, music, art, etc. One of my visual inspirations for this poster almost immediately after thinking about research elements; was Linkin Park's Hybrid theory album cover art. As it features a grungy and monochromatic colour pallette, and is a perfect encapsulation of the time it was made. The way that this era hands itself to the idea of industrialisation, is through the metallic visuals and texture, which can be closely matched with train tracks and machinery that is found at a train station.

That, and Carlisle has a lot to offer in the way of street art and that has been integral to the city's image, as we have taken on tasks before that involve these street-level artworks that have been done with spray paint and graffiti-styled methods. Some of these involve humorous concepts like a balloon dog urinating on the wall, to more epic and grandiose scaled imagery such as a spartan warrior fighting a powerful mythological god of some kind.

Developing The Poster:

When beginning the poster's development, I sketched out 4 different thumbnails that would plan and map out what routes I could take to develop a poster from. My main goal to was to achieve a gritty, early 2000s sprayed graffiti look, and apply it to a train station. My main inspiration that shows this exact aesthetic is Linkin Park's first two albums, as both are famously known for their influence to the culture of the early 2000s rock and metal scene, this is no different in their album cover art.

When it came to drawing the illustration of the poster; I did a quick sketch in photoshop on my portable drawing tablet to outline the general idea of a manic set of rails all connecting back to the station at the centre. I used a reference of the general look of the Scotrail and Avanti West Coast service trains, and had drawn one coming towards the viewer. I felt like this was a good practise in perspective and applying what I had picked up with Tony in the drawing section of this site.

The brush textures I had used for the background details were a mixture of preset and custom brushes I had made on my own to resemble rust and graffiti markings.

Typeface Experimentation:

The typeface I initially had chosen is "Dirty Ego" (which is also the title typeface used across this website). This font has been used across many alternative media such as skateboarding compilations, band lyric videos, comic, video games, etc. I found that it also lends itself well to industrial settings also, as it has a very scuffed and almost broken appearance. I found this typeface primarily from the band Combichrist, as they are under the "Industrial Rock" label, and have used this in their album "Today we are all demons", which includes music videos centered around machinery and in one scene in their "Sent To Destroy" music video, they feature train tracks and factories.

After some reconsideration; I decided to keep the Dirty Ego font, but also simultaneously make the shift towards blending it together with 'Bold Clarendon' to create a 'bumper sticker' styled logo for the 'Carlisle Is..' section.

Brush Packs/Brushes Used -

Brushes Used/Experimented With:

Pencil Brushes:

Watercolour Brushes:

Sourced from:

Adobe Creative Cloud's dashboard:
https://creativecloud.adobe.com/discover/article/372-free-grunge-and-grit-brushes-for-photoshop

Envato 'Drawing Effects' tutorials:
https://elements.envato.com/learn/best-photo-to-pencil-drawing-effect-actions-for-photoshop

Brusheezy Photoshop brush packs:
https://www.brusheezy.com/free/watercolor

Influential Photoshop Artists/Designers:

Eric Johannson:

Igor Scekic:

Joshua M. Smith:

Process:

Colour Variety:

The Result:

Industrial (Second Attempt)

Development:

Colour Variety:

Industrial (Third Attempt)

Development:

Techniques Used:

- Pixelate
- Add Noise
- Magic Wand Tool
- Frosted Glass Effect
- Drop Shadow

Carlisle Is.. Social -

For social, I had the idea to combine the city life, which included friends and family walking in the streets. As well as the architecture and structure that would build up the city itself. Originally I had went with the idea to make something a bit more darker In colour schemes, and the result ended up a little more unwelcoming than initially intended. But after some informative feedback with Dwayne, I decided to take a lighter colour approach to make sure I can