How To Train Your Poster

ReImagining Saul Bass

Saul Bass was an artist who brought about a new age of designs with his posters, using minimal effects and colors to bring about the true meaning of a film. He had done posters such as the ones like Vertigo and Buried, as well as many more. Inspired by his artistic, original style, I decided to make my own poster. It just so happened to be one partaining to a story of friendship between a dragon and a Viking. It was How to Train Your Dragon.

The Idea Taking Flight

 Of course, there were to be trials and different designs that immediately sprang up when this project first blossomed. I had ideas to just have a fire made up of flying dragons with a single viking helmet within the hoard. But then I settled in on Toothless, one of the major icons of the franchise, wearing a viking helmet and staring ahead towards the viewer, his pupils the symbol from Hiccup's armor. I went forward enthusiastically, enjoying and creating different visual effects on Photoshop after scanning in my drawings. Yet I found problems with the design after word. Toothless's jawline was lost among the rest of his body, the Viking Helmet had too many colors, and the pupils detracted from the overall feel of the poster. So I scrapped the idea of just using his head and a viking helmet, and decided for a full body shot, minus his tail. There were too many, in my opinion, posters of just the tail. So I took away the tail. So I used the pen tool to create the body and the wings. I then colored the left ear, leg, and wing red, the color of the prosthetic of Toothless by the end of the movie. It symbolizes that even when you lose a vital part of yourself, there can be someone or something to help make you whole.
So using and manipulating the body and outlines I traced, the entire poster seem to pop. So all I needed was a text to announce which movie it was. So looking on http://www.1001freefonts.com, I discovered a very Viking-esque type font that seemed just as rugged as I could ever hope for. So I looked up the release date and the list of lead roles, I typed them in. It looked so contrasting with the black of Toothless's body. Happy and thrilled, I saved my final draft and am now proud to show off my Saul Bass Inspired poster.

Afterword

I do believe this is one of my best projects. I enjoyed the progress, yet I feel like I would change the type perhaps, with something I made. But I am really in love with this poster. I hope that Mr. Bass could be proud that I took inspiration from him! 'Til next time!

My Poster

Saul Bass's Poster

Inspiration of a Poster

The Top Ten Things that Inspire Me:

The Main Idea

There are inspirations that drive us all. Ones that make us happy to push to beyond the limits set by our peers. Mine drove me to even make the decision to go into the e-Communication program. Deciding that making a classy poster to honor the objects that keep me continuing on through this long trek called high school, I went into it with enthusiasm, but also with hesitation. Making these kinds of projects are always making me strive for perfection, yet with a deadline, it was difficult.

The Process

The entire project was brought to life by InDesign, yet another program created by Adobe that helped me achieve my masterpiece. I used a ruler tool to map out what would go where, and also being inspired by a style of an article from a magazine, involving text curving around pictures and everything perfectly split into two separate sides. I found pictures from the internet for common objects I loved, such as the Panic! at the Disco Photo, the posters for How To Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch, the laptop, and the British TV show collage. I edited each photo within Photoshop to either increase clarity or to combine different photographs into one. Example being, the collage of British TV shows. I had taken separate photos of each of the shows I loved and brought them together to make one big conglomeration of my favorite shows, with my favorite characters at the helm. 
Then using InDesign's multi-fillable box tool, I placed the boxes within the grid I laid out, to be filled with text or pictures. I used the place tool to then put my edited photos into the poster, which by then had started to come together quite nicely. The only issue then was creating the several different type styles. Using the text styles box, I created three different styles, one for titles, one for the curving texts, one for the titles. I made sure to edit the colors to make them visible among the dark pictures as well as being able to be seen among the lighter colors. I then placed the text into the different fillable boxes. Finally, I warped the text into different curves so to parody that previous style I had seen.

 Reflections

I believe I could have done the text a bit better for the curving, as well as a better color, but I believe I did a good job for the first time attempting a new type of program such as InDesign. I loved the pictures, especially the one I edited from the British TV shows. I wouldn't change a thing with an exception of the type palettes used. I hope to use this knowledge when need comes for it again, maybe making a movie poster. I can't wait for more!