Ok this week I can admit I love Illustrator, and feel that I can actually approach graphic design with joy and anticipation of the outcome! I was especially excited about the assignment of creating a postcard for the ITP show because I've been a fan girl and attendee of the ITP shows for years and it thusly felt like a very personal task to "sell" the event.
The Inspiration
I've been trying to create space between use of technology and sleep by removing any laptop/cellphone use in bed, filling the space with reading or writing instead. Recently I've been rereading The Incal, a graphic novel collaboration between Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius that follows John Difool (John the Fool) through a metaphysical journey toward self-actualization by saving humanity in a technocratic society.
The artwork and storytelling is simply beyond belief until you hold the book in your hand, and its looping narrative creates a space for the reader to visit its contained artwork over and over again.
I'm enthralled by the subject matter because it directly addresses the need to reconnect technology (or science) with spirituality (or religion) in a way that hasn't existed since the Enlightenment separated the two entities. It's a subject I think about a lot, and being in a program that brings logic and expression together has made it all the more tangible. In this way I began conceptualizing my work, thinking about how this is truly an "as above, so below" program that mixes two powerful types of perception.
Sketch to Reality
I started sketching during Applications, thinking of how I wanted to use the concepts of divine inspiration and ideation within the realm of Moebius' illustration style. I thought about ITP as the inspiration, the individual as ideation, and rainbow ribbon cable wires connecting the two to make the lightbulb glow.
This is what I came up with:
To make it actually happen was another story. I researched how to create a vector portrait and most tutorials I found displayed tracing over a photo to create the likeness (this one was especially helpful). So I chose a stock photo of a woman looking down for the main portion of the portrait and used curved lines and brush strokes to create a 2d subject.
Inspiration for the halo and lightbulb is directly correlated to the marriage of science and spirituality. I'm using the iconography of Catholic saints to inspire the halo, and the lightbulb to symbolize "Eureka" ideation, creating a Patron Saint of ITP. I'm using a female figure to recognize the majority of the class of 2020, and to antagonize the notion that technological advancement is devoid of women or femme-identifying individuals.
Color-wise. I chose a rainbow because I initially thought I was going to use a spectra of wires to connect the letters I T P to the lightbulb as originated in my sketch, but recognized the wires were not pertinent when fulfilling my idea. The font is similar to the Star Wars font to reiterate that this is still a tech program at the end of the day. Here is the result:
Past the final concept:
I ended up sending a screenshot of my final work to my creative instigator, Ronen, noting that the demystification of these tools has been incredibly liberating to my creative practice. In response, he sent me a new demystification, which just made my jaw drop: