For our third project in J365, we were tasked with creating a poster from scratch surrounding a topic of our choice so long as it fit into the basic guidelines of the assignment. I decided to create a poster for the show Invincible. I had noticed a lack of posters around the show that weren’t simply still shots from episodes, so I saw an opportunity to create an original concept for a poster surrounding the show. This project created an opportunity for me to learn, adapt, and utilize the tools within Adobe Illustrator and really challenge my creativity, originality, and skill set.
When beginning, I had come up with a varying amount of concepts. I knew I wanted to surround the project around Invincible because I had started watching the show and really appreciated the story but also the origin. Invincible is an animated version of it’s comic counterpart, so I wanted to draw inspiration from it’s beginnings for this poster. Many of the concepts I had initially came up with looked as if they were comic book covers, and I really wanted to stick with that concept but also create something that was typographically focused with illustrative elements. I had decided colorful silhouette design.
For the typographic elements, my decision-making skills were put to the test. I searched through adobe fonts, wanting to find a balance between the typography used within the show, the comics, but also original. In the end, I decided on Abolition which is a font I found using Adobe Fonts. I felt that the Abolition font is bold, but readable while leaving an impact. For the main headline “INVINCIBLE” I distorted the text using the distort effect. It took many tries to fit within the yellow box I had placed behind it as a guideline
My process for creating the silhouette was frustrating, but the effort I put into the design taught me how to really simplify and work with a mouse and the pen tool within Adobe Illustrator. I first found some reference photos, looking at both the character design of Invincible himself, but also side-profile portraits. Using those reference photos, I used the program Procreate to create a sketch of what the final silhouette came to be. After the sketch was finished, I imported it into Adobe Illustrator, and this is where the challenge began. Before this project, as well as the in-class practice, I had no prior experience with Illustrator, let alone the pen tool. But, after quite a few tries, I got the exact outline that I had envisioned. I adjusted quite a few lines, curves, and overall composition within Illustrator in order to create a visually appealing graphic. Initially I only planned one centered silhouette. But, I had experimented with scaling and copying and decided that I wanted to fill more space and create a directional force that followed the typography, which led to the final 3 silhouettes being included.
The colors throughout this poster were very intentional. Each silhouette is themed around the variants of Invincible featured in season 3, with some creative liberties being taken on my end. I know that I wanted his original suit of yellow and blue to be a driving force when it came to the overall color theme of the poster because it is a recognizable element. This lead to the choice in background colors following that theme. The text border is based around the largest silhouette of blue and yellow. The 2nd silhouette is based around the suit that he is depicted in during season 3, I felt that this was important to include because of the recent season wrapping up around when I began composing this poster. The final silhouette, straying away from the dominating blue, is meant to be his “omni-man variant” from season 3. I thought that the red and white would really create a “pop” in the poster, and give the eyes a break from the blue, yellow, and black colors. The order of the silhouette colors are also intentional, representing the change and fear that Invincible faces throughout the series. I decided on black for most of the typography to contrast well with the vibrant colors around the poster, with a yellow “Streaming Now” in order to grab the viewer’s attention as to what is being advertised.
Overall, this project really helped me hone my skills within a new program that I now will be using for most, if not all, my personal projects outside of class. The pen tool, though frustrating at times, was rewarding to become well-acquainted with and I feel far more confident in the techniques required when using the pen tool. Implementing color theory, creative typography, original graphics and an overall appealing composition was challenging, but one of the most personally rewarding projects that I have done for this class.