Mediums used: Procreate HB Pencil on Procreate!

For the brainstorming stages, I built upon some sketches that I did during the online tutorial. I felt the most drawn to the "Circle of Life" drawing, but also decided to sketch out the "trash O's" and "fish in a bottle" designs to see what will look best as lino, whilst also being the most impactful as a commentary piece.

CONCEPT #1 - THE CIRCLE OF LIFE

CONCEPT #2 - FISH IN A BOTTLE

Medium: Procreate using technical pen

For my fish in a bottle design, I used thick lines to mimic what it would look as a lino print. While I really enjoyed the composition and style of this design, I couldn't quite see the message conveyed and decided against using this one as my final piece.

CONCEPT #3 - TRASH O'S

Medium: Procreate using technical pen

I also used thick lines in this design to see how it would look as a final lino... and I felt it was the weakest design out of all of them. While the idea was good in theory, a lot of the details are a bit lost and the message is not clear at all.

Mediums: Black Ink, Lino block, art paper

When it came to the printing, I decided to make three different lino blocks to use for printing to allow me to have more freedom when creating the final composition. I sketched the Circle of Life design onto each block and used my cutting tools to carve the lines out. I actually really enjoyed this process as I wasn't too certain on how it may come out, but I was pleasantly surprised! I could also see my carving improved with each block which was quite neat. 

I then pressed them onto my art diary using different amount of ink to see how dark I wanted the lines to be.

Mediums: Lino block, black oil paint, art paper

For my final composition, I pressed each block individually onto my art diary and used black oil paint instead of ink to achieve a similar look but darker lines! This helped maintain its clarity when being scanned in to Procreate and Photoshop for editing. 

First and foremost, I took my lino into Procreate to clean it up and convert it into a png that I could play around with in Photoshop. I also used the select and move tool to ensure I made the composition as appealing as possible to ensure I appealed to viewers as much as possible. The goal was to entice them into the design.

I began experimenting with similar primary colours that I'd used last week as I felt they had the boldest, eye-catching style with the lino. I also love the foundational aspect that primary colours have, which I believe tie into the idea of the circle of life. I think the colour choice as well as the lino design helps ground the audience and also challenges them to think beyond what they're familiar with. 

Throughout my experimentation process, I used effects like drop shadows and embossing to see how I could create an eye-catching 3D effect, almost like the poster is trying to grab at the audience and say "look at me!! What do you think I mean?". I also played around with text and composition to see how I can help enhance the subject. I decided upon the question "The Circle of Life or Death?". I liked how this opened up the audience to question the poster itself and gave them opportunity to ponder on the subject matter.

I really loved the blues and reds of the above experimentation so I decided to play around with a few of the designs back in Procreate after I finished up in Photoshop. Ultimately, I loved the 3D effect with the black underlines of the red! I felt like this provoked a sense of urgency and danger for the audience. I also love how my eye was drawn to the underlining of the word death, which forced my eye to follow it around the composition and into the center, which held a big question mark. I love how it is encouraging you to question the circle of life in this instance as you follow the circle around, watching the healthy fish die after plastic. It truly felt like a statement poster to me. I did, however, feel as though something was missing...

Through an accidental mistake of colour dropping in Procreate, I stumbled upon my final poster creations!!

For my final poster, I definitely fell in love with the red design. I did add three additional version of the other two primary colours and one black and white. For the final series of posters, I decided to have the word "death" being underlined in a lighter colour, with only one of them being underlined in the subject matter colour! I thought this created a really brilliant composition and style for the poster and really captured the essence of my opinion on how bad ocean pollution is for our marine life. I also loved the softened background colour, which helps bring the viewers' attention to the question "The Circle of Life or Death?" and the subject matter in the center. 

ADDITIONAL COLOURS!

Reflection:

Overall, I am really pleased with how these commentary posters turned out and believe they reflect my opinion on ocean pollution with good clarity. I definitely feel like my composition and layout skills have improved over the weeks and I definitely saw it within these posters. I did take note that the subject matter was not exactly dead center, however, it is definitely a major improvement from previous compositions. I love how the primary colours give a sense of familiarity whilst simultaneously forcing the audience to question their opinions on ocean pollution and how we, as a species, are quite destructive to our environments. The single underline is a great touch and brings the piece together as it allows the eye to trail around the design to allow the question to sink in before meeting the subject matter in the center.