The Final Outcome
The Process
Drawing the Type
I wanted to be as accurate on the type as possible so I measured the width of the whole quote that I had done yesterday and halved it. This would then be the centre point of each section, for example, "Quoth the Raven" measured to 16.2cm so I halved it to get 8.1cm. I measured the centre of the paper I was working on and drew a faint line, as this line would serve as the centre point of all of the quotes. I then measured the points I had earlier according to this line so that all of the quote will sit central on the page. This is quite confusing to explain so hopefully the image below will help out a little bit.
Now I can work on the type and I focused on the first section first (Quoth the Raven) because this one will be sitting on a straight line. I took reference from my sketches in terms of kerning and character width, and once the guidelines were done I was able to draw each letter.
To retain accuracy I made sure that the thickness of the letters were the same and used a ruler to make sure the lines were straight. This will help me out a lot later on when it comes to inking.
It took quite a long time to do this because I wanted to just relax so that I wasn't rushing into anything and so that it was as accurate as possible. Once done, I moved onto working on "Nevermore."
Now this will be even harder than before because I have to make sure the letters sit on the curve properly. My compass wasn't big enough so I drew around the edge of a dinner plate and then began to lay down my guidelines for each letter before drawing them out.
With my sketch done I could now go over it with pen, and I used my trusty microns because they dried relatively quickly and having a whole collection in different thicknesses was very handy. I used 01 for the top line, and 02 for the second. I then filled everything in with black ink.
Okay my lettering is done! I noticed that there were a few mistakes and ink spots but I could easily remove them in Photoshop.
Digitising the Type
I scanned in my inked type onto Photoshop and started to make some adjustments. To do this I first made the text darker by adjusting the brightness, deleted the white space with the magic wand tool and right-clicking "similar", and then separated each word onto a new layer.
Then I was able to make some changes. For Raven, I deleted the little parts where the ink went over the lines and shifted the V closer to A. For Quoth, I deleted the part where I accidentally filled in the serif and made it so that it was a "hairline" serif like the other letters.
With the type done I can now add in the illustration and reduced the brightness. I decided to go with the illustration where I just had filled in the feathers without adding any extra in the background, because after much thought I realised that it still retained that chaotic appearance, and the one with more feathers in the background just made it seem overcrowded.
I took some time just rearranging the illustration and using guides to make sure that it was central and fits well with the type. I had to shift the type upwards too. I reduced the type opacity to make it easier for me to work with the illustration
Once that was done I went around the feathers on the edge where it crosses over the type and made each one on a new layer. This took some time as I wanted to make sure I didn't go over the lines and accidentally deleted part of another feather.
With these feathers on new layers I could just take one and transform, shift, reduce or enlarge according to where it was. I sometimes duplicated the feathers to fill in the gaps.
After that was done I brought back to type layer to it's full opacity and added in some more feathers above the writing. I reduced the type size because it covered too much of the page.
Now it's time to fit the design in the right dimensions!
Creating the Final Design (In the Right Dimensions)
I created a new document and then copy & pasted the whole design onto it before sizing it down and rearranging it. Due to the nature of the copy & paste, everything was merged together so I wasn't really able to make any new changes...
However, I was able to move the feathers on the outer edge because they didn't overlap so I did so. I was getting annoyed of how everything was on the same layer so I went back to my old document and copied and pasted everything individually (so that the illustration was on one layer, and the type on another). This made things a lot easier!
Now that they were on separate layers I could edit the type and went to Blending Options and selected Stroke, making the lines thicker so that they stood out more because I felt that it wasn't very "strong" against the detailed illustration. It was a really nice effect because it also emphasised the areas where I had the ink splatter onto the page.
I then rearranged this illustration twice more so that I had three versions:
Brief Analysis
The first was good because the feathers were more spread out and gave the illustration room to breathe, however, it meant that the other feathers that weren't spread out seem all the more closer together.
The second version was smaller yet more structured. It also means that because it's not spread across the page that there is some breathing space and I didn't fall into the concept of trying to fill all of the white space. This thus creates a balance because all of the feathers have relatively even spacing.
The third was very similar to the first but the two feathers around the type have been changed slightly to create a reflection. This symmetry, although slightly uneven, makes the whole design look a lot more balanced. However I do not necessary want to create a balanced design because I want it to be chaotic to reflect the poem's situation.
After this brief analysis I think that I might just go with the second design because it's more structured. I asked for some feedback from my classmates & lecturer and my lecturer mentioned having some feathers behind Lenore to bring her out slightly. I had thoughts of making the feathers lighter than Lenore and the Raven, and my lecturer mentioned this as well which only strengthened this idea.
Making Adjustments
I used the lasso tool to go around Lenore and the Raven to make them both go on a separate layer, and darkened them using Adjustments > Brightness & Contrast. I used the same technique for the feathers but instead I lightened them. This had a brilliant effect; the Raven definitely stood out a lot more and became the main focus. Because of this, the viewer would then naturally look at the face before the other feathers.
To make some of the feathers go behind Lenore I copied and pasted one of the feathers and put it in the position I wanted it to be, and using the eraser I erased any areas where it overlapped her face. I used the same technique for the other feathers that hid behind her.
And I was done!
Critical & Reflective Thinking - Summary
As you can see, I have decided to go with my "Blackletter-serif" type style in the end because I believed it held more connotations related to the story. It was quite gothic which relates to gothic Victorian architecture and lifestyle, as well as having a very strict structure that mirrors the type used in gravestones. Overall, it has a very gloomy appearance.
I have already mentioned my reasons for choosing this illustration and that was because it was crowded, but not too crowded, and it emphasised the chaotic nature of the poem. The Raven masks Lenore's face from view much like the way that the narrator's memory of her is fading in time. The Raven is a reminder of her presence, and makes the narrator question whether or not he'll see her in heaven and heightens his grief.
I have found that the process of bring the image and editing it in Photoshop a lot easier now and I think that's mainly because of how I'm focused on making the hand-lettering part as accurate as possible on paper as I can. I have learnt this from my Moby Dick piece where I had to continuously revise "Ishmael". I shall carry on making my type accurate and shall ensure that I have done plenty of sketches to help me out with character dimensions and kerning.
I am unsure of whether or not I'll add any colour to this because I fear that if I do, it'll detract the intricate lines and that's one of the strong points of this design. Nevertheless I am worried that most of my designs are black and white so I shall have to think about what kind of layout to do to create some balance. If not, I'll have to produce another colourful design!
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