I spent the last few couple of days trying to conceptualize my poster designs and the meanings that they would portray. I am no stranger to concept work so it was really not much of a task in all honesty and I think I was able to develop some alright concepts that are not too complicated but would fulfil the need of portraying what I want to say with it.
Here are the images that feature the concept sketches + ideas. I will be noting down the text below just in case some cannot read my handwriting, haha.
Roughs and extra comments:
The order of comments correlate with the lineup of images of the roughs that I’ve featured below.
• “Behind the Jaws” (1) – “Horror-movie poster inspired design in which the roles are reversed in the sense of the shark being the victim and the human – the villain behind the blade.” I decided to go to a cleaver as it would be easier to feature the shark on. In the sketch, I’ve made the person hold the cleaver in one hand and resting it on the other, you can see blood coming from the other hand on which the cleaver is resting on and a reflection of a shark in the tool for finning. The concept would benefit from polishing/developing a bit further, perhaps making a variant with the blade which is actually used when finning sharks. It’s still too slim to feature an image of a shark, but maybe drawing it in an angle from which the blade would seem larger could make it work?
• “Confinement” – “A poster featuring the piece made by Damien Hirst, but it is repurposed as a diving cage (used by divers to get close and personal with sharks and other aquatic creatures) just that in this case it is the shark that is within the cage”. I think this has to be the least developed so far but holding (probably) the most potential if taken further. Obviously requires amping and experimenting, especially with angles and figures that surround the caged shark.
• “Behind the Jaws” (2) – “Another concept is having a human silhouette behind a sekeleton of a shark’s jaw. The person would be holding the jaw bone, referring to the control which people possess over the image of sharks”. I enjoy this concept but I feel like it doesn’t really go anywhere beyond what I’ve already described (could potentially be either that it’s a poor concept OR that it’s fleshed out to the maximum, though I doubt that..). Would not write it off as a flawed poster tho, still worth looking into and creating a final piece for, just maybe not wasting too much time on it.
• “The tip of the Iceberg” – “Showcasing a shark-shaped iceberg emerging from the ocean in an “attack” manner, the part which is underwater is visibly damaged and crumbly”. Another concept which I feel is pretty straight forward but translated the idea quite well. Would require upgrading as the proportions of the iceberg compared to the proportions of an actual iceberg simply do not add up. Making the surfaced bit be smaller than the one submerged underwater could work as symbolism for a bigger underlying problem, but most people only see the situation at surface value.
• “Ocean’s Anchor” – “A concept based around the fact that sharks are one of the most crucial aquatic species, thus being the anchor which keeps the balance within certain underwater ecosystems. The image I used for inspiration for developing this concept is of a finned hammerhead shark which has just been dumped into the ocean after being sliced up by shark finners”. I ran a poll on my instagram page and was met with an overwhelming response of support for this concept to be the main/central focus that I have whilst working on the project. I would say it is the most developed out of the 5 visually and could honestly use the sketch I made for it as a foundation for the actual thing while the others I would like to redraw with more precision as well as incorporate some changes to them.
I will most definitely do my best to turn all 5 concepts into fully-fleshed final pieces but will focus more on the ones which received the most support based on the poll. It will be interesting to see what direction I will take when making the final pieces. Initially I thought it would be cool to make a lino cut for each poster concept, but, after learning that the studio will be closed for all of spring break, I decided it would probably be smarter for me to draw these. At least for now. Might have to make another poll on IG regarding it, though, should make the proper lineart for it first! That’s probably what I will be doing throughout the next couple of days. Will return once I have a result to document it on here.
Robertas Tijusas 