In this unit, my brief was to create postage stamps for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. My first task was to research this brief topic and so I began by looking at previous made stamps for the Olympics from other countries.
Each stamp of the olympics had its own style. For example the 1972 stamps (in the center) have very simple styles of a colour along with white to contrast. These are very different to the Indian Athens 2004 stamps which contain detailed illustrations of different sports possibly made with pastels.
I then followed this up by looking into Olympic Pictograms which are used by every Olympics country to be able to show a simple rendition of that specific sport so that countries from all around the globe can easily understand without having to translate.
Each pictogram had its own style. The Mexico City 1968 pictogram being the most different from the others - it uses very simple, zoomed in shapes to show each sport off where as others use stick figure. The Beijing 2008 pictograms use the Chinese lettering style to show each sport that make the almost look like the well-known Chinese typography to make them in their style.
Each pictogram had its own style. The Mexico City 1968 pictogram being the most different from the others - it uses very simple, zoomed in shapes to show each sport off where as others use stick figure. The Beijing 2008 pictograms use the Chinese lettering style to show each sport that make the almost look like the well-known Chinese typography to make them in their style.
Then I looked into the Japanese Pop Culture. I found lots of use of many bright colour palettes with a heavy use of red. The japanese culture is heavily influenced by cartoons and anime. Kawaii is the culture of cuteness in Japan refering to something small, cute or child-like.
I then looked into the old style of Japanese Woodblock Printing. This was achieved by carving into wood which would then be printed on cloth. This become very popular in East Asia before 220 AD. This used very simple line style with colours that were very flat and contained not much shadowing or detail however this type of style I think looks super cool and is much different to any style in the West.
Olympic-themed Postage Stamps
Stamp 1 - 'Itsukushima Shrine'
Beginning with a reference image of the 'Itsukushima Shrine' to use for the stamp image. I traced the object in Adobe Illustrator
Along with this, I also traced the background hills once in Photoshop.
Using my tablet and Photoshop, I slowly began creating the artwork.
Slowly adding colour and shading. I used previous Japanese woodblock art I had researched as inspiration for these colour and style choices to replicate the style as much as I could.
The final steps were to add clouds and the paper effect to give off this woodblock printing style effectively.
I also added the typography necessary as the Japanese Postal Service characters at the top as well as the name of the Itsukushima Shrine in Japanese at the bottom. I also inserted the the olympic logo at the bottom left.
I also added the typography necessary as the Japanese Postal Service characters at the top as well as the name of the Itsukushima Shrine in Japanese at the bottom. I also inserted the the olympic logo at the bottom left.
Stamp 2 - 'Himeji Castle'
This time, my second stamp would be on the castle 'Himeji Castle'. I began with an image for reference and once again followed this by drawing outlines of the castle. Then adding colour again from my previous research.
My final steps were to add shading, clouds and further colour to replicate the old style of woodblock printing.
This is my second finished stamp.
Stamp 3 - 'Shirakawa Village'
I did not like the colours I had to used above and so I went back and found a Japanese woodblock print I liked to then use inspiration of colour to use in my own. This one used a lot of grey with its white and black style. I used this in my own colour change.
I liked this change more as it made the image feel darker and portrayed the weather much better than the colours used above.
Stamp 4 - 'Kumano Kodo'
The Four Illustration Stamps:
Typography Stamps
My final four stamps would be made with a typographic element compared to the four illustration stamps above. To begin with, I began researching typographic stamps by creating a mindmap with previously design and sold stamps.
Quotes
I am getting quotes from the film 'Joker' to use on my typographic stamps. I looked at different quotes which I would use and found these to be the best of which I would make four stamps using four quotes.
My chosen quotes are:
"My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face"
"The worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't."
"All I have are negative thoughts"
"Can you introduce me as Joker?"
"My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face"
"The worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't."
"All I have are negative thoughts"
"Can you introduce me as Joker?"
I then looked at some fonts that I could include into the design. These were all eroded, print style to replicate the 'Joker' film typographic logo along with the feel of the film being dark and raw.
Typography Stamp 1
"My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face"
Typography Stamp 2
"The worst part about having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don't."
This quote is from Arthur's (Joker) book. I wanted to replicate the fact that it was written in his book with his hand writing rather than being said and so I attempted to make it look like it was actually written by the character.
Typography Stamp 3
"All I have are negative thoughts"
Typography Stamp 4
"Can you introduce me as Joker?"
The Four Typography Stamps:
Unit 41: Graphic Media Techniques Design Report | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |