As society grows, so does technology; especially the need for phones. Everyone can be seen with a phone clutched in their hand and thumbs tapping away. People nowadays seem to be more concerned for their phones life then their own. People need to “protect themselves”.
The purpose of this assignment was to create an original device skin or case on gelaskins that can be seen as marketable and appeal to a wide variety of people. The case is created using both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator to create a trendy design that it drawing or photo based. All of the images that were used were hand drawn in Illustrator or created in Photoshop, or found on creative commons to ensure they are copy right free, allowing them to be used for commercial use. By following current trends, I was able to create four case designs that can be produced and sold, that follows expectations. The cases appeal to many audiences, and is eye catching, unique and original, with no copyright imagery; they all vary in simplicity and complexity and are attractive to look at. The overall designs are trendy and work together to make a successful and marketable piece.
In the phone cases, there are a variety of different elements and principles of art that can be seen to make the phone more appealing and successful in both pieces and as individual ones. The principles that can be seen are balance, unity, emphasis, proportion. Balance can be seen in both Sir Darth and in Claimed. First, balance; in both pieces, the type of balance that can be seen is asymmetrical balance. Balance can be seen in Sir Darth in the background of the piece. The camel droid seen behind the left hand side of Sir Darth balances out the Death Star seen in the top right and the piece of the tree. Unity can be seen as all the aspects balance and connect with each other. The overall image has a sepia colour tone to it, and allows the images within to connect to each other. By editing the images so they all have a sepia colour tone to them makes the piece to feel as a whole and complete as one piece, rather than a series of images. Emphasis can be seen as Sir Darth is in the center of the case, with all other aspects smaller in size and proportion. Lastly, proportion. This can be seen in the overall case. Sir Darth himself is the largest and in the foreground; other aspects, like the camel droid, death star and Alderan are smaller and get smaller into the background. In Claimed balance can be seen by the even weight of the top and bottom halves of the case; the bright white wings that lie on top balance out the text and silhouette figure on the bottom. By making the wings larger than the silhouette, it allows the text to help balance it. The second and last principle that can be seen in Claimed is unity. All four simple aspects connect to each other and balance the next. By repeating the colour of white and black, the sense of togetherness can be felt.
Elements that can be seen is colour. This element is very important. The colours chosen for each all fit into one theme, either sepia, or simple. The colours chosen in Sir Darth all fit into a sepia still, washed out theme. By editing all the colours in the piece of each image (i.e., Alderan, Death Star, etc.), all of the aspects came together and harmonized with each other. In Claimed, a black and white theme was chosen. By doing this, it allowed the pain image of the wings to stand out in contrast to the dark black background, adding emphasis to it. Also, the drawn silhouette of the character Daryl Dixon can be seen clearly and recognized. Its bright white body contrasts greatly against the darkness of the background, with a grey cross bow to connect the two. By adding the slight bit of colour adds a contrast as its a off yellow/white colour.
Phone Cases created that can be seen as marketable are as followed. Other cases created for own purpose and seen as less marketable can be seen following text. First image is the design completed and placed onto the phone case template design; second image seen is the original image and final design.
“Sir Darth”
Adobe Photoshop
IPhone 5S
“Claimed“
Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator
IPhone 5S
During this creation process, not only did the cases have to be successful in aspects of principles and elements of design, they also had to be marketable. While researching and exploring different ideas on the GELASKINS website, I came across a repeated trend of animal heads on peoples bodies. These were created by Emily Burns in Zenmishka and Flannel Beads and the entire collection created by Tony Taylor. I took inspiration from this immediately, but in my own direction. I decided to stick with the theme of cropping something’s head and placing it onto a body, but went in a more Sci-Fi route. I took the idea of Tony Taylor’s animal head on a sophisticated body and Emily Burns’ theme of a animals head on an elaborate body. I decided to do the same, but instead crop Darth Vader’s had on a sophisticated body, in a sepia theme. I took a trend that is ever growing and popular and made it my own, in a way that not only appealing to me, but to those who enjoy the cropped head style, as well as those who enjoy anything Sci-Fi, like Starwars. How my case fits this trend is in its final look. I took a photograph of a classy, old fashioned man and cropped his head off; I then took a photograph of Darth Vader and cropped his hand onto the suited person. I also decided to add more to my concept and design; I, along with the suited Darth Vader, added various photographs into the background to make it more of a unique and original concept and design. I added in a camel droid, as well as the Death Star. death star is, however, completing a classic scene from the films; blowing up Princess Leia’s planet, Alderan. Lastly, I cropped, in place of a cane, Darth’s classic red light saber, glowing bright. By adding all of these photographs into the piece, as well as cropping Darth Vader’s head onto a suited body, allow the piece to be even more original.
The second case, Claimed, is also seen as marketable. The show “The Walking Dead” has, over 5 seasons, grown to become the second most watched television show, following first place, wrestling. As this has become more popular, Walking Dead themed items can be seen everywhere, from clothing, to dishware, to accessories and wall art. The wings seen are an iconic symbol of the shows most popular and well known character, Daryl Dixon. I, with his as my focus, decided to take this farther. I hand drew, on Adobe Illustrator, Dixon’s silhouette and classic cross bow slung over his shoulder. Also on Illustrator, I edited and created my text that is featured as the word CLAIMED to match the text of “The Walking Dead’s”. This case is marketable because of many reasons. The concept itself is something very popular and recognizable and is ever growing. Second, the elements found with are original and help complete my original concept and design.
The direct links to the case designs mentioned above:
Zenmishka By Emily Burns: http://nuvango.com/emily-burns/zenmishka
Flannel Beads By Emily Burns: http://nuvango.com/emily-burns/flannel-beads
Tony Taylor: http://nuvango.com/tony-taylor
The site used to create the cases:
Phone Cases created for own purposes, that are not as marketable are as followed. First image is the design completed and placed onto the phone case template design; second image seen is the original image and final design.
“Where’s Waldo”
Adobe Illustrator
IPhone 5S
For this piece I felt it needed some back story and description to why I choose to create it. All of the people seen are people and actors/actresses that mean something to me, whether they are family, friends, or people from my favourite band, shows and movies, all can be found, including Waldo himself! All of these people are drawn into a big scene, which encapsulates a stage for the band Buckcherry, the clock tower from Once Upon A Time, the larping forest from Supernatural, the Tardis from Doctor Who, or a simple tree for Alice from Alice In Wonderland.
“Keep Calm…”
Adobe Illustrator
IPhone 5S
The statement on the phone says it all; Keep calm and love cows.
Melissa Reid: Art Portfolio Blog 