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Wind storage
Posterized painting, computer
collage, watercolour and crayon
©2011 Charlene Brown
The steps I followed in compiling these ‘sustainable
technology’ posters, following the ‘tangential process of creative ideation’
described in my March 5 post, LINK are as follows:
1: Print the title, or main idea of the poster. This should
be attention-getting and clear in the case of regular posters, and
attention-getting but perhaps a little ambiguous for art posters. Add some
background illustration, appropriate to the theme. I’ve used posterized versions of watercolour landscapes.
Posterization of an image
entails conversion of continuous gradations of tone to a limited number of
value levels and colours, with abrupt changes from one to the next
2: Introduce some secondary objectives and possibilities or
even tangential ideas. The additions to the posters are collages of words relating
to Economic and Environmental considerations.
3:
Compose a very simple outline diagram of a possible solution, which could be based
on a few of the ‘labels’ identified in Step 2.
I did the diagrams in crayon on square-ruled paper because I like the
‘look’ this produces, and the grid provides straight lines (always helpful) and
facilitates scale drawings.
4: Transform the diagram. Make it bigger or smaller, reverse
or invert it by mirroring the image, take something out, combine two diagrams
etc. whatever it takes to fit it into the poster. Add annotations. This will
incorporate another one of the contrasts between regular posters and art
posters. In a regular poster, illustration labels would be succinct; whereas
illustrations in an art poster can be annotated with as many of the pieces
accumulated in Step 2 as can be fitted in. I had to steer myself away from
putting together a montage, in which all the bits are more or less readable. What I really wanted was a collage, which I
think is more suitable for this concept of introducing relatively random ideas…
5: Give names to your ‘solutions’ to the objectives posed in Step 1. Remember
it doesn’t have to be obvious how these things are going to work.
The steps as shown in this second example:
- objective: solve ‘new technology’ problems.
- secondary factors: collaged word pattern
- diagram: wind turbines
- transformation: run it backwards
- wind storage
