Poster 5 (of 5) + alternate

Here is the fifth and final poster. There are two versions which you can see. The posters are more-or-less the same with two slight differences. I duplicated the title and the slogan and gave it a wind filter which gives the illusion of drags to one side of the text. Or as if it has been blown out. The changes don't make any difference to the way I feel about this poster. This is the one I'm unhappy with at the final result. This piece lacks in character and substance and I also didn't spend as much time on so you could even say it has been rushed. When you look at it, it flares up no emotion, it's a poor and boring piece that needed more time spent on it. The fact that the centrepiece of this one is death himself I feel does not fit in to the mystery and subtlety to the project. So in a way it's like cheating my own rules. With this project I wanted a strong sense of mystery and depth. Hence the slogans being small riddles. I felt this was the piece that just lacked the mystery, the depth, the unpredictability and the horror. The reaper isn't even well drawn. At least I can say the other posters are miles better and I'm completed satisified with.

Death background for poster 5 (of 5)

This is the charcoal drawing I least like and deem not as effective as the rest. It's less shocking and/or as stunning as some of the others. As you can clearly see; the main subject of this piece is the Grim Reaper himself and as a drawing it doesn't look bad but it's quite clear that it was lacking in something. There is less or no use of shadows or textures in this piece so in a way it looks almost plain in comparison to the rest. The face of the Reaper lacks in character. It lacks in facial structure and the gaunt look I tried to make for him. I lightened his face and the scythe to make them stand out from the almost black background as the whole scene was incredibly dark. Another thing which I could've made better was more emphasis on the background. It's almost cloudy but in full honesty it's boring and there is nothing going on in the whole image; not just the background. With a second try I feel as if I coul've drawn this piece a lot better. This happens to be the obly piece I'm not happy with.

Poster 4 (of 5)

The first thing I came to edit with this piece was to darken the darker parts and lighten the lighter parts. In the original image it is clear that the drawing is too grey and lifeless. But with the edited, completed piece visible here there is an obvious almost luminous glow around the moon which I achieved using levels and the dodge tool. With the burn tool I created shadows and added deeper, darker trenches which border parts of the moon and with the dodge tool adding glow there are more characteristics and details to the mysterious sculpture. After these needed changes I placed in the new slogan but with this one I duplicated it and used motion blur to give the piece a ghostly echo behind.

Full moon background for poster 4 (of 5)

This is my single favourite charcoal drawing. I came up with the idea rotting from the forest and what could like in the forest. For example, werewolves. As soon as I came up with this idea; like a quick brainstorm I thought of a full moon idea. I tried to make a mist and a cloud element shrouding the clouds in the dark sky. This is visible but not on the scale I wanted it to. I would've liked more clouds and maybe even stars scattered across the page other than what I tried to do. But other than these missing pieces I put a mist which gives sort of an edge around the clouds which makes the moon stand out even more than what it already does. I wanted to make the moon look as genuine and well drawn as I possibly could. The only ways I could do this is to bring out the shape using highlighting, texture and shadows. Things which I feel have made my moon look (hopefully) stunning.

Poster 3 (of 5) + alternate

Here is the completed poster and an alternate to the completed poster. In this one you can see the chess piece with the same poster layout. In changing the charcoal chess piece I darkened the background and meddled with the levels to make certain parts lighter and others darker. The single difference between the two posters are clearly visible. The slogan in one of the posters (and the one I like more) is bolder and has a nice, radiant white glow behind it making it stand out from the page. The other is a less serious, distorted slogan with stretched, pulled and rotated distortions. It has more to it than the regular one but I think it is too much for the posters and strays away from the subtlety I am trying to achieve. With the alternate piece I'm talking about I was unsatisfied with it's Joker-like proportions so I created a plainer one which is bolder and has a glow which turned out better; but I have kept both. What I also did to change this poster to make it different from the rest of the posters which is also highly noticeable and stands out from the rest is that I distorted and re-edited the title. With the game element and the chess piece I come up with the distortion and re-proportion idea that would be suitable for the unique theme to this poster. In a way the title gives it an almost futuristic type of oddity.

Chess piece for poster 3 (of 5)

The chess piece is the only charcoal drawing that was in the original plans. The idea came to me when I considered the notion of 'playing with death'. With this idea of the chess piece I thought that instead of having the grim reaper or quite strong visuals with this chess piece it keeps the mystery and the game element. What I like about this charcoal drawing in particular is the contrast of the light and the shadows in the dark background. I think this is more effective than most of my other drawings becauase of the way it emphasizes on the mystery element to my project; not the horror.

Poster 2 (of 5)

Here is the completed poster for 'the face of horror'. To complete this all I did was duplicate the 'Cinema Deathly' title, date and everything else. I added a new slogan to this one and after this I darkened the right side of the face and also the background and even lightened certain parts using the levels, burn and dodge tool. I cropped the face cutting out the shoulders and what was the upper part of the body. After adding on the new slogan I gave it an outer glow to make it stand out more, and it does look better with this glow. This is one of the few posters I'm almost completely satisfied with. I'd even go as far to say it is next to perfect (I don't consider anything perfect). I'm satisfied with this because it is exactly how I wanted it to be in the initial plans I did of the posters. In fact, I'd say the face I charcoaled is almost exactly how I described it in the plan beforehand and also how I pictured it in my head. I think (overall) the poster works well. Looking back at it there are one or two things which could be changed to make it even better but still I am happy with the work I have produced.