Design Principles Exercise

 

 Contrast and Emphasis

My idea for contrast was meant to be simple yet effective, inspired from imagery that I've drawn and basing the whole emphasis of this piece on one of my DnD characters that I have written and played as throughout the whole of last year.

Initial Sketch

Initially, I wanted to create a partial view of the sword almost as if it is lying down on the ground, in the same vein that when someone is disarmed and dropping their weapon to the ground.

 

 

Initial Piece

I then added the blood stains to signify the violence this character has gone through and to contrast the sword and blood with the bright pink background. However, I did not proceed with this piece, mainly due to the lack of impact that can showcase said violence and the general composition being too simplistic.

 

I took inspiration from a piece that is tied to the video game, ULTRAKILL. The sharpness and bold contrasting colours would fit perfectly with this piece.

 

My Inspiration

 

 

Sword Sketch

I decided to rework my efforts and to put more of an emphasis on the sword itself. I created a sword from the ground up and utilized it to shape my piece. However I realized the finer details were not necessary later down the line.

Final Sword Design

 

I removed the details and went with a silhouette type of look and also added a little bit of motion blur to give the sword a sense of movement. I also turned it white to contrast well with the black background.

 

Added Blood Impact

 

I proceeded to add the blood splatters that go in the opposite direction of the sword to better visualize the piercing impact imbued by the forceful downwards movement of the blade. Also turning the blood that is overlapping the sword a jet black to better contrast the sword and blood. I then proceeded to add some motion blur for extra impact.

 

Final Design

 

 

 

The final design has been tweaked and I added the lines across the background to signify the cuts the sword has made as well as adding wings to the side to give a sense of freedom and experience to the wielder of said sword.

Symbol

 

Following the sword symbolism shown in the last section, I wanted to continue said symbolism in here both in relation to the character that I based this off of and the sword that ties into said character.

 

I was inspired by the bat symbol due to it's sharp ends but also curved edges to give both a threatening yet good hearted aura.

 

 

My Inspiration

 

 

 

Initial Sketch

I chose to draw this in the form of a bird of prey spreading its wings as it soars around looking for its next target.

Colored Sketch

I then colored it red to match not only the violence this character has encountered and endured but also to be reminiscent to that of a Red Hawk/Falcon. However, this design would be altered as I wanted to add the sword imagery once again.

Added Sword

 

I decided to place the sword in between the wings as not only does it create a balance in symmetry, but it also still retains that sharp bird-like appearance. The sword is already a big part of said character and I felt it would not be appropriate to remove that.

Final Design

The final design was conceived to be more symbol-like, as there were simply too many colors spread out onto the piece and hence, I deemed it necessary to change it to be only black as red was simply too bright of a color.