Digital Medley VS Illustrative Montage

I've put in place all my imagery for my mural, but after looking at my final piece, I think it needs something more. Whilst I have achieved the overall look & feel that I was going for with the mural, I still think it needs something extra to make it look illustrated as opposed to just a digital rendition. I was hoping, that since none of my other posts have any comments, that my followers would comment on this post, letting me know whether or not they prefer the more contemporary, sketched look to my mural, or the funky, vibrant version both shown here. While I realise I have to aim this mural at an 18-24 year old demographic, I think my choice of imagery still keeps a feeling of youth, even in the sketch version, whilst still looking traditional.

The first image is a sample of my original mural, the second is my more illustrative looking version.

All vote.... NOW!

Image within image

While finalising my mural, I noticed that the series of basic white stars I'd had in place were beginning to look a little out of place, sure they looked like stars but they just seemed to create a vast white space that made that area of my mural just look empty. Since I started this mural, I wanted to find a way to incorporate players from the New York Yankees into it, so I found the "empty" stars to be a perfect chance to include them. I've retained the poster edge effect with this image so that it still fits in with the rest of mural.

Yo! Sushi on YouTube!

Not really relevant to Yo! Sushi New York, but I found this pretty cool video on YouTube that looks Yo! Sushi in London. The video looks at why Yo! Sushi is so popular, what the brand has to offer, plus comments from employees, fun facts & more!

Check it out by clicking here

Yo! Sushi also have their own YouTube channel. Click here to visit it.

Incorporating the Yo! Logo

It's only just occured to me that I need to find a way of incorporating the Yo! Sushi logo into my wall mural. I don't want to go down the route of just placing the logo over the top of my imagery, so I have looked at how I can actually incorporate the logo into the imagery itself. My first choice was to include it on the top of a New York taxi, as you often see advertisments on them. When I applied this to my mural however, it was a little too subtle & not as prominent as I would have liked.

Then my mum came to have a nosey at what I was doing & suggested putting the Yo! Sushi logo on one of the advertisements in Times Square, which I would have never thought of. After applying the image, I am really pleased with how it looks, I just hope that when I place my mural imagery over the top (Times Square is going to be used as my background image) that the Yo! Sushi logo doesn't become too hidden. I also hope that the logo doesn't give off a typical super-imposed look, which I think will be helped if the logo can be made to look like part of the background when my imagery is applied. Once again, I have also applied the poster edge effect to retain the look & feel that runs throughout the rest of my mural.

Final decision making

Ok, so I am nearing the finalisation stages of my mural. After a few tryouts with layout, positioning etc, I have decided to add just a few more things in terms of imagery to my mural. I have dollar bills & stars 'n' stripes to represent America as a whole & I have famous New York landmarks to put emphasis on the city. I think including other, more subtle imagery to the mural would be a good idea, as this could highlight some of the less significant elements of New York in contrast to the cliche, more famous images we are all used to.

Elements I could consider include:

NYPD
Broadway
The New York Yankees Logo
Methods of travel (Yellow Cabs, Aeroplanes etc)

While these elements of New York are still well known, I think in comparison to what I have already included in my mural, they are somewhat of an afterthought, so I think it could work well to have them contrast the bigger, more famous icons of New York.

Dolla' bills!

In another addition to imagery for my mural, I've decided to incorporate something, aside from the Stars 'n' Stripes, that is not just iconic to New York, but to America in general. I came to the conclusion of including the American Dollar bill. So, after finding a lovely, high-res image on the net, & applying my poster edge effect, I had a perfect Dollar bill to add to my mural. However, as is seen in the image shown, the bill looks a little flat (literally) & I think that this wouldn't really look very exciting on a mural, it would just be there, not doing much. To add a little emphasis to the dollar bill, I decided to use the wave distortion tool to bring the dollar to life & make it stand out a little more. I'm planning on completely rearranging the imagery on my mural so I won't have the problem of having to find a place in my already existing mural in which to put this image.

Background Imagery

After tutor feedback, I'm feeling pretty positive about the direction that my mural is going in. I have all my elements collected, now I just need to decide on a final layout for my mural. Since New York is an extremely crowded, busy city, I obviously want to emulate this in my mural. I don't want to go to the extent where my images are hard to see & distinguish, but I want to incorporate the busyness of the city into my final image.

The obvious choice is to create a montage. When positioned, this should make my images stand out & hopefully put across the busy nature of NYC. I think to final touch to my mural, I will need to incorporate a background image to finish the whole thing off. For this, I am considering applying the comic book effect to an image of either Times Square, perhaps the busiest area of New York, or something more subtle, such as Brooklyn bridge.

Alternate ideas

Going back to my concepts, I'd like to make the Yo Sushi logo quite prolific on my mural & direct mail pack. While the design I have knocked up may not work as well as a wall mural, I think this may work as an alternate take on the logo for use in the NY chain. One of my original ideas for the company logo was maintain the original, but add NY to the end, which may have looked a little cliche, I think incorporating the New York skyline into the logo itself is an effective way of conveying the location of this branch of Yo Sushi.

Research? Oops!

Since I've completely bypassed (for the most part) my research into other illustrators, designers & artists in this blog, I suppose I'd better give you a look at some work I've looked at & taken inspiration from.
Obviously, as I noted in my post before last, I have looked at various comic book artists. I've done this because most comic book heroes are associated with America, notably New York & I think a recognizable style such as this would work well on an American mural.
While investigating Comic book artists, I stumbled upon Greg Horn, an illustrator for Marvel & DC, aswell as various other comic books & video game covers.

http://greghornjudge.com/

His style is much too lifelike for my taste. This is not the kind of style I wanted to approach on my mural, although it does look effective, I just don't think the impact is there to make a Yo Sushi wall mural in New York stand out as being stereotypically American. I think a much more vibrant, colourful approach would work better.

Pictured here, are a couple of examples of cover art from Marvel & DC Star Wars & Superman comics from the 1970's & 1980's respectively. This vibrant, retro looking art style, in my opinion, perfectly defines comic book art & would look visually stunning as part of a wall mural. Aside from portraying New Yorks icons & landmarks in this style, incorporating elements of the comic books themselves would also show the link between "Yo Sushi: New York" & my chosen art style. With some of these old school comic books, halftone print is commonly seen, so maybe using a look similar to that (almost similar to the work of Lichtenstein) may also help give a retro-comic feel to my mural. The reason for my choice of a retro style is because retro seems to be coming back into fashion, toy companies are reverting back to their original packaging designs from this era, comic book heroes themselves are appearing on clothing etc. This retro/pop culture feel is beginning to become highly desired amongst the youths of today & I think using this style for my mural will appeal to that audience.

Concepts

Here is my first on-screen concept in a couple of flavours. One is a basic, landscape montage, the other is the same assortment of imagery, gathered into a circle (inspired by the Japanese flag) to form an alternate layout. As you can see, I have applied the poster edge filter to each image, which brings a variety of images with very different looks together into one, distinctive style.

Although I am leaning towards a simplistic, landscape mural, I am very fond of the circular design. I like the way the icons of New York break out of the circle. If I do not use a similar layout to this for my mural,  I think this is definitley a direction I could take for my direct mail or beer/wine labels.

Elements to consider

For my mural, I must not only focus on New York, but also on Yo Sushi itself. To do this, I am considering incorporating fun, friendly elements of Japan into my mural, such as the widely known Geisha dolls that many shops both here in the UK & overseas are selling. I think these tie in well with the Yo Sushi mascot that features heavily on the Yo Sushi website.

How to achieve a style

Since illustrating is not particularly one of my strong points, I will most likely venture down the Photoshop route, piling my images in & going filter-mad. I have applied one of my initial concepts to what I believe to be one of NYC's most famous landmarks, the Statue of Liberty. This concept derives from my experience playing around with Photoshop filters, which albeit are a little cliche, but in my opinion, if applied correctly, can look extremely effective. The process shown here is the use of the "Poster edges" filter, which I have found, can bring out excellent detail in high-res images, while retaining a very illustrative, posterized look. If I am to achieve a look similar to that of comic book artists, this may well be a route I will consider, as this process has hit the nail on the head. If I am to avoid a so called "photoshop bonanza" whilst still using this process, I must ensure my images are laid out effectively in order to create a stunning wall mural.

Styles continued...

I've finally decided to apply a truly American illustration style to my wall mural. I think the use of bold colours, outlines & stylized imagery with a comic book-feel will truly define the American theme in the NY branch of Yo Sushi. To get an idea of how typical American illustration looks & is portrayed, I have sourced some sample images from which to gain some inspiration.

What I would really like to achieve is a look similar to famous American comic book illustrators, such as Steve Ditko & Frank Miller. I think the style of these two artists have a distinctive look& feel to them that is instantly recognizable. Jack Kirby is another recognizable comic book artist. I think the way comic books are illustrated is a style that many recognize & associate with America, particularly New York, where comic book heroes such as Spider-Man reside. This distinctive style will enable customers to instantly recognize where they are & maybe even for some comedic value, certain superheroes could appear on my mural to reinforce the style & also get the Yo Sushi brand over as a youthful & energetic brand.

Choosing a style...

One style I would like to pursue in my wall mural, is the combination of illustration/vector imagery & photography. Illustration isn't one of my stronger points, but I could find ways of doing it using different programs. Here, I have found an image that represents (to an extent) the style I would look to create.

Looking at illustrators

These images were created by an illustrator named Kari Moden.
Her style reminds me of Saul Bass, particularly in the first image. The use of uneven, choppy type really enforces that I think. Her use of strong colour, vibrant shapes create a very interesting & stand-out look.

No prizes for guessing which City I've chosen...

Tokyo Wall Mural?

Here is an example of a Yo Sushi wall mural I found online, I'm not entirely sure which chain it is locates in, but judging by the heavy influence of Japanese type & imagery, I would assume this is somewhere in Japan, probably Tokyo. Yo Sushi appear to have a mascot who I'm sure has a name, but I've yet to find out what it is. This seems to be emphasized on this mural & it also features  prominently on the Yo Sushi website, I think this is a good way of showing brand continuity.