Magazine Project

When doing the magazine project, I wanted to lean more towards a "New Yorker" magazine type of vibe, wanted to stay somewhat clean and incorporate white canvas - what I ended up with was something a little different. I enjoy the guitar, and figured that focusing on the classical genre would present the guitar as an instrument with rich history and class, and not so much a contemporary, trendy instrument. The cover image on top with the blue music notes is a revised cover I created, and the cover below it without the notes is the original cover that was first created. I started out creating the name plate and viewing that against the white. I liked the font face and white space starring back at me - It reminded me of a canvas and I wanted to try to incorporate as much of it as I could without overwhelming the viewer. I didn't want to use a photograph, but instead wanted some sort of sketchy illustration that would present a sense of awe and provoke the imagination of the audience. I took an image of a classical guitar and traced it using Adobe Illustrator. I than copied the trace and overlapped the second layer with a different color. I was trying to recreate a "wire look" I saw in a painting of a New Orleans jazz guitarist. At the time being a beginner using Illustrator, the unfamiliar interface caused me to "explore" the various tools available. Somehow, I created a new brush image unintentionally, and dragged my mouse with button held down.
I dragged for a while and ended up with image on the cover - excluding some minor liquid effects I used in order to present some titles. It probably is one of the few times I would be proud of a mistake. I liked the abstract distorted image. To me it was still recognizable but had a strong sense of movement against a plain white background. The image seemed a little overwhelming in some areas, and even a bit risky - but those aspects go along with some amazing guitar players I seen, so I liked it. The revised image with the blue notes and changes to headings was created after being challenged to incorporate some cool colors within the image. Some headings were adjusted for easier readability for the target audience.