I wanted to use this opportunity to just experiment with, and get lost in, making different textures and just seeing where it took me. Whilst drawing the first few I was thinking about advertising and the influx of sale posters and billboards up around this time of year, post-christmas. I considered it an interesting concept to make fake posters, essentially selling textures, for example a texture background with a common sales phrase on top, such as '50% off'. These posters would exist merely to entice a consumer into thinking, into wondering what is for sale but not actually acting upon their retail urges. The more I thought about it the more I found an interesting relationship between what I was doing and what big companies were doing; I on one hand was spending hours slaving over intricately detailed textures, with no profit in mind, only the curiosity to explore texture and the desire to make something visually appealing and engaging, whereas on the other hand companies are pursuing the fastest, cheapest methods of getting their offers across as efficiently as possible. Often the results of the latter are ugly and boring and disinteresting, but are made to grab the consumer and entice them into buying whatever products are up for grabs for whatever discount is offered. Mine however are all hand drawn and aim to also catch the viewers attention, but make them think and question what is 'half price', what the poster is for and what it is offering them.
Hand drawing all the type also got me researching again about sign painting, something I have a big previous interest in. The ethos around the trade is one of appreciating hand crafted and traditional signs over cheap vinyl ones, for their charm and character and value as pieces of art as well as identities for the businesses and companies using them. In this way, perhaps using one's talents for commercial means is a worthwhile investment after all, if done right and with quality and tradition in mind.
Here are some of my outcomes:
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