Ronaldo - Adobe Illustrator Practise

This is a trace of an image of Ronaldo which I have created using Adobe Illustrator. This piece of work links to two parts of my final response, one of them is that it is a large full-colour trace of his upper body, this links to the large full-colour trace which can be found in my fourth stamp, which is of Jesus Christ. This also helped me as it is of Ronaldo, who is a very famous Brazilian sporting hero, who is a popular figure amongst many Brazilians. In my first stamp you will find a silhouette of all of Ronaldo's body which I created in Adobe Illustrator. I mainly created this though to improve my skills whilst using this software as I had not previously used it, and I would be needing to use it to create all four of my stamps that would be my final response. Despite creating it for practise, it has also helped me develop a few of my ideas and even helped me come up with new ideas to make my original ideas better.

Stamp four - final outcome

 

It may be suggested in this fourth and final stamp that the focal point in it was not intended to be the focal point of it whatsoever. The large trace of half of Jesus Christ's face on the left hand side of the stamp could be viewed as the main focus of this image because of its size. Though the intended focal point of this image is the silhouette of the spider found just right to centre of this image. The spider is largely significant to that of the native Brazilian Wandering Spider as it is famous for being known as possibly the world's most deadliest of all arachnids because of its aggressiveness and because of it known to being extremely territorial as well. Though back to the image of Jesus Christ, this could cause confusion as to why it is significant to Brazil though it is simply because of the large amount of the Brazilian population that are know Christians; this fact is evident through the extremely large national landmark of Christ the Redeemer. Also with this image of Jesus Christ, I have created it in the style of which I have due to my research on the work of illustrator Pablo Jeffer da Silva. In many of his images you will find a large image of half of woman's face, so I have tried to add this to my work by using the face of Jesus Christ; a very significant figure to Brazilian culture which makes him a very well known figure to a high amount of the Brazilian population. I have also used other techniques of Pablo Jeffer da Silva's work in this final stamp by once again using the gradient tool and flares.

Stamp 3 - final outcome

In this stamp I have chosen for my focal point to be that of Brazilian landmark, Christ the Redeemer. I have done this as a silhouette once again as my design is colourful it makes it stand out more by being an all black silhouette. I have used this as it is most likely Brazil's most famous landmark, with it standing at 124 ft. in height over the city of Rio de Janeiro it is visible from all around with it also being located at the peak of the Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca forest national park. It is also significant to the culture as a large majority of Brazilians are Catholic, which makes Jesus Christ a very popular figure amongst many Brazilians. Besides it you will see a bird which is native to Brazil, though this bird specifically is located in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, as it is a trace of an image which I have taken myself on my trip to Tropical World. Once again I have used a few techniques similar to the ones that are used by illustrator Pablo Jeffer da Silva, by using the gradient tool for my background and the flare tool. I have also followed a similar style as the ones in my first two stamps by having the Olympic rings located in the bottom right and my Rio 2016 logo in the top left hand corner.

Stamp two - final outcome

With all of my stamps I have decided to make them quite similar as when put together they do not create a larger image so I have done this so that it is still easy to tell that they are all together in a set. The focal point in this stamp is the large silhouette of a woman manoeuvring a Judo kick. That woman is not just there to signify a sport in the Olympic games, she is also there to represent young Brazilian talent - Sarah Menezes. I have used Sarah Menezes as I found after completing a bit of research on her that she is expected to be one of Brazil's main stars at their Olympics. Last year in London she struck gold aged just 22, so it isn't hard to tell why she is one of the country's main prospects for the next Olympics, which is also going to held in their own country. As well as the last stamp it is clear to see in this one also that I have combined two previous ideas together by going back to my original plan to have silhouettes in each of the four stamps, though I have also used more recent research work on some main aspects of Brazilian life and culture. Besides the silhouette there is a much small colour image that is of the Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho open-air stadium in Brazil. I have used this in my design as it is located in Rio de Janeiro and was partially rebuilt in preparation for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup, which will be the first one held in Brazil since 1950, and also the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The capacity of the stadium is roughly 96,000 so it is clear to tell as to why it will be one of the main stadiums for the Olympic games. Also in this stamp, you can see how I have tried to use techniques which I have recognised from the work of Pablo Jeffer da Silva, by having the gradient as the whole of the background and the flare which is located just above the kicking leg of the athlete. I have also stuck to a certain style by using the Rio 2016 logo in the stamp again and having the Queen's head in the top right corner, and also having the Olympic rings in the stamp, located in the same place as the first stamp.

Stamp one - final outcome

It is clear to see here that I have not completely followed the idea which I have previously published. However, in this stamp I have taken aspects from all of my different pieces of work and research in the months previous to it. I have still kept the idea that I would have Ronaldo as my focal point in my first stamp, and that I have done. Though this version differs from my original plan as I had been previously been creating a full colour trace of the top half of his body in Adobe Illustrator and in this version I have created a silhouette of his whole body. I did this after I realised that it would make it stand out more rather than having it in colour along with the rest of the stamp and the other image which I would create beside it. The colours which I have used in my stamp are significant to Brazil as I have used: green, blue, yellow and orange. I researched the colours of Brazil which include the colours of the flag and the colour of kits which sports teams wear. Yellow, green and blue are used for the Brazilian flag and football team's kit and I incorporated orange as it is a colour which is similar to yellow so looks good in a gradient with it, as well as it being a warm colour to represent the warm temperatures and sun in Rio de Janeiro. Despite it differing from my last idea it still ties in with all of the work I have already done as my first sketches show that I originally planned to have sketches on all of my stamps, although I just planned for them all to be of different sports in the Olympics rather than here I have merged my two previous ideas in to one, as I still have Ronaldo as my focal point in this first stamp, though I have created him as a silhouette instead as I was going to do anyway in my first idea, but instead just of someone kicking a ball and not specifically Ronaldo. Besides him I have traced around an image which I have taken myself. This image is of an Iguana which I saw on my trip to Tropical World and got a good photo of. I used the same techniques to create this image as I did with the Ronaldo which I created as practise in Adobe Illustrator leading up to my final piece. As you will be able to tell from my previous blogs, I have been researching the work on artist, Pablo Jeffer da Silva. I have viewed many pieces of his work so that I am able to get a feel for the sort of techniques which he consistently uses in his illustrations. I have incorporated some of his techniques into my own stamps by using the flare tool in each of them. In this stamp specifically you will be able to see that I have used the tool twice; first just below the Queen's head in the top right hand corner and second to the left of the Rio 2016 logo. Another technique of his which I have tried to incorporate into my own work is the gradient tool. Again, in this stamp specifically you can see that I have used it for the whole of the background for it. And also, I created my own Rio 2016 logo to use in my stamps and I have used the gradient effect once again in that. Aside from that I have also tried to make it look like a real Olympic stamp by using a silhouette of the Queen's head in the top right corner and in the bottom right there are the Olympic rings.

Sketches

Here you will see 4 design ideas for stamps which I drew up for homework earlier on in the brief. In each stamp there is a different silhouette to represent 4 different competitions in the Olympic games and in the background there is the name of the Brazilian city - Rio de Janeiro, though this is only clear when they are all put together as separate parts of it are on each of the 4 stamps. Also you will see that when they are put together it creates the Brazilian national flag in the centre of it all. I am not sure yet as to if my final design will look exactly like this as there are many other things that I wish to add such as flares and gradients, though doing this has definitely helped in developing my idea as there are ideas which I can take from this in my final design.