I had already created 'Calcify' in response to the work of Alphonse Mucha and the Pangeaseed Project but felt to simply print this image in it's current state would be too much like what Carl had warned against. However I knew Mucha himself had created promotional posters in his style for movies and businesses at the time. (see left) The posters were art based but also had a clear title and purpose, fusing beauty and legibility to increase interest and create eyecatching yet clear advertisements. These posters had gone on in some cases to become more popular than the film they advertised, saved as collector items for years on. I thought creating a promotional poster for the Pangeaseed project in the style of Mucha could be an effective addition to the painting, and would also utilize the strengths of print based media, as throughout history it is the advertising and media industries which have been revolutionised most by the printing press.
I used the cutout background shapes of Mucha's style to give my design structure, however based most of these around circles and curves to give a porthole aesthetic as if the viewer is being allowed to peer into the depths of the ocean itself. I also used two ring shaped sections on the bottom corners of the piece. I hoped that when printing these shapes would help me perfect my registration between the different coloured layers as I have a feeling because of the level of detail this could become quite tricky otherwise. I have seen this technique used with spraypainting stencils and cross-shaped pegs pushed through special holes in the corners of the stencils to keep all the layers lined up while working.Mucha's work often also features picturesque or textural backgrounds, however in my original painting there was only a black background. I found an image of 19th Century vintage marbled paper which reminded me of the way light catches and reflects through water. To increase the visual depth of my piece I overlaid this pattern at the bottom edge of my image which made it appear as if the ocean floor was fading away into the distance.
I think the painting lended itself very effectively to being combined with advertising techniques. There painting has a very high connotative index as it has many small features which are both suggestive in their own right, but could also develop on to further relations, known as 'connotative chains'. This works because research suggests statistically an image with a more connotative chains (aka a higher connotative index) is more likely to produce a response from a wider variety of different induviduals.
Some examples of these connotative chains in my image starts with the connotation that the figure in the picture is both human and environemental at once, a bridge between the sphere of human living and the needs of the environment. This lends the connotation that these issues will upset the balance of humanity's survivability just as much as it will other organisms. When this base concept was developed, with human aspects such as the tear on the cheek and the cracked, imperfect shoulder are paired alongside bleached coral and displaced clown fish, suddenly the environmental issue raised feels a lot closer to home and more relatable on a human scale. These different elements of human and ecological strife generate many connotative chains, thus making the image more effective.
I then further coupled this with a catchy connotative slogan using the age old technique of alliteration as well as carefully selecting accompanying colour schemes to guide the eyes of passersby down the image, from the bright red header suggesting the important action needed, down into calmer blue green of the ocean. In doing this I hope to utilize the aspects of what makes modern advertising so successful, however the intention of this piece is not to sell some uneccessary product or promote some unnatainable lifestyle. Instead it aims to propagate awareness and sustainability, which I hope the public will find refreshing and disarming. By speaking in the language of advertisers, but spreading a message of growth and conservation I want to create something which is both accessible, agreeable, eyecatching and honest. Something fresh and irreproachable in a world of brand saturation and cleverly veiled corporate interests. I am really satisfied with my design, and can't wait to take it to print. Because of my links with advertising and consideration for common advertising technique, I think this piece lends itself brilliantly to CMYK printing, as this method would allow me to quickly produce full colour screen prints with only 4 actual colour layers, just as would be done within the industry. As well as this what I am most excited for is to see how my extra consideration for advertising form affects the reception of my work, when placed in the city.
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