In the last lesson,
we developed an image that demonstrates simultaneous contrast.
In this lesson, we'll develop another image that demonstrates the illusion of transparency.
So in this lesson,
we're going to basically repeat
the same things that we did in the
previous lesson, lesson three, where we created the image for the first poster.
Now we're creating the image for the second poster and in this poster we're
using an image that demonstrates the idea of the illusion of transparency and
also spatial illusion.
Those two ideas using different colors.
I think we're going to be using orange and blue in this case just to have some difference.
Again, our goal ultimately with this animated poster is to create a single animated poster
where both of these images make three colors look like two and the illusion of transparency
can be both seen in some kind of an animated way in a loop.
And the typography will basically be
the same in both of these posters,
I'm thinking at this point.
So since I know that in poster one,
the image that we just created making three colors look like two with red and green
is in the upper part of the poster.
It's angled.
I totally remember that and we can actually go back and take a quick look at that just
to see as a reference.
So there it is.
So I'm thinking now that I know before I talked about liking this lower left hand sketch with the yellow background,
but I think the gray background that's right above it with the
blue and the orange is going to be a better match.
We'll also use the same exact background,
the same exact poster size.
And I think actually we're going to use the same size images.
So the rectangles that we use will hopefully be around the same size as well.
So that'll all be coordinated in the digital animated version of this poster.
You know, I love the idea of the gradient down here.
I still love this sketch a lot with the typography going
in two different directions and it's very animated.
It's very festive,
has a lot of energy,
it's very dynamic.
But when I think about Joseph Albers,
I don't really think about a gradient background.
It wasn't really part of his work.
He used almost exclusively flat color or color
that appeared to be flat and not relying on any other kinds of say visual tricks in order to
create the illusion of space.
He was just thinking about solid colors juxtaposed against each other in different ways.
So because of that,
the gradient idea for me is not as attractive at this moment because it just
doesn't express the idea of Albers.
But you should feel free to experiment with that.
Again, this is an exhibition poster that's,
yes, based on the teachings of Albers,
but it is really a
hypothetical exhibition of work created by students in a color workshop focusing on Albers.
So if a student like yourself wanted to create a background that was a blend of two colors or
multiple colors, you could do that as well.
You can be very experimental.
I'm going to take a
little bit more of a quiet approach,
a little bit more of a conservative approach to here in
this design I made today.
But again, you should feel much more comfortable being experimental in your own work.
So I'm going to work,
I think, with a combination of the upper
left and the lower left.
And when I say combination,
I'll think about using a gray
background, basically the same background that we used in poster one, this gray background,
and rectangles that are similarly sized to the rectangles in
exhibition poster one in different colors,
orange and blue.
And the typography will be at the bottom in some kind of an arrangement that's perhaps similar on both posters.
Now, for the printed versions of the posters,
the typography can be in different places,
as long as it has a similar look and feel.
And if you think about these two printed posters as being a campaign,
and again, this is necessarily a part of the assignment,
but you can think of it this way,
two posters that are part of the same campaign,
where you have the same typographic information
and two different images can be kind of an interesting idea
or a series of exhibition posters
that are meant to promote the same exhibition.
But let's just go along with that idea.
So this top left poster with a gray background
and the bottom left poster with the yellow background,
what I like about the bottom poster is that the rectangles
that describe the idea of illusion of transparency and space illusion,
both of the rectangles are angled.
So it makes a very dynamic composition.
In the top composition,
the rectangles are straight, horizontal,
related to the edges
of the composition, so it's very stable.
So I'm thinking maybe that there's some kind of a combination of those two ideas.
Maybe one of the rectangles can be straight and related to the edges of the poster.
And the other rectangle can be angled,
as if the idea is moving from a straight,
horizontal and vertical rectangle,
and then having one other rectangle that's different from that.
So a sense of transformation or a difference between the two.
That's what I'll go for.
So really thinking about this.
Again, I'll just take a quick screenshot.
Let's do a selection of this image.
Actually, before I do that,
I'm going to go back here to Exhibition Poster 1,
and I'm going to save a copy of this.
And we'll call this Poster 2,
and also Version 1.
And I'll just open that one up.
So that's way over here on the right-hand side.
Not to distinguish it,
just to have a difference.
And this one, I'm just going to leave everything in place
except for these top layers that I don't need anymore.
And I don't need the sketch anymore.
What I do need is the background gray color.
Layer 2, the sketch,
the angle, I don't need that.
Just say don't show again.
Keep that layer.
Smooth this up.
Get rid of these layers.
That image that we see right here now,
that's the size of the rectangles I want to use.
So I have the basic idea now.
And I think I even still have the...
Yeah, the guides are still in place.
Excellent.
So I'll keep those on.
And I have my gray background right there.
It's good.
Set the white background on too, just in case.
And now I can go back to my sketches and make a selection and just copy this sketch.
Copy of that, Command-C.
Go back to Exhibition Poster 2.
And I'm going to paste this in place.
And just like I did on the other poster,
I'm going to enlarge the sketch so that it
fills out the frame.
And I'm just holding down the arrow key,
watching the height and the width go dramatically.
This keeps the proportions of the poster more or less the same.
Again this was a sketch that I made,
so my drawing may not match the actual proportions
of A1, but I think it's pretty close.
In any event, it's kind of fun to see this,
to see how close I was.
Now if I put that layer underneath the other layer,
I can see that the size of these rectangles is
considerably smaller than the rectangles I'm using over here.
I kind of want them to be the same size.
So I'm going to modify this sketch.
I know basically what I want it to do.
So I'm going to turn off all of these layers and now just come in with my rectangles again.
There's one there on its own layer.
Again I want each of these
to be on their own layer.
And in this case,
just in terms of the colors,
if I look back at my sketches that I did,
the orange and the brown,
the red and the blue,
these are both pretty nice.
But I do like this idea of,
you know, kind of going back
to the blue and the orange for some reason.
So I'm going to try that.
So I know what to do.
I can look at these sketches and I can kind of get a sense
of these sketches, these transparency compositions, and definitely I know what
I'm going to be doing.
But I'm going to use different colors.
Again, you can feel free to
do this too.
You don't have to keep the same exact colors that you made in your initial designs,
your initial color experiments.
You can modify the colors a little bit.
So here I'm going to create a color.
I'm just going to plug in some numbers.
Now I want this to be orange.
Let's see what this looks like.
Working with CMYK.
Maybe a little bit brighter.
So same thing, I'm going to now duplicate this layer.
And move it over to the other side.
These are separate layers,
so I can pretty much do whatever I want with them.
Now I want to create a blue that's going to fill up this rectangle.
So I'll keep the orange on one of the color layers.
So let's say 50% cyan,
25% magenta,
0 and 0.
And we'll see what that looks like.
It looks like it's going to be a nice blue.
A soft kind of French blue.
There it is.
Yeah, nice.
I love it.
I'm going to see what the background looks like and check the color of that.
Okay, so that's 1299.
I'm going to bump this up a little bit.
Let's see, 2760 maybe.
This is very much trial and error.
A little bit cooler.
I kind of like that.
Let's see what happens if I make the background that color instead.
A slightly different gray.
Ah, nice.
Very nice.
Okay, much nicer.
Now, I know I want the same color background in both of my posters.
So at this point,
let me just save this.
I'm going to go back to poster exception one and modify this background
color to that same background color I just used on poster two.
So this should be still set.
2760 and 11.
Yes, okay.
Definitely changes it a little bit.
I like that.
Now, the good thing is that it's going to be the same background colors on both of these posters here and here.
Same background color,
different image colors.
Okay, very good.
So at this point,
I can get rid of my sketches,
I think, because I kind of know what I'm going
to be doing here.
And I'm also going to get rid of the layer I copied over from poster one.
I'm just dealing with these top shapes now.
In terms of the position,
I'm thinking that I want to have the orange layer almost right in the middle.
So I kind of know where the center is.
Let's go down to this orange layer and shift that over.
I think that must be the center right there.
And now I'm going to take the blue and do something else with that.
I'm going to select it this way,
just move it down and see what happens when I do this.
I remember that I'm going to be thinking about changing the middle color.
Again, when you're working with illusion of transparency,
you want three colors,
three separate shapes, three separate colors that all work together in concert to create this
illusion of transparency by changing the middle color,
either making the blue emerge
or in the orange receipt or making the orange emerge in the blue receipt.
Pretty close to what I want.
And if I look at that relative to this,
there's a certain consistency.
And let's just square these up,
toggle back and forth.
So I can begin to kind of imagine these two images working together on the same poster in
some kind of a sequence with the typography doing its own thing at the bottom.
The last thing I need to do now is create the shape that occupies the center,
the middle color.
And this is Photoshop,
so I'm going to make a separate layer,
turn on my guides and start to
move these guys around just a little bit.
I need that edge.
One last thing, I just want to check
and make sure that this poster is,
that this orange color is perfectly centered.
I'll do that by just making a selection on each side on the edge of the orange.
I'll just take this now and I move it to this side.
Yeah, exactly the same.
I'm just taking this marquee selection and moving it from side to side.
And you see that the orange is in fact perfectly centered.
That's great.
Okay, so now I know roughly,
well actually exactly,
where everything needs to be.
Getting rid of my extra guides that I don't need to see anymore.
So now I just have the center guide and the two vertical guides that define the
orange, the edge of the orange rectangle and the two horizontal guides that define the top and bottom of the orange rectangle.
So that's going to allow me to create the in-between shape pretty accurately now,
because I have two edges of that shape defined.
The other two edges are angled.
So I'm going to go over here.
I'm going to use the polygon lasso tool with no feather,
zero.
And I'm going to basically make that shape on its own layer.
So down here,
use my guides,
just constrain.