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Escaping the Titanic Illustration

by | Mar 31, 2017 | Print Design

Illustration, Graphic Design, Large Format

A Big Illustration Project

A vendor of ours had an odd request; someone needed help with illustrating the flooding deck and surrounding water of the Titanic. Not a simple illustration on a sketchpad-sized piece of paper. The client requires a scene printed across eight 24″ x 36″ posters for installation behind eight faux window frames. Huge.

The project is for an upcoming Escape Room at The Resort at Glade Springs. Themed as the wheel room of the sinking Titanic, this exciting and thoroughly engineered Escape Room is set to premiere in April 2017. Complete with realistic ship props and a floor designed to be unlevel to give participants the feeling of being on a sinking ship, the front of the Wheel Room has seven windows, with one to the left of the navigation wheel.

Designing Something that Isn’t An Advertisement?

Varying from our usual workload, our job with this project was to illustrate “the views” for the windows. The first step was to research the Titanic. We scoured the Internet for replicas and simulated views. What would someone in the Wheel Room see, looking out of the windows? We wanted realism and an accurate sense of perspective. After sketching and planning, we fired up Adobe Illustrator to plot out all of the hard lines, converging on a vanishing point.

The next step was to add realism and chiaroscuro in Adobe Photoshop. The slight challenge posed by this project’s requirements was that the final files would be printed. Naturally, this meant the illustrations would need to be of a high resolution to avoid pixelation. Additionally, we needed to have the illustration broken up into eight individual illustrations for each window view, accounting for the spacing between each window. After about fifteen hours and a lot of using the Brush and Mixer Brush tools in Photoshop, we had a massive 1+GB .psb file.

Finalizing

Next, after finishing the design of this project, we handed off the files to the printer in Beckley, WV. The pros there produced the prints and coated them. The final image of the Escape Room is truly breathtaking. The real beauty of the room is held within the careful and calculated craftsmanship of Special Project Coordinator John Christian.

What Are You Working On?

If you are interested in getting some design or web development help from Starry Eyes Media, check out our Services page, and let’s talk!

Meet Brandon
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Escaping the Titanic Illustration

by | Mar 31, 2017 | Print Design

Greetings! I'm the Creative Director at Starry Eyes Media, an Appalachian-based creative agency specializing in small government web and brand development. I enjoy taking a pragmatic approach to developing strategies and managing creative communications projects. In addition, I love helping small and rural communities transition into modern communication strategies by developing custom-tailored tools, such as interactive websites. Over the years, my passion for working with small businesses has evolved into a broader love of empowering the communities that sustain small businesses and their residents with digital tools that promote growth and tourism. More recently, I accepted an invitation to join the city council's Community Improvement Commission for the City of Princeton, WV. I began establishing my creative career at an early age, some nineteen years ago, when I jump-started my education in advertising and communications arts by attending Mercer County Technical Education Center before pursuing university studies. Since then, I've developed my unique skill set with a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising/Graphics Design, completed numerous freelance projects, and fully managed digital communications, branding, booking, and tour planning/managing for an indie band (while also writing and performing). Ultimately, I've helped hundreds of clients across numerous industries, including state and local government, nonprofits, food services, manufacturing/fabrication, and more. In 2015, I became the Lead Designer at the fresh and ambitious startup Starry Eyes Media. Since then, I've worn many hats, as one does with startups, but the one I've taken to heart the most is my current role as Creative Director. Though I still design and contribute to the creative process on many projects, my essential responsibilities include planning, developing, and maintaining the full complement of Starry Eyes' innovative services, internal communications systems, and processes. I also oversee the client journey cycle and a number of individual client relationships. If you have similar passions and endeavors, I welcome the opportunity to connect!

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