Balloons!

Color Exercises

Movie Poster

Spider-Man (2002)

Saul Bass

It's hard to pick one Saul Bass poster to post to the blog, since they are all very brilliant and intriguing in their own different ways, but I decided to pick this one because it's a film that I haven't heard of until now, but the poster itself is persuading me to seek it out and view it. I love the balance in the design (using squares, grids and modules has always been a design favorite of mine, especially since it is the foundation of newspaper design) and the gloomy colors. The posters seems to communicate a vibe similar to the film Requiem for a Dream, an extremely dreary and depressing film about drug abuse, which seems to me like what The Man With The Golden Arm may be about. The blues and grays in the poster suggest this film would carry a similar tone. The most intriguing part of this design, however, is the blocky, craggy arm that reaches into the center of the poster. Although I haven't seen this movie before, the arm itself seems extremely familiar, which is a testament to the iconic brilliance of Bass' work.

The WORD is expression

Understanding Comics

The first character that comes to mind when Scott McCloud describes abstract facial illustrations is Bart Simpson. Bart's appearance is very abstract and a clear departure from normal human facial features. Bart's eyes bug out from his jaundiced, yellow-skinned face and his hair seems more like an ankylosaur crown of spiked cranial protrusions than actual follicles. Matt Groening was clearly trying to portray something more universal and abstract with his designs for Bart.

The next character that comes to mind is Lightning McQueen from the Disney/Pixar animated film Cars. While probably my least favorite film form this otherwise brilliant production company, Lightning encapsulates everything that McCloud was talking about. The character of lightning was a car in the film, but with a windshield that resembles human eyes and a radiator grille that functions as a human mouth. It's a spot-on example of the human tendency toward anthropomorphizing. This is what McCloud was talking about when he was describing the human habit of taking objects and shapes that have no relation to humans and giving them the features and habits of a human face to make them more sympathetic.

The final character that I can think of that pertains to McClouds monologue about the human tendency to identify with icons is the Joe Boxer smiley face. Or the Watchmen smiley face. Or the Walmart smiley face. Or the hip cousin of all three, the 7-Up Spot. These are the most basic, rudimentary examples of what could be passed off as a humanoid facial construct. A yellow circle, two ellipses, and a crescent shaped line representing a smile. It's primitive and silly, but it is also used extensively in corporate marketing as well as pop culture. A perfect example of boiling the human face down to its basest features and exploiting it for popular sympathy.

Self Portrait

A work in progress.