Vintage Poster Re-Creation
When Jen Van Horn suggested a motion collaboration to the community I was super excited. I'd seen the results of past collaborations hosted by other motion designers and I was eager to participe in this new one. Jen decided the theme was going to be Vinatage Food Posters.
The Task: Interested motion designers were to select a poster from a curated selection that Jen prepared for us. We then had to re-create/ animate the poster in any way we saw fit. We would also be paired with a sound designer who would add sound to our finished animations.
Re-Creating a Poster
I chose a Hartley's Peas poster from the 1950's. Like any creative endeavor, there are many options to putting a vintage poster in motion. Unfortunely (or fortunately?) for me, the only image I could find of my poster was so low resolution, that creating cut-outs wasn't really a viable option for me. So I opted to try my hand at re-creating the whole poster.
Working with Text
First things first, I tackled finding the original typeface used on the poster. I wasn't able to find the name in my searches, so I ended up with the closest option, Gill Sans Nova and used Adobe Illustrator to tweek the letters and get them as close as possible to the original.
When it came to the "Fresh" script, I struggled a little. No existing typeface really matched, so I tried to use a brush to hand write it. I felt I was moderately successful in this sense, but in the end, I decided to use Segoe Script. It wasn't an exact match, but I felt more confident in this choice.
Artwork
Next I tackled the artwork. I started by expanding the original artwork and then tracing the base shapes for the leaves, peas, and pods. I then used dry brushes in Photoshop to experiment with different methods of replicating the colors and shading of the original.
Similarly, with the man, I traced his shape and then added different layers on top for his clothing and skin color, texture and shading.
Animating
Finally, it was time to bring everything into After Effects for some motion. For this challenge, all the action had to take place within 10 seconds, so I had to make sure that things weren't too complicated. Originally, I wanted this to have a slow surreal vibe.
There is a little man in a pea pod! How weird can you get?!
However, as I started to make things move, I realized I didn't have the luxory of time that I needed to keep things as surreal as I wanted, so I settled on getting it as close as possible, while still allowing time for fun growth of the pea pods, and a slow emergence of the man from the pod.
Putting It Altogether
Once the animation was all finished, I packed it up and sent the video to John Green, who did an amazing job putting in the sounds.
I'm so happy with how this video turned out. I learned a lot. The typefaces were probably the most challenging for me as well as the can, which I would love to continue working on and perfecting.
