Movie Poster Screen Print
by noah kim
graphic design iii
the project
You will create a three-color poster design using either Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. You will be introduced to what makes a good poster design. You will evaluate several poster designs, learn the steps to creating a screen printed poster design as well as be responsible for creating a unique, well-thought-out design of your own. Once the designs are complete, you will learn the full screen-printing process on paper and become certified to use Open Studio at Ink Lounge. The one-day workshop will cover the basics of screen-printing on paper. The workshop will cover art, film prep, screens, mesh, emulsion, squeegees, inks, exposure, registration - pretty much everything you need to know to get up and printing. Printing: You’ll be printing 10 prints of a single image you create or select from our library. The final size of the print is 12x18 and you will use the same 3 ink colors on all 10 prints, but on 10 colors of paper so you get a chance to see how the inks react with different paper colors.
I was tasked with designing a screen print design for a movie or gig and print out posters using 3 or more colors. I decided to make mine of the movie Fantastic Mr. Fox. There are 4 colors on these posters.
So I started off the brainstorming what movie or gig I should do my design on. And I was leaning more towards movies because I know more movies than I do artists. I eventually ended up choosing Fantastic Mr. Fox because it is a very personal movie for me. It's my comfort movie and I think it is probably one of my top ten movies. So I started sketching any idea I had keeping in mind that it needs to be a screen print. I tried keeping it fairly simple because I knew that if I made it too detailed I would have to use a lot of colors and I wasn't to keen on that idea. I tried focusing on the important aspects of the movie, mainly the wolf and it's connection to Mr. Fox. But I also wanted to focus on things that symbolize Mr. Fox such as the things he steals. So I was able to get some pretty food ideas off the top of my head.
Then we went on and did a round of critiquing. I got some pretty good feedback, mainly on trying to decide whether I want to go for a thematic, mysterious poster or a goofy, silly one.
Now I felt the thematic one would more so be for an audience that has watched the movie previously and understands what the poster means. But the goofy one has more of a broader range.
I eventually decided on a goofy one because I thought it fit more into the vibe of the movie, something that's fun and engaging to watch. More specifically the one where the silhouette of Mr. Fox is made up of the things that represent him. The items that make The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
So I began my final sketched out design. I wanted to make a list of what was important to the character of Mr. Fox in the movie and just begin putting them into the outline of his silhouette. Once I got that idea all nice and solid I began to make the design on my iPad.
But when I began my design, I ran into a problem...
I became, unmotivated. It wasn't turning out how I imagined it would and everything just looked off. I didn't know why but I just couldn't continue with the design. I wanted to completely start over and maybe even change my whole project and pick a different movie. But then, Mr. Gonzalez (my GD teacher) gave me a suggestion. To make the items a little smaller. And that little piece of advice was enough to give me the boost I needed. The design became so much cleaner and I was finally feeling happy with the design.
And shortly after that I finished my final design with 4 colors picked out.
And all together it looked something like this.
Now that the design was done, it was time to move into the screen print lab.
Now I'm lucky enough to attend a school that had so many resources and our lab is one of them. We have everything in there to print our designs onto the paper with ease. Well somewhat with ease.
This is our lab
I got started immediately. I was able to get the correct screens and put some emulsion on it that blocks the holes of the screen. Then once it was dry I was able to tape my design onto screen and use the light box to put my design onto the emulsion since it's light sensitive.
Then I just washed out the emulsion where my design was and I got a screen hat was ready to print. Well almost ready. I had to tape up the sides too.
Now came the hardest part for me. I had to align my screens with the paper. Now I'm a bit of a perfectionist. And I'm also a very anxious person. So having the thought that if I didn't align my screens up well enough, my design will be completely off and I'll have to start over. So it was real nerve-wracking and I spent way to long on trying to get it right. But eventually I was able to get it somewhere I like well enough so I began to print.
The printing process is actually really easy and it's also pretty fun. I really enjoyed pulling the ink and then seeing my design almost magically appear onto my paper. It was a very enjoyable experience.
From here it was only a matter of printing and drying. And eventually I had my ten posters with 4 different colored backgrounds. I think it turned out pretty well and I had a lot of fun doing it which is really all that matters... right?
Thanks for reading. Have a good day.
