emily's project #3 statement of intent

Having never used Illustrator before this assignment, I used the first ¾ of the time I spent on this project stressing out and getting frustrated with my lack of technical knowledge about the program. However, with the help of a short telephone tutorial with Mark, I leapt over that hurdle and decided to keep things simple by using only a few tools and a limited color palette.

Thanks to the inspiration of my friend Kristen, I originally intended to focus all three pieces around images from the MTV website and similar celebrity sites. Sifting through pictures of Britney Spears, however, I found a gem from a spread that Vogue magazine did of pregnant stars. The photo was of Britney, and it was beautiful. It inspired me to take my idea in a different direction—that of some kind of social commentary.

Each piece in this series is a snippet of Confucian wisdom applied to contemporary life. The “Britney” piece frames a trashy pop star in a beautiful way. The “Dark Continent” piece comments on the overwhelming complexity imposed on the sociopolitical atmosphere throughout Africa. The “Lady Justice” piece is a reminder of the philosophical foundation of the US justice system.

I used the vector tool on each illustration, and the shape and brush tools on the cover. The cover is meant to reflect the simplicity of the illustrations inside. The colors on the cover are all sampled from the three illustrations.

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