Before creating my design I feel it is important to know the programmes of Cricut and how typically the machine works. I decided to look on youtube to find this out.
Here is what I found.
From this I am going to be researching further into how I can cut vinyl using the Cricut machine and how the circuit programme works.
To begin this part of the brief I am going to be experimenting with using a Cricut cutting machine as well as testing sandblast effect spray using vinyl as a mask to create my design.
Before cutting and applying my own design I decided that It was important to test the spray to ensure it worked as well as the vinyl being a good mask. During the process I put together something small using a curly typeface to see the detail of cut to begin. I then practised ‘weeding’ which is peeling out parts of the cut vinyl which is not needed and practised transfer tape to put the weeded vinyl from the cutting board to the glass frame I was practising on.
Here was my results –
The effect was exactly was I was looking for and stands our very well. The more coats added of the spray the more defined the design looks but when designing for this process It must be a simple design to ensure no detail is lost.
The skateboard advertisement piece I am creating will be used above a line of skateboards in a store to attract customers to look at the range of skateboards by toy machine. From my research I have decided to design a mirrored skateboard with the design sprayed on in a sandblasted effect.
I will be experimenting with cutting vinyl using different machines and experimenting with sandblast effect sprays to see if they work learning different process’ throughout.
I needed to create guidelines to ensure my imagery would work on the unusual shape of a skateboard.
This is what I used to prepare my imagery for print.
I had to move the typography up the deck slightly to ensure there was no cut offs as initially it was too low.
Here are the final designs.
Overall I am happy with the final outcomes for the 2 deck summer series. I feel it fits the brief in everyday and is appropriate for the brand of toy machine.
Before adding typography to the board I decided to look back to my previous research of characters which had the toy machine logo on it. From this I decided to try out this particular typeface on the board to keep the brand consistent.
Unfortunately the logo typeface (Cooper Becker Black Outl Cond) did not work with the design itself so I decided to play around with different typefaces keeping with the bold theme and the summer look. I decided on two different typefaces which worked well together.
Throughout the entire design process as well as preparing for print I had to ensure every little detail was perfect so using the anchor tool I corrected all these imperfections to ensure the design was ready for printing purposes.
I began creating there Hokusai wave shape using the blob too and adding white to see what it might look like. However this still looked flat and needed to be developed further. So going back to the initial image of the Hokusai waves the way they created depth was through colour so I decided to play around with some dark blues to make this work.
Adding colour was working but still needed something to make it blend in as it was still a bit busy so I began experimenting with taking some waves away and using swirl tools to make it work with and compliment the design itself.
During my design process I hit a wall and decided to look into styles of waves that I might be able to use for inspiration for my design. I looked at two different styles of waves which were ‘Hokusai waves’ and the ‘Keane-Sanna album’ waves.
When looking at these I found the Keane album cover waves were very cartoon like which I initially wanted however I thought they would be too basic and flat for the design. However the Hokusai waves caught my eye and I thought that this might give the design a bit more texture.
From this I am going to incorporate my own style of Hokusai waves into my design.
To begin I began adding colours to the bottom half of the decks to see if that might have been what was missing but it still looked flat. I then decided that since the right side had ice cream drips that maybe I could add sprinkles to add to the fun and ‘summer’ side of the design.
I looked into how designers had already created sprinkles digitally and wanted to keep with the cartoon-like style of toy machine so began experimenting which I felt was successful. However now the left side of blue that is to be signified as sea and sand looked plain and I wasn’t sure that this message was being successfully put accross.
I began looking into cartoon coloured drips to see what was going wrong and how I could make this signify drips of ice cream.
I began playing around with the pen tool to create the effect that I had seen in my research as well as adding better shine marks on the drips which I feel definitely improved the image. I repeated the drips from the left side to the right to make the image look more like it connected as well and thickening the lines on the design itself.
I still felt that the design looked too flat and not as exciting as the style of boards that I had been researching. So again I needed to research this further.
charlottemartindesigns 