Capstone: Project Statement

A statement that gives direction and alignment to my project.

Welcome back, reader! In this post, I am going to share my finalized project statement for my capstone. If this is your first time reading my blog, please read my first post, What is Capstone, to get caught up.

Why a Project Statement?

A practical and descriptive project statement is essential to framing the direction of a large project and helps in describing it to others.

Let's jump right in…

Project Statement/Intent

The primary purpose of this project is to expand my illustration portfolio. Through this project, I plan to develop my skills as an illustrator and lettering artist to find work after school in these fields.

Project Description

I will select five famous illustrators with unique styles and create illustrated covers based on those styles. I will design individual mastheads using custom letterforms that reflect specific vital characteristics of the illustration style copied. Each cover reflects something significant about the illustrator, whether that be a personal story that affected their art or an exciting idea that their art conveys.

List of Problems to Solve

• Choosing the proper illustrators. This is a critical step because many illustration styles have characteristics that do not transfer easily into typography. Picking very famous illustrators to appropriate is a safe bet because they have styles that have unique characteristics.
• Learning how to recreate a style accurately. This is not obtainable with 100% accuracy because I am not experienced enough to achieve this goal. Still, I believe that I can achieve a form that is closely related to my illustrated references.
• Dealing with processes and mediums that I am unfamiliar with. One of the illustrators I picked uses acrylic and guache, mediums I have little or no experience using.
• Finding something interesting about an illustrator and transferring that into a cover. Illustrators tend to find their unique voice over time, and they stick to it. A voice can consist of a unique style and subject matter. The process of finding a voice always has a story behind it, but even if the story isn't that interesting, the voice alone can be.
• Learning necessary optimal adjustments and proportions when designing letters for the masthead. Fifty percent of my project is typographic. Therefore I need to pay careful attention to the design of my letterforms.
• Creating beautiful typographic composition for the masthead. I am not designing fonts but words. Each word consists of a few letters, not an entire alphabet, so the letters should lack some of the versatility of a typeface and embrace the expressive quality of lettering.
• Printing these and presenting them appropriately. My work could turn out amazing, but it will not be perceived that way if I don't present it properly.

List of Key Words

• Illustration
• Lettering
• Cover design
• Art
• Narrative
• Publication
• Film

Primary Targets

This project will be for me. This is an illustration and lettering project that I am undertaking to develop these skills further. Other targets include future employers and graduate school admissions directors. To read a more in-depth understanding of my target, read Capstone: Persona.

Why Does This Matter to me?

I had the privilege of interning for a professional illustrator and executing some of his commissioned projects. After seeing what I could do, he told me that if I wanted to make a decent living, I should seriously pursue a career in illustration. I am using this capstone as a tool for self-discovery. This project is important because it could be the initial step to a long career or simply a passion project that helps me develop my skills as an illustrator and designer.

List of Outputs

• Five mastheads (or titles)
• Five illustrations
• Five covers. These combine the masthead and illustration.
• Five articles that describe each cover in detail. These articles will not be more than 1–2 pages long.

My capstone idea

I am creating 5 illustrated cover designs. Each cover will be illustrated in different illustration styles copied from famous illustrators. A masthead using custom letterforms will be designed for each cover, matching the illustration style as well.