exercise 7
The Valyrian Steel Swords of Westeros - giclée / screen print
16.5” x 23.4” giclée archival pigment inks print with silkscreen varnish, on Hahnemühle German Etching 310gsm paper
Hand-numbered edition of 150
Available now from my Shop
Inspired by the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ books by G. R. R. Martin and the subsequent homage poster by Darrin Crescenzi, I was keen to create a visual catalogue of the Valyrian steel swords of Westeros.
Forged from a magical metal in the days of old Valyria, Valyrian steel swords are of the highest quality and extremely rare, which makes them some of the most sought after prizes in A Song of Ice and Fire. I wanted to illustrate the main* swords, referencing their last known wielders and each wielder’s house. Similar to Crescenzi’s poster, I intended the illustrations to feel modern and clean, juxtaposing the book’s grittiness.
Contrary to the description given in the books, I chose to make the blades almost luminous and glowing but retained the subtle waves in the steel and the red tinge within Oathkeeper and Widow’s Wail. The screen layer adds a varnish to the blades to give them a gloss shine.
I used a varsity-esque font for the sword names because I like the idea of them feeling like a sports team you might support. Everyone has a favourite character or house from the series, so that was something I wanted to bring through using a visual language that people would be familiar with but not necessarily expect. This is echoed in the use of only 2 ‘house colours’ to create each sword handle and name scroll.
*whilst other swords are mentioned, I have attempted to visualise the ones named and given importance by the book.
Game of Thrones!!!
EX2 example of infographic
This is an infographic about people use Internet in every minute of the day. It describe 15 types of Internet use method and how much data generated every minute of the day. It use each single data for each type of Internet using method. Data are unaided. It told us 15…
Qiu’s info-graphic is very attractive, no matter the layout or colour scheme are very unique, the biggest success of this is the fonts been used, all the typographic elements jumped out gorgeously, if have to pick out a problem, i think is the datas are too many, the graphics are not enough, it may cause people reduce the interests to read.
Project2 : HD magazine
Since i knew that i will doing the illustration of “Anorexia: the ugly truth”, a face just showed in my mind. The look on patients’ face: Sad and dislike. Though the article, the information of why people having eating problems and how to help them, are clearly showed.
I drew a little face on paper: that’s how i started. Then i scanned it in as below:
After that i redesigned it in illustrator.
With some yummy dishes in front of him. I was thinking, most anorexia patients think they will get fat if they eat, so maybe a girl is more suitable for this? Maybe, maybe not. Guys are on diets too! Especially if he wants to impress another guy…LOL.
To make the tittle more comfortable and “delicious” to everybody, i decided to hand draw them ALL. As i got a tablet now, why not try?
I think my ‘style’ is to make my design warm, friendly and suitable for people at any age.
This set of pictogram is my favorite, i was inspired from one of the examples showed in lecture. They have simple shapes, direct identity and lively colors. Its good for decoration at the edge of the magazine.
At last the color match was really a pain, i pent a lot of time to examine each color of the background, turns out, they are better be keept in a warm situation.
