Murder

In this project the designer represents a bird or insect using Gestalt, in this case a crow, three different ways, line, shape and abstract. To start the process research is done and source imagery is collected of a crow from multiple angles with attention to details and dynamic shapes. As crows are completely black detailed pictures are hard to find and pictures of a crow in flight are often blurry. Photos are manipulated in Photoshop to bring out details, and printed for tracing. The designer started with about a dozen pictures, and then makes multiple tracings with a light board of five to eight images. The tracings are timed at ten minutes to focus the designer on maximum detail and overall shapes. The timing helps the designer break away from habits of perfectionism and aids in the discovery of impressionistic shapes. Some details, shapes and rhythms communicate more than others what a crow is. The designer choses a single image to move forward with and continues to make multiple tracings moving away from illustrative outlines to lines that connate a crow. Using as few lines of calligraphic quality as possible, weight and widths are used to create form, texture and effect. Tracings are done repeatedly to determine what communicates most effectively, and tracings from the source image are replaced with tracings of tracings. The designer makes decisions about what is relevant and what communicates.