Face Your Fear is a two-part project whose theme is simply fear. Part one consisted of creating a pen and ink illustration based on a fear. Part two dealt with taking that illustration and incorporating it into a two-page magazine spread.
Face Your Fear
Pen and Ink, 12 in x 15 in
For part one, we were asked to create a pen and ink illustration depicting a fear that some people may have. My choice for this is a fear of snakes. Personally, I’m not afraid of snakes (I love snakes and find them fascinating and regal), but I know snakes are a common fear for a lot of people.
In order to get across the concept of being fearful of snakes, I took a look at the most common reason why people are afraid of snakes. That reason is that they are afraid of the fangs and getting bit by a snake. From there, it was pretty easy to make the decision to focus on a snake’s mouth and setting up the composition as if the snake were striking out at the viewer.
Face Your Fear
Magazine Spread, 17 in x 11 in
For part two, I then took the black-and-white illustration and incorporated it into a two-page magazine spread. I first took the illustration and converted it to a solid black-and-white bitmap image so that there were no gray values present. Just black and white. I then brought that new image into InDesign and began working it into a two-page magazine spread.
I was also allowed to use one color in addition to black and white. After going through several colors, I settled on a bold, yellow/gold color. In color psychology, yellow is considered to be the most visible color, which is what makes it a good choice for warnings and things that should be approached with caution. With this in mind, I imagined that this spread would appear in a magazine related to the outdoors and that the article would be about facing a possible fear of snakes and being cautious of them when doing outdoor activities – such as hiking.
