A Poster with an Art Nouveau Flair

The latest poster I did for the Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce was inspired by Art Nouveau. Rich color; curves and fluid lines, and a lot of gradients are some of the hallmarks of Art Nouveau. Some of the lines are very reminiscent of Celtic Art. There are details and shading in objects which are sparingly outlined. 

Sometimes I start with a sketch, scan it, and use it as a basis for my drawing.

This is the sketch I used for the Spring Wine Walk poster. 

The woman, her face, hair and hand holding the wine glass are detailed. The grapes and grape leaves are lightly drawn in because I already had grapes and grape leaves created in Illustrator. Basically, the light sketch of both are place holders giving an idea of where they will be placed within the design.

I often reuse assets for posters operating with the philosophy of “why recreate the wheel”. Colors might change and some of the shape might change. 

For the comp, I used my own hand as a model.

The grapes I got from the Fall Wine Walk poster, changed the color from white grapes to red grapes and saved them as a symbol in Illustrator. 

I found a beautiful font from Dafont.com that was designed just for the Art Nouveau style.

The comp was sent to the Chamber committee who wanted, after review, more color.

The final poster. 

A Good Rejection

As a graphic designer, illustrator, or artist you will have your share of rejections. 

Cherish the good rejections. "What? But they didn’t like my work and won’t use it!" I know it can be discouraging but a rejection can be used as constructive criticism.

No response doesn’t tell you anything.

Saying that your work is good or bad is uninformative.

But a good rejection will state what they liked about your submission and what didn’t work for their project. It means what you did was good but didn’t fit their vision of their project. That’s ok. You can learn what to improve if it’s for a specific genre and you still have something to add to your portfolio.

A good rejection that includes an offer to recommend you to other clients looking for a graphic designer or artist is also an indication that your work is good and it builds a working relationship and a chance for networking.

Thank the person, company, or organization for considering your work. Again this helps build a working relationship and they will see you as a professional. They will be more inclined to recommend you to other people and maybe they will consider you for a different project in the future. 

The image above is a piece of work I submitted recently for a project that was rejected. They said they liked the color choice and the humor. What they didn’t like was that it was too safe for what they wanted and wasn’t what they envisioned for their project. They also said that they would recommend me to people looking for an illustrator or graphic designer.

This was created in Illustrator based on a couple of sketches.