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Graphic Design
'Curse of the She-Devil' Movie Poster/DVD Cover
I wanted to create something a little bit creepy for Halloween at the end of the month. Halloween is probably my favourite time of year as it gives us a great excuse to get dressed up like freaks and stalk the streets (or at least go to a fancy dress house party or two).
So, what to do? Well, why not have a go at a movie poster for a film? 'Curse of the She-Devil', to my knowledge, doesn't exist and, if it does, I apologise to the creators. I did a search on Google and returned nothing so I think I am pretty safe. The premis of my made up film is a beautiful but deadly she-devil who comes to earth to hunt for souls. I didn't think there was much point in developing a plot any further than that as most horror flicks seem to be based on 10 minutes of story with an hour and a half of blood and gore! The feel I wanted was something like a modern twist on a 'Hammer Horror' style poster from the 60's and 70's
I needed to choose my she-devil and came across a photo of a catwalk model in a long, flowing red dress.
I always search images on Google with the 'Extra Large Images Only' option selected. This way, when I am working at 300dpi, I know I have an image large enough to manipulate. It does cut down the options somewhat but I am usually able to find something suitable after searching for a while. I knew that this image had a lot of potential because of the contrast of the model against the white background which makes it easier to 'cut out' and place her where I wanted.
I knew that I had some examples of 'devil wings' available in my Photoshop archives and had wanted to use them for a project for a while. The main problem I had to overcome was that the wings were hand drawn and, of course, my model image is a photo. Blending the two together into one image meant I had to return to some sneaky tricks I have used before.
I cut out the image of the model and then placed the wing images just behind the shoulder blades of my 'she-devil'. Then I took the whole image and applied two artistic filters to it. I used the 'cut-out' and 'poster edges' filters and, with a little persistence and messing about, got the whole image to look like it was meant to be together. Now the model and the wings both had the same 'drawn' effect I did some careful touching up of areas such as the model's blonde hair where I added some red highlights and the eyes with the drips of blood running from them. My devil was starting to look quite manacing and imposing.
Then I turned to the background for the poster. It is a simple dark blue to black gradient with a brush of the moon filling a large proportion of the space. I was considering flames, dead bodies and all sorts but, once I had the moon on there, anything else just felt like overkill. I added the film title and strap-line text in fonts which I think work well with the feel of what I was trying to achieve.
I also decided to put the main image within a border to pull the poster together. Because I had the 'she-devil' figure cut out I was able to have the wings stretch right over the border to the edge of the page. Combined with adding a subtle 'outer glow' to the image this makes the model appear to be stood out from the background and, I think, makes her look even more imposing still. I added the text on the footer of the poster and also the '18' certificate symbol to finally finish the piece off.
I hope you like the 'Curse of the She-Devil' poster and, if it ever gets made, I trust the production company will be e-mailing me for a ready-made DVD cover!
Click on image to view large version (Lightbox)
'Happy Halloween Everyone'
