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Graphic Design
Pub Poker Night Poster
Given the strapline of 'Red Hot Poker Nights' (I think there was every pun intended there) I wanted to try and get a really exciting look with this flyer/poster. My idea was to try and incorporate a lot of poker imagery to grab the attention of cards players and also make it bright and colourful enough to attract those punters who hadn't played before.
The first stage of this project was to produce my own 'Queen of Hearts' playing card. This was achieved by finding a large image of a model sat on a stool. I then cut her out using the 'magic wand' tool in Photoshop, applied a 'cut out' look to her and placed her over a background. The background was created by using a 'rising sun' type brush and then layering it so that I could maniuplate it as a layer in itself. I used one of the 'liquify' functions on Photoshop to rotate the centre of the rising sun. Next, I used some floral swirls to go behind the model to build the image up some more.
I then took the image I had created and transferred it onto a more playing card sized background and added the 'Q' and the heart motif for 'Queen of Hearts'. I am particularly pleased with the hearts themselves as I took the decision to give them a small white outline and to also rub out the corners of the original image where they meet the hearts. I think this ties the playing card together well.
Now to take the playing card and build up the rest of the poster. I found a simple image on the web of a hand holding some cards. I took this and cut out just the hand. I also needed to slide my card images between the thumb and the rest of the fingers. Not as easy as it might sound! I was forced to make the thumb it's own layer so that I could place my playing card images behind the thumb layer but in front of the rest of the hand. It took quite a lot of 'blending' to bring the whole image back together but I am pleased with the overall outcome.
Next stage I added the flames behind my hand and playing card image with a couple of Photoshop brushes I had. The font for the strapline itself was chosen for a 'poker look' and then, using the text warp option, I curved it and changed the perspective slightly to tie it in with the rest of the image. I also added some little touches to the 'Queen of Hearts' text such as the red hearts and the crown to keep a theme running through.
The final part of the poster was to create the rules section. I wanted the background colour to be similar to the green baize of a card table. I also used motifs of all four playing card suits and cut out some poker chips out from another image.
The last few touches involved creating the text 'Play every Thursday night' and placing that between the two different sections of the poster to tie them together. I used the same red heart as I used in the 'Queen of Hearts' text in the 'rules' text. and changed the background of the whole poster to a gradient effect. I also added the text 'Come and make new friends...then bluff them!' right at the foot of the poster using the same font as the title text.
Click on image to view large version (Lightbox)
Overall I am very happy with this final design. It ticks all the boxes for being bright, colourful, fun and, hopefully, a little bit sexy and naughty.
