Spring 2024
Overview
This project challenged us to design a hanging display magnet set. This set needed to include a magnet figure of ourselves along with 3-5 accessories, original color graphics, typography, and copy.
Research + Brainstorming
I started out by searching for "paper doll sets" and "magnet sets" but I found it hard to find examples of the exact kind of project this was. I did find so many beautiful examples of paper dolls of all different eras and art styles, which gave me some great ideas. I am NOT an illustrator and I really don't draw at all, so I was getting nervous seeing all the detail included in some of the example sets I found. But I didn't let that deter me, and I knew that I could create this magnet set in any style I want! I really loved the paper doll sets from the 70s and I loved seeing more modern takes on the paper doll sets that were inspired by Japanese anime. I tried to look at illustrative styles that were both really simplified and also really detailed just to see what could be achieved with both. I absolutely loved all the grungey and alternative examples too. After finding some examples of paper dolls and character illustrations based on TV shows or movies, I got a ton of fun ideas flowing!
Sketches + Doodles
Going to raves and music festivals has been a passion of mine for almost 8 years, so I was attached to the idea of creating a "Shelby is going to a Rave" or "Shelby is going to a Music Festival" themed magnet set. Festivals and raves are my chance to express myself fully with outfits, makeup, and accessories, so I knew I'd have a lot of objects to work with as my accessories. I started by sketching some ideas for this concept, with the idea that I would make myself into an exaggerated chibi-style character. Then I also quickly blocked in some layout ideas for the back of the magnet set itself. I also drew out some sketches for the "Little Miss Shelby," "I want to be Shelby when I Grow Up," and "Shelby Roell: What Dreams Are Made Of" magnet sets. I literally have never drawn a chibi-style character before, so imagine how upset I was that this sketch, the most difficult one, showed the most promise. I knew it would be hard work to quickly learn this style, but I knew I would probably choose that concept. The Little Miss/Mr. Man style character would be the easiest, but I didn't feel AS inspired by that.
Thumbnails
I began by creating loose thumbnails for each of my three concepts, trying not to make them all TOO detailed since that would take up an insane amount of time for each of these. I spent so much time on my chibi rave portrait, so after that drawing, I picked up the pace a bit. I mainly wanted to block in general placement of my silhouette and the items here.
Intermediates
I ended up sketching the Lizzie McGuire-inspired concept and the rave concept (of course), but clearly, I spent significantly more time on the rave concept. The title cloud in the Lizzie McGuire concept was bothering me so much, it was supposed to emulate the Lizzie McGuire show title text that also sits within this weird cloud but I could not get the typeface or shape correct at all. I honestly didn't need to spend this much time on an intermediate sketch, but I'm glad I did because I could see how fun and personalized the rave concept magnet set could be.I also loved that I could incorporate a real photo I took at a music festival. The typography between both of these needed serious work, but for me, I got the hard parts out of the way!
Final Hand
For my final hand comp, I refined all of my illustrations and found better positioning for my type. I was having trouble actually drawing the typography to reflect what I was envisioning in my head, but I at least had the basic forms drawn out.
Black + White Computer Progressions
I was not loving the vertical black bar with the product information anymore after I got onto the computer, and I could see some issues with my magnet design laying on top of that information. I also had some major issues with the size of my type in relation to everything else. I loved the change of layout by my third progression where the title of the product was at the top and the information at the bottom! I could not make my little text bubble work as hard as I tried, so I just abandoned it, which turned out to be the right move.
Black + White Computer Dummy
I forgot to cut this out! But this was at full-size with all my final changes before moving to color.
Color Studies + Applications
Since I had drawn everything on Procreate using only tints of Black (or neutral colors for the drawing of myself), it would have taken an insane amount of time to go into Procreate and individually adjust the colors of each item one-by-one. So, to save time, I just used Photoshop to apply gradient maps on top of my final black and white composition. Obviously, this didn't apply the colors perfectly, and it especially messed up my text, but this process gave me a great idea of what color combinations look nice and where I could apply colors. After this process, I then went into Illustrator, image-traced all my Procreate drawings, and adjusted the colors manually. The final soft blue, green, red, and yellow color combination felt fitting of old skool raves and very reminiscent of the color scheme of some early 2000's rave flyers!
Final Clean Digital
Final Assembled
Overall I loved how this turned out! Aside from me accidentally cutting off part of my barcode. I was actually able to print directly on magnet paper which was great, except for some slight color banding when printed on a couple of the magnets. Plus, cutting the individual magnets on that thick of paper with a small xacto blade was pretty tough, so when I redo this for my portfolio I think I'll use a Cricut machine to cut it all perfectly! I also had some slight rips on my background paper when this was shrink wrapped :( Initially, I didn't love the faded background image color, but the intense saturation of the magnets on top of it really made it all stand out.