Photo: Kasey Leftwich
Final Posters
In the beginning, I wanted to design a poster using photos of my friend, Alexis whom I've done photoshoots of before. I wanted to make sure that every piece of this project was original content. I eventually decided that creating a video game poster would allow me to fully immerse myself in the project because I wanted it to be a passion project, something I could put all my heart and soul into without too many restraints.
CONCEPT OF THE VIDEO GAME:
This video game is a made-up game inspired by zombie movies, shows, and games. I love apocalypse plots. I chose the title "Forlorn" because I wanted to use an interesting word that explains the situation of the plot without being too obvious.
FORLORN
“forlorn adjective for·lorn | \ fər-ˈlȯrn , fȯr- \ Definition of forlorn 1a: BEREFT, FORSAKEN left quite forlorn of hope b: sad and lonely because of isolation or desertion : DESOLATE a forlorn landscape 2: being in poor condition : MISERABLE, WRETCHED forlorn tumbledown buildings 3: nearly hopeless, a forlorn attempt” (Merriam-Webster).
FONTS I WAS INTERESTED IN:
It was decided that Changeling Neo Regular and Strenuous ExtraLight would no longer be included because they were too stylized.
Color Palette
Beginning Stages
I drew the graphics of the rifle and the zombies in Adobe Illustrator. It was just far easier to create a transparent graphic in Illustrator with the pen tool and then move it over to Photoshop. However, at this point, I did not like where it was going. The poses looked really unnatural (as they were not meant for this project) and I wasn't happy with how it was turning out.
So, I decided to start again from scratch.
Driftwood Beach
Driftwood Beach is in Jekyll Island, GA. I was stationed in Fort Stewart, GA which was about an hour away, and I took the time to drive out to Driftwood Beach one day to take photos. I was extremely lucky to arrive when it was foggy outside. The photos are some of my favorite I've ever taken and really are what got me interested in Photography. While I was searching for inspiration in my older photography, I came across these pictures and instantly knew I had to include them because fog has always reminded me of zombies. It works perfect for the theme of a zombie video game because the branches of all the drift wood are twisted and eerie-feeling. With an overlay, it really made for a dramatic photo.
POSTER V1
I initially used the font Changeling Neo Inline because the double lines made the text very geometrical. I warped the font by selecting the Warp option "Arch Upper". I think extended the lines of "f" and "n" to further drag that shape out. I wanted to make the shape of the text and the shape of the trees in the photo flow with each other.
It didn't quite feel like a zombie video game in V1 2. Here, I changed the text to black and created some zombie hand graphics in Adobe Illustrator. I then moved the graphics over and filled in the empty space at the top of the photo.
Later on in my process, I began adding the Spasey Games logo and all the text to pull together the poster.
Poster V1 Continued
I was able to create this overlay by adding a Color Overlay to my original photo, choosing "Difference" under "Blend Mode" and lowering the opacity to 75%. This overlay became my new favorite and I decided against the above red versions.
The blue just looks much more dramatic and eerie.
Final Choice
I switched the font in V1 5 and the final favorite to Pirulen. The R's gave the logo some symmetry and I chose to color them separately from the rest because I wanted red to be the center of attention. By adding this pop of color, I hope to draw the eye to the red.
Poster V2
I began this poster by using with this photo I took inside The Museum of Natural History in New York City. This was a moving Earth screen that was near the astrology exhibit. I wanted to head in a direction that represented the death of Earth during this zombie apocalypse.
The picture of the New York skyline was taken from the top of the Empire State Building during my trip to New York City last May. (Picture shown in Poster V3 section). I got this effect on the photo by selecting the "Image" tab, then "Adjustments" and "Threshold".
Final Choice
At first, the graphic had a dark grey background, but I realized how good the black looks on that deep red color and with white it gives it a lot of contrast. Again, the pop of the red color was intentional to draw the eye to the red. This graphic is more subtle about the zombie-theme, but I believe it's still achieved through the reddened Earth and the text body as well.
Poster V3
For this poster, I used photos that I took last May while I was vacationing in New York City. We visited Saint Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue. The statue originally sits on podium and it depicts Mary holding her dead son, Jesus. For the background photo I used a photo I took while I was at the top of the Empire State Building looking towards the World Trade Center (This is the photo from Poster V2 as well).
Mary and Jesus:
I chose this picture of this statue because of the emotion in the poses. I wanted to use the image but change it so it worked with the theme. Below is a video of me painting over the photo to adjust it perfectly to my needs. I also add things like wounds and blood to make it look like a zombie. I used the Photoshop brush called "Kyle's Impressionist Blender" under "Wet Media Brushes". I found this brush extremely easy to work with and I had a lot of fun with this portion
I began playing around with layering in this version. I wanted to use that skyline graphic again, which is also made by choosing "Threshold" under "Image" and "Adjustments".
I really focused on layering the graphics in this design. I wanted it to be abstract and emotional. I wanted it to give the feeling that it is the end of the world.
Final Choice
I enjoyed the tag-line running along the side vertically because it reminds me of a music album with the text on all sides of the image. The text below the statue graphic interacts with the graphic and feels as though that is what Jesus is sitting on.
Spasey Games
This logo was created because during my inspiration searching, I noticed that a lot of video game posters include the company who makes the game and I really wanted it to be unique and authentic-looking. I decided to create a quick graphic using the same photo I used of Earth from the V2 poster.
I merged the two halves of the earth graphic together and began to change the colors by using the Gradient Map under "Image" and "Adjustments".
I then used the Liquify option under the "Filter" tab.
I used the Gravesend Sans font for this logo, and erased the bridges between the "A" to make it unique and geometrical.
Because the logo was so complicated with all the swirl designs inside the planet graphic, I created a couple more versions that would work elsewhere. I knew that the full-color version wouldn't work well with the red color palette used by Forlorn.
Final Posters
Font Links:
Works Cited
Adobe. “Adobe Fonts.” Adobe Fonts, 2021, https://fonts.adobe.com/.
Merriam-Webster. “Forlorn.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forlorn.
Credits:
Kasey Leftwich