Black Bear Magazine Cover
In this project, I was tasked with creating a magazine cover for the Black Bear Review’s 2024 edition, a publication that brought together articles written by English students and illustrated by the graphic design program. With the many voices of both authors and designers, the cover needed to represent a singular concept that both disciplines could relate to.
It is for this reason that I settled on the issue of artificial intelligence and how it is posing a threat to everyone involved in the production of this magazine. I reached out to the authors in the english department to hear about their experiences as well as incorporating my own. The outcome is this illustration that I created as a statement on how human creativity can never be replaced by that of a machine.
Step 1:
Base Design
Thumbnails, sketching, and finally line art create the base design that will be used in the final cover.
Step 2:
Colour Blocking
Choosing the correct base colours and blocking out where the shadows will be is the next step.
Step 3:
Rendering
Rendering is the final piece, adding depth with glare and shadows as well as any additional textures.
The Inspiration
One of the biggest challenges of this project was finding a common issue shared by both authors and designers, and then finding a way to summarize that issue through a singular image. I began by discussing the experiences of students from both programs, and concluded that both groups placed significant value on the creative process, often times more so than the final outcome itself. By using this shared mindset as a starting point, my goal was to create an image that reflected not just the content of the magazine, but the shared mindset of the people who created it.
The Approach
Guided by the concept of the threat of AI and shared creativity between disciplines, I began sketching a robot as the main visual focal point. After a few rough drafts, I ended up drawing in multiple arms to represent the many aspects of design that it takes to create a publication such as this. Along with the focal point of the robot, I included TV’s with screens that depicted images from the articles included inside the magazine itself. Throughout the project, my illustration skills played a central role, but equally important was my ability to distill abstract ideas into a clear visual solution. By bringing together multiple perspectives into one cohesive design, I was able to produce a cover that reflects both collaboration and the shared experience of creative work.
Programs Used
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Indesign
