Update: This 24″ poster is now available for purchase on my Kickstarter Poster Project!

My newest poster design is an idea I’ve been wanting to tackle for a while.  I wanted to create a design that’s self-referential, that describes its own creation to the viewer. I had a lot of fun making this one. It’s really dry humor.

The main focal point of the image describes itself as “This is the focus”, while one of the bright lines creating the shapes says “Contrast attracts your eyes, you like it.” There are a dozen other little pieces that describe how the poster was made, and what role each part of the design plays. Negative space, lines, texture, radial symmetry, the rule of thirds, it’s all in there.

This is absolutely meant be a sort-of inside joke for creatives and designers. It pulls from the principles and elements of design, Photoshop functions, and even the exact fonts used to create the piece. It’s almost like a blueprint for making itself. The background is actually a photo I took myself of a random cornfield in Illinois.

This poster is inspired by a Deadmau5 song, “This Is the Hook” from his At Play album. It’s an absolutely killer dance track, with a robotic voice that says things like “I like the bass”, “This is the hook, it’s catchy, you like it”, and “The open high hat creates the counter syncopation, making you want to dance.” Dance music is and always will be cooler than poster design, but I wanted my design to capture the same self-referential silliness of his song.

I’m sure the poster text is a little to small to read on the blog, but the design is intended to be printed at ~ 15.5 x 24″. Here’s some more closeup shots!

I’m still working on getting my poster store up and running. I will definitely be getting prints done of my previous “Predators” series, and I have a lot of interest in getting this one printed as well. I absolutely want this hanging on the wall in my office. You can also this poster on my Flickr.

As always, here’s iPhone / iPad / Android Wallpapers:

• “This Is the Focus” iPhone Wallpaper
• “This Is the Focus” iPad & Android Wallpaper

If you’re interested in a print, or have any thoughts, leave a comment!

Or hit me up on Twitter: @FringeFocus

Update: This 24″ poster is now available for purchase on my Kickstarter Poster Project!

Triptych anyone? This is the third poster in my recently dubbed “Predators” series. Earlier this month I was working on designs with sharks (sea) and wolves (land), so now I’ve moved on to birds (sky). These birds are no particular species, just my own mix of eagle / hawk / raven / nightmare.

I spent a lot of time to make sure the sharks and wolves in the previous posters looked like vicious predators. With birds it’s a bit tougher, because unless you’re a rabbit or mouse, they’re not all that terrifying. Nevertheless, I think I captured the energy of an attack here.

All for One, One for All

Blue, white, red, and lots of colors in between. These posters were all made to mirror each other, and I put a lot of effort into making sure they all borrowed a similar composition. Crazy hypno-patterns, distant bright light, predators and in some cases, prey. Go ahead and check out a large shot of all three posters together on my Flickr.

All three designs feature apex predators, hypnotic patterns, and pretty intense ranges of color. I really dug drawing these birds, probably went through a dozen or so variations of the feathers before I settled on the final look.

If I got these printed, would you be interested in the whole set of three? I could also try printing only one of the three. Or an alternate route would be to print one GIANT poster that integrated all three designs. What do you think?

I’ll work on more posters this month, next month, and beyond. Going to explore some more ideas outside of this series, so stay tuned!

As always, here’s iPhone / iPad / Android wallpapers.

• “Birds of Prey” iPhone Wallpaper
• “Birds of Prey” iPad / Android Wallpaper

What do you think of this poster? Hit me up in the comments!

Or catch me on Twitter: @FringeFocus

Update: This 24″ poster is now available for purchase on my Kickstarter Poster Project!

“Frostbite” is the newest poster in my newly created “Predators” series. This is a follow-up to the popular “Infested Waters” poster I designed last week. I really enjoyed creating the chaotic patterns and drawing the sharks, so I decided I’d run with that visual theme. There’s a lot of tension showing predators and their potential prey, so I wanted to capture that again with wolves.

The background is a lot of tedious vector work, but it totally pays off. I kept the wolves as simple and sleek as I did the sharks, which brings a lot of the focus to their sinister faces. The textures and color palette are important, but less is more in this case. Overall I think it looks pretty badass.

I’ve already had a number of requests for prints of the “Infested Waters” poster. I’m absolutely looking into this. Posters let me explore concepts I’d never get to use in client work, so expect to see more of this stuff this year. If and when I go to print, rest assured that the prints will be devastatingly cool. First step is to keep drawing. You can also check out this poster on my Flickr.

Lastly, last week I had requests for iPod / iPad wallpapers. I’ve whipped those together for this design as well. Feel free to download the wallpaper and subsequently cover up all the good parts with icons for Angry Birds and Google Maps.

• “Frostbite” iPhone Wallpaper
• “Frostbite” iPad Wallpaper (also good for Android phones)

What do you think of this poster? Drop me some comments!

Update: This 24″ poster is now available for purchase on my Kickstarter Poster Project!

Sharks are actually one of my worst fears, right behind scorpions. The difference with sharks, is that they’re majestic and badass. I created this poster to illustrate their seemingly gravity-defying terror. I tried to capture the warmth of the ocean surface, as well as the dark depths filled with predators. A beautiful way to die.

My plans for 2011 include a lot more poster designs, so stay tuned! May even get some of these printed if there’s any interest.

Let me know what you think of this design in the comments!

Edit: iPhone & iPad Wallpapers!

By request, I have made iPhone and iPad wallpapers of my “Infested Waters” poster. Feel free to download them and sex up your mobile devices now!

• iPhone Wallpaper
• iPad Wallpaper