(#1) "A New Hope" For My Art Skills

I personally don’t think I have an addiction or an issue, but my parents and friends would beg to differ. I guess watching 164 movies in the past 13 months is not necessarily normal among most people, but I don’t think this should be labeled as an “addiction”. This began in the beginning of 2016 as a mode of enjoyment, yet as my interest in cinema grew, so did my appreciation for it, and I began to not only see movies as entertainment, but as a form of art as well.

Unfortunately, I lack the skill to be the next Kubrick or Daniel Day-Lewis, yet for this project, I still wanted to do something that incorporated my love for the cinema.

At the same time, I wanted to do something that related to art. My father and his father are both incredibly artistic and I’ve kind of been a disappointment in following their footsteps (and if we’re being honest, I’m just a disappointment in every aspect of life).

Then, after a week of strenuous brainstorming with no substantial results, a project-saving neuron connection lit up in my hippocampus, despite my high levels of cortisol, reminding me of minimalist movie posters.

Take a gander below for examples of minimalist posters…

I had stumbled upon these before, and it’s almost like my passions as a movie-watcher and my aspirations to be artistic had a baby and out came minimalist movie posters.

Minimalism is a type of art in which an artist uses pared-down elements and values the power of simplicity. In addition to this, minimalism is a very open field of art, meaning that the interpretations of it can widely vary.

Minimalist movie posters are simply movie posters with little to no words, containing only a snapshot of a specific scene that can encompass the movie as a whole or tackle a specific theme/motif from the movie. Not only are they aesthetically appealing, but a quick glance can automatically trigger memories from watching that specific film and the emotions felt during that time.

For the next 6 weeks, I will be able to express my love for movies while simultaneously improving my art skill by learning this mode of art and applying it into the creation of simplistic movie posters.

Take another gander below for an overview of my plan:

Cycle 1: Research | Watch/analyze Movie #1

Cycle 2: Sketch and paint Movie Poster #1

Cycle 3: Watch/analyze Movie #2

Cycle 4: Sketch and paint Movie Poster #2

Cycle 5: Watch/analyze Movie #3

Cycle 6: Sketch and paint Movie Poster #3

This repeated cycle of minimizing an entire movie into a snapshot will help exercise the skills and mindset needed for minimalist painting, and during this time, I intend to improve my art and possibly take a different approach (depending on my research) for each poster. By the end of this long process, I hope to have somewhat mastered this specific form of art to use in the future. Or this could end up being a complete disaster just like everything else in my life right now. Hey, but at least I have an excuse to watch more movies.

Sources:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/260645897162862029/
http://collider.com/minimalist-posters-for-the-films-of-quentin-tarantino/