Poster Design - TOP GUN inspired
A fun afternoon spent in Illustrator and Photoshop creating a TOP GUN inspired poster commemorating the completion of one of the most fun, and tough races in the running calendar - The South Downs Way Relay. A team of six (plus 2 drivers) run a relay race of 18 legs for a distance of 100 miles through of some of the best countryside the UK has to offer.
This year I was captain of the veteran team (VETS) and just as we were leaving Beachy Head, one of the other teams took the shot of us walking back towards our bus for the start of what was a solid 12 hours of running and driving.
An epic race needs an epic backdrop so I was inspired to create this little number.
Building the logo - Illustrator
This was quite straight forward once I figured out the wording I wanted to use. Mostly built from rectangles that were trimmed using the shapebuilder tool. The geometric nature of the design made it quite easy as most angles were straight 45 degree cuts. Using the direct selection tool I was able to make the necessary joins within the letter forms to give the characteristic look. The font is TOP_GUN by Alphabet & Type and is licensed for personal use only.
I feel the need...
The original photograph needed a number of changes to achieve the look I wanted. Firstly, some removal of elements plus a complete sky replacement was undertaken. This was then followed by lots of Curves adjustment layers and brush masking to give the contrasting elements needed. Once the aircraft were added, I relied again on brush masking and blend modes to give a passable effect in the time that I had, Certainly more could have been done here but I'm generally happy with how it looked.
The need for speed
Bringing the logo into the picture called for some softening and a bit of colour grading to get the effect I was looking for. The original gradient was changed through an aggressive curves adjustment layer which I quite like. The typography was a stylistic choice but reminiscent of the film - the addition of callsigns was just a bit of fun but overall added to the 'film poster' aesthetic. I like the way they sit in the darkened foreground. Again, the font used was TOP_GUN. The finishing touches included the 8 stars across the bottom which draws not only from the iconography of the film, but also a visual representation of the 8 of us who completed the run.
Setting it all off with the club name (Haywards Heath Harriers) was just the personal touch that this needed.
