The message I am trying to convey with this poster is “respecting life and protecting animals”. Beyond that, the call to action is to put more attention on protecting those animals in nature. Nowadays, many people have their own pets, and pet owners often invest a lot of effort in caring for these pets, feeding them the best food, buying them beautiful clothes and toys, and taking care of them when they are sick. However, the theme I want to express is that there are still many "animals not kept in cages" in the world, that is, wild animals. We should also protect them beyond the cages by not destroying their habitats, so they have a home to return to, not hunting them to prevent them from becoming endangered, not capturing them illegally, and not carelessly discarding trash so they don't ingest plastic and other harmful substances.

 

For my chosen colors, I would like to particularly mention my background selections. My poster mainly uses two colors: green and black (gray). As mentioned in our lecture, green represents harmony, growth, nature, and earth. However, black represents death and power. This corresponds to the animals' longing for the natural environment and their fear of human intervention. The green, representing the wilderness, is where animals yearn to live freely, while the black, representing the human environment, often possesses great power. Humans can easily kill an animal or destroy their habitat.

 

The background of this poster is my favorite part of the making process but also the part I struggled the most with. Initially, I simply stitched two images together, but the dividing line in the middle was very obvious and abrupt. To change this situation, I first cropped the outstanding part along the dividing line and blurred it, then placed it back into the larger background. However, the blurred image still looked strange against the clear background. That's when I thought of using a brush in Procreate to blend this dividing line. I applied a blur effect to my brush and then gradually shaded around the dividing line in both directions. This made the blurring effect look more natural. Although I struggled when not being able to find the right solution with multiple attempts, I succeeded finally with adjustments and trying new techniques. Therefore, this is also the process I enjoyed the most.

 

I like most of the design of my poster, but I think I tried to convey too many things on it, making the poster a bit cluttered. This could confuse viewers about what the main point is. Although I've already reduced the background contrast to lessen its presence, the overall poster still somewhat looks cluttered. I believe this is something I can improve on next time.