Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Grapus: A large photograph beneath, lettering and scrawl laid over the margins
- Type
- Set in Grapus's manner (Headlines written directly with brush or marker, slant and bleed kept), and let Polish Poster School's lettering (Draw the title by hand in the same stroke as the image) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Grapus's material (Splatter and finger marks kept in the plate, plus one fluorescent ink); bring in exactly one thing from Polish Poster School (Rough brush and ink surface, few colors, tears and bleed left in).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e2d6bd, #b9362f, #25211d.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Regional Graphics, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Grapus Manufacturing the roughness with a filter removes the necessity of the hand, and what remains is a costume of political heat that trivializes the subject.
- Polish Poster School Leaning on star faces or film stills kills the metaphor, and roughening the surface alone leaves decoration with nothing behind it.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Grapus (Style, 1970–1991) and its accent from Polish Poster School (Style, 1950s–1980s). Structural cues: Rough hand-drawn lettering; Splatter and graffiti; Interventions on photographs; Anonymous collective authorship. Accent cues, used sparingly: Symbolic metaphor; Hand-drawn lettering; Rough paint surface; One strong image. Composition: A large photograph beneath, lettering and scrawl laid over the margins. Type and lettering: Headlines written directly with brush or marker, slant and bleed kept. Let one material quality come from the second style: Rough brush and ink surface, few colors, tears and bleed left in. Mood: Rebellion, Play, Exhilaration, Nostalgia. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e2d6bd, #b9362f, #25211d. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Grapus 1970–1991 / Style / Regional Graphics
The French collective was born out of May '68. Hand-scrawled letters, splatters and graffiti over photographs brought a festive roughness to posters for politics, theater and city halls, and made resistance to polish into a style.
- Polish Poster School 1950s–1980s / Style / Regional Graphics
Rather than explain a film or a play, it turns the assignment into a psychological image built from painting, metaphor and hand-drawn letters.
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