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 Mexican Muralism: Set the subject high for an upward view, running the crowd as one wave.
- Type
- Set in Mexican Muralism's manner (Keep lettering inside banners and flags, painted with the same brush as the image.), and let Posada's Calaveras's lettering (Headlines set as broadside type, packed above and below the image) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Mexican Muralism's material (Fresco on lime plaster with earth pigments, the wall texture left visible.); bring in exactly one thing from Posada's Calaveras (Rough zinc-etched line printed black on coarse paper, trimmed close).
- Colour
- Build on #d7b77a, #9d3e2e, #35584b and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Mexican Muralism Borrowing crowds and raised fists without deciding whose history is told and for whom yields a large decorative wall with no argument.
- Posada's Calaveras Using the skeleton as a merely spooky motif blunts the satire that laughed at class, and the result becomes indistinguishable from seasonal decoration.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Mexican Muralism (Style, 1920s–1940s) and its accent from Posada's Calaveras (Style, 1880s–1913). Structural cues: Monumental murals; Crowds of figures; Political narrative; Public space. Accent cues, used sparingly: Personified skeletons; Rough zinc-etched lines; Sharing the sheet with broadside type; Satire that laughs at death. Composition: Set the subject high for an upward view, running the crowd as one wave.. Type and lettering: Keep lettering inside banners and flags, painted with the same brush as the image.. Let one material quality come from the second style: Rough zinc-etched line printed black on coarse paper, trimmed close. Mood: Exhilaration, Rebellion, Trust, Play, Nostalgia. Color: build on #d7b77a, #9d3e2e, #35584b with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. 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
- Mexican Muralism 1920s–1940s / Style / Mural Traditions
Paints post-revolutionary history, labor, indigenous culture and visions of the future onto the vast walls of public buildings.
- Posada's Calaveras 1880s–1913 / Style / Popular Prints
The skeleton satires Posada engraved for Mexican broadsides: dressed-up calaveras laughing at class and death alike. La Catrina became a national icon of the Day of the Dead and Mexican graphics.
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