Illustration  

Senior Project

The following images and information are the culmination of a 5 week course during which I was required to create a fictitious customer and research, organize, strategize, propose, design and implement an advertising campaign that would meet their marketing goals. The project that I undertook was the marketing of a 3D video game called, "Blind Justice". All images, slogans, logos, illustrations and layouts were created by myself using 3D models. The project was lots of fun because of my love for 3D illustration, so I hope you will enjoy your review of the data.

To download a PDF version of the Presentation and Proposal, click here. (File is approx. 8MB)

 
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Blind Justice: A Fantasy War Game

Project Proposal

Thank you for the opportunity to work with you on this exciting project. The design team here at Advanced Graphic Design is confident that we can provide you with the professional quality creativity that will make your marketing goals a stellar success.
The marketing for this high-end 3D based role playing game will be developed for Killology3D. The project will include developing marketing materials and support pieces necessary for online marketing as well as point of purchase and packaging materials for the product displays.

The target audience is teens and young adults, ages 13 to 30 with access to PC and gaming consoles capable of playing video games. With 80% of homes in the USA currently connected to the Internet, this is a huge potential audience.

The overall goals of this project include research into existing video game marketing strategies in order to facilitate the effective development of a unique and attractively designed product promo scene capable of creating interest in the gaming community.

The following products would be recommended for development in order to effectively market this forthcoming product:

  1. A series of Flash based web banners for distribution and web-based marketing on known gaming web portals.
  2. A series of point of purchase posters to be displayed at retail locations in order to develop interest in the forthcoming release and for continued use after product release.
  3. A packaging design for product box for retail distribution.
  4. A packaging design for the product CD for retail distribution, including CD label, case design and fold out insert.
  5. A 3 page web-site to be used as a kick-off teaser campaign for product pre-release information and game play screen shots to use as computer desktop wall paper.

Merchandising products to include T-shirts, Sweat Shirts, Ball Caps and a 5 design set of playing cards for giveaways and retail sales at participating retailers.

Over the next few pages, we will present a powerful plan to blitz the market with information that will communicate with your target audience in order to stir up industry interest and enthusiasm for this upcoming dynamic title.

Timeline
(a week-by-week breakdown of the major tasks, costs and deliverables):

  1. A 3 page teaser web-site to be used as a kick-off teaser campaign for product pre-release information.
    1. To be developed first.
    2. Estimated time to completion: 1 week
    3. Required resources: Marketing Dept., Flash & HTML Web Designer, 3D design Illustrator and Copy Writer.
  2. A series of point of purchase posters to be displayed at retail locations in order to develop interest in the forthcoming release and for continued use after product release.
    1. To be developed third.
    2. Estimated time to completion: 2 weeks
    3. Required resources: Marketing Dept., 3D design Illustrator, Offset Printing Services, Shipping
  3. A packaging design for product box for retail distribution.
    1. To be developed fourth.
    2. Estimated time to completion: 3 weeks
    3. Required resources: Marketing Dept., 3D design Illustrator, Offset Printing Services
  4. A packaging design for the product DVD for retail distribution, including DVD label and fold over insert.
    1. To be developed in conjunction with Packaging on 3 week schedule
    2. Estimated time to completion: 3 weeks
    3. Required resources: Marketing Dept., 3D design Illustrator, DVD duplicator/Disc printer & Offset printer
  5. Merchandising products to include T-shirts, Sweat Shirts and a 5 design set of playing cards for giveaways and retail sales at participating retailers
    1. To be developed fifth.
    2. Estimated time to completion: 4 weeks
    3. Required resources: Marketing Dept., 3D design Illustrator, Screen printing & embroidering supplier (for apparel), Offset Printing (for playing cards)

Personnel Needs & Description:

Marketing Department: Marketing researchers and graphic designers recruited to assist with visual and conceptual design direction and target goals.

Copy Writer: Recruited to develop text for all marketing material geared toward target audience.

Illustrator: Artist recruited to develop game characters and produce production illustrations for use in collateral marketing materials for the game.

Graphic Designer: Artist recruited to combine illustration art work with marketing goals and prepare design samples for all marketing materials.

Flash/Web Designer: Artist recruited to combine illustration art work with web-based interface and banner ads prepared to market the release of the game product.

Materials:

  1. DVD duplication and printing
  2. Packaging (including boxes and inserts)
  3. Offset Printing (Posters, Playing Cards)
  4. Web Hosting
  5. Apparel Production (print on demand for T-shirts, Sweat Shirts and Ball Caps)

Project Goals:

The goal of this project is to create awareness of the new gaming product release, “Blind Justice”. Specific marketing goals include awareness among the gaming community and purchase of the game from participating retail locations. Product specific goals range from pre-release teaser marketing to point of purchase retail product packaging and support materials (posters).

APA Citation

Pricing Sources:
CD Rom Covers. (2007). Print Pricing. Retrieved June 7, 2007, from https://www.printingforless.com/cdcovers.html
Poster & Playing Cards. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2007, from http://www.4over.com
Print-on-Demand Apparel. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2007, from http://www.cafepress.com
DVDs. (n.d.). DVD Duplication. Retrieved June 6, 2007, from http://www.diskduper.com/dvd.htm

Design Genre Recommendation

Planning the general look for this project requires research into the popular world of 3D gaming. There are a wide variety of genres available to video game players today, but for this project we are focused on a Fantasy style of art, with the possibility of incorporating some SciFi/Futuristic design elements.

When talking about “Fantasy” and “SciFi/Futuristic” styles of art, the waters can really be pretty muddy. Many artists combine the two styles in order to develop more of what I would refer to as a “Post Apocalyptic” style of art, where the weapons may be a combination of low tech (i.e.: swords and clubs) with high tech enemies, ships and/or design elements/styles. Most Fantasy artists are fans of both styles, so you will frequently see the lines crossed. Only occasionally will you find an artist that is a true purist and never blurs the lines.

Much of the concept for both Fantasy and SciFi/Futuristic styles of art is based on the content of the image being developed. This is by no means the only measure of the styles, but is an easily observed indicator that you might be viewing an images from one of these genres. A few artists that come to mind for the Fantasy style of art include: Amy Brown (for her work with fairies), Boris (for his Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian and warrior women images) and Michael Whelan (for his Dragon images). Samples can be found by clicking the names...but be aware that there is nudity in several images.

Elements that set Fantasy images apart from other genres include the herculean males battling bizarre and dangerously fantastical creatures in order to save a scantily clad voluptuous female. Sometimes the women are the warriors doing the fighting, but the setting always has a mysterious mood, and the creature is vile and angry. There is a sort of romanticism about much of this, since the hero is always overcoming highly disfavorable odds in order to defeat the monster and save the day. A favorite creature is, of course, the dragon. Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien will know that fantasy involves many types of characters and species, both good and evil. The story changes, the characters change, but the mood and sense of something “otherworldly” about the setting and models remains the same.

SciFi/Futuristic images, will many times contain similar elements, but there is the help of technology that Fantasy images don’t generally rely on (magic maybe, but lasers?) to show that the hero is small, but brave in the face of this huge undiscovered universe. Creatures are a definite, but they are aliens rather than mutations or undiscovered earthly creatures. The Futuristic elements can be dark and sinister, like the work of H.R. Giger or more of a techno feel like the work done in the hit movie, The Matrix. George Lucas’ Star Wars was the starting point for many of today's young SciFi artists. Many times SciFi images depict Man vs. Machine in the form of robots or cyborgs. Scifi.com has a gallery of images that would be considered more “purist” in nature.

References:

The Art of Michael Whelan - Official Site. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.michaelwhelan.com/index.asp?vsPage=gallerycollection

Fairy Art: Amy Brown Fantasy and Faery Art. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.amybrownart.com/

Vallejo, Boris. (1978) Tarzan. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://vallejo.ural.net/1978/show.php?030

Science Fiction Weekly Art Gallery. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/gallery/gallery3.html

H.R. Giger’s Official US Site. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.giger.com/

Inspirational Sources & References

World of Warcraft. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

The Art of Michael Whelan - Official Site. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.michaelwhelan.com/index.asp?vsPage=gallerycollection

Fairy Art: Amy Brown Fantasy and Faery Art. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.amybrownart.com/

Vallejo, Boris. (1978) Tarzan. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://vallejo.ural.net/1978/show.php?030

Science Fiction Weekly Art Gallery. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/gallery/gallery3.html

H.R. Giger’s Official US Site. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.giger.com/

Spectrum Fantastic Art. Retrieved by Lonnie Johnson 06-16-2007 from: http://www.spectrumfantasticart.com

All images shown in this presentation were designed and created by Lonnie Johnson, ©2007.