Brief 1 - Design Is About Doing: Cigarette Idea

I had an idea today, I wanted to look at a cigarette burning down to a stub to show how his chances with his wife are getting slimmer but at the same time it is showing his habits and how little he is caring for his life. I drew up some rough sketches (see below) of how I wanted it to look. Before I began trying to create my piece I decided to look into some artwork which uses cigarettes.

This piece caught my eye with its simple two tone. The lack of colours make the contrast between the two chosen colours a lot stronger. The shape in the background could refer to coffee being poured and splashing up or rounded cigarette smoke. 

This was the main piece that I was attracted to, I like the simple illustration and use of colour. I think it is a clever piece of design which does show the harms of smoking. However the colours used are not ones I would immediately go to when I think of smoking as they are low saturation and 'friendly' colours, this is what makes me think it isn't an anti smoking poster, rather a piece of design. I may take this sort of design further and try to create something similar if I can get advice on how to create it. 

The illustrated cigarette forming smoke swirls in the shape of lungs makes you look twice, but like the other design it seems quite friendly. It does portray the message of the smoke filling your lungs, the different opacity swirls makes it feel more like smoke than just swirls; if it was a monotone colour it would be harder to distinguish.  

I really liked this piece of design, I thought it was very clever having a cigarette in the hand of a dead person. I don't think this is at all appropriate or possible for my final piece but I just loved the impact it created and the way it gets you thinking. It doesn't need to say it but you know he has died from cigarettes, which in my opinion makes this piece more powerful.

This was a phone case I found. Why anyone would want a stubbed out cigarette on a phone case is beyond me but I liked the use os stripping the colours down to 4 tones, this has caused it to create shapes and clear tonal areas. Perhaps this style is more appropriate for my artwork because it would take away from really cigarette images.