Donate Life Poster

This is my submission for the 2018 Donate Life poster competition. The only requirement for the piece was that it provide a positive and accurate message about, and include the phrase "organ and tissue donation." I made my message "Organ and Tissue Donation is a Choice Bigger Than You Alone" and drew the small silhouette of a person raising their arms beneath large drawing of organs that are routinely donated and transplanted. I used colored pencil and pen as my media.

To create this piece I first designed and placed my text, and then added the organs and tissues in the middle above the human silhouette. Lastly I gently shaded and faded blue at the top and green at the bottom to give the piece more depth while alluding to the color scheme of the Donate Life logo. The silhouette lighting for the person and low horizon line are two important composition techniques that strengthen the piece. The silhouette lighting makes the person a universal and impersonal representation of the viewer, whereas the low horizon line emphasizes the organs as a focal point. Color is the most important element of this piece and I think that the bright colors are crucial to the visual expression of positivity and optimism that is conveyed textually through the words on the poster. This piece evolved in that at first my message was going to be "Organ and tissue donation is bigger than you alone." I revised it because I wanted to emphasize that the viewer has the power and ultimately the choice to make this donation and that the choice is what has the potential to affect many different people.

My intention here is to express the message that organ and tissue donation goes far beyond the donator and has the potential to help many people. I use the word "bigger" here in order to express the importance of the choice and visually represented this with organs "bigger" than the small silhouette of a person below. This project relates to my life in that I believe in the power of organ and tissue donation and am an organ donor myself. I think this opportunity is very valuable and is an easy and moral way to help people in need. I think the composition of this piece could be stronger if the words at the very bottom were slightly farther up to make the whole piece look a little more centered. The most challenging part of the process for this piece was drawing the details of the organs, which is what I am most proud of, along with the way it represents my message. This work illustrates my strength as and artist in my ability to effectively convey a message. It illustrates weakness in some aspects of the composition.