Postcard Project: Concept and Plan

This first sketch outlines my plan for my Johns Hopkins postcard. The images in this postcard represent aspects of Hopkin's life and legacy. Hopkins' family was in the tobacco farming business and Johns himself worked in the fields as a young man; hence the ciggarette box and the cigarette. Hopkins founded Johns Hopkins University, so the drawing of the top of a building on the right-hand side of my plan represents the university. The "Railroad Crossing" sign represents Hopkins' heavy investment in the Baltimore Railroad. The paper money and the coins falling in the background represent the fortune Hopkins earned throughout his sucessful career as an entrepeneur. Finally, the newspaper clippings in the very background represent his founding of the Johns Hopkins Press, an academic newspaper. With Photoshop, I will combine the scanned images, digital photographs, and scanned drawings into one photomontage piece in the form of a postcard on heavy-weight paper it looks and feels like a real postcard.

This sketch outlines my plan for my Edgar Allan Poe postcard. The images in the postcard represent aspects of Poe's literary works- his famous poems and short stories. There will be an image of Poe on the right-hand side of the postcard. Next to that, will be a drawing of a flying raven. Behind that is a stack of books, representing Poe's literary accomplishments. Beside the books, in the lower-lefthand corner, will be a drawing of a heart, alluding to Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart" short story. Finally, in the very background, there will be scanned images of pages from books with Poe's work in them. I will compile all of these images together into a photomontage using Photoshop and print it on heavy-weight for the full postcard-effect.