Ten Commandments Project - Vector Images

[Euphoria]

In my current college project I have to take six of the ten commandments, and create a postcard for each. The postcards must contain a word and imagery that together make people think of the commandment. Having gone through a load of different ideas, I ended up deciding to have a set of images revolving around hands. I'm part of the way through now and I've hit a bit of a block, so I decided to see if anyone here can help me get some inspiration (or a nice stock image for the final couple of postcards!)

All the images are in a set style - a black background, a light grey vector hand and a bright red focus point. This was set by the first image;

Postcard one - Murder



Postcard two - One God



Postcard three - Honour Parents



The next two postcards I'm not sure which image to use, all four have strong points, so feedback would be especially welcome here.

Postcard four - Lie
I'd love a better image for the second one (side on preferably); if I'm not satisfied with what I have by next week I'll take one myself (though that'd be cutting it a little close to the deadline).




Postcard five - Blasphemy




Postcard six - Adultery

The second postcard for do not lie could also possibly be used for this, but it's not too strong. Other ideas I had were two hands with only one wearing a wedding ring, or three hands (male with ring, female with ring, either male or female without ring). Any suggestions or comments on those?

It'd also probably be helpful to have some feedback on the illustrations themselves, as this is the first time I've really used Illustrator...

Thanks in advance for the help!

[jiaix]

smart idea, but the hands look kind of smashed and wobbly (using photographs for tracing base is not a sin you know )

[Euphoria]

Lol I did use photos, hands aren't as smoothly contoured as you might think, I smoothed them out a lot and they're still like that :P

[jiaix]

maybe that's the case then. have some more detail and more sharp turns (it's like batman vs spiderman - a chiseled chin psycho vs smooth flowing mamas boy :P ). gradients wouldn't hurt aswell. and maybe it's perspective which blots 'em up. 'honour parents' is most plausible right now

[Coy]

This is an interesting project.
Though shall not lie is a difficult one to illustrate and I've been sitting here trying to think of suggestions and I've got noting.
could you use though shall not covet thy neighbors house, wife etc. use a red house w/ the hand reaching at it maybe show an outline of a wife or something.?

or though shall not steal. use two hands hiding something?

I do like the way you've used the hands and the red imagry.

[Euphoria]

maybe that's the case then. have some more detail and more sharp turns (it's like batman vs spiderman - a chiseled chin psycho vs smooth flowing mamas boy :P ). gradients wouldn't hurt aswell. and maybe it's perspective which blots 'em up. 'honour parents' is most plausible right now

Yeah, the problem is getting it as accurate as possible without spending hours on each one, I kinda want it half way in between the two, but it's hard to get right. Definitely agree about honour parents being the best, I was surprised by it cause I thought it was going to be one of the worst but it turned out much better.

This is an interesting project.
Though shall not lie is a difficult one to illustrate and I've been sitting here trying to think of suggestions and I've got noting.
could you use though shall not covet thy neighbors house, wife etc. use a red house w/ the hand reaching at it maybe show an outline of a wife or something.?

or though shall not steal. use two hands hiding something?

I do like the way you've used the hands and the red imagry.

Yup, it's the hardest on the course, so they've given it to us right at the start of the second year to wake us all up >.>

I had several pretty cool ideas for each commandment, but getting a theme that works for six is incredibly hard. I didn't have anything for covet, that could be a good one - I'll see how that would look when I next get a chance to do something on it (bedtime soon!).

Thanks for the feedback from both of you

[bunker]

I like the idea of adultery, the one with tree hand an two ring. I don´t like the ones in blasphemy. It's a difficult project but you have a community working with you!

It will turn out great!!!

[jiaix]

hours?? my-my one hand shouldn't take over 30 minutes

that one should teach you some tricks YouTube - Adobe Illustrator Tutorial! ::The Pen Tool::

[Euphoria]

hours?? my-my one hand shouldn't take over 30 minutes

that one should teach you some tricks YouTube - Adobe Illustrator Tutorial! ::The Pen Tool::

If I was trying to make it look perfect then I'd spend a hell of a long time doing it (I was exaggerating a bit, but still), the ones so far took about 10-30 minutes in Illustrator, depending on the detail.

I'll have a look at the youtube video when I'm in college, youtube doesn't work on my home connection.

[shefshef019]

I really like the idea of this assignment. I think your postcards are pretty good so far, but I agree the hands look a little off. I know you mentioned using a set style with light grey hand; is that a rule for the assignment, or just your own personal preference? I'm thinking a different flesh tone might look a little more realistic.

[Euphoria]

I really like the idea of this assignment. I think your postcards are pretty good so far, but I agree the hands look a little off. I know you mentioned using a set style with light grey hand; is that a rule for the assignment, or just your own personal preference? I'm thinking a different flesh tone might look a little more realistic.

My tutor was the one who suggested black and red with white/grey. I'll try it out with flesh tones too, I think you might be right about that being one of the main problems with them. Thanks!

[seanb]

Just a thought for the Adultery card... what about a man's hand with a visible ring line but no ring?

[Euphoria]

Just a thought for the Adultery card... what about a man's hand with a visible ring line but no ring?

Yeah, I tried that too, but there wasn't anything red to add to it, so I went with the three hands thing. Turned out really well once printed, at the smaller size (they were only A6) it all looks great

Thanks for the help everyone!

[HWorks]

Nice project! The only one which doesn't amuse me is the one with the lips, Lie. I prefer the first one, very impressive. I really enjoy the whole idea.

I like also the thought about the adulterine pic. Really clever!

I want to try a suggestion, what about a hand putting the ring into the pocket?