Chinese Ink Wash Poster

Make one poster from the uploaded photograph. Handle it on its own; never collage several photographs or visual elements together.

Overall layout
Use a strict vertical 3:4 composition, divided horizontally into two zones in an absolute 1:1 ratio, each taking 50% of the canvas.

Upper zone — the photograph as taken
Preserve the subject's characteristics, its structural outline, the perspective, the real materials, the natural light and shadow and the original colour mood of the uploaded photograph. Apply only careful high-end grading and minor adjustment, bringing it to the quality of an art magazine or a photography exhibition. The background may be extended moderately where the composition needs it, but never stretch, deform, reconstruct or alter the form of the subject. Do not damage its structure, its posture or the core composition.

Lower zone — a minimal ink-wash reconstruction
First distil the most recognisable core elements of the photograph: the subject, the silhouette, the run of the structure, the perspective, the sense of rhythm and the atmosphere. Then rebuild them as a minimal image with the quality of ink wash. Never transcribe the photograph's realistic detail or render it representationally. Keep only the most characteristic skeleton and spirit, so that a viewer sees its correspondence with the photograph above at a glance.

The ground is ivory, warm white or the tone of traditional xuan paper, with a fine paper fibre and natural texture. Rebuild the subject through spreading ink halos, layered wet and dry strokes of varying density, flying white, bleeding, accumulated ink and intentional empty space, creating a deep, restrained, poetic Eastern aesthetic. Remove secondary detail and keep only the most recognisable silhouette, the structural turns, the spatial layering and the atmosphere. Do not pursue representational completeness; concentrate on abstraction, deletion, distillation and a visual expression that leaves an aftertaste.

Work mainly in black, grey and pale ink, building gradations of density and a rhythm of dense against sparse. A little colour may be distilled from the liveliest tones of the original as a local accent or a light wash, but never mechanically reproduce the original's colour values. Colour may be selectively translated into a clear blue-grey, distant-mountain blue, pale gold, warm yellow, cinnabar red or pale cyan, to strengthen the visual focus and the swell of feeling. The whole image must remain dominated by ink tones and large areas of empty space. Avoid dull, muddy greys, aged yellow-brown, elaborate ornament and garish colour.

The core of the subject should be tighter and more concentrated, while the edges scatter naturally, diffuse, fade and merge into the surrounding space, using large areas of emptiness to create room to breathe. The subject occupies roughly 30–45% of the lower zone; the rest is unhurried empty space. The composition may be off-centre, against an edge, suspended or slightly cropped, but must hold an asymmetric visual balance and a refined editorial design sense. Empty space is not nothing: it is an indispensable structural element of the composition. Subtract rather than fill. Let the subject read like an ink seal set down on paper, or an Eastern object of art displayed in an exhibition catalogue.

Typography
Add minimal editorial typography only where it is needed. Never apply a preset fixed title or a serial number. The text should be drawn from the subject, the place, the time, an action, an emotion or a metaphor, distilled into a handful of words or a short phrase, set quietly in the empty space or along the edge of the subject. The typesetting must be restrained, open and full of air, and must never upstage the image.

Overall aesthetic
Contemporary Eastern aesthetics, minimal ink-wash reconstruction, expansive artistic emptiness, a finely judged visual mass like a seal, quiet and composed editorial typesetting, and the pure, refined quality of an exhibition poster.

Avoid complicated backgrounds, overly representational realistic detail, excessive ornament, long text, templated typesetting and an over-filled composition.