runnersuniverse.com

So here are the last two steps of the art process in creating my new display banner. In the left image, I added all the final touches to the art, which consist of various special effects: haze around the planet, glowing engines and lights on both the Khoruysa Brimia and the Mosquito, and a few metallic gleams on the ships and weapons.

I also made the final decision to nix the different colored horizontal bars, which were looking a bit hokey. Plus, with everything else going on in the image, the last thing I needed was three bars of different colors as any kind of distraction. I replaced them with a single blue background color for all three bars, but that looked too flat and boring, so I added the white vertical gradient down the middle. That ended up working perfectly since it broke up the flatness of the solid color while also drawing your eye towards Sky in the center of the image.

On the right side, you have the final image, with the text laid back on top of all the artwork. Huzzah!!

Overall, I’m really happy with the final piece, and if you come and see me at your next comic convention, maybe you’ll get to see it in person in all its glory. Assuming the airline doesn’t lose it in transit….

Here the banner image is really starting to take shape with the addition of more layers to the Space and Planet background. Not much to say here, but with the image on the left, I added some purple-y nebulae to the Space area and crackle-y details to the Planet. On the right image, I added the starfield, bright stars/suns, and shadow on the planet.

Next up, effects and final image!

So here we have the display banner digitally tweaked to its full dimensions of 33.5” x 79.” Like I said in the previous post: very long vertical dimension! At the Resize stage, I added the logo and text to make sure there was room for everything before I started on the coloring. The two gray bars are overlay guides I used to mark non-image areas. The top bar was about 1’ in height and marks the area allotted for the logo and text. Obviously, I wanted the RUNNERS logo at the very top so that’s what you’d be able to see from across the room. The bottom bar is about 2’ and marks the area that I figured would be obscured by a table set up in front of it. So I didn’t want any essential art falling below that line, but at the same time, I still wanted there to be some kind of art there. From the thumbnails, I had decided that the best solution would be a nice space scene: nice to look at, but nothing essential.

With the Color Flats stage, I decided to make each horizontal bar a different color for easy selection purposes. I really had no idea what they’d end up being. I thought I might keep them different colors to call out the different bars of characters, or I might do something else with them. In either case, I’d worry about them after everything else…

Next up, color shading…