The Walking Dead Season 5 Poster Process

Hey All,

I thought that I would cap off all of my process videos by providing you with a breakdown of how I created this Walking Dead poster image. Up until now, I've shared a few time lapse videos but this time I will share how I got from point A to point B.

To start off with a spent a lot of time photo comping and rearranging various images trying to come up with a pleasing arrangement. I ended up setting on a nice triangular composition with that included almost all of the Hero's cast from season 5 as well a few zombie to indicate the threat and motivation in the overall narrative. You can't make a zombie movie poster without zombies in it!

I didn't keep many of these photo comps but what I do have is the initial pencil drawing. I had originally thought about putting a border around this image as a bit of a homage to some of my drew Struzan posters but in the end, my wife talked me out of it and I think that she was right.

 Next, I painted in some background color and texture. The show in general has a real saturated, green/ sepia tone to it and I wanted to start off and paint into a nice ground that conveyed that gritty, dirty, blue world.

 Here I am laying in all the local colors with an airbrush ( Photo shop) just like I would do it traditionally. The goal here is to give me an indication of the basic colors and forms and how they will interplay with one another.

 

This next image is a halfway done process shot. I've completed the rendering of about half the characters and really it is all just labor from here on out. Rick himself took me about 7-8 hours to paint. The time lapse condensed it into a nice 4 minute chunk but I ended up putting a lot of time into this piece.

 Final Image. Once all the rendering was done, I added the text and a few embellishments to the composition. I ended up making several minor adjustments in photo shop to harmonize the color scheme a bit more and "amp" up the piece in general. Photo shop really does have several "Make it Better" buttons. ;)

Well that is it in a nutshell. If you have any questions or comments on this piece and/ or my process, please drop me a line as I'd love to hear from you.

Cheers.

Michonne from The Walking Dead by Mike Perry

Abraham from The Walking Dead by Mike Perry

Here is another time lapse video of me painting the character of
Abraham on the TV show "The Walking Dead" portrayed by Michael Culditz.



Who will I post up next?

The Making of " Kalikos Hero Quest" for the Guide to Glorantha

The Making of “The Kalikos Hero Quest”.

Final Print Version with Adjustments

Since the Guide to Glorantha is finally finished and on sale, I thought that I would post up another “making of” article to explain the process that I used to create the illustration “Kalikos Hero quest”.

As always, each commission that I am given by Jeff Richard at Moon Design is accompanied by a long and detailed document outlining the events to be depicted as well as includes many points of reference for me to consider. 

Here is the initial Art Brief:

It shows a group of heroes (and heroines) from the Lunar army walking through frozen wastes towards the edge of the Sky Dome. The stars of the Northern Sky (based on the attached Inhabitants of the sky picture) can be clearly seen.

Story: Each year, the Lunar Empire sends a band of its most talented magicians and most powerful warriors to travel beyond the edge of the world to strengthen the White Pillar God and defeat the God of Winter. They drag the Kalikos Boat with them, which brings the magic they will need to perform their heroquest.

Sky Dome: The celestial sky dome is a key part of this picture. The attached picture Inhabitants of the Sky show the position of the major constellations in the sky on New Years Day, when this picture takes place. Once we have the major constellations in place we can always add additional stars. We should be able to see a slice of the sky, from the North Horizon to the Pole Star, reaching out to the Love and War stars on the far right, and the Bagog constellation on the far left. Both the Red Moon and Orlanth's Ring are visible.

The God of the White Pillar: Glorantha's skies are a physical dome (like http://dcsymbols.com/mastersquare/mayan_cosmos.jpg), separated from the firmament by four pillars (one in each direction). The North Pillar -White Pillar -manifests as a huge, white-bearded god carrying a compass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:God_the_Geometer.jpg) and clearly struggling to hold up his corner of the sky. Our heroquesters are approaching the edge of the world and can see the dome and White Pillar god (as a shadowly figure in white who for some reason I imagine as being a muscular white bearded man drawn by William Blake) wreathed in the Aurora Borealis. The Aurora Borealis should look as magical and fantastic as possible (http://cdn.tripwiremagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Magical-Aurora-Borealis.jpg), it represents the transition into the Outer Realms of the Otherworld.

The Icy Wastes and the God of Winter: Our heroquesters are traveling through icy wastes (http://www.world-traveller.org/images/no05-s05-002.jpg), so cold that it takes on a white-blue cast.

Above the icy wastes can be seen the God of Winter, a huge giant, dripping with ice and a frozen beard. The giant is hostile but far away. Perhaps something like this: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7v6ow7jQI1rbdu7po1_1280.jpg, although he is more likely to use a wintery sword (with icy winds that cut) than a club.

The Lunar HeroQuesters: We have a group of Lunar heroquesters - magicians and heroes who are entering the realm of the gods in order to strengthen the God of the White Pillar. There are at least seven of them, half are male, half are female. I have attached two pictures that give a feel for Lunar costume (plate01final and Pelorians-FINAL - here is another good reference picture http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q545/quicksabre/84b266a3.jpg). The Lunar heroquesters wear heavy cloaks of red or bear skins against the snow. The warriors are armored (bronze cuirasses, bronze scale, or lamellar, and with greeves on their legs) wear their shields on their back, trousers under their ornate tunics, and their leader should have a high golden helmet, similar to http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q545/quicksabre/84b266a3.jpg, but higher and based on this: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5h53igZ9lrkrA5OmWtvgx-e68fgup7dRD5cvTG-EjPT229BGULI5OWGixfsdcXu57e5PdFd8h5jBs3FhtCbk4XXaN1rxXS8CurwP2W-14TFhb_RStVQRwJjzJn5fa9TOotLRVefCZQp5d/s1600/Golden+Hat+Schifferstadt_sm.jpg

They are on horseback - their horses are laden with gear, and perhaps some are on foot, guiding their animals (http://www.suryaschool.org/images/post-images/2008/08-10-06.jpg and http://www.suryaschool.org/images/post-images/2008/08-10-06b.jpg for inspiration). At least one carries a standard like that attached as Lunar standard1.jpg, although it only has one star, not two.

The Lunars are dragging a sled behind them: the Kalikos Boat!

The Kalikos Boat: This is a reed boat (like the Egyptian reed boats - http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~catshaman/15Sailors/Image4799.JPG) on top of a sled like this: http://ancientweb.org/images/explore/Finland_Ancient_Sled_Reki.gif. The sled is being dragged across the icy wastes by the Lunar horsemen.

In the center of the boat is a pillar (like this: http://www.touregypt.net/images/touregypt/si-amun13.gif - but without the Egyptian gods or winged beetle). On top of the pillar is a glowing red rock, as bright as a star. This star houses the magic the Lunar heroquesters need to perform their heroquest, and must be defended by them with their life. Without this, their quest will certainly fail. 

Rough Thumbnails.

At this stage, I sat down and brainstormed a few ideas for this composition. I deliberately keep the drawings loose with and focus primarily on composition.

Final Sketches:

Usually, I only do one of these but after discussion with Jeff and my own personal taste, I thought that I would work up these two comps to a more refined stage. As you can see, we ended up going with comp#1.

References:

Now that I have a plan for the final illustration I begin “gathering” references and information to help me put this piece together and “fill in the blanks” for what is to be depicted. Luckily for me, this image was commissioned in January and since I live in Canada and my mom owns some horses, I did not have to go too far in order to get some relevant references. For this picture, I stood on my mom’s balcony while she walked her horse off in the distance a couple of times. This allowed me to get a pretty good approximation for the horse’s anatomy and perspective as well as some additional information for the environment.

Next I went to trusty old google Sketch up and put together a quick 3d model of the boat and riders and took a few shots of them in perspective. Sketch up can be a great tool for this kind of thing.

Lastly, my good friend Owen McManus is a 3d Guru and he whipped up a quick lighting setup to give me some more information regarding lighting and scale for the scene.

I also took some reference photos of myself posing as a struggling Northern giant/ god but we won’t be sharing those ;)

Lastly, I saved only a few process shots but at least you can get a bit of information regarding how I combined all this information into the final image.

Finished the Questers.

Blocking in the Dome.

Adding the Constellations. A lot of noodling went on in this process. I think I have 4 or 5 emails from Jeff discussing the subject and a few versions that include the Red Moon and more. This is what we ended up with.

Add the "Big Guy" and some atmosphere.

Finally we have several layers of snow effects. I really wanted to give this piece an epic " Lost in the Barrens" feeling type of snow storm. As if the weather was on the brink of turning for the better or for the worse.

Thanks for tuning in and if you find these of interest, let me know which image from the guide that you would like me to do a write up on next and I’ll see if I can’t accommodate you.

Cheers!

The Making of Hon El

Hey Gang,

Today I am going to share my process for creating the illustration "Hon El the Dancer" for Moon Design Publications's up coming "Guide to Glorantha".

To preface this article, I'd like to explain that the world of Glorantha was created over 40 years ago and is probably the most richly detailed and complex setting that I have ever worked in. I've worked on over 20 illustrations for Moon Design Publications and pretty much all of them come with very specific and detailed art direction like the following document.

Art Direction:

OK, this is an "In-Gloranthan" piece that decorates the wall of the Temple of Hon-Eel in the city of Furthest (where the goddess Hon-Eel founded the ruling dynasty). It depicts the goddess Hon-Eel the Dancer overcoming the horse barbarians and enthralling the storm barbarians, bringing both the Lunar Way. Stylistically, this should be a cross between the color and dynamism of Etruscan tomb paintings (http://www.anatomyofnorbiton.org/images/Etruscan-monsters-fs.png) and the movement and grace of ancient Hindu-Buddhist devotional art.

 

I've attached a picture by another artist of scene from this culture, just to help with the feel.

 

Background: The goddess Hon-Eel is the daughter of the Red Emperor (the god-king of the Lunar Empire that is like an ancient Assyria ruled by a Greco-Buddhist mystery cult). The Lunar Empire was desolated by horse barbarian attacks in its early years. After the barbarians were defeated, Hon-eel appeared and renewed the empire. She restored provincial lands which had drifted from Lunar rule as a result of the barbarian attacks, settled new lands, drove the last of the horsemen off, and discovered a new food grain, maize, for Peloria. Hon-Eel brought the Lunar Way to the storm barbarians and founded a mighty royal dynasty. Hon-eel danced her way to the end of the universe and brought back rich blessings of fertility for all who were wise enough to call on her.

 

Picture: This picture is a color fresco, based on the attached sketch (Hon-Eel.jpg):

 

A. Hon-Eel the Dancer. Hon-Eel is a graceful, beautiful woman. She is dancing, balanced on her right foot (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apasara_Img445.jpg). Her left foot is on her right knee, and she holds forth a bundle of maize. She wears golden bracelets, armlets, anklets, and necklaces (like http://www.inst.at/trans/16Nr/05_1/sengupta_08.jpg). She wears a beaded skirt (like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apsara_441.jpg or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLA_lacma_Celestial_Nymph_ca_1450_Rajasthan.jpg.)

Her skin is golden-brown and her hair red. Hon-Eel's eyes are green. She is not tattooed.

Behind her head is an ornate halo like http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apsara_441.jpg, but glowing red.

In her left arm she holds a bundle of maize. In her right hand she carries a bronze sickle that is dripping blood. 

 

Hon-Eel is flanked by two ripe maize plants.

 

B. Red Goddess. Above Hon-Eel is her grandmother, the Red Moon Goddess. She is seated in a lotus position and making a gesture of peace (the Abhaya Mudra, see http://www.cambosastra.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Mudra.jpg). Her skin is red and she is surrounded by a glowing red halo like Hon-Eel.  She is either naked or wears a gown covered with stars (see plate01final.jpg).

 

C. Red Emperor. Watching Hon-Eel, and giving his blessing is the Solar Emperor (who in various incarnations is the Sun God, the son of the Red Moon, the father of Hon-Eel, and her lover). He is based on the Emperor Yelm.jpg, His garments are golden, as are the wings, but the disk is red like the moon.

 

D. Dead Orlanthi King. Hon-Eel dances atop the corpse of a dead Orlanthi king (like Kali does with Shiva, see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Kali_1800-1825_Kangra._The_Walters_Art_Museum..jpg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Goddess_Bhadrakali_Worshipped_by_the_Gods-_from_a_tantric_Devi_series_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kali_lithograph.jpg). The king is bearded and wears a crown, a golden neck ring or torc, and golden spiral arm ring. He has a bronze sword (symbolizing his violent nature). He is tattooed with Air, Movement, and Mastery. Bonus points if he has the same tribal tattoo as Arim the Pauper did in the previous commission - this is Arim's distant heir, King Pyjeemsab. Pyjeemsab was entranced by Hon-Eel's beauty. He was killed after the marital conjugation (perhaps during it), but nine months later, Hon-Eel gave birth to his son and heir, who became the new king of a new dynasty (that worships Hon-Eel as a goddess).

 

E. Defeated Horse Queen. This is the Queen of the Horse Tribes. She's much smaller because she is a barbarian. She is riding a horse and wears an ornate costume like that of the Scythians (eg http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Images2/General/Iranian_Women_Warriors.JPG or http://realtruth.org/images/scythian-ashz-120523.jpg (on the left)). She has her hands up in worship of Hon-Eel.

 

F. Worshipful Storm Barbarian. This is a bearded Orlanthi barbarian (one of Arim's people). He carries a sword but has his hands up in worship of Hon-Eel.

The art direction was very specific so I put together 2 Comps for the AD to look at with my preliminary ideas.

After discussing the image with my AD ( Jeff Richard), he was on board for my idea to do this illustration in the style of Alphonse Mucha. This was great news to me because I greatly admire Mucha's work and it is always nice to pitch an idea to a client and have it accepted.


Next I completed 4 more rough sketches incorporating my ideas and all of the various symbology.

 

 Once we settled on the various compositional elements that we liked, I set out to incorporate all of them into the image as well as some Mucha inspired design elements. These next 3 images depict the various stages in the evolution of the final drawing.

 In this stage I had masked off the various elements and on a separate layer, I had flatted in the basic color scheme for the image.

 Final illustration.

I hope that you found this article informative and if you have any questions or comments, I'd be happy to hear from you.

Cheers!

AEG Interview Part #2

Hey all,

In this next installment of my interview with AEG I discuss my creative process and a bit about the evolution of the Assassin character.  Check it out Here

Or you can read it right here.
"Mike, do you have specific processes to your work? What’s something you figured out that’s kind of unconventional?
Specific process….  Whenever possible I try to stick to the tried and true method of developing an illustration laid out by the masters. That includes rough sketches, studies, finished drawing, color rough, and then the final illustration.

Let’s start with the image of the pig farmer. The development for this character went about as smoothly as you can get. Both the art director [ed.--AEG's own Todd Rowland] and I had a clear vision for this character. The only change required from sketch to final was that he needed to look a bit happier.

 

However, the Assassin was another story. Initially, the brief called for this character to be more of your back alley thug type. I would describe him as a “greasy knife in the back for a copper” kind of guy. The initial sketch pretty much nailed the concept but the team wanted to see options for a change in his pose.

At this point, there was some thought that this character could look a bit more “current,” and this is when we brought in the robes and talked about making him look younger.

We went through about five sketches and eventually settled on the posture from #4 and the costume from #5.

My process for painting is pretty straightforward. I start off with an under drawing and then paint over top of it like I would with traditional media. Then I start laying in the basic colors which is sometimes called “ flatting” to help establish my color scheme and basic value structure.

Once I’m happy with that, I move into modelling ( sometimes called rendering) the forms to establish the shapes and details. In this instance, you can see how the painting evolved along with the character. Initially I painted his legs thinking that he would be wearing hose as well as he had an older face. As the design changed, I had to paint over the legs and add in the robe and new face. Thankfully Photoshop allows me the flexibility to do this on the fly.

If I was still working in traditional media like oils, these types of changes would be doable but would have taken a lot longer. Once the rendering stage is complete, I clean up the silhouette, add a few adjustment layers to tweak the image, flatten it  and send it off to the client.

For more information on my work and for process animations and demos, please stop by either my website www. mikeperryart.com or my blog http://mperryart.blogspot.ca.

If you have any questions or would like to say hi, I would love to hear from you. You can best get a hold of me via email at mike@mikeperryart.com.

Cheers!"

 

For some reason, the process images that I submitted for this article were not posted on the AEG site but I directly refer to them which must be confusing to readers. Anyways, for clarity sake, here are the images that I was referring to.

 

As always, thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Navy Seal Character

No I have not forgotten to post. I've just been busy! I did however fall off the daily portrait wagon due to scheduling issues but I'll get back to it soon.

However, today we have a new character to share. A good old fashioned Navy Seal. Recently a client asked me to whip up a character design that incorporated specific gear elements etc. The focus was both on character and technical precision. So without further adieu, here is my version of a modern US Navy Seal.

Final Image

 Character Design / Reference Sheet

 Cell Shading Process

 Animation of Illustration Development

Rattle of Bones: Process Images

I don't now about you but I always enjoy it when an artist puts up an image that demonstrates his/ her process when creating something.
So for the project, I created an animated Gif for my favorite Character Portrait to do just that enjoy.

The Innkeeper:

And you thought that I don't use my sketchbook anymore!

Although it is true that I have been working mostly digital these days I do still draw in the old sketchbook albeit not as often as before. I went through a 3 month phase where I thought that I should only work digital period. Blah Blah Blah. Needless to say, I'm back on the wagon and here is a sampling of images for your viewing pleasure.

Cheers!

Here is my latest installment of Riley Method Pen drawings inspired by Chris Legaspi's posts up on his blog Freshdesigner. I really enjoy doing these quick 5-10 minute portraits and I find it to be excellent warm up exercises . According to Stat Counter, people out there seem to be searching the term Riley Method and are taking a look at my images so I decided to put together another page for anyone out there who is interested.


These Images are simply more Ball Point Pen sketches from my Sketchbook. We have some figures and some portraits. The Portraits took me about 20 min or so each.



Pencil Studies from my sketchbook. Every once in a while I pick up a pencil to prove that I can still use one but for now my favorite drawing tool is the humble ball point pen. Call Me Crazy!


Lastly we have a scan of a page out of my sketchbook. This i'd say would be what a typical page looks like ( at least one that I'd be willing to share ).