March 09, 2009

Ghost Factory ( second round )

(We return to a process thread already in progress. . .)

After settling upon the "Shipwreck Graveyard" image from the first round of sketches, I set about creating a few variations upon the initial theme.


In this first sketch, I try to imagine what the cover would look like completely filled with ships, scattered evenly, more or less, and seen from above.

The second sketch puts the viewer into the field of ships, creating a greater sense of depth, and perhaps a little more drama.
In these last two sketches, I have included a slice of the world above the water. In this first one simply a seascape. . . .

and in this, an armada of ships that one could imagine might be joining those below.


After doing this initial sketching, I began to experiment a bit in the actual rendering of the scenes themselves. At this point my plan is still to use more traditional materials in the final illustration, but many of the decisions can be tested in Photoshop, which is what I have done here.








So, that's the update. Keep in mind, these are still just sketches. I am going to take a day or two away from the project before settling in for the final draft.

2 comments:

Tom said...

Are these images on paper as seen or "virtual"? Either way they are fabulous.

TB

Chi Birmingham said...

virtual all the way!

Thanks Dad