|Feature Projects
Highground Design
Ali Baba Poster Illustration:
Project entry added: 16/12/09
Previous entry: CAFE Logo Design (click here)
In late 2009 Highground were asked to produce a poster design and illustration for a week-long festive performance of Ali Baba; "colourful and friendly" was the simple brief.
All our illustrations begin in the simplest way with old-school pencil on paper (despite the latest technology at our disposal, you just can't beat getting back to basics).
First pencil sketch:
(click image to enlarge)
Once the pencil sketches are formed, they are then scanned into the computer to form the basis of the poster design. It is at this stage that you can really experiment with the layout and elements around the page, making things larger and smaller and generally getting a feel for the final composition.
It is now, once the hard work is done, that traditional art tools hand over to their digital counterparts for enhancement. We use a pressure sensitive WACOM tablet and pen to mimic traditional artist's tools like pencils, brushes, paint and paper (it is quite incredible how realistic these tools have become which almost all commercial artists now use as part of their everyday process).
Inking
The original sketches are cleaned up by re-drawing them, sometimes making corrections as we go. We call this process inking. Some of the drawn lines are still rough, but these will be refined as we go along.
(click image to enlarge)
Once the inking is complete it is time for the fun part, colour!
Blocking-in the Colour!
We use a large round brush to 'block in' the main colours of the design. We are not attempting anything too refined at this stage, instead, working in layers of tone. This process is about removing the white areas and getting all of the basic colours down to see if they work with each other (no shadows, highlights or blends are produced at this stage). This is a very important part of the painting process as a poorly chosen colour pallette can cause big problems later (notice that the character has blue eyes here and a green jewel in his turban - we'll change these later once the background colours are chosen so we know what to use as accents.
(click image to enlarge)
Background Colour?
The main character needs to stand out of the poster and so accordingly elements in the background can afford to be less obvious. There are tricks to get this perception of depth to work; it is combination of colour theory (warm colours come forward whilst cooler colours go back) and colour saturation (things that are closer to us will appear richer in colour than if the object was further away).
For this reason, we decided to give the background a cool, blue colour to contrast with the warmer tones of the main character.
(click image to enlarge)
Once the main colours are in we can think about the light and shadows.
Switching the Lights On!
At the moment our illustration is very flat as there is still no light source to give solidity and depth to the images.
What we now do is decide exactly where the light will be coming from. In an image such as this the lighting does not need to be 100% correct as the intention is to create a real-world picture, albeit with a degree of exaggeration to suit the pantomime theme.
It is often useful to have two light sources, normally a main source (like the sun or a bright light) and the secondary source (mostly comprised of reflected light from the scene). Having this reflected light grounds the characters and objects in the image scene as they share colours with each other. Light, reflection and colour all bounce together to form the illusion.
To help decide where the light is coming from, it is decided that the scene will be set in a damp cave (where the thieves have hidden their treasure). We decide to have the main light pointing downward from the cave ceiling (as if there are shafts of light streaming through) and a secondary light source shining from the right side (a nice purple hue to give the cave an eerie feeling). A third light source was also added which shines from the coin that Ali Baba is tossing into the air (we can also use this source to add a golden sheen to Ali's face).
The highlights are then painted down over the blocked-in flat colours and the character now begins to come to life.
Shadows are added next, in all the nooks and corners that the light can't reach. We use subdued colours for the shadows as black tends to kill a painting. The shadows are painted with darker versions of the base colours (note how Ali's eyes are now a dark brown and his jewel is bright blue - the blue jewel also acts as a colour link between the foreground and background with the original green jewel at odds with the newly updated scenery).
(click image to enlarge)
Roll Titles ...
Since beginning the painting, space has been left at the top of the illustration to insert the pantomime's title. What we wanted was Ali Baba to be standing slightly in front of the title text so that you have no doubt who the central character is. The typography was designed to slightly bend around the character in an arc, slotting neatly into the design so that it looks like part of the illustration rather than an after thought.
A few different colour versions were tested before the solid white version with the blue outline you see below was approved.
(the coloured text was considered to be a distraction to the main image).
(click image to enlarge)
The Finishing Touches
The thieves were the last elements to be added. We always knew they were going to be added, but needed to concentrate firstly on the main focus of the poster - The theives are really just added background interest ... a bit of scenery for the pantomime; "They're behind you!".
We also added more obvious shafts of light shining again from the ceiling and a little 'twinkle' to the coin Ali is flicking up into the air.
The blue strap was added to the bottom to carry the important information and the poster was now ready to print!
... "Oh no it wasn't!"
... "Oh yes it was!"
The Final Poster
(click image to enlarge)