The Furious Angels

FA Discussion => FA Artwork => Topic started by: Tbone on January 20, 2011, 01:11:27 pm

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 20, 2011, 01:11:27 pm

I really like the look of the new Batman: Arkham City artwork. Their use of whites is kind of how I always envisioned our artwork to be like. I've just never been able to duplicate/articulate it. Here are some examples:

(http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Batman-Arkham-City-feature.jpg)
(http://playstationlifestyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Batman-Arkham-City-Close-feature.jpg)
(http://windows7themes.net/wallpaper/batman-arkham-city-wallpaper.jpg)

Does anyone know how to produce this effect?

It's a white background, but the characters are also in white, but the shadow works in a way in which the characters are clearly defined.

Title: Re: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Manic Velocity on January 20, 2011, 01:29:58 pm

When I was taking art classes in high school, one of our projects was to create a scene using only shadows.  No defining outlines or color of any kind.  Now I wonder if our teacher just had a surplus of black pens that he wanted to get rid of.

It's easy (relatively) to do when you're dealing with buildings and such.  The kind of shapes that produce predictable shadows.  But working with faces, or fruit, or animals is very hard.  I could probably reproduce it much easier in photoshop.

Title: Re: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 20, 2011, 01:44:55 pm

Looks kind of like an effect on exposure of the characters with good lighting and a white background. E.g. (gonna do a few of these so I'll keep updating as I do them)

(http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/9914/example1n.jpg)

(http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/389/example2u.jpg)

Title: Re: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 20, 2011, 04:15:06 pm

Those look pretty good, odj! I especially like the Trooper!

Title: Re: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Adad on January 20, 2011, 04:21:09 pm

Nice odj. I feel like the jedi needs one more color maybe flowing through her, or if there's blue (like her saber) in her outfit, though I think it's just teal and gold. Nice though.

Title: Re: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 20, 2011, 04:39:24 pm

Quote from: "Adad"

Nice odj. I feel like the jedi needs one more color maybe flowing through her, or if there's blue (like her saber) in her outfit, though I think it's just teal and gold. Nice though.

I did try putting some colour in her hair but it didn't really look right.

Title: Re: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 20, 2011, 10:15:38 pm

Here are a few more examples, these show the range of how it can change depending on the lighting of the original image...

(http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/7429/example3.jpg)
(http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8365/example4u.jpg)
(http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2513/example5.jpg)
(http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/9668/example6.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Broin on January 20, 2011, 10:32:04 pm

I really like that... Dark and Gritty but really white and really bright at the same time...

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 20, 2011, 10:33:20 pm

You stole my words! Yeah odj, that's hot. I want to use it for something. Maybe we can incorporate them into our sigs, but if I were to get ambitious, I'm curious as to what an entire site theme would look with that effect. Like our banner and everything else.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Adad on January 20, 2011, 10:48:13 pm

Can you make me one of a hooded Jedi by chance? Or even just of the image in my alternate sig that is in the first post of my aequitas thread? I can post it here when I fix my computer.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Adad on January 21, 2011, 12:08:57 am

I want a similar effect to the ones above.

(http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j90/maddogjwn13/Adad-Sig15copy.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Arawn on January 21, 2011, 12:57:55 am

Really love the Lightsaber one.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: XxUnforgivenxX on January 21, 2011, 01:06:34 am

Sweet stuff!

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: XxUnforgivenxX on January 21, 2011, 03:15:07 am

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/FASIG.jpg)

A little more emphasis on the dark and gritty. my kinda tone. but it does sway from the cleanliness of the cgi models and the arkham city concept art.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Ghisteslwchlohm on January 21, 2011, 04:55:50 am

Dude, the way the lightsabers look is awesome. With the white saber and the black smoke coming off the blades. Very cool.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 21, 2011, 11:42:25 pm

I also want to see if we can get a version of our angel symbol with that effect. Lol, looks like you've got some requests odj!

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: likwidtek on January 22, 2011, 03:02:39 pm

Fricken WOW

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 22, 2011, 05:26:33 pm

(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/4552/adasig.jpg)

Hows that ada? I added a blue glow to the side of his face and hand for the saber and hologram.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Ghisteslwchlohm on January 22, 2011, 07:01:45 pm

So how do you do it?

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 23, 2011, 02:34:04 am

This is an example of how it might be implemented on the site. This could replace the menu image when you hit "home" (I think members see it...I know guests do).

(http://followtheangel.org/tbone/menupage.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Ghisteslwchlohm on January 23, 2011, 04:58:15 am

Hey unforgiven, I really liked your Force Unleashed picture so I edited it a little to make a sig. I wouldn't feel comfortable using it though unless it was ok with you since you did the initial work. Can I steal your thing for a new sig?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/ghisteslwchlohm/GthingFAsig.jpg?t=1295781043)

I think I'm going to go back and crop it a bit since I don't really like how tall it is.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Adad on January 23, 2011, 11:45:59 am

Quote from: "odj"

(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/4552/adasig.jpg)

Hows that ada? I added a blue glow to the side of his face and hand for the saber and hologram.

That's awesome. Can you remove the blue from the face? The saber I put with him is white. Otherwise that's amazing

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 23, 2011, 11:51:32 am

Quote from: "Ghisteslwchlohm"

So how do you do it?

Um you looking for step-by-step instructions or just a general idea? Its just a white background with increase of the exposure of the image some glow around the outside to simulate the white background bleeding in, a bit of smoothing on the image and a splash of colour here and there.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 23, 2011, 11:55:09 am

Quote from: "Adad"

Quote from: "odj"

(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/4552/adasig.jpg)

Hows that ada? I added a blue glow to the side of his face and hand for the saber and hologram.

That's awesome. Can you remove the blue from the face? The saber I put with him is white. Otherwise that's amazing

Can do...

(http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/702/adasig2.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Adad on January 23, 2011, 07:34:25 pm

Awesome. Thanks!

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Ragnarok on January 23, 2011, 08:34:16 pm

That lightsaber with the green smoke is so sick

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 24, 2011, 12:32:09 am

Here's my first attempt:

Diathim
(http://followtheangel.org/images/Diathim2.jpg)(http://followtheangel.org/images/Diathim1.jpg)

The two things I'm having trouble with are getting a nice, rich black and white and then re-adding the color back in.

Right I'm adding color back by coloring a new layer and making the opacity very slight.

I'm switching to B&W by using Images>Adjustments>Black and White and trying to mess with it the best I can.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: XxUnforgivenxX on January 24, 2011, 03:45:40 am

@Ghis - Sure you can use it. I'm still figuring out what my sig should be. At the moment I'm thinking this:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/mickey123.jpg)

lol.

=)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 24, 2011, 11:53:20 am

I put together a recording on how I do it in Photoshop so people can see and replicate if they want to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJI2WylckQ

Note: In the most recent version of Photoshop, to make the color layer, you need to go to "Blending options..." by right clicking the layer, and then change the option from "Normal" to "Color"!   -Tbone

I have the latest version? O_O - odj

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 24, 2011, 12:16:33 pm

WOW, great demo dude! Thanks so much!!! So much better and easier than the way I was trying. Heh. Gonna have to try this method for myself.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: odj on January 24, 2011, 12:21:54 pm

Quote from: "Tbone"

WOW, great demo dude! Thanks so much!!! So much better and easier than the way I was trying. Heh. Gonna have to try this method for myself.

*thumbs up* Hopefully there are a few tips and tricks to Photoshop in there that you weren't aware of before. xP There is so much to Photoshop its ridiculous. lol

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 24, 2011, 12:56:41 pm

My new attempt:

(http://followtheangel.org/images/Diathim1.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Ragnarok on January 24, 2011, 01:13:26 pm

Quote from: "Tbone"

My new attempt:

(http://followtheangel.org/images/Diathim1.jpg)

I have to say I like version of the Diathim better than the first.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 24, 2011, 06:24:08 pm

Practicing with a new image. Kicking it old school!

(http://followtheangel.org/images/OldSchool.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 24, 2011, 06:30:43 pm

Quote from: "odj"

*thumbs up* Hopefully there are a few tips and tricks to Photoshop in there that you weren't aware of before. xP There is so much to Photoshop its ridiculous. lol

Yeah, I've used Photoshop for many, many years, and I still feel like I only know 10% of its functionality. I love learning new things about it! There were a lot of nice tricks in your tutorial that I wasn't aware of!

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Broin on January 24, 2011, 07:38:57 pm

Quote from: "Tbone"

Practicing with a new image. Kicking it old school!

(http://followtheangel.org/images/OldSchool.jpg)

Oh I really like that... Can we get some of these made in a format that'd fit a windows background theme?

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on January 24, 2011, 08:09:45 pm

Uh, you can try THIS (http://followtheangel.org/tbone/OldSchool1920x1200.jpg).

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: XxUnforgivenxX on January 24, 2011, 10:20:19 pm

@ Odj, Great tutorial! It looks like you have a great workflow to achieve the high contrast/clean look. I wanted to contribute as well; Below is a link to download some custom BW actions for FA. These actions are meant to achieve different B/W looks and can enhance the image in greater detail and specificity because it targets different tones. I didn't create these actions, that credit would have to go to Doug Boutwell, but I did alter them to add my own touch on most of these.

https://files.me.com/jephotography/bz8gqd

Please keep this link within the guild.

The FA action set should be compatible with CS3 and later. So long as you're all familiar with layering, masking, and changing opacities then these should be easy to customize.

This won't automate the entire process, but at least it will get you closer to the final image, MUCH MUCH FASTER.

Here are samples of each action.... in action

Original:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/SWTEstcopy.jpg)

SemiGlow:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/SWBWSemiGlow.jpg)

Enhanced Detail:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/SWBW-DetailEnhance.jpg)

Bullet Tooth: Tone Bleaching | and Exposure Enhancement
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/SWBulletTooth.jpg)

BAMF-NOIR:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/SWBAMFNoir.jpg)

BW with Local Tone and Contrast Adjustment Layers
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rtd2870/SWBW2-LocaltonesContrast.jpg)

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Saint on January 24, 2011, 10:27:55 pm

Thankyou for the tutorial, Ive been playing with PS a bit lately and it was nice to learn some more.

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Tbone on February 03, 2011, 05:21:36 pm

Banner experiment:

(http://followtheangel.org/tbone/banner_experiment.jpg)

Perhaps a way to create more contrast on our site...

Title: Arkham City Inspiration
Post by: Adad on February 10, 2011, 09:25:19 pm

Messing around:

(http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j90/maddogjwn13/FA/Adad-Art-FINAL-Noir.jpg)