ImagineFX Editorial Design on the Behance Network

ImagineFX Editorial Design on the Behance Network

Who is teaching who?

I've no idea who Paul Tusall is either, but I assumed his identity for the day.

Last week I had the privilege of speaking to the Media Studies students at Long Road sixth form college in Cambridge - a talented bunch of (painfully young) creatives. Both of their course tutors are good friends of mine, so prior to meeting both years 12 and 13 I got to see a selection of the students course work. Being 'Media Students' the range of projects they've been tasked with is very broad, at this early stage in their education it's vital they get a taste of all the media channels available to them; so I got to see their music videos, graphic design projects and even some magazine cover designs. At the end of this post I've attached a PDF elaborating on some of the editorial design bits I talked about, I felt I could've expanded on so many points raised - so if you're a Long Road student reading this I hope the PDF clarifies some of what we went through.


The visit was quite an eye-opener for me too. Some of the music videos they'd made were not only very creative - and fun - but also professionally executed and edited. Not surprising when you consider this is a generation accustomed to (palm-sized) HD cameras, with powerful video-editing packages installed on their laptops. For me it really helped bring into focus the question: what does publishing have to offer this generation, both as media professionals and consumers?


I've been thinking a lot recently about how the publishing industry - the area of media I've been involved in for the last 15 years - is currently changing with the advent of e-publishing. How editorial design and journalism needs to evolve. How engaging readers requires a shift in approach to editorial design - it's not just about the new skills required to incorporate interactive content, but how best to deploy content so the reader finds the experience rewarding and keeps coming back to you. From page layout to front cover design it's all going to need a major re-think - music to a graphic designers ears - exporting PDF versions of the print edition of any magazine will only cut it in the short term.


So many of the rules and precepts I've encountered throughout my time as a print editorial designer not only seem redundant and irrelevant, but are also counter intuitive to digesting content on something like the iPad. Being confronted with a generation of consumers with very high expectations when it comes to purchasing digital entertainment products is a new challenge publishing must embrace now it's been gifted another lifeline.


To me magazines have always been about two things - quality and convenience. Quality of content, journalism and presentation. Conveniently sourced into one place for you to enjoy. I wonder what that will look like when the students I met at Long Road finish their education and start creating the magazines they want to read…

I think it's finished

This image started life as a quick sketch using ArtRage on the iPad. As the helmet design emerged so did the concept, the Samurai feel got me thinking about a Japanese security force recruited to help police a Middle Eastern territory. So the combat suit is not only intended to be intimidating - like most riot gear - but functional acting as a climate suit in the oppressive heat. One thing I've learnt from this image: a painting is finished when... I'm sick to the back-teeth of looking at it.

Original ArtRage iPad sketch.

I wanted that oil paint quality, so opted for Bao Pham's amazing ABR's from issue 42 of ImagineFX, with the opacity set high, resisting the temptation to reduce the brush size too far when detailing.

I want iPad. No, wait. I want iPad 2

Warning! Doodlin' away with ArtRage on the iPad leads to a severe loss of time and impressive results.

I have a few gripes about the iPad which has stopped me running to the nearest Apple temple to offer my paper-prayers. The first being the price tag, the second being no pressure sensitivity and the third is the lack of a good Apple stylus. Recent internet rumours indicate concerns two and three are set to merge. And we all know Apple don't price drop. So I guess I have to wait for iPad 2. A wait that's going to feel even longer now I've had a chance to play with ArtRage on the iPad.

I was recently approached by Tap! magazine (follow them on twitter: @tapmaguk ) to write a review on the new ArtRage app for their second issue - the visual outcome is at the top of this post. I've played with ArtRage a bit, and of course we've ran several tutorials and reviews in ImagineFX, so I'm pretty savvy with what it's capable of. I also know that with each iteration of the desktop version it's popularity grows amongst the digi-art community, but I didn't expect to be as taken with it as I was. If anything the app is an improvement on the desktop version. ArtRage knows what it does well and for now is resisting the urge to bolt on unnecessary features, focusing instead on improving what it already does - the app includes all these features. 

With nearly all the image editing packages out there that can mimic traditional mediums we all expect a performance hit, but once the creative juices started flowing thankfully so did the paint. Yes, sometimes there's a lag from brush mark to stylus position which may frustrate artists, but as with a traditional painting you need to ensure you're using the right tool for the right job at the right stage. Applying the same methods you would use to create a real-world painting, ArtRage offers impressive results.

So - iPad 2, if I start saving now then I'm in. Well, if they make it lighter too, it's still far too heavy as a sketchbook.

Working with ArtRage

• Sketch. A loose pencil sketch is the quickest way to get your idea onto the canvass. Don't bother with any fancy canvass grain at this point, you want to capture the dynamics of the pose and composition as fast and fluid as possible.

• Underpaint. Working digitally the process of Underpainting can be taken literally, as you can place a Layer under your sketch. This is when you start to make colour choices, try to limit your Hues for a more cohesive final image.

• Blocking in. At this stage your painting will start to take on character. Scale the canvass back so you have an understanding of it as a whole, and keep the brush large to avoid detailing. Take advantage of the layers to try out ideas before you commit to them.

• Detailing. The brush can get smaller now, experiment with paint Loading and Thinners to make attractive, gestural marks. As with traditional painting the direction of a brush mark can help describe the form, made even more apparent when working in oils.

• Finishing off. In a traditional painting a layer of Gesso is applied when preparing the canvass, digitally you can apply the technique at the end for an authentic look. Cover a blank top Layer with thick white brush marks, following the forms in your image, then set the Layer to Multiply at 50%.

He's no good to me dead...

I've had this idea for a Boba Fett painting. This isn't it [please let me actually get round to doing it]. But I did this study to start familiarising myself with the ultimate bounty hunter in the universe. I figure it would be nice to show you the image build up. And to prove (more to myself) that it really doesn't take me a year to do an image.

Comments please...

Aptitude

The theme

This painting is based on David Gunn's Death's Head novels. I've taken the character of Aptitude - a young women saved by the lead character; Sven, she seems to be a pivotal character for future novels. I'm playing with the idea that she eventually becomes a military leader. Gunn's novels are great hard-boiled future war stories, his characters, their worlds and their lives are crying out to be illustrated. And there are no big words.

Image breakdown

So there were a few concepts I wanted to get into this right from the start. I was keen to engage focus with her eyes, and at first I was covering the majority of her face with a ballistic mask. This did lock you into her gaze, and I was playing with the idea of customising the mask with the kind of shark mouth graphics you see painted on US military vehicles, but - quite late on - I decided against it. Her sex was too ambiguous, never a good thing that (life lesson #001)
I also wanted her to feel 'high clan'. The costume has some obvious Samurai touches, plus those wholly unpractical glass features make the armour feel more 'parade' than 'battlefield'. The armour also has some subtle, ornately etched details. Hopefully these touches give you a sense of her status.
I also had an environment backdrop in the initial painting, which was giving her a situation and narrative. It was an evac scene, with Aptitude heading to her shuttle. The city was getting there, but I felt it was fighting for attention with her, and that maybe I was getting too lost in the details too early. Along the way I bought the focus back to her by cropping the image and introducing some 'blast doors' to help frame her. They went too, though I suspect I'll probably re-use them, they seem like a good framing device.
I guess this is why you should work this stuff out on a scrap of paper first...

The painting process

This illustration has taken almost a year to complete. [What?!?!]. But most of that time has been strokey-chin time, figuring out how I paint, developing a new and personal style. My previous illustration style was very basic - line drawings scanned, coloured using flat colour fills - and even when I paint canvasses I use aerosol paints. In fact I haven't *painted* since college, and even then I was more into photo manipulation and montage. So I needed to work out how I get from A to B - and what I want B to look like - via Z and several Roman numerals.
Plus, every week on ImagineFX I'm reading about how other artists work, which is informing my own process. I know how important it is to have a unique aesthetic that people can identify as your own, so it's been a bit of a journey. I'll go into more detail about the nuts 'n' bolts involved in creating an image sometime soon. Like, maybe when I get another image finished.

Which hopefully won't be another year from now.

Hello

A crop of my first shot at painting in Photoshop, this illustration
is based on a scene from Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon.

One two, one two, is this thing on..? Good. "Hello the internet..."

This is Not Saved. Not Saved is... My art. Other peoples art. And if I think of anything else art related I reckon you'd like to know about, it'll go up here.

So I'll be posting new bits of art soon. I say 'new' because after being on ImagineFX for quite a while I've been wanting to scrap my existing illustration portfolio and start again with a digi-paint approach. The results of which you'll find here.

So. Bookmark me. Follow me. Tap into high level Pentagon security systems to have me monitored by AWACS, and I'll be back soon to smudge a bit of art love your way...

cheers

Tysall