I've always identified with the world of TRON. From the very first time I saw the original film in theatres back in 1982 to the sequel, TRON: Legacy and the fantastic underrated animated series, TRON: Uprising. I'm sure I didn't quite understand all the terminology at the time when I was 10 years old, but I totally understood the concept and what they were trying to achieve with the computer design aesthetic.
For me, TRON: Legacy, lived up tho the hype.
Joseph Kosinski is a very visual director - he tells you what you need to know visually rather than using too much exposition or dialog in his films. Check out
Oblivion, a veritable feast for the eyes.
When a chance arose to produce an illustration that celebrated the villains in any "Disney" universe, I jumped at the chance to illustrate the main villain, Paige from TRON: Uprising.
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| TRON: Uprising - Paige Final Design |
Below is my step by step process for the final illustration that is pictured above. First I start with the composition of the main figure, Paige. It took me about 3 hours to get the figure and face right with about 3 revisions of the body/pose.
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| I drew the head at 200% finished size to allow me to achieve the detail I wanted. |
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| The head would be added to the body using the Photoshop, the above line drawing shows the end result |
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| Final colour version of Paige. Coloured using Photoshop. |
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| Screen Capture of Photoshop File |
Next I looked at putting my own design spin on the iconic Recognizer. I sketched out half of the design in pencil, then refined in ink. I knew that the final piece would be completed using Adobe Illustrator so I only needed to draw half of the Recognizer, that way when I flip it in the computer, I get a perfect mirror image, resulting in a symmetrically perfect design.
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| Drawing only 1/2 of the Recognizer allows me to achieve perfect symmetry when mirrored on the computer. |
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| Complete composite line drawing |
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| Screen Capture of Illustrator File |
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| Final Illustrator artwork for Recognizer - all vector art. |
The final design composition was completed using Adobe Indesign. This allows me to move the individual elements around with ease to create a dynamic illustration with depth and shadow. I use separate layers for the background, figures and foreground elements. Below is two alternate design concepts.
The background design is a composite of several different elements blended together to create "The Grid". The row of guards in the second image above were generated directly using Adobe Illustrator - duplicated for the purpose of creating an instant army. I developed two different guard designs but only ended up using the one style.
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| (Black) Guard Design drawn directly in Adobe Illustrator |
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| Black Guard Army |
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| Design Background Composition |
When creating artwork, I enjoy using different mediums. I enjoy the process of sketching out designs by hand and then rendering in ink, scanning the line drawing into Photoshop and utilising digital colouring techniques to bring out the vibrancy of the figure drawing. I also enjoy the precision that Adobe Illustrator brings to vector line drawing - the TRON Recognizer vehicle took me a few hours to complete.
Even though the end result is produced using a computer, my illustration work often has a humble beginning at my drawing table...
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| Where it all usually begins... |
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Damian K. Sheiles
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