DKSid - META Progress

Tonight's blog post will be short and sweet. Last March I provided a sneak peak at DKSid, a small publication I am working on with the intention to showcase my illustrative design skills to the IDW lads at Perth Supanova this June.

Further progress has been made this week. Here's another preview of some pages.

META - page 1 pencil rough

META - page 1 without text

META - page 1 complete with text

META - page 4 illustration (ink)

META - page 4 without text

Best wishes

...

Damian K. Sheiles

www.dks.net.au

Pop Culture, Film & Comics Amalgamate! (part 2)

Continuing from my post yesterday I now present the evolution for the Metropolis Pictures presents Superman in the City of Tomorrow poster design.

The iconic design by Schulz-Neudamm for Fritz Lang's film, Metropolis is unforgettable and served as inspiration for many artists and designers. The original design for the Star Wars character C3PO by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie was based on the android 'Maria' from the Fritz Lang film released in 1927. The city design from the film Metroplois is heavily based on Art Deco stylings of the time period and provide the perfect environment for any pulp or science fiction character to exist in.

 

Robot comparison - C3PO's (right) design was influenced by Maria (left from Metropolis

The similarity to the world of Metropolis as portrayed in the pages of DC Comics Superman was too enticing a proposition and my curiosity to see these two universes cross-over needed to be satiated. I sketched up a handful of poster roughs for 'Metropolis' at the same time I sketched out the '30 Days of the Dark Knight' poster designs.

Concept Sketching

I knew that I wanted to design a long vertical poster so that I could feature the main character in the foreground leaving plenty of room for the city in the background and the poster title treatment above. As I wanted to pay tribute to Superman in the environment of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the first character developed for the poster was Clark Kent's alter ego, Superman. The modern version of Superman would look out of place in this concept and time period so I looked to the Max Fleischer design from the 1940's animated series for character design inspiration. I combined this classic style with a mix of steam punk costume design embellishments to obtain the 'right' look for this amalgam of pop culture icons.

Max Fleischer's Superman / Clark Kent

DC Comics Steam Punk Figurines

The images below show the evolution from pencil sketch to inks and finally to digital colour of my Steam Punk 1920's Superman. I experimented with a monochrome version rather than colour but in the end, felt that the colour version (Blue, Red and Gold) contrasted much stronger against the yellow/orange/gold city/star-burst background.

  

I wanted to create an Android character as well, further tying the Metropolis concept back to the Fritz Lang film. I experimented with a Brainiac design with Machiavellian mustache but decided that a battle damaged and world weary Metallo with exposed Kryponite heart would be the right Superman Villain for this design.

As the colour version of Metallo is primary gold, orange, yellow and burnt red and contrast against the yellow/orange/gold city and background would be poor, I changed the background to black, enhancing the overall design, resulting in the two 'Metropolis' prints complimenting each other in chiaroscuro fashion. Below are the inked and digitally coloured versions of Metallo.

After the completion of a graphite star-burst pattern on textured board and a technically inked city-scape, finished in Photoshop and Illustrator, I was ready to composite the poster using InDesign.

The two poster designs now complete are  were completed with the addition of Title text and a custom Art Deco border drawn using Illustrator.

Metropolis Pictures presents Superman in the City of Tomorrow

Superman in the City of Tomorrow

Metropolis Pictures presents Superman in the Menace of Metallo

Superman in the Menace of Metallo

I hope you enjoyed seeing the design process and evolution for these poster designs. Please check back here soon for another look at art and design projects I'm currently working on. You can follow me on Facebook too if that's your thing.

Best wishes

...

Damian K. Sheiles

www.dks.net.au

DKSid - The illustration + design of Damian K. Sheiles

I've been absent of late from my blog and social media... here's why.

Presently, I've been juggling several projects at once. I'm working on material for my graphic novel, plus several cover style illustrations, a limited poster design for a band plus a 24 page promotional book called DKSid which I intend to present to Chris Ryall and ted Adams, the guys from IDW Publishing while they're here for the Supanova Pop Culture Expo this June.

DKSid will be a mini portfolio that showcases my design and illustration style(s). It will be a compilation of one-off cover style illustrations, plus two short comic strips of approx 27 panels each. I'm sure it will evolve as work progresses and new/better ideas come to me.

Below is an advance look as two WIP pages. I'll post more as they are finished. As always, any comments or feedback is welcome.

Page one from a 4 page, 28 panel short story called META

Nine untitled illustrations - CURVES.

...

Damian K. Sheiles

A handful of pencil sketches...

Just a handful of various character pencil sketches...

Sandman - overture sketch (rough)

Who am I? Robert Smith Jr, Lil' Dream of the Endless or a Young Tim Burton?

Death

Lil' Death of the Endless

Batman Beyond