Powers Beyond Cover Logo & Type

I'll wrap up my work on Powers Beyond with a look at the cover. I DID NOT DO THE ART for this cover. However, I did do the following:

• Logo design
• Color adjustments of the base image it to enhance/hide certain elements around the text
• Typeset text on back cover (which was hard to find a color that would show up well on such a varied background)

This is worth opening at full size, folks!

You can buy Powers Beyond at Lulu as a print book, or as a PDF. This actually looks like a lot of fun to play (I haven't yet had the opportunity to sit down with James at the game table for this one, but I shall). It's a superheroes game set in a semi-apocalyptic future. There's a detailed world for this game, so you can run many different types of adventures. In other words... it's EPIC!

Powers Beyond - Med Lab

Another illustration from the Powers Beyond RPG by James Shade. This was another equipment-type illustration -- I think it wound up in the back of the book, rather than in the equipment section, though.

This one is a bit of a cheat -- I combined both comic-style coloring and lines with the raytraced shadows form the Iray render engine. This one took a few more render passes than usual because the floor and background were coming out too dark in the original renders. In retrospect, I should have changed the alien to a human or something else. Looking at it now, I think it looks more like a robot than a creature in a suspension tank.

Powers Beyond - Cybertech Illustration

This one was a lot of fun. As with the others, this was created in Daz Studio 4.8 (or was it 4.9? I was using both versions at that time and suddenly I don't recall which computer I did this on). The main problem with this piece was that the bricks needed a lot of work. The Brick in the Wall prop by The Ant Farm is fantastic -- it allows you to animate someone punching through a wall with a lot of options regarding the way the wall bows and flexes.But, although it animates and moves the bricks, it does not deform them. So, you wind up with very smooth bricks... which detracts from the violence of the attack. In other words, it just looks too clean.

So, after it was rendered, I went into Photoshop and distressed each and every brick along the edge, and some of the mortar lines between them, as well. It was a lot of work, but it actually elevated the image from looking too pristine to being pretty good.

The background actually proved to be more problematic -- I was under the gun to get this done, so I just went with a simple film grain and color effect. And, if you look at last week's illustration, you'll see that the hand-drawn smoke lines are present again.

Powers Beyond - Equipment Illustration

This is probably the illustration that I'm most happy with for the Powers Beyond RPG. It's available in both print and PDF from Lulu.com, by the way. It's a pretty good book, so it's worth picking up.

This equipment illustration took a lot of hand work to redraw all the crisp lines. I also tweaked the colors. I suppose I should mention that this -- as was all of the work I did for this book, was created by combining multiple passes from Daz Studio in Photoshop. Weapons and equipment are all 3D assets purchased from Daz3D.com, except for the little power-cell cubes. I created those from primitives in Daz Studio.

As for why I like this one -- I think the simplicity and clean lines just work.

Another little bit of retro-styled fun from the Powers Beyond RPG by Epic Age Media. To be honest, I'm not 100% happy with the art I did for this book. James Shade asked me to do color and retro, but I don't think the retro style I chose meshed well with the rest of the book. I think it would have been better if I had seen some of the other art in the book before doing my own. I don't want to copy the other guy's style, but I would have chosen more muted colors and less-intense shading techniques.

This image was a bit of a transitional piece for me, by the way. I was reading Scott McCloud's ZOT! B&W Collection at the time, and got interested in some of the shading techniques he was using. I seriously doubt you'll see his influence here in my own work, but mentally it's about the hand-drawn lines I started using (and retrofitted into other illustrations) for clouds and smoke. The suggestion was also prompted by a Daz Studio user in the forums; she goes by the name of Scribbling Sandy. This also led to the diagonal shading I started using in images going forward, and that appear in my noir comics work.

Powers Beyond - Epic Age Media

I haven't mentioned the Powers Beyond RPG in a while. I thought some of you would like to know that it's finally published, and includes some cool superhero art by yours truly.  I'll post a few samples in the next few days.

First up, here's a reworking of the cover I created for CCN #107. This time with a non-copyrighted villain, and some really bombastic dialogue.

I was going for a 1970s / 1980s vibe with this piece, what with the bright colors and the exaggerated pose and energy crackles. The most difficult thing about this was the background coloring -- it took ages to get the colors "just right," and even now I'm not 100% happy with it. 

Black Owl and Hooty WIP 2

Here's the second major iRay render I worked on in DazStudio 4.8. I let the computer run for about 42 hours, which let it reach about 25% completion. This included a new mesh light behind the camera to provide stronger illumination and better defined shadows for their necks and faces. It also provides a really nice shine on their boots and gloves, but you need to open the larger image to see them.

Click on this image for a larger view.
Note that the faces are a lot clearer.

I say a larger view because the click-through image is only 1,000 pixels wide. The actual render was a whopping 3,500 pixels wide. I'm working so large for two reasons:

• I'm thinking of using this for print (either the aforementioned Powers Beyond RPG) or possibly for the Collectors' Club Newsletter (a cool group of comics fans: you can find out more about them here: www.collectorsclubnewsletter.com).
• I find it easier to digitally ink larger images in Manga Studio (if I decide to do that -- I might not).

Obviously, this image is too dark (and the red zone is waaaaay too bright, but that's necessary for it to cast the proper red glow throughout the scene), so I will be doing some postwork on it. Also, it took waaaaay too long to render, so I will be revisiting the lighting options I used for this illustration, and work on tweaking them for future projects.

Black Owl and Hooty WIP

I'm working on a new project (while wrapping up the ongoing projects with ULTRA, Gutshot, etc.)

Click to see larger image.

This time I'm creating some Golden Age superheroes for an upcoming Supers RPG called Powers Beyond.

I'll also be creating some other, futuristic heroes with more SF trappings. This time, however, the project is in COLOR!

This is a fun opportunity to spread my wings a bit and branch out of b&w.

Of course, it also means focusing on new techniques like color lighting, which is what I'm working on in this Work In Progress (WIP) image. For this project, I'll be using Daz Studio 4.8 and the new NVIDA iRay render engine.

As you can see from the image above, I need to master a few more technical issues regarding this new render engine. I'll be posting more images as they become available.