Galaxy Prime Art 15: Paging GP

I think we're just about ready to come back to earth from our tour of Galaxy Prime. That's my glib way of saying that I've finished reprinting the illustrations I created for the book. But there was one other aspect of art I created for the book, and that is the book itself.

GP, pg. 208

The illustrations I created weren't standalone pieces -- they were part of a page design that I was also responsible for creating. In this case, I used Adobe InDesign to create the book that author James Shade had originally written in Microsoft Word.

In this example below, you can see how the illustration is at the bottom of the page. It also extends far to the right of the text margin because it "bleeds" into the spine of the book. That's also why my signature is so far indented -- I didn't want it to get lost in the fold where the pages gather.

This is actually one of the things that I had to think about on a regular basis with this, and all other commercial illustrations that I create for publication. The original image actually needs to be a little larger than it will appear in the final book so that there is room for it to bleed off the page or into the spine.

A few of the cool things I liked about the design of this book was that each chapter opened with a quote -- which I wrote. I read the descriptions that author James Shade wrote about the various races, and then came up with some sort of saying that reinforces some of that race's basic traits. For instance, the Uncha are a race of gnome-like tinkerers known for building fantastic devices. For them, I wrote this saying that appeared at the start of Chapter 4:

"Planning is overrated. Just start putting things together and sometimes something wonderful happens."

Or this fun Molgan saying from Chapter 5:

"Money can't buy you friends... but when you have enough money you can always rent some." 

As you can easily guess, the Molgans are the financiers of the galaxy, always wheeling and dealing.

These quotes (and other textual elements) are the sort of features I worked into the text to perform multiple functions:

• They help introduce new material that supports the content, but isn't part of the main text.
• The reinforce character traits and give the book personality
• They break up the text so it isn't overwhelming. There is little more dull than page after page after page of boring text. This is a game book, not a novel. 
• They take up space. As a design decision, the side bars tell the reader which chapter is currently open. This meant that chapters start on the left page (even numbers). So, every chapter has to start with an even page and end with an odd page. To prevent blank pages, textual elements and graphics were added to just fill space. As in the example below, I tried to have fun with it by putting quotes in an alien font, and then putting the translation below it.
• There are also 16 sectors in Galaxy Prime, so I selected an "sigil" for each one. So, when I put one of those in the background, it actually indicated which sector the quote originated from.

GP, 228 - 229
This is one of the few times James edited one of the quotes I wrote:
Translation of a Runarian saying: "The Future is not your to take, it's yours to make."

Word Processors vs.
Page Design Programs
The Galaxy Prime book that went to press would not have been possible if I had been forced to work with MS Word. In fact, James actually tried laying out the book in Word -- and he did a passable job of -- but it was unstable (an edit on one page could start a ripple effect that would reflow the text throughout the entire book. Plus, it was more than 350 pages long!

MS Word is a fine program -- and many people successfully use it to create fairly complex documents. Including myself. I've published many documents in Word, and got very nice results. But, it is not a page design program (or what we used to call "desktop publishing software").

I actually had a discussion with a fellow professional recently who said that almost anything you can do in InDesign can be duplicated in Word. That is true, but the key phrase is almost anything.  I'm not going to go into a long discussion about how the page design program is better at using visual and spacing algorithms to better process type (but if you're interested, there's a very accessible article about it here). I'm just going to list a few of the differences between the two types of software.

Word Processors	Page Design
MS Word Open Office * Google Docs * Word Perfect Text Maker Corel Write	Adobe InDesign QuarkXPress MS Publisher Adobe Illustrator (single pages & short docs) Page Plus (* free version available) Scribus *
For a review of many of these products, check out this link: http://office-software-review.toptenreviews.com/word-processing-software/ * Indicates Free software	For a review of discount products, visit this link: http://desktop-publishing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/  * Free tools reviews: http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-desktop-publishing-program.htm

There are MANY more programs out there. Many of them free. Many of them very good. But I'm going to be brutally honest: MS Word is the top word processor and the top two design programs are Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. Everyone else in the market is an "also-ran." Those programs dominate their markets, and rightly so. They are good programs that get the job done.


In our next installment, we'll do a level-1 diagnostic about
the differences between these two types of programs. See you on Friday!

Galaxy Prime Art 14: Space Station Wire Frame

Even though I use 3D models as the basis of my illustration work, I actually don't want it to look like it's 3D. I'm putting in a lot of work (my Photoshop Wizardry" as I call it) to make it look like traditional line art.

GP, pg. 208, This station is allegedly abandoned...
but we know better, don't we?

That's why this illustration for the Galaxy Prime book was a lot of fun. Since this was for the adventure, "The Lone Liyek," I felt I could break loose a little more. Plus, the material was being presented like a technical briefing (sort of), so this seemed like a good time to let the readers see behind the facade, so to speak, and see the wireframe underneath the artwork.

In this case, I created the image normally (but using a smoother art style than usual), and then created a second render of the wireframe. I then faded between the two images in Photoshop for a pretty cool effect. Click on it to see a bigger version -- it really brings the detail to life.

Galaxy Prime 13: The Cutting Room Floor

This week, I thought I'd share something that didn't make the cut. This ship is a cool design, but I could never get it to turn out right. This is what I started with:

This cool ship never made it into Galaxy Prime.
I guess it's Q*Drive stopped working in mid flight.

And, when the usual effects didn't pan out, I actually tried a few approaches like the one below. Although it looks kind of cool, it just was too different from the other illustrations I had created for the Galaxy Prime RPG published by Epic Age Media.

You know, this ship always reminded me of the Blackbird that the X-Men flew around in. In retrospect, I think the failure of this design to mesh well with my style stems from its smooth lines. There's not enough detail for me to pull from. This model is all about sexy, shiny surfaces... and that's not quite right for my "old school" retro approach to this project.

Plus, I really didn't like the way the front window came out. It looks recessed, for some reason. This definitely got the fate it deserved.

RuntimeDNA: My Zombie Attack was selected as an Image of the Week!

I received another VERY COOL accolade this week. My Zombie Attack illustration was selected by the RuntimeDNA community as an Image of the Week.

You may not remember this one, because I usually post my zombie art over at the Hawgleg Blog, but it features young Sheriff Mike Foreman coming face to face with a newly risen fiend.

I am particularly pleased with this illustration, as his expression really conveys a sense of terror. Plus, I like the blast effect -- messy without being too messy!

RuntimeDNA is an online community similar to Rendrosity. They sell a variety of products, focused more on the Poser community than on Daz Studo. Renderosity has a lot more members, so the traffic over there is very high. But although RuntimeDNA has a smaller user base, that translates to the images posted there being of a high quality. That's probably just a product of the math -- when you have tons of anything, more of it is going to be average rather than spectacular.

I'm not exactly sure how large RDNA is, but they select about five images a week, and I'm very proud to be one of them -- especially since this accolade comes with a prize! As a winner, I was able to pick an item from their store! There were a few restrictions (no software & no bundles), but nevertheless, something free is AWESOME!

For me, the item I selected was almost a no-brainer (don't tell the zombies I said that). Last September RDNA released a really cool Saloon Gal outfit that I really wanted to use for a character in the upcoming book, Gutshot: Night of the Living Deadwood. But, at $25, it was a bit pricey (not unaffordable, but I prefer to wait for sales and coupons when buying something that can really only be used for one character).

But, as a freebie? Ohhhhh yeeeah! That is exactly the item I selected as my prize. Here's the promo art for the Rockabilly Burlesque outfit.

Copyright 2013 RuntimeDNA

Yeah, I can definitely picture her whipping out a hidden Derringer to shoot a surprised undead gambler right between the eyes. And yes, I may even go all cliche and have her pine for young Sheriff Foreman, knowing all the while that she can never wind up with him.

Anyway, we'll see how that plays out. But you can definitely plan on seeing her (or at least her outfit -- I haven't designed the face or selected the hair, yet, but I admit that I like this a lot) sometime in the near future.

Galaxy Prime Art 12: Sky Car

If I recall correctly, this is the image on which I first used the rough line (i.e. "retro") look. I recall that the reelections on the windshield were particularly difficult to perfect, but I really like the slightly beat-up look that this technique gave the body.

GP, pg. 57, "Small grav cars are a great way to get around when you are
planet-side. To successfully operate one, your character will need the Small Air/Sea skill.
And if you buy your car from a Molgan... make sure you look under the hood first!

The Molgans are a race of traders with a less than stellar reputation. The rest of the text refers to game mechanics involving skill checks.

Next week, we'll take a look at some stuff that didn't quite make it into the book.

Galaxy Prime Art 11: The Lone Liyek

Hmmm. Two weeks ago, on the Fourth of July, I skipped a week of Galaxy Prime artwork. I'm feeling kind of generous right now, so this week I'll treat you to two space ships that appeared in the Sample Adventure Module that appears in the book. The adventure is about a crew (that would be you guys) who arrive at an "abandoned" space station... and find there's a mystery to solve.

GP, pg. 210. Responding to a distress call, this is the ship you arrived in,
only to find the space station empty... or is it?

You'll probably recognize this ship from the space station illustration a few weeks back. This one has a lot more detail than was visible in that image (and if you click on the picture, you can even make out the door opening mechanisms on the side doors).

GP, pg. 211. If the station is abandoned, then whose ship is this?

I like the roughness of the lines on this one, particularly in context with the story of this adventure. I also used the fisheye lens effect that I described in a previous post. This sort of thing might seem like an odd choice,but it helps give the ship a sense of dynamic proportion that keeps it from looking overly flat or mechanical. Plus, if forced foreshortening worked so well for Jack Kirby, then who am I to say nay?