The real and virtual worlds have merged in such a way that humans live a large part of their lives trapped in the net. But cyber-delinquents are prowling everywhere and there needs to be a team of fighters to confront the hackers, viruses, and other threats. The virtual defenders, created using artificial intelligence, will make sure peace reigns in the cyber-world.
1. SKETCHES
We began by designing several possible characters until we perfected the desired result. Later, in final version of the image, we added another character in the center to balance out the illustration.
2. STRUCTURE
We arranged the characters congruously to have a balanced composition.
3. VOLUME
We marked out the body shapes, taking into account that the girls would be less corpulent than the boys.
4. ANATOMY
Boys have wider shoulders than girls, and illustrating this helps us create characters who might be ambiguous, but what sex they are is perfectly understood.
5. DETAILS
Each character has a different logo to let us identify them rapidly. We also added balls and cables to make the illustration more visually interesting. The line drawing was done digitally in the Illust Studio program.
6.1. COLOR
We put each character in a different layer before applying the color base. The general range is based on greens and purples.
6.2. COLOR
We colored in the shadows on different layers right above the base colors, using the Clipping Mask Option to separate them.
6.3. COLOR
For shiny objects, such as the eyes, it is best to add a color that matches the surroundings. Thus the leading girl has pink eyes with a violet gradient.
6.4. COLOR
Highlights can be created quite simply using the Outer Glow Layer Blending Options. These effects in electric colors such as neon blue, green, or pink over a dark background provide a futuristic effect, perfect for this type of illustration.
FINISHING TOUCHES
- Evening out the colors in the drawing with the Saturation/Tone Option in Image Adjustments and applying a Photo Filter help equal out the image’s predominant green and pink tones.
Tips & tricks
- To attain the effect of digital rain in the background, we drew in a string of unconnected numbers and successively duplicated it, alternating their positions and opacities.
- The line drawing was made in Illust Studio, the coloring in SAI, and the final effects in Photoshop. We can mix and match programs to take advantage of the best each has to offer.
