Alon Chou couldn’t resist creating some great fan art after seeing the ‘Transformers’ movie.
This summer when ‘Transformers’ hit the big screen, it soon raised up the heat in theaters all over the world. I went to see the film many times particularly for this artwork, in order to get a more vivid feel of the scene, as well as searching for ideas. It is very crucial for a creator to foresee the image in his own mind, and knowing if it would make a good artwork or not.
I wanted to create a scene filled with tension and drama, just like those magnificent stills from the film. Originally I was invited to do this for a magazine in China, afterwards I did some adjustments to the artwork and that is what you see now.
By starting to plan the work, I want an explosive dueling scene that would draw audiences into the work. First I started a sketch, designing actions.
Because the first design of poses were not very good, I decided to redesign the composition and poses, as well as buildings. I wanted to bring in architecture that has a traditional feeling, something like a museum, in order to emphasize the contrast between high tech machines and classical images.
In the film, Megatron is pictured as the destroyer, and Optimus Prime as the protector. Therefore, if Optimus Prime is placed closer to the camera defense the attack, it would create the feeling of “being protected” for the audiences.
I was imagining: Megatron dashes out from the explosion, lunging at Optimus Prime with a crackdown. Optimus Prime is prepared for the attack; he raises his fist, slides forward, shaking the ground with burning flakes, ready to give Megatron a death blow. The aim of this composition is to create a complete frame filled with drama and action.
To enhance the tension of the scene, I chose a radial composition that was similar to the basic perspective. The whole composition would look like an explosion itself, or an extending radiation.
It took me a long time to consider the color of the sky, and it also went through a lot of changes. Originally it was sky blue. However after many adjustments, the color of the sky is now closer to yellow, which makes the whole tone of the picture more unified.
I had tried to increase the brightness/contrast of the whole picture, the lights would perform better. The reflections from every object, would also influence the light and color. Therefore deciding the color should take the whole environment into consideration. Below are the progressions of the entire picture.
I first polished up the sketch a little bit, and then painted on the base color with brush under brush mode “color”. This was to create the basic tone of the color.
Then I added more details to Prime, as well as the building on the right side. I worked on the flakes under Prime's feet – be sure to pay attention to the reflections on the feet. I increased the brightness and contrast of the building on the right side, in order to enhance the lightness.
All the building were basically done; I painted the explosion, the buildings in the far background and the sky were also dyed with color of the flame.
