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deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

Hey so I need to raise some funds, so I'm finally doing a full color Butterfly poster. Here it is so far.

Need to fix Butterfly's right leg. Looks a little weird. I'm thinking it as a revision of this earlier strip:

http://www.tencentticker.com/home/?date=20050303

Wow, that's the fourth Butterfly strip ever. Anyway, I'm going to include the thought balloon, but probably not the 'flutter, flutter!' or 'weeee!'
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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

Chris G. · Jericho Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Posts: 39

Good stuff, man. I never seen those old butterfly strips, they're great! You can see your evolution an everything. The poster should end up cool as always Smile

Maybe some butterfly action figures will come one day!

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

Thanks Chris. Here's a little more progress:

DANG, now Birdie's leg is looking weird!
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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

Pulp · Jericho Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 28

I think the legs look just fine. The poster should be awesome, maybe I'll get one to put up in my friends comic shop.
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deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

MatthewH · Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:39 am Post subject:

Birdie's costume colors remind me a lot of Shazam. Is that intentional?

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

MatthewH · Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:18 pm Post subject:

Right, I knew that...kind of. That's what I get for being up so late... Confused

Chris G. · Jericho Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Posts: 39

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

Okay the background color is temp right now, but what do you guys think about coloring the linework? I colored the lines on Butterfly first to show the difference:

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

More done:

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

Chris G. · Jericho Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Posts: 39

this is coming along nicely. I like the colored lines, the black lines are too bold and flatten everything. sweet progress Smile

Pulp · Jericho Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 28

How do you change the color of the lines? Do you have to re ink it the new color?
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deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

no, you just select the linework with the magic wand and color it how you like. being able to easily select the linework is just ONE of the advantages of using the pencil tool rather than the paintbrush.

here's where we're at now:

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

I was getting pretty tired of those clouds by that last preview image, so I decided to do something more challenging. Here's a bit of how that's coming:

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

Current state of the poster pic. I'd gotten a little more work done but my computer locked up. Glad I didn't lose more work than I did.

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

Current:

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

MatthewH · Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:58 am Post subject:

Chris G. · Jericho Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Posts: 39

this is looking great

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

Okay, I might make some minor edits, but this is final enough to post on the ol' LJ.

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

Pulp · Jericho Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 28

Holy Bat Crap! That's a nice poster! Are you going to sell it on Cafe Press?
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Chris G. · Jericho Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Posts: 39

good stuff man. How did you draw the buildings in photoshop? it looks tricky.

jasonturner · Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:58 pm Post subject:

I must say that even with the slight shift to purple it moves Knight Bat away nicely. Away from you know.. that other guy...

that is looking really great though. Love all the reflections in the windows and all!

deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

thanks jason. the worry i was having was that the Justice League Unlimited version of Batman has a purple/gray suit, but it ended up not looking like that here. anyway, i just finished the final, so here it is:

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

jimmehgee · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:34 pm Post subject:

Frikking awesome, Dean. I'm going to purchase me one of those.

And yeah, tell us about the buildings in Photoshop, I wondered the same thing!
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deantrippe · Robin Joined: 04 Mar 2005 Posts: 1199 Location: Georgia

buildings, okay. uh...well...um. i just...traced a photo. sue me. i'm a cheat.

you remember i had done that weak cloud kinda half-assed background at first, but then i wanted to do something cityscapey, so i googled and found this shot of the empire state building:

so i pasted that in behind the characters, flipped it, and used the transform tool to make the perspective a little more dramatic, and then i traced it with the pencil tool a medium lineweight, and then i went over certain parts with thicker weights to make it look like more like a traditional lined drawing. it's easy to draw straight lines in photoshop because with the pencil tool you can just tap where you want to start the line, hold shift, and tap where you want to end the line. another easy trick is to draw all the vertical lines on one layer and the horizontal ones on another, and then you can easily erase the unwanted overlaps between the windows. i also left out a lot of elements, because i'm not trying to draw the empire state building, and too much detail would look weird with my style. plus i was in a hurry.

and then I spent a LONG TIME coloring it. i used the obvious gradient with the sunset and window reflection, but i also used some really subtle ones to shade the building, and then drew in the simple flat highlights, which i like so much:

anyway, i really wanted to try my best, and while it's not all that complicated, i think it's a lot better than the clouds i usually do. Razz

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Dean Trippe | Project Rooftop

jimmehgee · Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 6:16 pm Post subject:

Tracing is fine for shit like that. I don't see why it's such a problem - it gets the same job done in a lot less time; and it wasn't JUST a trace, you enveloped it into your style with little things like line weights and - like you said - erasing detail.

In this case I think it was a wise choice. Smile

Thanks for sharing.
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Chris G. · Jericho Joined: 17 Feb 2006 Posts: 39

fascinating process. it ain't cheating, I'd do it too if i had a tablet. good work!

Guest · Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:41 pm Post subject:

really beautiful .. and the building was a great idea.. although the clouds were nice too, the added detail really sells the piece ( which is good since you're actually trying to sell the piece as posters)

As for the 'tracing cheat'.. who cares.. we all now how to do perspective but it's boring and time consuming and creatively draining (unless you're really into math or line rules) .. why not utilize technology to save time a achieve just as good if not better effects?