Muppets Playmat / timelapse

Today I want to talk a bit about my most recently completed mat and do a bit of an overview of some of the stages involved. I haven't done one of these in a while so it could be quite interesting to see how things have moved on. First off though its worth pointing out that this isnt the first mat to use this style, that honour goes to the first mat produced this year and one I will talk about at some point I'm sure, the One Piece mat. I mention it both to give credit and because it was was something of a catalyst without which this and at least one other mat would not have been produced. There is apparently something about this style people like, however we will save that discussion for another day, for now lets focus on how I built tis mat in particular.

The main criteria for this mat were muppets and shiny, with this and a list of nine characters I set about turing that brief into reality. I could talk at length about the initial sketch and character placement but suffice to say that it was as much about fitting them in the required spaces as it was about popularity and there were many many revisions. Also while all the poses are different to the One Piece mat there are slight nods to its existence here and there, which explains why Miss Piggy is wearing glasses.

Stages one and two are informed directly from experience from the previous mat, there is quite a bit of precision engineering going on at this stage and I found that while tape is not necessary it sure does make things quicker and lead to nicer lines. It also seems like a a good idea to block in the large black area now rather than start the colouring and risk damaging it.

On the One Piece mat I left the logo pretty much until last, not wanting to have to deal with that sort of finishing touches again this image shows I have gone in and done the initial detail already. when I talk about the third mat in this collection you will see how things have evolved still further, at this point however I am really wishing there was some sort of device that can cut out sticky shapes.

Now for some initial colouring, its still mostly quite bright and you will notice that the things that are coloured are generally the same shades, the green for example got laid down first while as he is blue Gonzo will have to wait a while. I am also using a light yellow to block in the general areas of light and dark most notably on Miss Piggy's dress, it will blend with any other colour and disappear by the time I am done. I have also not done any of the eyes yet, this is deliberate, although it does make Kermit look a bit disconcerting.

We are starting to see a bit more shading at this point, one of the reasons the background is yellow is to remind me thats generally where most of the light is coming from though at the same time the scene isnt so dark as to be casting extreme shadows on the fronts of the the faces either. Basically you have to imagine they are in a room with a bright but diffuse light behind them and another slightly weaker light above and slightly in front. I have also rounded out the O at this point since the initial blocking in left it slightly cut off.

Here come the blues, and some deeper reds, I still haven't decided what I am doing with miss Piggy's dress but I do know the pose isnt quite right yet which is why she has no arms. also at the moment all the blacks are being initially blocked in with browns both to add warmth and because I really don't want to be on that stage yet. The logo has also seen quite a bit of tiding up.

I'm just gap filling now, trying to get as much in as possible before the whole image starts to get worked as one rather than concentrating on individual characters. I could do with more blue to balnce out the right side though.

Things are starting to tighten up now and I am working my way up to the darker colours and black, at the same time the background is being lightened to give it a gradient effect. Also after a slight incident invoving black lets just say its lucky I have a way to remove colour otherwise I would have been starting over at this point.

We have eyes! Thats good, they don't look like zombies anymore, I wanted to leave the eyes for as long as possible partly so I could make sure they were all looking the right way and partly because they really make or break a character and inform what sort of finishing off I am going to have to do.. More black line work gets added and the top half of the background gets lighter still. All thats left at this point is some minor blending, tiding up, and general tweaks before sending it though the two sealing processes.

Which brings us back to the final mat, thanks for reading, next time, well I.m not sure what I will be talking about, probably another mat from 2012.

Vanguard Moon Princess Playmat

Once again we jump back to last year to talk about a playmat. I'm almost out of mats from 2012  to discuss although its amusing to think at one point I was worried I wouldn't have enough things to talk about to keep things going. Then again if I'm being honest quantity has never been an issue for me, I can create content at an amazing rate when I have to, its the attention to detail side of things I have to keep on top of.

The particulars of this mat then, and today we have my first Cardfight Vanguard mat. if you don't count the paladin sketch, and also one of my earliest implementations of some of the new materials I've been blathering on about over the last few articles. The other big detail was the choice not to outline it in black as at the time I felt like that style was becoming a bit constraining and needed to test out a verity of other techniques. 

I've lernt quite a lot even in the short time since this mat was created and quite a bit of the stuff I'm doing now with light and shadow has its roots in the mats I created around this time. The elements are all here although the stark difference between the light and dark areas is further emphasised by the limited colour pallet and anime style while the vivid reds and yellows came out really well, even if you can only see their shininess in person. 

The background was also something of a risky move at the time, partly prompted by the fact I am constantly on the verge of running low on black and due to the nature of the way the mat material shifts liquids from place to place a serious disaster was narrowly averted as a wave of dark colour bore down on a hapless and unsuspecting yellow moon. Still, crisis averted and with a newfound respect for flow I proceeded to liven outer space up some more with a variety of reds, yellows, greens, and blues and threw in some of my trademark disappearing stars for good measure, again an effect that doesn't come across as very apparent on the scans and another reason I switched to posting photos (that and this particular scan has a number of issues with slightly warped angles).

My favorite element is probably the electricity on the sword/beak?/reflex cannon, like the starts its subtle and you don't see it from every angle but its just something extra that brings things to life. 

And hey look new logo, I should probably talk about that a bit but haven't decided if I want to do so here or over on Infinity Flawed which I set up to be a bit more freeform. 

South West Yugioh Champion 2012 Playmat

At about the same time as the Bayonetta mat I had the 2012 South West Yugioh Champion mat to finish. This yearly event held in the South West of the UK at Mad For Miniatures not only brings together some of the best players in the area (as well as from farther afield) but has thus far provided me which an opportunity most mat designs don't, in that every mat will have one element that matches all the other finalists mats from previous years. No matter what other elements they decide to have drawn the text area is a common theme among them all. Which makes them a type of badge then, ID's that show you are a member of a very elite club.

As the common elements impose further restrictions on the design one of the most interesting parts of the process on these mats is figuring ot how to implement the ideas of the winners around them while trying to keep things fresh and yet still maintaing the same overarching theme. 

That doesn't mean the text area has remained static, each subsequent version integrates ideas and processes that I have developed duing that year and further refines the look. The text on the very first one, for example, has to deal with the fact it was the first time I had really done text. The blue center element also shifts styles each time, in this instance its more of a modern gel button inspired by interface elements while on the original mat its flat shaded with a circuit board texture effect and with the 2011 mat following suit except adding a radial gradient.

The rest of the center section has changed less over the years, benefiting from my improved confidence and lest need to rely on black outlines, the colours remain the same for each version for the most part with only slight tonal shifts depending on the needs of the rest of the mat and my colour preferences at the time. The text got a major overhaul for the second mat improving legibility at a distance, mainly as a result of the fact it saw a slight size reduction to accommodate the rest of the image, and has remained the same since. There are one or two minor tweaks that I might make to the purple section the next time around but mostly any slight differences will be down to texture effects, gradients, and shadows.

Also where appropriate the background designs should be bright bold and a bit wacky, oh hey look the orange is back! 

It wasn't ment to be this way, I had originally planned to do some sort of light vs dark thing but quickly realised that since one diagonal axis was going to be black on both sides that probably would have looked a bit odd (the large black area of the wings are balanced by the cloak on the opposite side) As it happend I had just recently bought some new slightly different colours and was itching to give them a full test run after some minor use on the Nyx mat (Here) The colours in question tend to come up brighter than the ones I usually use but have some special requirements and their own hoops to jump through especially on playmat material. I went with a fire based spiral pattern as a nod to Hyperion's background art and since it would fit in quite well with the the text areas central circular theme and the end result is nothing if not bright, and somewhat hypnotising.

Having Drawn Grapha before on another mat (although I have apparently neglected to post about yet) I knew what I was getting myself in for from the outset. Hyperion on the other hand I had no prior knowledge about and after much thought, some quick sketches, plus some desire not to repeat Grapha's pose I decided they should be facing off against one another. The end result also just so happened to help fit the pair around the text, I could have pushed Hyperion left a bit more but I really wanted them to be in each others faces and he doesn't really have the bulk of the dragon poor guy. Plus their arms in roughly in the same places so his legs might have been a bit odd all the way at the corner... and Bayonetta thought she had spine problems.

Who will win the next South West Yugioh Championship? Its probably a bit early in the year to be placing bets, still if you won, and baring the restrictions I have mentioned in mind, what would you choose to have on the ID Mat that proves your part of the champions club?