Drawings/Paintings of Subject Matter

I chose, when drawing my subject matter, to do a mixture of achromatic and coloured images. The reason I made this decision was so that I could compare which colour scheme would look better and how effective they are when creating tone and shading. I used a selection of images, mostly of the character Josh. This is because my poster is advertising a DLC centred around this character and so it would make sense for this character to be the main focus of the illustrations. I also did drawings of other characters too as I want to experiment with layout by putting some of the other characters in the background of the designs in more developed and refined scamps.

Quotes From The Game

To get inspiration for my game poster, I decided to write down some quotes from the game. I wrote quotes from each chapter of the game, condensing down to what was more important the further along I went. After this, I then chose to highlight specific quotes. This was so that I could get a better idea of which quotes were more important to the plot or could be used as inspiration for the poster.

My Own Scamps

Below are my initial designs/scamps for a game poster advertising a DLC (downloadable content) for the 2015 horror game Until Dawn. I chose to use an achromatic colour scheme in black fine liner and watercolour pencil in order to determine roughly where the lighter and darker areas of the composition would be.

Conventions Of The Form

Al Boswell

For my artist copy, I chose to copy Al Boswell's chalk illustration of early 70's Paul McCartney. The reason behind my choice is that I want to experiment with chalk and how it can create delicate or dramatic lighting within illustrations. Lighting can be an important part of video game posters as it can suggest the mood of the game or the theme. Examples would be cool, low-key lighting for a horror video game or warm and high-key lighting for a game aimed at younger audiences. 

My Copy

Original illustration by Al Boswell

Taking inspiration from Al Boswell's chalk work, I chose to draw out two images of subject matter that I'm considering using for my final piece. 

The first piece I did in colour in order to get a feel for which colours would create the correct tones and how they should be blended in order to create the subtle contrasts I want in my game poster. I feel that this was very successful as the blended colours and darker tones give the image form and shape, making it easy on the eye and interesting to look at. 

The second piece was done in charcoal and white chalk in order to capture the contrasts of light and dark that I created in my own scamps. The charcoal and black paper contrast greatly with the white as well as blending with the chalk to create a smooth transition to different tones as well as a variety of lights, darks, and mid-tones. I feel that the use of black and white creates more of a horror feel and still has the same aesthetic appeal as the coloured illustration. 

Coloured chalk illustration

Achromatic chalk and charcoal illustration

Scamps - Other Designers

Scamps of video game poster designs from other artists.

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