Progress on the illustration

It has been a while, but I'm still on this job. I actually took some time off during Thanksgiving week (not to rest, but to work on another project). Some differences are evident. The refinery is shifted over to the edge more and the offshore platform is smaller and more in the distance. A ship laying pipe is now more prominent, and there is an attempt to show a network of pipes underwater, but I'm not sure how successful it is. The final client made some unexpected late changes that made much of the work I had already done unnecessary. This kind of thing doesn't usually happen, but if it does, it should bring with it an increase in the final fee and an extension of the deadline. As it was, I spent about an extra day changing things to meet the new request, but that doesn't count the time spent on parts of the image that are now cropped out. Remember that darn refinery?

The refinery is done

Well, this part is done, finally. The major structures are finished and little details are painted in. I even used some atmospheric perspective to knock it back in the distance a bit, so the foreground objects stand out. I hope I don't have to paint something like this again. Too much work for something that really is just background filler. I probably should have figured out a quicker way to do this. But at least it looks cool, right?

Working on the whole image

Here you can see a view of the entire image. I'm working at 300 PPI and the size is 12"x9." It's a pretty big image, but the complexity of the refinery portion really bogs Photoshop down. I'm using lots of vector Shape layers to create the tangles system of pipes and structural elements. Also included is a detailed shot of the refinery itself. Because the view is from overhead, I'm using 3-point perspective. A separate Shape layer contains thin vector lines going to each vanishing point. Because they are comprised of vectors, I can reposition them as I need. All I can say is that painting a refinery (or whatever this is) is a lot harder and more time-consuming than I had expected. This part of the illustration may end up taking the most time, but ironically, it's not really that important. It just hast to be there. The important stuff will be in the foreground and is yet to be done.

New illustration

Well, I'm back to work on a big project. As is not too uncommon, it's probably a bit too big for the time and budget allowed. Here is a detail. I'll post more as it goes along. Yes, it's another offshore platform. They can be fun to do, but I didn't have great source photos for this one and I was trying to hurry the project along, so it's a bit loose. I like how it turned out, but I had to change some color and details on request of the client. Sometimes the final can't look too much like the source material. I'm posting this version because I like it better. If you are curious as to how it's done, I have already posted a tutorial on the last offshore platform image I did. The same techniques apply here, so you can just refer back to it.

Click here to see my tutorial based on a similar image.

What's going on now

Just a quick note to let everyone know what I've been up to lately. Last month, I started doing some work for Cogent Legal in Oakland, a firm specializing in graphics and animation for litigation. I worked on one project, but since someone is always suing someone else, let's hope that more come in! I also was interviewed for a podcast about photography and digital editing. When the interview is online, I will post a link.