2D Art Week 1 - Syd Mead Illustration

This week is a practice with basic shapes in Photoshop.

The subject this week was Syd Mead and his futuristic illustrations. After looking through many of his pieces I decided to examine his Running of the Six Drgxx. This piece is so dynamic and I wanted to capture the movement accurately in addition to the practice with basic shapes.

First was a rough draft to feel out the shape and line of the subject. I decided not to get too in my head about all the small details. I wanted to capture the likeness first and foremost.

The next step was to start some shading to find where the light and shadows rest on the subject. I also took the liberty to add some color that is embedded in the original image.

Because the original illustration had such dynamic movement I decided to use an enlarged charcoal brush to add the dust clouds and debris. This helps make the subject feel like its leaping off the page.

I really enjoyed playing around with the shapes here and all the possibilities of recreating this part of the original illustration.