Re: Whalbuquerque

Ooohhh, this is purty!

Re: Whalbuquerque

Just when I thought there wasn't a single shirt I want out of this derby :P GMV Good luck!

Re: Whalbuquerque

A watercolored whale-city for the whole family to enjoy. Five colors on Royal Blue.


Here's a close-up of the watercolor halftones, and here's a nice hi-res image.

I hope you all like it!

imsochady wrote:Ooohhh, this is purty!

Azurett wrote:Just when I thought there wasn't a single shirt I want out of this derby :P GMV Good luck!

Thank you both very much! I'm glad you like it.

Nice Star Whale. XD

Re: Whalbuquerque

This is rather splendid.

Re: Whalbuquerque

Everyone needs to click your hi-res link and see it in all its glory (or Woot needs to allow bigger pictures!)

Sweet design! +1

Re: Whalbuquerque

Reminds me of DW episode The Beast Below.

That...and I just like whales!

Re: Whalbuquerque

Just curious - is there a special connection between Albuquerque and whales?

Re: Whalbuquerque

AWESOME!!! GMV, and good luck!!

Re: Whalbuquerque

Close, but not quite. It looks more like Sacramento than Abq. I've lived in both. If the blimp were a hot air balloon it would be closer.

I voted for it anyways, because I am a fan of the Hitchiker's Guide, and it reminds me of that whale.

indihar wrote:Reminds me of DW episode The Beast Below.

That...and I just like whales!

That is EXACTLY what I though when I saw this!

Wow, this is great! I really, really appreciate your support and comments!

@jmmbell1987: Thank you very much!

@keytone8, indihar, & arrit: You know, I've never even seen an episode of Doctor Who! That's pretty funny that there are similarities. :D Maybe I should sell this to the BBC. Hmmm...

@Spiritgreen: Thanks for the kind words, SG. I'm really glad that people are diggin' on how it turned out! Oh, and your Gargoyle? C'est magnifique!

@mjc613: Nope, there's no connection that I know of - I just liked the way it sounded! Also in the name pile: Whalbany, Whalmington, and Whalshington DC.

@kettletoast: Thanks!

@aimalynn: Oh, that poor Hitchhiker's Guide whale. Thanks for voting!

Re: Whalbuquerque

Awwww, this whale makes me so happy. I wish my back was strong enough to hold a city, and still smile like this guy. Awesome. I would love to have this! +1

Re: Whalbuquerque

Really great! And nice that though it's a big image, there seems to be a lot of shirt color coming through with halftones and using the shirt color.

bassanimation wrote:Awwww, this whale makes me so happy. I wish my back was strong enough to hold a city, and still smile like this guy. Awesome. I would love to have this! +1

Aw, thanks! I'd like to think that the city's simply growing out of his back, so he doesn't mind it.

jasneko wrote:Really great! And nice that though it's a big image, there seems to be a lot of shirt color coming through with halftones and using the shirt color.

Cool, I tried to go for something a bit different than my normal coloring. I'm glad you like it!

Re: Whalbuquerque

DR WHO!!!

Re: Whalbuquerque

Good luck! I love this shirt so freaking much! =)

Neat sub. Your flying whale reminds me a little of the Kukuburi comics.

Re: Whalbuquerque

This is simply beautiful. Nice mix of colors, great idea and beautifully executed!!

I do have one question, how did you manage the halftones? That looks like a pain to do by hand!

arrit wrote:That is EXACTLY what I though when I saw this!

Me Too!!!!!! It is totally a Doctor Who ripoff from "The Beast Below!!"

emaben37 wrote:Good luck! I love this shirt so freaking much! =)

Why thank you!

PixelPants wrote:Neat sub. Your flying whale reminds me a little of the Kukuburi comics.

I just did a google search to check that out - that's some great artwork! I appreciate the compliment. Oh, and you've got a great submission yourself!

elflordfields wrote:Me Too!!!!!! It is totally a Doctor Who ripoff from "The Beast Below!!"

Nope, I can assure you that I literally know zilch about Doctor Who.

ladybellicose wrote:This is simply beautiful. Nice mix of colors, great idea and beautifully executed!!

I do have one question, how did you manage the halftones? That looks like a pain to do by hand!

Thanks, I really appreciate that! As for the process, I'll explain:

First, I drew the artwork on Bristol paper, inked it with couple different pen widths, then scanned in into Photoshop at 600 DPI (Dots Per Inch).

Figure A


I cleaned it up a bit, fixed some of the lines that I messed up, and used the paintbrush tool to block out where I wanted my colors to go. I wanted to try a watercolor feel, keeping the varying tones of the color as it shifts and dries around the paper.

So I took the inked drawing, put it on my light table, and grabbed five sheets of Watercolor paper. Using my blocked-out colors as a reference, I mixed up a grey ink wash and painted different layers on each page. After drying for a couple minutes in front of a fan, I scanned each watercolor page, also at 600 DPI.

Figure B

Then the hard part. I had to separate the ink tones from the fibers of the paper. I messed with the levels and threshold a bit to try masking out what I didn't want, but I still had to go in and do a lot of erasing to make sure that only the ink was left. Naturally, after I was done, I realized that next time I should probably paint in a color like red, because then I can just drop out all the other color channels, thus saving myself a fair amount of time. D‘oh! Live and learn.

So once that was finished, I used Filter>Sketch>Halftone Pattern and found the settings I liked, then applied a color overlay.

Figure C

After all the ink washes were fixed up and converted to halftones, I placed them in the file with the original drawing. Then I started fiddling with the colors overlays of each layer to see what worked and what didn’t. I also did a little cutting and pasting of the ink washes to change one color to another in a couple of places.

Figure D

So there you go. Start to finish, I probably spent about 14 hours on this over the course of three days. It was fun though, and I’m really happy with how it turned out!

keytone8 wrote:Nice Star Whale. XD

Yeah, and this star whale actually looks happy. Wasn't that episode absurd? If a kid fails his class he gets sent to the "beast below," but since the whale doesn't eat children the people in charge enslave children? I got owned by woot!?

Re: Whalbuquerque

Lovely colors, whales are my favorite animals, gorgeously done, I want this so badly!

Re: Whalbuquerque

Aww this is really nice looking. Thanks for the step by step for this image that was really interesting.

imsochady wrote:Ooohhh, this is purty!

the whale is smiling!!!! it's cute!!

Re: Whalbuquerque

I have lived in Albuquerque my entire life!! The title alone forces me to vote for it! Plus, it is a great design, good luck!

profbrendan wrote:Thanks, I really appreciate that! As for the process, I'll explain:

First, I drew the artwork on Bristol paper, inked it with couple different pen widths, then scanned in into Photoshop at 600 DPI (Dots Per Inch).

Figure A


I cleaned it up a bit, fixed some of the lines that I messed up, and used the paintbrush tool to block out where I wanted my colors to go. I wanted to try a watercolor feel, keeping the varying tones of the color as it shifts and dries around the paper.

So I took the inked drawing, put it on my light table, and grabbed five sheets of Watercolor paper. Using my blocked-out colors as a reference, I mixed up a grey ink wash and painted different layers on each page. After drying for a couple minutes in front of a fan, I scanned each watercolor page, also at 600 DPI.

Figure B

Then the hard part. I had to separate the ink tones from the fibers of the paper. I messed with the levels and threshold a bit to try masking out what I didn't want, but I still had to go in and do a lot of erasing to make sure that only the ink was left. Naturally, after I was done, I realized that next time I should probably paint in a color like red, because then I can just drop out all the other color channels, thus saving myself a fair amount of time. D‘oh! Live and learn.

So once that was finished, I used Filter>Sketch>Halftone Pattern and found the settings I liked, then applied a color overlay.

Figure C

After all the ink washes were fixed up and converted to halftones, I placed them in the file with the original drawing. Then I started fiddling with the colors overlays of each layer to see what worked and what didn’t. I also did a little cutting and pasting of the ink washes to change one color to another in a couple of places.

Figure D

So there you go. Start to finish, I probably spent about 14 hours on this over the course of three days. It was fun though, and I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Dedication!!!!
already had my vote!

ravenhaired wrote:Lovely colors, whales are my favorite animals, gorgeously done, I want this so badly!

Thanks a bunch! I'll be honest with ya, I want it too.

DianaSprinkle wrote:Aww this is really nice looking. Thanks for the step by step for this image that was really interesting.

Hey, my pleasure. Thanks for the kind words!

bahamuteos wrote:the whale is smiling!!!! it's cute!!

Thanks! Glad you like it.

knickers22 wrote:I have lived in Albuquerque my entire life!! The title alone forces me to vote for it! Plus, it is a great design, good luck!

Thanks!

Siax wrote:Dedication!!!!
already had my vote!

Heh heh. At least now I know how to do it faster next time! :D

Re: Whalbuquerque

The gorgeous colors keep drawing me back...if it doesn't make it to print this round, I sincerely hope to see it in the double take derby. Whimsy is seldom done so well.

Mavyn wrote:The gorgeous colors keep drawing me back...if it doesn't make it to print this round, I sincerely hope to see it in the double take derby. Whimsy is seldom done so well.

Wow, thank you so much! I'm really glad you like it!

Re: Whalbuquerque

haha i think the comp makes me like this design more, i love the arrow pointing that says WATERCOLORED! great salesmanship!

this reminds me of a assignment i did in college. we were supposed to draw these turtles with a city on their back. something kinda cool about living in a city and not realizing the whole time you were actually part of something larger and alive! nice job. =)

Thank you so much for the explanation! It's awesome how you go through the watercolors paper in order to get the look and differing depth in the buildings!

megsck wrote:haha i think the comp makes me like this design more, i love the arrow pointing that says WATERCOLORED! great salesmanship!

Heh heh, thanks! I figured that'd be helpful.

ladybellicose wrote:Thank you so much for the explanation! It's awesome how you go through the watercolors paper in order to get the look and differing depth in the buildings!

You're welcome!

Re: Whalbuquerque

• Congratulations on winning a Best Loser Award!
  
• This is not SPAM.
  
• Winning a BLA does NOT mean this shirt won't print -- I'm hoping it does.
  
• Your one and only gift is this crappy little badge in your shirt thread. Enjoy.
  
• you're the first king we haven't eaten.
  

thatrobert wrote:
Congratulations on winning a Best Loser Award!

Woo hoo! Thanks for the BLA, Robert! And a special thanks to jmmbell1987 for the nomination.

Re: Whalbuquerque

This shirt is amazing, if only flying whale cities with blimps on them were real.

Re: Whalbuquerque

I LUV IT

btitcomb wrote:This shirt is amazing, if only flying whale cities with blimps on them were real.

Glad you like it. And maybe we're all on a bunch of whales RIGHT NOW and we don't even realize it! Mind: blown!

nigeltippapanda wrote:I LUV IT

Cool, thanks!