Id suggest line and wash, ink for the solid blacks and water based paint - possibly watercolour or gouache for the flat colours. The background for the ships are clearly posterised photographs, so its possible the drawings are overlaid onto a tinted print of the earth or a gas cloud etc.
Wotan's way would end up as a transparency of the finished illustration, to be stripped in by pre-press. Which would then have to superimpose the black line art again to keep that sharp instead of half-toned over all separations (bit similar to having linework exclusively in the K channel in PhotoShop).
What I think is also likely, is that the black line art went onto the (B/W) mechanical pasteboard along with frames, text etc, delivered with transparencies for the backgrounds only, and pre-press will have applied all colouring and stripped in the background images while simultaneously doing the colour effects on those according to written instructions with the artwork. Takes me back a bit, that... :)
Well we are talking pre-digital processes! Like you say, the modern computerised process takes all the expertise out of it! and a lot of the fun and sweat1
These SpaceX illustrations are really beautiful. To the artists amongst you, do you think they are watercolours or something else?
ReplyDeleteId suggest line and wash, ink for the solid blacks and water based paint - possibly watercolour or gouache for the flat colours. The background for the ships are clearly posterised photographs, so its possible the drawings are overlaid onto a tinted print of the earth or a gas cloud etc.
ReplyDeleteWotan's way would end up as a transparency of the finished illustration, to be stripped in by pre-press. Which would then have to superimpose the black line art again to keep that sharp instead of half-toned over all separations (bit similar to having linework exclusively in the K channel in PhotoShop).
ReplyDeleteWhat I think is also likely, is that the black line art went onto the (B/W) mechanical pasteboard along with frames, text etc, delivered with transparencies for the backgrounds only, and pre-press will have applied all colouring and stripped in the background images while simultaneously doing the colour effects on those according to written instructions with the artwork. Takes me back a bit, that... :)
Best
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Paul
Well we are talking pre-digital processes! Like you say, the modern computerised process takes all the expertise out of it! and a lot of the fun and sweat1
ReplyDelete