ENDER'S GAME / SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD #3 Final Drawing and Rough Color

Presented here is my final line drawing and first wash of color for the painting.

There is an empty spot in the background drawing because I couldn’t decide if I wanted a second gateway door or a simple wall.

The color palette and lighting scheme from the movie Prometheus were very inspiring.  While researching the work of the design team from Prometheus and eventually the Ender’s Game film, I wanted to try and use the same visual look for my illustration only a bit more saturated.

After the base color was filled in I had to make a little quick model of the background.  No fancy 3D modeling, just a good old cardboard cut out and a clip lamp on the floor.  I felt more confident painting the background once I had a basic idea of how the light source from a nebula would shine through the space station windows.

close up of final background

And again with a bit of that chromatic aberration gimmick that’s all the rage right now among concept artists.  It's a pretty neat way to add quick depth of field to a digital painting without the permanent effects of blur filters.