| Our
Right Brain:
Creating Red Russia’s Soldier Counters
By Beth Donahue
September 2007
When it came time to begin the artwork for
the Red Russia
counters, Mike Bennighof asked me to create
a series of soldiers representing each of
the various, colorful types of soldiers in
the game. There was only one criterion: the
uniforms had to be accurate in color and style.
“Hmmm . . . easy,” I thought.
I have a degree in fine arts with an extensive
background in drawing and painting, not to
mention my career experience in computer arts
— but it wasn’t as cut-and-dry
as I’d assumed.
The goal.
I started with 10 different sources, historical
photos that I used for the soldiers’
poses and facial expressions. Then I used
another 20 or so historic photographs and
drawings for the uniform styles and colors
of each figure. I addressed every detail of
each from the symbols on the sleeves of the
Allied infantry to the sword carried by the
Siberian cavalry.
I started the creative process by drawing
out each soldier by hand. Then I colored and
shaded each individual soldier using illustrating
pencils, focusing on accurately capturing
the integrity of each uniform, shown on Figure
A.
Finally, I scanned the colored image into Adobe Illustrator,
and using its tools, re-drew the soldier,
colored him in and added shading and details
to end up with the final product that looks
like Figure B.
Before reaching a decision on the actual
illustrated style of the soldiers, Mike and
I went back and forth a few times. Should
they be more artistic or illustrative? We
decided on the latter.
By making them look like realistic illustrations,
the soldiers blended with the overall look
of the game. From the illustrated poster on
the cover, to the illustrated map graphics,
Red Russia’s cohesive look flows
down to each detail.
Red
Russia
in all its revolutionary glory is coming fall
2007. Order now! |
