''GUNDAM AERIAL''
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game playmat design featuring
Gundam Aerial from the Gundam series.
Art by: @yumesan_yume on twitter. It's amazing work, do check out their page.
Players of the card game Yu-Gi-Oh! use play mats so that they can place their cards onto a surface without having any difficulty picking it up. Think about a time you've tried picking up a playing card from a wooden table and you'd have to slide it off to the edge every time to pick it up. Playmats are also a form of expression, with players having mats with their favourite card on it, their favourite movie or something even as simple as their favourite colour.
I chose Gundam Aerial as I have been extremely invested in a show called ''Gundam the Witch from Mercury'' and the mech featured on my design plays a major role in it. I am in love with all things Mecha and it just made sense for me to make this design.
The left image above is the original art by @yumesan_yume. The right image is the edited version by me.
Some design choice made by me include the following:
- Cropped the main image to suit the standard size of an official Yu-Gi-Oh! playmat.
- Adjusted the brightness, contrast, saturation, curves, gamma, exposure and the vibrancy of the original image. I wanted the image to have a more bold, cinematic feel to it.
- To account for the darker overall edit, I highlighted over the glowing parts of the Mecha to add interest and contrast the rest of the darker areas of the mat. I went over these areas with the brush tool and switched the layer to Colour Dodge to give it that illuminated glowing effect.
- I of course added the card zones so that the player knows where to put their cards on the mat. Each card zone has been tailored based on its position. The opacity / colour of the zone depends on its location as some areas are brighter / darker than others which would affect the balance of the overall image.
- The flying pieces of robot technology on the left part have been cut out of the original image. That specific layer was arranged in front of the card zones. I really liked this addition as it gave the whole mat added interest and it really makes the design pop and seem more three dimensional.
Some design choice made by me include the following:
- Cropped the main image to suit the standard size of an official Yu-Gi-Oh! playmat.
- Adjusted the brightness, contrast, saturation, curves, gamma, exposure and the vibrancy of the original image. I wanted the image to have a more bold, cinematic feel to it.
- To account for the darker overall edit, I highlighted over the glowing parts of the Mecha to add interest and contrast the rest of the darker areas of the mat. I went over these areas with the brush tool and switched the layer to Colour Dodge to give it that illuminated glowing effect.
- I of course added the card zones so that the player knows where to put their cards on the mat. Each card zone has been tailored based on its position. The opacity / colour of the zone depends on its location as some areas are brighter / darker than others which would affect the balance of the overall image.
- The flying pieces of robot technology on the left part have been cut out of the original image. That specific layer was arranged in front of the card zones. I really liked this addition as it gave the whole mat added interest and it really makes the design pop and seem more three dimensional.
- I added the shows logo at the bottom centre of the mat to give it a sense of officiality.
- Finally its a bit difficult to notice but for the cherries on top of the sundae, I added a 12.5 percent grain onto the whole flattened image to really tie it all up. To add extra emphasis to the Mecha, I added an Iris Blur at 5 intensity in order to draw the viewers eyes slightly away from the sides and at the main subject.
- Finally its a bit difficult to notice but for the cherries on top of the sundae, I added a 12.5 percent grain onto the whole flattened image to really tie it all up. To add extra emphasis to the Mecha, I added an Iris Blur at 5 intensity in order to draw the viewers eyes slightly away from the sides and at the main subject.
Thank you for your time! - Clint
