Eclipse Phase: Gate Crashing

I got the opportunity to work with Rob Boyle on Eclipse Phase again.. I did three images for their first book, but only one chapter opening this time around.

It was a fun assignment, an I tried a new approach this time around.. One of my first commissions when I did everything digitally.. I got to spend some time on a friend's Cintiq, so I went from concept to final all in Photoshop.

Here's a quick overview of the plot of this RPG,

Gatecrashing takes you through the mysterious Pandora Gates:
* The 5 solar system gates and the factions that control them
* 30 extrasolar locations of interest to Firewall
* Exploration operations and hazards
* New morphs, new gear, and rules for gate use

Learn more here on the Eclipse Phase blog

here are some of my steps thru the process:

Here are the thumb nails that I sent out to the Art Director. I had more, but I felt these two were the
strongest. And unless I got direction to do something different, I wanted to go with these.

After the initial concepts were approved with some small notes on compotion, I started with a BW tonal painting.. I pushed and pulled the forms and toyed with the composition until I came to a final image that I liked.

This is on the way to the final image.. I played with the "Pandora's Gate" ( depicted at the bottom of the composition) I had it on a separate layer, so I could push pull and stretch it until I got a composition that I liked.