Sorry for the necro-post, but I've come across this thread a couple of times while researching the DOTT backgrounds and have a few things to add!
I think I've been able to identify a rough scale for Peter Chan's original artwork, at least for DOTT. I based the calculation on things like the thickness of the scotch tape used to mount some of the artwork, and a post-it used for a correction on one of the pieces. Because the artwork in the DOTT special edition gallery seems to have been photographed rather than scanned, the calculation is approximate due to unknown perpective differences, furled paper, etc.
I believe the original size of the drawings to be 10" x 7.5" (for a single screen). Of this, the bottom 2 1/8" is masked off for backgrounds intended to be used with the interface visible (i.e. not cutscenes). For screens which scroll horizontally, extra pages are taped together to get the desired width. When using this scale, scanning at 96dpi produces an image exactly 3x the final resolution horizontally. It doesn't work out quite as neatly for the vertical resolution due to the non-square pixels in 320x200.
From the various pieces it looks like the overall process for a background (in DOTT) was as follows:
- Produce a line-art outline sketch
- Photocopy the above and use the copy to produce a fully pencil-shaded sketch for tone and lighting.
- Produce a full-colour marker illustration of the scene, possibly using a lightbox, with a copy of the line art underneath as a template, and using the pencil-toned version as reference.
- Make a few final adjustments to highlights/edges with gouache. (Note: In MI2, this stage was far more involved, and a lot of extra detail was added. In DOTT, it's mainly corrections and dealing with marker bleed)
- Mount the artwork onto animation paper and scan
- Scale down the digital artwork and retouch to flatten areas of solid colour/smooth out gradients and make final adjustments to geometry/signage.
I think I've been able to identify a rough scale for Peter Chan's original artwork, at least for DOTT. I based the calculation on things like the thickness of the scotch tape used to mount some of the artwork, and a post-it used for a correction on one of the pieces. Because the artwork in the DOTT special edition gallery seems to have been photographed rather than scanned, the calculation is approximate due to unknown perpective differences, furled paper, etc.
I believe the original size of the drawings to be 10" x 7.5" (for a single screen). Of this, the bottom 2 1/8" is masked off for backgrounds intended to be used with the interface visible (i.e. not cutscenes). For screens which scroll horizontally, extra pages are taped together to get the desired width. When using this scale, scanning at 96dpi produces an image exactly 3x the final resolution horizontally. It doesn't work out quite as neatly for the vertical resolution due to the non-square pixels in 320x200.
From the various pieces it looks like the overall process for a background (in DOTT) was as follows:
- Produce a line-art outline sketch
- Photocopy the above and use the copy to produce a fully pencil-shaded sketch for tone and lighting.
- Produce a full-colour marker illustration of the scene, possibly using a lightbox, with a copy of the line art underneath as a template, and using the pencil-toned version as reference.
- Make a few final adjustments to highlights/edges with gouache. (Note: In MI2, this stage was far more involved, and a lot of extra detail was added. In DOTT, it's mainly corrections and dealing with marker bleed)
- Mount the artwork onto animation paper and scan
- Scale down the digital artwork and retouch to flatten areas of solid colour/smooth out gradients and make final adjustments to geometry/signage.