keynote speech background art

The Goal:  

Add some pop to a keynote address presented at EMC World 2012 using “graphic novel” style images.

It was agreed that all “types” and costumes should remain generic in order to be an immediate read.  The main parody reference was the "Matrix” films. 

The Process:

I met with my art director to discuss his ideas.  These were translated into a handful of character designs, thumbnails based on a script and a finished “test panel” to get everyone on the same page with finishing style.

Given the super tight deadline it was decided to keep the images black & white and use the company’s iconic blue as an accent color (though green managed to slip in just under deadline).   The finished images were prepared for a PowerPoint presentation and projected across three massive screens on stage with the speaker.

Below are some final panels - and some WIPs.

Photoshop CS5, Cintiq

Apologies as I had mentioned a Transformers piece coming up this week.  I'll have to sit on that for a bit and post at a later date . . .