Heroes and Villains – fantasy art photography (Comic Art)

Heroes and Villains – my Comic Art window trail display

A selection of images for the comic art window trail

01. A selection of my images in the Comic Art display window trail

Every year, Kendal hosts the Lakes International Comic Art Festival with workshops, films, talks and demonstrations by some of the world’s leading comic artists and writers. One of the event’s attractions is the town’s comic art window trail where shop and office windows are decorated by schools and artists. My photography studio window is part of the comic art window trail in this year’s Festival. I have created a display featuring photographs of the characters from Marvel and DC Comics, entitled ‘Heroes and Villains’. It combines photography with digital art and so I thought I would share a few of the images with you.

None of the people appearing in these images are ‘models’ and I was so lucky to find such talented people who were willing to pose for my photos and who really look the part.

Villains

The centre piece of my window comic art window trail display is a large print of The Joker. I photographed this on location (Manchester, not Gotham) and I added the digital artwork in my spare time later. I love the design and colours used in the costume. It’s so well thought out, however it was the Joker’s pose that inspired me to create the explosion scene in the background.

Comic Art window trail display showing The Joker

02. The Joker

Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are two of my favourite characters, and again the attention to detail in their costumes is just amazing! I took these photos on location in August and I did a small amount of digital work in the Harley Quinn photo background – I love repeating patterns! There were so many images to choose from, it was difficult to decide which ones to use.

Harley Quinn image displayed on the comic art window trail

03. Harley Quinn

I also had to do some work to create the leaf background on the Poison Ivy image. There were a few leaves on location but just not enough for the image I wanted to create. I gave this photo a softer appearance to give it a sort of ‘painterly’ look.

Poison Ivy image

04. Poison Ivy

Heroes

The images of Cat Woman were taken in the studio with carefully controlled lighting. I created a set of low-key dark background images as well as the one shown here. For this image I placed the lights on the left because I wanted to match the location of the sun. All that was left to do then was combine it with one of my New York photos to create an image that has a movie poster look to it.

Image of Cat Woman

05. Cat Woman

The image of the Spider-men was taken against a plain background. The floor had a tiled pattern which I thought would work well as a wall so I changed the foreground. After that, I included a skyscraper photo behind it to complete the rooftop illusion.

Image of Spider-Man

06. Spider-Man

My comic art window trail display in the studio has loads more images featuring the same characters and a few others as well. Hopefully the images I have shown here give a flavour of the display and how I create my fantasy art photos. I would like to thank everyone that took part in the photo shoots – you were all amazing (it’s not just you spidey)!

Find out more…

If you would like to visit the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, it takes place over one weekend each year in Kendal, Cumbria. The comic art window trail displays last longer, running for a few weeks either side of the main festival weekend. If you are in the area, check out the festival films, workshops, talks and activities or find out more on the Lakes Comic Art page. Their web site has a guide to all the festival events taking place. Many of them, such as the window trail, are free.

If you like the idea of having your own digital fantasy art photo shoot portrait (or to give as a gift), contact the studio. Alternatively you can just buy a voucher in our online shop; the voucher is valid for twelve months. You can also see more examples of my fantasy art photography in this earlier post.

I look forward to seeing you at the next Comic Art festival!