Creating New Visual Scenery Combining Photography, Illustration & Pixel Art

 I have recently started to play around with an old graphic design image I created that originally started out from a single photo at a nightclub. This was a techno nightclub called Luzztro and here is the original photo I took of a lazer light display showing a face with moving imagery on a wall:

Here was a graphic I created a while back from the image above using Procreate on iPad:

I ended up working on it further and ended up with variations such as you see below. Note, however the text with the words Luzztro showing on the bottom, which was the name of the nightclub I previously mentioned and pitched the poster idea to. 

However, due to the fact I created additional images as a logo showcase or a poster art showcased I pitched to the nightclub, I lost some files related to other digital designs I created from the single image. Thus, I simply decided to continue working with the second image above I had that did not have any text or writing showing. to see what I could come up with. Despite this, I recently created a pixel art variation you see below:

I used this app called Pixel Art Maker for the iPad for that single image above. I thus, decided to try using it again for the previous images without the Luzztro text to see what I could come up with. Here are some of the results of this:

I have a whole bunch more images that I will showcased in my next post related to these images above in pixel art with a whole battle scene I also created a stop motion short clip of inspired by a game called Super Hydorah. However, for now I will showcase some of the other work I created from the images above.
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I ended up liking what I saw, but did not like the lines or grid brush that I got out of Procreate that did not pixelate so well. So I decided to import one of the images above into Illustrator and trace expand it then take some of those strokes out using the pen tool. Here were some of the things I came up with (the image below the ones below I also added a different artistic effect to in Illustrator):

Notice that I added some things to the images above using Illustrator. For one, I added a background layer and used a combination of the scallop and warp tools to add a falling poster paper look to the edges. Also, notice the two round objects or blue spheres. I added them entirely via Illustrator to make the image stand out a bit from its pixelated form. I also used a gradient to make the spheres disappear into the background.

​Although I found the back sphere looking nice as a result and almost like a planet or earth falling into the shadow of space, it didn't do it for me with the front image. You can see what I tried to do in the top-right image above with it, but this still didn't do it for me. Thus, I kept playing around with the concept by incorporating the jpeg image into a couple iPad apps, such as Artstudio HD and Procreate. 

I kept experimenting with these images further and I ended up adding an older pastel piece of mine to the foreground of a jail cell and bars. Here is what I came up with combining the media of photography, pastel hand art and graphic design:

Although I added a shadow in the two images above from Illustrator, it came out kind of artificial looking once I inserted and kept working on the image into the iPad. Thus, I added another shadow using a brush stroke below:

I liked what I created, however I still felt there is some interesting things I could do with the way the pixelated images came out and before I really started adding any Illustrator filters. Thus, I imported them into my iPad and added some strokes and effects to the eyes, which I also by the way lined up a bit better (although I also did this for some of the images above). Here is what I did with some of them:

I have many other pixel art images I created including a space battle I will post shortly, however I think this is a lot for a single post. Thus, I hope there was at least something in here you enjoyed and learned. Combining various media from digital photography to illustrations using an iPad to pastel hand-crafted artwork is something I really enjoy. If you like any of these pieces, do not hesitate to contact us for a way to collaborate on a poster idea or anything else.