The Summary

Game Informer Magazine and Bungie Studios held a Destiny: Rise Of Iron Cover Art Competition in September of 2016. It's one of my favorite games, so combined with a natural affinity for friendly competition, I felt compeled to enter and compete.

I'm glad I did, because I won!

The announcement for the competition read:

"The idea is simple; submit a piece of original art in the theme of this month’s cover game, and the development team at Bungie will select three winners. Those winners receive their very own art immortalized as a Game Informer cover image..."

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to take a stylistic approach for a refreshing perspective on a game everybody is use to seeing portrayed realistically. It would also ensure that I had enough time to revise and polish it before the deadline.

It was important to me to make this illustration designed specifically for a magazine cover, as opposed to just an illustration retrofitted to be a magazine cover after the fact. I kept the top area clear of any important details, since that's where Game Informer's logo would be. I made the important character the focused centerpiece. I paid attention to the distinguishing elements that Bungie had described this game with, and pulled from it such elements as snow and a giant mountain. I balanced the visual hierarchy of the character, the snow, and the mountain by paying attention to every detail from hue/saturation/value, to the amount of ink splats and snow, while making sure they weren't distracting or intrusive of other important elements.

Lastly, I let the illustration rest while I gathered as much feedback from my peers as possible (to which I'm grateful of them for), and polished it until I was confident and satisfied with it. It all paid off once Game Informer announced that I had won.

Tools: Adobe Photoshop