I was asked by the editor-in-chief of Linux.com to design a weekly feature image for the article "The Ancient Art of GNU / ZEN".

What follows is the step-by-step process I went about to make this image a reality.

(Please note that some of the larger images have been scaled down for presentation on the web.)

Being a fan of traditional Japanese prints, I instantly made the connection between the title of the article and the style of graphic I should produce. Thanks to perfect timing and a little more than chance, a gallery of ancient Japanese prints happened to be on tour at one of the local museums.

After returning home to my studio with inspiration, I proceeded to quickly sketch possible scenes to use for the weekly feature.

As GNU's mascot is (strangely enough) a gnu, I decided to draw a samurai wildebeest in the same style of the traditional printmakers. To increase the authenticity of the faux print, I included elements of seasonal nature and, of course, Mount Fuji in the background.

I simutaneously drew a logo to use as an eye-catching title. I also sketched a few symbols to use as a fake woodblocked "artist's signature" on the computerized "print".

Scan of a pencil & ink sketch

Quick sketch of a possible logo

Composed of squiggles
Resembles Japanese text
Little, random lines

Upon completing the drawings, I digitized each with my flatbed scanner.

The third stage involved cleaning up the sketches and applying color, similar in technique to most traditional animation or comic book studios.

I used colors that mimic those used in many Japanese prints.

Cleaned up the drawing and added some detail

Added color to background layers
and superimposed the black and white drawing,
similar to traditional cell animation techniques

Re-drawn logo (used bezier curves)

Almost there!

I Created a new image with the size of a weekly feature image, then proceeded to import the layers from the previous images. After each piece of art was inside the new canvas, I resized each to fit the new dimensions.

I then played around with the placement and sizing of each element, until I had a composition I was content with.

The final product

I added in the squiggles resembling a Japanese woodblock signature, which, at this size, would be close enough. I added the border and the title text at the top, as well.

Also in this stage, is the optimization for display on the Internet. The graphic you see on the right has had its color palette cut down in size and a form of dithering has been applied. To get "the most bang for the buck", I also hand-tweaked the pixels in order for the miniature to look its best within the limited palette.

The final graphic resembles a traditional print, and (thanks to the image size) looks as if it could be the cover of a action-packed comic book.

At this point, the graphic is ready to be published. I simply submitted it back to the editor, ready to go live on the 'Net.

Unfortunately, the editor was not able to meet the deadline for this particular project, so I had to leave this image on the cutting room floor and produce a completely new weekly feature image within a matter of a few hours on an all-nighter. That's life.

Despite that, I'm happy with the way this image turned out.