Okay, so I’ve been seeing this “X-Men ’97” poster floating around everywhere, and it’s got that awesome retro vibe. I decided I wanted to try and, you know, mess around with it, see if I could do something similar, maybe use it as inspiration. So, I dove in, no real plan, just gonna wing it.
Getting Started (and Feeling Lost)
First thing, I needed the poster itself. I spent a good chunk of time just staring at different versions online, trying to soak in the details. The colors, the character poses, that classic ’90s animation style… it’s a lot!
I opened up my usual image editing software – nothing fancy, just what I’m comfortable with. I created a new canvas, picked a random size, and… blank. Totally blank. I had absolutely no idea where to start.
Experimenting (and Failing… a Lot)
I started by trying to recreate the background. The original poster has this cool, like, energy burst thing going on. I played around with gradients, different brushes, blending modes… you name it, I tried it. It all looked pretty terrible, to be honest. A bunch of colorful blobs that didn’t resemble anything cool.
Then I thought, “Okay, let’s try the characters.” I grabbed some reference images of the X-Men, and oh boy, that was a challenge. Trying to simplify their designs, capture that animated look… it was tough. My first attempts looked like distorted stick figures. Seriously, they were bad.
Finding a (Small) Groove
After hours of messing around, I finally started to get something that didn’t make me want to throw my computer out the window. I found a brush that kind of mimicked the line art style, and I started to get a feel for the color palette. Lots of bright, saturated colors, with some strong shadows.
I focused on one character at a time, blocking in the basic shapes, then adding details. It was slow going, and I had to redo things a bunch of times, but I started to see some progress. It still wasn’t perfect, not even close, but it was… something.
The Finishing (Rough) Touches
It still does not 100% look like it, but with some filter and color adjustments, it looks decent!
I kept tweaking and adjusting, adding some final details, trying to get the overall composition right. It’s definitely not a perfect replica, but it’s got some of that ’90s X-Men feel, I think. It’s more like my own, slightly messy, interpretation.
What I Learned (and What I Didn’t)
So, what did I get out of this whole thing? Well, I definitely learned that recreating a specific art style is WAY harder than it looks. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of trial and error, and probably a lot more skill than I currently have.
But, I also had some fun. It was cool to just experiment, to try and figure things out, even if the results weren’t perfect. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the process is more important than the final product. And hey, I got a kinda-sorta-retro-looking X-Men-inspired image out of it, so that’s something, right?