PART 1: IDEATION
I wanted to create a graphic poster in celebration of the TRON movies that I love, as well as the new attraction opening in Walt Disney World. Something that captured the iconography of TRON, new and old, while also celebrating the new experience. I got to work on a rough sketch of more or less what I wanted to do. Trying to mix the new design of the "lightcycles" with the old design of the "recognizers". The "lightcycles" would be shown racing to tie into the story of the roller-coaster. The character of TRON is featured on the left, while his new identity from "TRON: Legacy", "Rinzler" would be on the right. In the center would be Sam and Quorra, the new leads of the franchise, doing the same iconic post from the original movie's poster. It would feature a retro-looking, 70s inspired border containing it all.
PART 2: INITIAL DRAFT
The initial draft was a very basic execution to simply "get it on paper" and see if it would work the way I imagined. Some of it did but most of it didn't, and I learned that as I went along. Ultimately, this is an unfinished draft as it misses many elements I initially planned for. However, it is the only version to have a simple version of the "solar sailer" from the original movie in the background, as well as a recognizer on the right. I learned a lot from this exercise and let it guide me to where the second draft ended up...
PART 3: START OF THE END
While sticking to the original concept and keeping some of its design, this draft is a major overhaul after hitting a dead end the way it had been going. I changed the colors to match the mood and be more of the same palette. The border has more of a flair to it. Featured center is the attraction's concept art (prior to the ride opening), to better incorporate that aspect of the design. The lightcycle race is present and featured with some help from Photoshop. Designing my own version of the TRON logo was not planned at first but I think it is much better this way, to again be uniquely suited to this design and flow with everything else. We are not done, but we are getting closer and closer...
PART 4: FINAL DRAFT
With the final draft, not much changed, just some tweaks to make it all flow and work together much better. The color palette is now much more in sync, with the big change being how I turned the background screen into an arcade machine (taking some liberties with the dimensions of course). The twinkle on the screen was just something I tried, and ended up being a missing piece for that area. All points of interest are now sharing similar sizes so they all can shine and not overcrowd each other. Lastly. the palette of Sam and Quorra was changed to define them better and stand out from what was around them. Ultimately, this was a design I was happy with, and ready to let go as a finished piece.
If I had to change one thing, I'd add the man himself, Kevin Flynn (played by Jeff Bridges in both movies) to the design as he is a central character and the creator of everything in the TRON universe. Maybe adjusting the dimensions of the background screen to accommodate him, but for now it is as it is.
