SEE Union Banner: Behind the Art

SEE Union Banners. Have you ever wondered what inspired them? What message they were trying to convey? Or are they just a pretty face for our union? Well now the mysteries will be unveiled, as this thread will reveal the details of the banners as they appear, and allow for an interactive discussion area for questions and comments relating to the current union banner.

Please feel free to post questions, comments on the current banner and/or requests for upcoming themes right here! Don't hold back - we want to hear from you!

YEAR 2008
| May(image) | June(image) | July(image) | August(image) |
| September(image) | October(image) | November(image) | December(image) |

Our current union banner was inspired by Romancing SaGa, a wonderful open-world cIassic RPG by Square Enix for the PS2. With beautiful, hand-painted environments, inspiring musical score, and eight endearing playable main characters, this game has been a favourite of mine for years, and still makes me smile when I go back to it for nostalgic replays.

But.... since it is a new month, a new banner is underway, and the theme will remain a mystery until it is revealed, so... hold onto your seats everyone, and get ready to welcome a new month and new art!!!

Cheers,

Quistis

You know, that's a great point, PE has definitely been neglected - I will keep that in mind for future banners.

But.... shower scene eh? Is someone feeling a little... frustrated? hehe... ;)

You know, that's a great point, PE has definitely been neglected - I will keep that in mind for future banners.

But.... shower scene eh? Is someone feeling a little... frustrated? hehe... ;)

SymonDezyn

Haha. Don't get me wrong. I'm not thinknig of anything perverted. :P I just think Aya is very beautiful in that scene, and I think the FMV is fantastic for a PS1 game.

Hmm.... Weird. For some reasons, I thought you would make that TWEWY banner. I just became lazy to post it.

From my impressions of FG, he's not perverted. But he isn't entierly not-a-pervert either... :roll: I suppose

Anyways, it's a great banner right?! :D

lol Yeah. I'm not a pervie, but I'm not a saint either. :PFantasy_Gamer

LOL, i know, i was just buggin' ya :)

Banner of the Month - Who2Trust?

Well, as you have noticed, this month's banner is an homage to the new DS game, The World Ends With You (It's A Wonderful World in Japan). Becoming fiercely popular, this game has broken barriers to the non-RPG world and opened the eyes of many gamers who would never even look at a Final Fantasy title.

I was inspired by the styIe of art used for this game; comic book/manga graphics with an edgy, graffiti-styIe twist, using strong colours and contrasts and lots of dark, moody tones punched out by splashes of clean bright colours.

I used mostly screenshots for my image base, but due to the complex nature of the images, it was necessary to do a lot of hand painting to make them blend together and look seamless, as well as to create areas for the eye to relax, and not cause the design to be overly chaotic.

*Freya - I just did a Google Image search for some of the images, and pulled screenshots off gamer sites and blog sites for the rest*

Hope you like it!

Quistis

Waaa~ So much work! And nice title you've got for the banner, ya? Fits perfectly.

FG: Just admit it, you're just a normal human being with a normal lust for uhh...women.

Wooooooooooooow!! I'm loving the TWEWY banner!!! Did you happen to use any renders for that? If so where did you get them?? I'm hungry for them and I need more than whats on planetrenders.com >_>Lady_Bahamut

So, Quistis is the one behind our insanely nice banners :). Im really liking this banner too! Makes me wonder if she has a full version of that made for potential wallpaper.

Um, any thoughts on making a Front Mission or Last Remnant banner, Quistis?

FG: Just admit it, you're just a normal human being with a normal lust for uhh...women.

kinetic-core

lol I'm just a simple good guy. :P

*blushes* thanks for the love, everyone! :) I'm happy when you're all happy! :D

So, Quistis is the one behind our insanely nice banners :). Im really liking this banner too! Makes me wonder if she has a full version of that made for potential wallpaper.

Um, any thoughts on making a Front Mission or Last Remnant banner, Quistis?

Kenshin18

I would love to have made one as a wallpaper; the trouble is that the images I generally use for sigs and banners are fairly small and low res. If i could get my hands on some better images I would definitely consider doing that.

As far as themes go, Last Remnant is definitely on my list; and I will also add Front Mission as your special request :)

Hey! Don't forget about Parasite Eve's shower scene! :P

Also, I haven't seen a Chrono Trigger banner in this union. (How about capturing some images in the Chrono Ressurection project so the CT banner will feature 3D models? :P)

Definitely, I'm looking forward for a GRANDIA 1 banner.

Hey! Don't forget about Parasite Eve's shower scene! :P

Fantasy_Gamer

You might get what you want if there aren't that many female officers here. :evil: Drop the idea pervie!

[QUOTE="Fantasy_Gamer"]

Hey! Don't forget about Parasite Eve's shower scene! :P

kinetic-core

You might get what you want if there aren't that many female officers here. :evil: Drop the idea pervie!

Hey! That's hitting below the belt! I'm no pervert! I'm a nice, kind guy. :)

HGo Parasite Eve banner! :) Also, I forgot to mention Vagrant Story...

You are a pervie Mr. Fantasy_Gamer! :P j/k! ^__^

Omg Quistis luv! I looove your new TWETY Banner! Hot baby yeah! :D

Thanks Seifery :D

FG - I haven't forgotten about Parasite Eve, it's on my list too :) I did a Chrono Trigger banner awhile ago actually (you must've missed it - lol) but I could do a Vagrant Story one.

*blushes* thanks for the love, everyone! :) I'm happy when you're all happy! :D

[QUOTE="Kenshin18"]

So, Quistis is the one behind our insanely nice banners :). Im really liking this banner too! Makes me wonder if she has a full version of that made for potential wallpaper.

Um, any thoughts on making a Front Mission or Last Remnant banner, Quistis?

SymonDezyn

I would love to have made one as a wallpaper; the trouble is that the images I generally use for sigs and banners are fairly small and low res. If i could get my hands on some better images I would definitely consider doing that.

As far as themes go, Last Remnant is definitely on my list; and I will also add Front Mission as your special request :)

Oh...Well, that's cool. It's too bad some of your work couldnt be made into wallpaper. Im sure we'd all love to have our desktops filled with the cool stuff you make.

Heh, you'll really consider making a Front Mission banner? Wow, thanks :). I hope I'm not adding to your workload or anythin' like that. Cant wait to see what you'll pull off :).

Thanks Reno :D If I ever get into doing wallpapers you'll be the first to know :P And no, you're not adding to my work load at all; I am gonna try and replace the banner on a monthly basis anyway so it's just for ideas for upcoming months. At this rate, we'll be set for themes for the rest of 2008 pretty soon! :)

Thanks for the ideas, everyone! Keep 'em comin'!! :D

FG - I haven't forgotten about Parasite Eve, it's on my list too :) I did a Chrono Trigger banner awhile ago actually (you must've missed it - lol) but I could do a Vagrant Story one.

SymonDezyn

If you colud show it to me, maybe I could remember seeing it. :P

ok, my bad - it was Chrono CROSS.... well close enough anyway :)

So you're the one who did Chrono Cross too? I remember that :). That was a welcome suprise to see for a banner.Kenshin18

yes, if i'm not mistaken that one was either the first one i did for SEE or one of the first, and i got lots of good feedback from using an older, non-FF game as the theme :)

Yes, FG, I will definitely consider doing a Chrono TRIGGER one :D

*Mentions something about an FFIX banner*Lady_Bahamut

Ah, yes, of course, of course! I will put that on the list too :) And I STILL haven't forgotten about the FFIX sigs - this month is stinkin CRRAZY for me so it probly won't be till next month that i have a chance to do more graphics, apart from work :)

[QUOTE="Lady_Bahamut"]*Mentions something about an FFIX banner*SymonDezyn

Ah, yes, of course, of course! I will put that on the list too :) And I STILL haven't forgotten about the FFIX sigs - this month is stinkin CRRAZY for me so it probly won't be till next month that i have a chance to do more graphics, apart from work :)

Haha, thats okay. I can always do them myself at some point. I've finally learnt how to render :P

Okay peeps, I have lots of suggestions for this month's banner, so I have written them all on little pieces of paper and I'm gonna draw one randomly from a jar (i'm not kidding, i'm really doing this! :)) The ones that are not chosen will remain in the jar for future months, and any new ideas will be added as well.

Stay tuned... July 2008 SEE banner coming soon!!!!!

....and the winner is....

*drumroll*

Banner of the Month - [the enemy lies within]

(if it is not up yet, it's because of a delay while we are waiting for time zones to converge) This month's banner is all about Parasite Eve, and its hero, Aya Brea. This is an older game by SquareSoft, which broke away from Square's well-known reputation of the Final Fantasy series, and entered into the creepier, darker side of gaming, similar to Resident Evil (only darker, IMO)

Because of the fact that this game is older, there are few hi-res shots available, plus I had to appease FG by using a shower shot of Aya (:)), so I decided instead of representing the game in a literal fashion, I would try and combine images, textures and colours to create more of a mood piece, meant to evoke the feeling of the game.

I used mainly screenshots, character artwork, and screen captures of the intro for my image base. Though it looks simple overall, I made use of quite a lot of images, some more up front, and some more as texture or background to create the overall piece. There are also some "trade secrets" (LOL) I had to draw on in order to create some of the effects I wanted, making me glad of my Photoshop skills :)

I hope you like it!

Cheers,

Quistis

[QUOTE="Fantasy_Gamer"]

Hey! Don't forget about Parasite Eve's shower scene! :P

kinetic-core

You might get what you want if there aren't that many female officers here. :evil: Drop the idea pervie!

Lol u tell 'em girl :P

Seriously.... shower scene... :roll:

Quistis sent me the banner via PM, and i almost freaked out when i opened the message. Cos i saw two bloodshot eyes in the middle.

HEY! It's just not nice to frighten me like that, ok? :evil:

sorry KC:oops:

I guess next time i'll have to send you a "warning" PM first - LOL :) But I guess that means it worked cause it is, after all a scary game, and it provoked a reaction from you, so that's good! :)

Whoa, that is a creepy yet cool banner! Awesome job!

Another one of those games I never got to play...

Whoa, that is a creepy yet cool banner! Awesome job!

Another one of those games I never got to play...

pikastar

Cool, thanks; glad you like it :)

It's been a long long time since I played it, but making the banner brought back good memories :)

....and the winner is....

*drumroll*

Banner of the Month - [the enemy lies within]

(if it is not up yet, it's because of a delay while we are waiting for time zones to converge) This month's banner is all about Parasite Eve, and its hero, Aya Brea. This is an older game by SquareSoft, which broke away from Square's well-known reputation of the Final Fantasy series, and entered into the creepier, darker side of gaming, similar to Resident Evil (only darker, IMO)

Because of the fact that this game is older, there are few hi-res shots available, plus I had to appease FG by using a shower shot of Aya (:)), so I decided instead of representing the game in a literal fashion, I would try and combine images, textures and colours to create more of a mood piece, meant to evoke the feeling of the game.

I used mainly screenshots, character artwork, and screen captures of the intro for my image base. Though it looks simple overall, I made use of quite a lot of images, some more up front, and some more as texture or background to create the overall piece. There are also some "trade secrets" (LOL) I had to draw on in order to create some of the effects I wanted, making me glad of my Photoshop skills :)

I hope you like it!

Cheers,

Quistis

SymonDezyn

I WON! :lol: :P Thanks a lot SyMon! :D That's a really cool banner!

Btw, "square enix experience: the enemy lies within"... emm... when did we decide to change our ad line "where the world is square"? For sure, enemies don't liw within our beloved union.

Ummmm, yeeeaaahhh.... hehehehe - it's the BANNER theme, not the union theme, silly! :) The last one was "Who2Trust" and that one doesn't really fit the union either :D

I'm glad you like the banner though :)

Next banner shoud be Front Mission or Vagrant Story. If it's the latter, be sure to put Sydney, please. :PFantasy_Gamer

Oh I see how it is now! LOL, JK :) Don't worry, they are both in my jar, but only fate can tell which lucky theme will be pulled next :)

Nah, i think the banner's theme should be the focus point, after all it IS a banner theme.

As for the tagline for SEE, it can be anywhere else, but then an image with too many words does not depict well in art. :)

me being a Chrono series fanatic obviously wants a Chrono themed banner-especially with the recent announcement of CTDS.Cronaroth

It shall be done :)

Your wish has been added to the jar :)

P.S. - glad you like the banner, guys :) Seifer - I will post some of my work to my profile and let you know when it's there :)