FCCP Behind the scenes: Making pictures fit (Fallout 76 coloring pages)

If you've been following along, you know that I'm the artist who started the Fallout Community Coloring Project (FCCP). I've drawn well over 70 free coloring pages so far with requests to compile into a coloring book. The community response has been awesome and lots of people have contributed their in game photos for me to potentially draw.

Most of what I get I can draw and fit in the frame for a coloring page pretty easily. Sometimes, however, the best results come from a few alterations of space and detail. Today I'm going to give you a couple of examples. Let's start here:

BEFORE

AFTER

Whoa! There are some major changes going on there. I draw in photoshop and utilize tricks to bring things together. I brought everyone closer, added some baubles to the tree, omitted suit guy's backpack, and corrected her wardrobe malfunction. Click on images for closer view. To break those down on the last two, the seated guy in a suit had a backpack on that was digitally  merging with the couch. The lady's hand was merging through her dress into her lap. That's just how Fallout objects go when they are close to each other. It's not a perfect system. It's easy enough to correct when drawing the picture. 

BEFORE

AFTER

As you can see, after I drew in our dancing couple, I zoomed in on the tent and made for more active background to color. The giant rock is nice and all, but comes across as blank ground after you draw it in and thus dead space.  So now there is something active to color in the background without losing the action of the scene.

I have to say the community has been wonderful and I am still working on the ways one or more coloring books may happen. The update on that is that I am in process of moving across states, doing the FCCP coloring book will have to wait until I finish moving. I will update on that more as time draws near. Hopefully you will have a book by this summer. 

As for the rest of the images, if you have not seen them all, you can view them at my page HERE. Just click on PHOTOS and there are two albums. 

If you really love my work and want to help me keep it going, consider ways to support your favorite artists HERE. 

Until next time... thanks for reading and I am still accepting new images, just know that it takes about 3 weeks to get to a new person on the list. In about 3 weeks I will be restarting on my list of people unless new folks add in.

UPDATE: An open letter to Bethesda Games and call out to fans

Dear Bethesda,

I have made attempts to contact you and even emailed your marketing head directly. I want it understood in an open and public place where the world is my witness. I am doing something positive and good for a community I care about. The response of the community has been overwhelmingly positive and while I've done all these hours of work for free (you know full well what artwork costs, just ask your budget department) the fans of the work asked for a compilation of those works in book form, IE coloring book.

I am of course talking about the Fallout Community Coloring Project (FCCP) where I take player submitted photos of Fallout 76 and draw them into highly detailed high resolution coloring pages. I currently have over 400 submissions by a total of 107 players. I have completed over 70 of said images and I release new ones every Saturday. I do not ask for any payment for that work but I do offer 7 other coloring books on Amazon as well as novels and compilations.

So what am I asking you for. Essentially your blessing to give your fans what they want of this project and nothing more. I am not asking you to pay me for my artwork, sales in coloring books have no chance of hurting you in any fashion nor could they compete with your bottom line. And finally, the public relations could only serve to help you and boost you by giving said blessing to put out these books. Yes, there are enough submissions to make two or three at this point.

Being that this is 100% community supported with players sending their personal experiences to the project and that they get image credit listed on every image used; it seems to me there is a niche to fair use that might cover this. But who wants to argue over that?  I'm asking for your support because it can only make you look good. You will give players a whole new reason to play. You will show new players what they are missing in a market you scarcely exist in. And best of all, you have zero financial risk in the matter. If I put out coloring books that I make a total of a dollar fifty a book on and only 20 books ever sell, that loss is 100% mine. Furthermore, people who video their game play arguably make way more than that on monetized accounts, and since that is allowed I would  think me getting a buck a book would pale in comparison.

I hope you can see that this is not just "fan art", it is a collection of actual player experiences put to use for all of them to enjoy. I'm asking you to support that. I'm also asking those same fans to tell you as well I'm doing right now. I'm asking all the fans of this project to share it with you directly to show you how the unique interest in this works.

Since I have your emailed permission to at least continue drawing... that  exactly what I will do. If 70 pictures doesn't move you, I'll aim for 700. Why? Because there is another side to this. An outlet allowing me to use what is left of my artistic ability as Multiple sclerosis slowly destroys my nervous system. So I'm doing something big and this is where I chose to do it. So please, can we have your blessing?  You can email me at Galaxyzento@gmail.com anytime to talk.

Yours truly
A real fan
DJ Wilde