Group-shots and Backgrounds (Part 1)

Here are a few group-shots of figures I currently have on display. I usually don't have the shelves so crowded, but recently I've been getting figures faster than I've had time to really enjoy them or store them as orderly as I'd like. Originally, I had the figures on the plain black bookcases but that got to be boring. Everybody's doing the plain black bookcases these days! Using photoshop I created some backgrounds and via my super-secret access to a plotter I printed them out.

First up, alphabetically I suppose, is my Batman shelf. Welcome to Gotham!



I created this image by combing a nature scene of a night sky with a few layers of cityscape. The buildings are actually from a number of cities and usually with daylight. I combined them and then darkened all the layers to look more like night. I tried to defocus some of the buildings in the background, but with varying degrees of success. The Bat-signal effect was from some poster or some such. It didn't have the beam, so I had to create that. There are a few mistakes, but this was one of my earlier pieces.

Here's the image with my Batman-related figures:



Next up - Hell and Hades!



I wanted a display for my bad guys of the DC Universe, but I couldn't figure out a co-hesive concept that worked for most of them. I opted instead to go with a cosmic background on one side and a destopian concept for the other. The "Hell" side is mostly untouched by me. I think it was an artist conception of a super-nova or something. The "Hades" side is a still from the classic silent film, "Metropolis." I thought it was suitably menacing in appearance.

Here's the image printed out with my Sinestro Corps on the left and a few of the more terrestrial villains on the right.



Welcome to the Hall of Justice - tours leaving on the hour. Do not stray from the designated tour route, please sign in with your tour guide before departure...



The Hall of Justice from the Super-Friends cartoon was based on Union Terminal of Cincinnati. I found it fitting then to find some reference photos and go to work on that material. I added some clouds and did some creative remodeling on the facade. I tweaked the color in places, but unfortunately it's not exactly what I had in mind.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had my Justice League figures on the left and my Justice Society figures on the right. I got too many to fit on the shelf so the JSA took a holiday to Storage-Land. I hear the weather's nice there. The Bizzaro gang moved into the vacant space, though just for now.



That's enough for now, kiddies. I'll post some more shortly.