Code Lyoko: The Movie Poster

My entry for the contest at

I have to say that this is probably the second biggest undertaking fanart-wise that I've ever done (the biggest being the TV Tomer pic). As soon as I saw the theme for this contest (create a movie poster for a hypothetical CL movie), I knew I just had to enter it. Ever since the end of season 1, I've had an idea for the plot of a Code Lyoko movie. I would love to bring it to life as a fanfic, or even better as a fancomic or actual Flash series...but with the way I get things done, I shan't hold my breath on that. I would love to do any of those though, but this'll definitely do for now.

Anyway, as I said, this was a rather tricky picture for me to do, the reason being that all of the drawings were done separately and to scale (using my awesome lightbox that I got for my birthday to trace my original layout picture). After inking them, I then had to scan them in and compose and place them in the picture to match the one I'd drawn in my sketchbook. Slightly tricky...although admittedly not as tricky as composing the CL TV Tomer pic. In any case though, it ended up being a good thing that I scanned them all individually as then not only could I place them and move them to where I needed them to be, I then also had separate layers of lineart (and then colorfills) that I could adjust the transparency on (ex. Aelita and the XANA symbol). Heh...this thing had about 20 layers on it in Photoshop. And I believe I'm developing an addiction to gradient backgrounds.

Anywho, before I bore you with all of the technical stuff, let me explain this poster a little bit. More than likely the first two things that'll be noticed about this is that I've changed Ulrich's outfit slightly (longer sleeves) and Yumi's new ensemble. Now, Yumi is actually wearing that in the real world (I'd never change her Lyoko outfit...it's too pretty). The reason why she's wearing a very traditional ensemble is that within the story her father hosts a big business party that Yumi is required to attend (and in formal Japanese wear). I tried to make her kimono a little interesting and not too plain. I definitely think Yumi should wear more red, and the gold wave trim looked neat along with the gold lotus blossom patterns along the fabric. Her hair style, as quite a few of you might guess, is based somewhat on her Lyoko hair style...and I admit I added the chopsticks for fun. X) Now Ulrich's change in outfit comes with a much easier explanation. He's wearing a longer sleeved shirt (still his classic green though) because my story is set in the Fall, just before school starts. So he's wearing warmer clothing due to the colder weather.

I put Odd in his Lyoko form, simply because his is the most different and eye-catching, and if this were to be a real movie poster, his get-up would definitely draw my attention. The Kankrelat (Roachster) and Frelion (Hornet) are added for similar reasons, because nothing will attract CL's "presumed" target audience of 7+ old boys then mechanic bugs. Kiwi's there to look cute and appeal to the "animal fans" (heh...he's sniffing out the title ^^ ) and Jeremie is there...because he seriously needs to be on more CL covers and stuff. The computer is a cool looking gadget, if nothing else (although I'm not too sure I did a very good job on it *sweatdrop*), and I think Jeremie rounds out the poster as a whole, particularly color-wise.

So anyway...now for some plot summaries. The base outline for this movie would have been, as I mentioned set in the Fall just before school starts. Naturally, there'd be lots of fluff (I had a great idea for a Y/U scene that I might make into it's own picture later), and scenes that one sees in the show often (scenes at the school, scenes with Sissi and co., the teachers particularly Jim, etc). The big plot of the movie (at least so far as good ol' XANA is concerned) is that, due to his newly gained freedom, XANA launches a massive attack on the kids and school, bringing back themes from some of his more infamous attacks (in particular, the robots, the bee swarms, the rats, the wolves, and the like), only worse than before, for example a bigger, badder, and even more deadly robot.

Um, so yes, that's not so bad for a teaser...I'll hint that Ulrich's pose has nearly everything to do with the "super robot", I mentioned above. And the reason that Yumi is not looking like a very happy camper (apart from the fact that she's been dragged to a formal business party), has quite a bit to do with a certain brunette (well, really, it wouldn't be a proper CL movie without the two of them having at least one small tiff ).

Er...so before I blather on anymore, this is my entry, and for a change...I'm really kind of proud of this. ^^ I think my digital coloring skills are getting better at the very least.

Hmm...I suppose the only thing left to say would be...Enjoy!!!