Avengers AR is an Augmented Reality book created to showcase Marvel’s Avengers. Featuring 5 prominent members of the current team lineup, it is meant to detail their long and storied histories in a visually beautiful and engaging way. The AR elements of the book not only add a new dimension of interaction for viewers, but reflect the dynamic and emotive nature of the source material. In addition to AR, it also includes a few physical interactive elements as well. The overall goal is for readers to not only learn more about some of American culture’s most celebrated characters, but also have fun while doing it.

Detail shots of various spreads in the book.

PROCESS

As a huge fan of comic books, the opportunity to create an interactive book about the history of some of my favorite characters was too good to pass up. Additionally, as motion comics are already a very popular medium, it is the perfect subject matter to compliment with AR features. I was also afforded the opportunity to blend existing comic art with art I created myself. To me, this was the ultimate test to see if my illustrations could stand toe-to-toe with official Marvel art. The biggest struggle was making a unique spread for each of the characters beyond the simple bios. This was the aspect that underwent the most iteration.

Sketches of various concepts and spreads. Many of the ideas explored here made it into the final book.

ILLUSTRATION

The illustration process was by far the most difficult and time consuming part of the project. I decided to limit the book to 5 of the current Avengers (as seen in the currently published comic): Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, and She-Hulk. This number was chosen to keep the timetable manageable, while not sacrificing the quality of the book. It was very important to me to show the evolution of these characters throughout their history, so I chose characters that have remained iconic despite decades of change.

Finished sketches of all five chosen characters.

The sketches for this project were done in an app called Procreate on my iPad Pro. It was an invaluable tool that allowed me to complete my illustrations exactly how I envisioned. Once the sketches were done, I completed the inks inside the app as well. I used a brush that recreated the ink bleed that would be found on real paper. This imperfect line quality made it feel much more authentic. Finally, I did all the coloring on my Macbook.

The process of creating the cover was much the same. However, since I planned on using the heads from the cover as the profile pictures inside the book, I had to illustrated it in such a way that all the characters’ heads would look good isolated. This drawing progressed fairly quickly, but the creating the background and placing the title proved to have much more trial and error. I am very happy with the results.

INTERACTION

The coolest part of this book is its AR (Augmented Reality) integration. Using an app called Artivive, I was able to set certain pages as triggers that would play an animation when picked up by a user’s camera. Created in After Effects and Cinema 4D, these animations use audio and video elements to further immerse the viewer in the experience. In choosing which pages to add VR components, I wanted a mixture of humor, surprise, and wow factor. I also saw a perfect opportunity to make a brief tribute to one of my personal heroes. Videos of the AR animations can be seen below. I have also included flats of the trigger pages. Download the Artivive app to view them for yourself.

In addition to AR elements, the book also has a few physical interactions as well. The most notable are the foldouts present on every character info page. However, I also included folders and vellum sheets with extra information to make the overall package more fun. I wished for the armor on the Iron Man spread to be printed in pieces on separate transparent sheets, but I was limited by the difficulty of printing white ink.

CONTENT USED