Nov. 12, 1955. 10:04pm

Here is another t-shirt design I just finished recently. I had the word 'storm' to come up with some inspiration. After some brainstorming (ha!) a scene from Back to the Future came into my mind. It's the scene where Doc Brown first discovers time travel!

Rise and fall of town square
The area around the courthouse was developed in the following seventy years and by the 1950s had become the downtown of Hill Valley. A grass-covered town square was built in front of the courthouse, while stores, theatres and cafés opened on the surrounding streets. On Saturday, November 12 1955, at 10:04 p.m. PST, lightning struck the courthouse's clock tower, freezing the clock at 10:04. The clock was never repaired and as it became a landmark of Hill Valley over the years, it was preserved in its non-functional state by the Hill Valley Preservation Society.

I decided I wanted to incorporate the clock tower, and give the effect of lighting and smoke. I also really wanted to add Marty McFly!

I came across a photo of Marty, so beginning I cut him out with a mask, using a colour halftone effect. You can get different effects with this filter if you use different values. You can also use selections in quick mask mode to get different effects!



I then played with some other filter effects on the picture, to give it some more texture.



I found a font that was based on the title lettering from the movie, so I used that to add Marty's catch phrase. That's heavy, Doc! I used the same colour halftone technique as I did on the picture.



I wasn't sure what to add in the background, so I tried some different shapes. Even a silhouette of the time machine!





I decided I didn't really like where it was going, so I said goodbye to Marty and sent him back to the future. I chose to go with a clock in the background and keep it the main element. I began by drawing a couple of circles.



Then I added some hands in, of course at 10:04!



I copied the now merged circles and filled it with an aqua colour. Then I added a strong gaussian blur effect. I tried an outer glow effect but it wasn't as spread out as I wanted it to be.



I brought my text in from my previous idea, made some minor alignment adjustments and added a slight drop shadow for more depth.



I copied the text layers and changed the colour, to give the text more substance.



I used a smoke brush to begin a lighting strike effect.



Then I added the lighting with a brush as well.



I used the same lighting brush to add a cracked effect to the clock.



Finally I added a texture overlay to bring the design together fully.



And that's my final design!



I really like how it came out! Mostly the colour scheme and the effect of the text.

Always hit it to 88 miles per hour! :)