Who hasn’t dreamt of being a pirate?
The sea gently spitting in your face, the wind tangling up your dreadlocks, your breath making seagulls drop out of the sky…!
Wait, scratch that last part.
Bad hygiene aside, pirates are a beloved mainstay in our collective obsessions. And now, they are boarding our Ultra Limited Edition, led by captain Dominik Mayer!
Indeed, after making waves with his Limited Editions, he’s finally set sail for Ultra Limited with his Ghostly Sails. Naturally, we were curious to know whether he used a hook or a brush to draw that one, so a chat was in order.
Getting that artwork ship-shape
So was it a hook? Pencils? A brush made of parrot feathers? Nope, Dominik’s weapon of choice was slightly more modern:
“After doing a few Limited Editions with Displate, we talked about making it even more special. They asked me if I would be interested in making an exclusive Displate artwork for the Ultra Limited Edition. They were thinking about doing a ghost pirate ship. I mean, how could I say no to that 🙂
After discussing the details about the cooperation, I started with a loose sketch and then kept sending them versions that were more and more detailed.
It was super fun, but also quite challenging! Ships are not the easiest thing to paint and green is normally my nemesis – it is definitely the hardest color for me to use. But that made me even more ambitious and determined about the whole endeavor.
So I dove deep into research: sat down and rewatched all Pirates of the Caribbean movies!
Armed with renewed inspiration, I went back and added the final touches. Some feedback loops later the piece was finished.
The painting was completely done on an iPad. That’s something I try to do more and more these days, and I really enjoyed doing that for this design.”
So how does it feel to have one’s designs turned into collector’s booty through Limited or Ultra Limited Edition? According to Dominik, it feels good, matey!
“I really like that the artworks become much more special through those Limited Editions. The fact that they are available only for a very short time, makes me want to collect them! If my artwork is something other people want to decorate their life with, well, that’s just really exciting for me!”
Let’s sea the man in action:
Our Design Studio knew they had found treasure
It was time to work their voodoo and make it shine. Magdalena Łoś, our Product Designer Acting Lead, tells us about how she and her crew made that ship extra ghostly and spectacular.
“Here it is: a huge shipwreck glowing and shining in the dark!
For this piece we had to plan and paint the areas which we wanted to be phosphorescent, plus the ones that would glow in UV light, so that the picture as a whole would make sense and look pretty.
Well, as much as ghostly pirate ships can be pretty 😉
Below, you can watch a sneak-peak video, which shows the process of painting the phosphorescent area. Yes, we had to do it like that, inch by inch!
Additionally, we used yellow UV underprint, and in order to keep this intense toxic-green color, we had to remove the yellows from the original art. Brought back memories of our kindergarten paint mixing lessons: blue + yellow = green. So pay attention in class, kids, these are lessons for life!”
Quick, grab that treasure, ye landlubbers!
They say the sea can be a cruel mistress. Well, ‘tis true for the canvas, too! But thanks to the combined efforts of Dominik and our Design Studio, this ghost ship and its crew look more than ready to conquer the seven walls, armed with UV underprint, 3D elements, phosphorescent powder, and of course their trusty cutlasses!
Just make sure to be quick and strike the moment Ghostly Sails appears on the horizon!
