Staring Down Giants: Galaga Key Image Check-In
đ¨ Two-Thirds In: Key Image Progress & Visual Storytelling
Weâre now two-thirds of the way through the three-week Key Image assignment in Galaga Reimagined, and the results are shaping up beautifully. Students are exploring bold compositions, cinematic lighting, and high-concept storytelling to distill their version of the Galaga universe into a single dramatic image.
The range of approaches has been excitingâsome students are leaning into eerie, slow-burn space encounters; others are staging dynamic action shots with aggressive alien swarms and massive ships.
From our recent critiques, a few key themes have emerged:
âď¸ Negative Space = Narrative Breathing Room
Across several works-in-progress, we discussed how expanding negative space can heighten drama and improve visual clarity. Whether itâs vast open space or atmospheric voids, these quieter areas give the eye a place to restâand can make focal points hit harder.
đŞ Scale and Contrast
Another ongoing conversation has been about epic scaleâparticularly in the relationship between the hero ship and the enemy. In several pieces, we experimented with enlarging the alien antagonist and shrinking the protagonist, which often added drama, strengthened contrast, and clarified the visual narrative.
Itâs a reminder that composition isnât just about where things goâitâs about how they feel in relationship to each other.
đ In Progress: Key Image Highlights
As compositions take shape, students are exploring a wide range of visual tonesâfrom high-action dogfights to quiet, looming threats. Here are a few in-progress directions that came up during critique:
KC Tovera refined their Key Image with a series of focused adjustments based on feedback. These included smoothing and rounding out the energy beam, making the color variation more vibrant and less stark, and adding stars and light closer to the beam's core. The updated version also includes a striking inverse color pass that brings a surreal, high-drama mood to the scene.
Grace Doeller adjusted her Key Image to enhance clarity and mood through desaturation and a more balanced use of contrast. The protagonist ship was darkened, light sources were softened, and lighter clouds were added beneath the ship to lift the composition. Grace also introduced more purples into the Boss Galaga, adding a deeper, more ominous tone to the scene.
Rana Barua focused on immediate visual readability, aiming to capture the essence of Galaga at a glance. The composition plays heavily with scale contrast between the tiny ship and the towering Boss Galaga. Rana also experimented with color harmony, using the teal from their Boss design and introducing complementary purple hues. Saturation was intentionally reduced to help convey scale and atmosphere, with plans to reintroduce color strategically. A subtle text pass was also added to explore marketing or splash screen potential.
Sophie Sala began refining her rendering pass and introduced contrails to her ships to build a sense of movement and dynamic tension. Future adjustments will include the reintroduction of motion blur, further enhancing speed and energy within the scene while maintaining visual clarity in focal areas.
Zora Troupe revisited the balance between subject and negative space, reframing the composition by cropping the top and extending the base. This adjustment helped create a dedicated space for title placement and added weight to the lower portion of the piece. Zora also toned down the lighting for better control of contrast and plans to scale up the subtle red highlights on the surrounding bubbles to draw the viewerâs eye more effectively.
Bee Lawhorn made a bold structural change by shifting the compositionâs focal point to the side, opening up space and altering the imageâs rhythm. A gradient map test helped explore color relationships and mood, while plans are in place to rework significant portions of the composition over the coming week to strengthen overall flow and impact.
Krow Zhang expanded the negative space significantly to elevate the atmosphere and give the scene more visual breathing room. A subtle rim light was reintroduced to the ground, and rendering continued across key elements. Notably, Krow also created a vertical format version of the image, exploring layout versatility and presentation potential for poster or vertical splash applications.
Phillip Zhong grounded his Key Image in the Galaga color palette, starting with a shift in the monsterâs skin tone to green and following up with adjustments to the sceneâs overall saturation. These changes help echo the vibrant aesthetic of the original game, reinforcing a nostalgic connection while refining the image's visual identity.
Bea Parlade focused on the final rendering stage of her image, using textured brushes to bring depth and grit to the scene. The goal was to enhance the sense of a dystopian, decaying world, with surfaces and lighting that feel weathered, grounded, and tonally rich.
𧰠Final Week + Installation Prep
With just one week to go, students are now locking in their compositions, refining lighting, and polishing details. The Key Image will serve as the signature visual for each studentâs interpretation of Galagaâwhether imagined as a movie poster, splash screen, or narrative moment frozen in time.
Next week also marks a big moment for the class:
Weâll be hanging our show on the 4th floor of MICAâs Fox Building, preparing to share this semesterâs work with the broader MICA community. The exhibition will feature everything from early alien redesigns to final Key Imagesâcapturing the full arc of Galaga Reimagined.