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Posted on 18/07/25 09:00:42 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7044 Reply  |
Challenge 1063: Two kings
This week's Challenge comes courtesy of Ant Snell, with the following note: "We visited Harlech Castle (inspiration for the song “Men of Harlech” and I was intrigued with this rather gruesome statue named “The Two Kings”, a Welsh legend the statue shows an harmless & legless King carrying the lifeless body of his brother on horseback. Intended to depict the pointlessness of war something quite poignant today. Anyway, I thought that bringing this to life might appeal to one or two members?" High res is here.  |
Posted on 19/07/25 09:38:49 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
This is really tricky Ant ! "Bringing it to life", in the manner of Steve's splendid statues for example, runs the risk of being seriously gross and gruesome. But, somehow, a Monty Python approach doesn't seem quite right either. Hmmmmm ............ ????? _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 19/07/25 11:10:21 AM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
I lack the skills to be one who 'brings this to life', so I separated the statue from the background a bit to give the image some depth, and simply gave it a rainy day approach. Monty Python could work David, I can visualize that. I wonder what AI would come up with...? 
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Posted on 19/07/25 1:13:03 PM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Same but different... 
Not animated. |
Posted on 19/07/25 1:39:32 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
The Black Knight from the Holy Grail springs to mind. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 19/07/25 1:53:42 PM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Exactly… |
Posted on 20/07/25 03:09:21 AM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
People courtesy of photoshop.london |
Posted on 20/07/25 12:02:45 PM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3117 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
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Posted on 20/07/25 3:54:42 PM |
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Ant Snell
Specular Specialist Posts: 573 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
First of all, my apologies, when I suggested this to Steve, I had no idea how difficult it would be until I actually had a go myself. The Monty Python “knights who say nee” did appeal to my sense of humour but I decided to go for the more challenging approach. After several failed attempts, I finally settled on this painterly effect.  |
Posted on 20/07/25 5:41:06 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4029 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
The back-story of how the horseman turned to stone 
_________________ Whatever you do in life do it with the enthusiasm of a 4-year old in a Batman suit. |
Posted on 20/07/25 9:24:36 PM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Ah... and of course the magic fig leaf.  |
Posted on 20/07/25 10:24:51 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Oh Wow! Lots of very different approaches to this surprisingly tricky challenge. I've done want Ant asked and 'brought him to life' .............. Well ............ Um ....... Sort of ........ Because of the rough textured finish there was no way I could use the techniques Steve did for his statues. Also the artist has taken a lot of artistic liberties with the form of both man and horse which would become completely grotesque if turned literally real. So I set myself the challenge of a reconstruction that was as close as I could get to the original statue whilst being real. The whole idea of an armless, legless man riding a horse is so improbable that 'real' becomes an extremely dubious term. Looking at the sculpture it is hard to tell if he is armless or not. The cut off shoulder implies a severed arm, but there are bumps on his side and stomach that would seem to imply the presence of an arm. So I have done both. It was technically extremely difficult to match the statue, especially the horse. Frankly I haven't managed very well, but equally frankly it doesn't matter. In the end, what I attempted makes no sense. It's just plain bloody silly! But it was fun trying! 
 _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 20/07/25 10:43:27 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
When I mentioned it was technically difficult, It suddenly occurred to me to go back and analyse. The second armless image, which was the more difficult of the two, is composed of 53 different elements using 91 layers. I think that amounts to the kind of self flagellation that seems appropriate to an image of this kind ............  _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 21/07/25 01:13:52 AM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Excellent work David, both images are quite remarkable! |
Posted on 21/07/25 01:17:11 AM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3297 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
I seems that I haven’t fully grasped the concept of ‘bring it to life’.
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Posted on 21/07/25 11:36:23 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Aha! You've been tippling the Puppet Warp! It took a good few tots to get my real horse into the same pose as the sculpture. It's really tasty, but lack of caution can quickly lead to unwanted reality distortions. I try not to depend on it too musch, but when I do, nothing elshe worksssh qui ..... quite like it. 🥴🥴 _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 21/07/25 11:45:08 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
BTW what really makes yours is the foreground. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 21/07/25 12:04:32 PM |
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michael sinclair
Off-Topic Opportunist Posts: 1869 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Excellent work David 
The bucking bronco was my only option:  |
Posted on 22/07/25 4:58:56 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Thank you Michael. Bronco is of course classic Sinclair. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 22/07/25 5:02:15 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 5748 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1063: Two kings
Xian may have it's Terracotta Warriors, but Harlech boasts its Bronze Kings.  _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
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