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Posted on 21/03/12 09:44:36 AM |
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joeysala
Perfect Palmist Posts: 604 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
 _________________ "Art is a blade of grass ... and in a moment I will eat it." |
Posted on 21/03/12 9:30:27 PM |
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BigVern
Q Quipper Posts: 674 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
My homage to the 1982 version of The Thing (far superior to the 2011 prequel of the same name). John Carpenter's sublime direction and his self composed ominous theme tune are wonderful and Rob Bottin's alien creation is simply amazing. One of my favourite films. Larger version here: http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r160/BigVernphoto/fing_large.jpg And this is the film poster from the back of my January 2012 Empire Magazine which got me thinking on how to approach this week's challenge ... http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r160/BigVernphoto/The_Thing_2011_Poster.jpg 
_________________ "We don't need road where we're going!" |
Posted on 21/03/12 11:32:48 PM |
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marlcliff
Knight of Intrigue Posts: 171 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
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Posted on 22/03/12 4:00:26 PM |
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Artwel
Satire Supremo Posts: 607 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Vern thats good, didnt realise they made a remake of the thing, suppose it was only a matter of time though! I havent attempted this weeks challenge yet.. Il have to get a move on!  _________________ “Art Is Never Finished, Only Abandoned.” |
Posted on 22/03/12 7:15:49 PM |
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BigVern
Q Quipper Posts: 674 Reply |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
The 2011 film is not a remake as such (although it did borrow heavily on the "look", atmosphere etc. of the original) but a prequel which shows what happened to the Swedish exploration outpost prior to the American exploratory outpost in the 1982 film. The 1982 film was itself a remake of the the 1951 black & white Howard Hawkes film "The Thing from Another World" taken from the book "Who Goes There?" by John Campell Jr and was full of moody lighting and some thrills but not a patch on the '82 flick in my humble opinion. I do love the way that 50's titles had to spell it out to you exactly what the film was about. See you've got me talking about my favourite subject now ... films ... I beter stop there 
_________________ "Why so serious?" |
Posted on 22/03/12 8:45:38 PM |
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puffin31939
Montage Mariner Posts: 383 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Very busy. Only had a few minutes for this. Sorry it is rather boring!  _________________ Man cannot change the direction of the wind but he can adjust the sails |
Posted on 22/03/12 9:02:56 PM |
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Garfield72
Montage Manceau Posts: 353 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
I tried to recreate a frozen puddle but I am not quite pleased with the result  |
Posted on 22/03/12 10:56:50 PM |
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Eva Roth
Luminous Liberator Posts: 269 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Mine's rather boring too, but it was literally done in a second. If I had more time I'd give it a twist...  |
Posted on 23/03/12 05:14:26 AM |
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Artwel
Satire Supremo Posts: 607 Reply |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
itouch of frost.. (and no, this wasn't drawn using an ipad! ) Hi Res here: http://photobucket.com/PSART  _________________ “Art Is Never Finished, Only Abandoned.” |
Posted on 23/03/12 09:02:54 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7052 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
This has been a hugely inventive week for the Forum - so many fresh ideas, so well executed. First to get frosty was GKB, with a nicely dusted scene - I like the fact that the frost is out of focus to match the blur in the photograph - with the extra touch of a hand climbing out of the crack. Very nicely achieved: but would the shadow on the hand be as straight as that? Wouldn't it bend over the contours of the hand? A similar approach from Ant Snell, with giant snowflakes replacing the frost. There's something about the position of this hand that doesn't quite look as if it's clinging on, though; perhaps if it was rotated so the thumb could get a grip on the edge of the wood as well? I like the inclusion of Jack Frost in the second entry - nicely integrated. I like michael sinclair's cliff solution, and the birds add a useful extra dimension. But shouldn't the water be smaller near the cliffs? They seem just too close for comfort, somehow. I like the frosty look in the second entry more, as the sea and cliffs seem more unified in this one. Remarkable work from Nick Curtain, who has turned the table into an entire landscape, and the crack into a yawning chasm - the effect beautifully achieved through the use of mist. It's the trees on the top that make it work so well, very artfully painted in; and of course the plane adds an extra sense of distance. Very good! Some nice layering of snowflakes from Josephine Harvatt, but mainly in the distance: is there a reason why there's none close up as well? Nicely frost-looking frost from Tom, and convincing - at least in the distance. But check out the 'real thing', at the end of this post, to see how it would look close-up. Neat toying with scale from Jimbean, who has turned the scene into an arctic crevasse. The buildings work especially well, giving a real sense of scale; but since in the original it's the side of the crack facing us that's in shadow, shouldn't the shadow on the buildings be in a matching direction? And I have a small problem with the angle of the waterfall, which defines the vertical, and the angle of the lighthouse, which is at odds with it. Tricky business, perspective! The frosty edge in Frank's entry is the closest so far to the real thing. Nicely observed! And while I like the squirrel, a couple of observations: first, that crack is really too narrow to hold it without crushing its ribcage; and second, it would be much more convincing if the paws came over the top, as if it were climbing out of the crack. The original image has all but disappeared in tooquilos's entry, in which just a hint of the distant shore reminds us that it's based on the crack in the table. "I've never seen frost," she says - I keep forgetting how different Australia is! I like the fake National Geographic style of the animated version - that's some great canoe action, and the yeti at the end is nicely worked! Ingenious work from James, who has not only sealed up the crack, leaving just a knothole, but added a pair of highly realistic robins. A terrific sense of bird flight here - excellent achievement. I'm intrigued by the way brewel's frost follows the grain of the wood - never occurred to me that it might do that. And that's one scary spider climbing out of the crack: some interesting effects used here. A fantasy scene from Deb Raskin, with a cross between a fairy and a mermaid taking a bath in the water-filled crack. I like the way the grass has been placed in the radial cracks from the knothole, and the strong colouring of the scene - and that's some impressive frost, too. Most interesting. A novel and highly original view from Mariner, who has played with our sense of perspective in an ingenious way: suddenly, the near side of the crack becomes a high cliff overlooking the plain below. The relative sizes of the helicopter and the car give the sense of scale, and there's even a very convincing frost texture. The only thing that concerns me here is the rope, for two reasons. First, it needs a little more shading where it disappears over his shoulder and into his lap - it's a little too sharply cut off. But more importantly, you need a hand-made shadow, rather than one (I assume) generated from Layer Effects, and that's because the shadow needs to respect the contour of the man. So on his back, for instance, it needs to have some distance from the rope at the bottom, rather than following it slavishly to the surface: 
Delicate frost from joeysala, a light dusting that neatly follows the grain of the wood. I like the way the frost appears to reflect the sun, directly behind the table; and the long shadows from the white specks in the foreground are especially convincing. A very fine toying with scale in the second entry, especially the way the angle of the people follows the vertical set by the inside of the crack. Some beautiful textures in BigVern's parody film poster, with the pristine, soft surface of the snow contrasting well with the striations in the crack. Great lettering, I like the glow and hint of an object in the crack, and that building gives a good sense of scale. My only problem is with the edge of the crack, which seems too crisp and sharp. Perhaps a little more sense of the edge crumbling away? Or some shadow under an overhanging ledge? A fantasy with dancers from marlcliff, with a torrent of water rushing through the crack. Some problems with scale here, Phill: the girls in the distance would have much less variation in size seen from this far away; and look at the two on the far top right - either the one in the black dress is a giant, or the other one's a midget! Carefully considered frost textures from puffin31939, very thoughtfully applied. But this is the sort of texture you’d see on a much smoother surface, I think; the roughness of the wood wouldn't support this kind of intricacy, I think. I like the idea in Garfield72's entry, with the frosty leaf flat on the surface and the bird pecking for food. What's missing here is a strong shadow from the bird, to match the deep shadow in the crack: a touch of elongated shadow from the food would help as well. The frozen puddle nearly works; perhaps more of a cloud reflection in it? Neat and subtle frost from Eva Roth, a light dusting that follows the grain of the wood. But would frost like this have been interesting enough for me to photograph? You'll find the real thing rather more intriguing. A splendid entry from Artwel - I particularly like the treatment of the lettering, and the icicles dripping down into the crack. But I have an issue with the perspective of the iPad, which seems too strong - follow the line of the right hand edge, and you'll see it crosses the perspective of the lettering, which looks much more convincing. Nicely drawn earphones, though! So it's finally time for the big reveal. I think you'll agree that this rally is a spectacular display - and quite different to any of your imaginings:  |
Posted on 23/03/12 09:16:51 AM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3126 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Yes, Steve. Thanks. I had a lot of trouble with that rope. Layer effects are not the answer. Mike |
Posted on 23/03/12 09:29:34 AM |
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joeysala
Perfect Palmist Posts: 604 Reply |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Wowee Steve, great shot! I didn't even come close to imagining the frost! _________________ "Art is a blade of grass ... and in a moment I will eat it." |
Posted on 23/03/12 09:48:39 AM |
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josephine harvatt
Gag Gadgeteer Posts: 2603 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Haha! Sheer idleness I suspect. Actually I think the frost in my image was not dissimilar to yours (I had noticed spiky fern type shards of ice forming in my garden) - except mine was wildly out of scale! _________________ I'm not really bad - I just draw that way |
Posted on 23/03/12 12:22:14 PM |
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puffin31939
Montage Mariner Posts: 383 Reply |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Thanks, Steve. I wasn't happy with my frost but lacked both time and imagination this week. The 'real thing' is very interesting - but how would you draw it? _________________ Man cannot change the direction of the wind but he can adjust the sails |
Posted on 23/03/12 1:19:04 PM |
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Jimbean
Sparky Shopper Posts: 105 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Cheers Steve, your right about the perspective it is tricky! Obvious when you point it out though!! Like it said in my old school reports "must pay more attention" !!!  |
Posted on 23/03/12 1:37:19 PM |
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BigVern
Q Quipper Posts: 674 Reply |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Steve, many thanks for your kind comments. The reason that the edges are so uniform and smooth is that I defined them with the pen tool and then extended the cliff faces in Repousse so the fore and background and the yellow transport vehicle are all a 3D model. The shading is rendered and many of the surface striations are bump maps. I originally tried to extrude the cliff faces in Repousse from the raggedy edges of the original picture but the cliff face became far too complex and the 3D model was unmanageable so I compromised with a simpler edge. The reason for the 3D model approach was that I had plans to create and post a Teaser trailer for my "Fing" movie. However, I fought with After Effects in an attempt to achieve what I was imagining and unfortunately After Effects won .. my limited knowledge and the time constraints of a Thursday night completion were against me. If I get time, I may still create the teaser trailer and post it as I think it would be fun to do and fun to see ... I just need to find some spare time lying around and some more skill (I'll dive into some more tutorials to see if I can figure out what I am doing wrong). Very interested to see how the frost actually looked on your table ... not what I expected at all. Cheers Vern _________________ "Why so serious?" |
Posted on 23/03/12 2:30:31 PM |
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Deb Raskin
Bodywork Boss Posts: 63 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Thank you Steve. Aside from the beautiful frost image, I see a monster with teeth! Could have been another take on the scene. |
Posted on 23/03/12 9:18:52 PM |
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marlcliff
Knight of Intrigue Posts: 171 Reply |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Thanks Steve, i was goin with the movie theme 50ft woman (joke) i got to work on the perspective  |
Posted on 23/03/12 10:35:53 PM |
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brewell
Pixel Pentagrammarian Posts: 752 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Here are the images that helped me answer the question, 'What would Nature do?'  _________________ I aim to give pause. |
Posted on 24/03/12 09:04:04 AM |
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Frank
Eager Beaver Posts: 1770 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 394: A touch of frost
Thank Steve, I originally had my ice crystals on the edges longer but decided to cut them back thinking it can't be that cold --- you'd be surprised to see some of the small holes in my backyard that the squirrels get into - that picture gave me the impression the crack may be an inch or so wide -- an easy task for my birdseed thieves Frank Great entries folks. |
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