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Posted on 20/04/12 07:47:10 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7052 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
As always, I'm hugely impressed by the skill, imagination and downright inventiveness of this Forum... who'd have thought a hole in the ground could generate such a wide variety of approaches? First up was Ant Snell, with a fiery pit of hell - and there's the Devil gazing up at us (great angle, by the way) with his fork resting on the side. Terrific flames and smoke - Alien Skin? - but I have a small problem with the fork. Partly because it's so obviously made of plastic, and partly because its shadow is so much denser than the minimal shadows cast by the railing legs. Otherwise excellent! GKB is clearly making up for lost time this week - starting with a fine dolphin shot. There are several details here that really make it work: the surface of the water, rippling against the edge of the paving slabs; the subtle darkening of the surface, showing it to be wet; and the fish lying just beneath the railings. Well conceived, and perfectly accomplished. I like the animals in the second entry, especially with tooquilos's amendment! I especially like the third entry, being something of a 2001 fan. But you need to check the dimensions of the slab - as I recall, it was 1 x 4 x 9, wasn't it? A rare Friday Challenge entry from Ben Boardman, showing the hole to be a secret Chinese missile silo. I like the sign on the side, and the new shadows, and the way the lit-up interior suggests more action beneath. Is there something about the angle of the missile that's not quite right? It seems to be leaning forward slightly - but that may just be a consequence of its slanted top. A great view from Gerard, peering down into a secret office. I imagine this is your own desk, photographed by standing on your chair? I like the briefcase, but its size is rather at odds with the scale of the desk beneath it. And that's that object on the right? I can't quite work it out. A splendid animation from James, with a worker experimenting with sticking a pole in the ground (I like the two different sorts of wiggle here) before being grabbed by a pair of devilish hands and sucked into the earth, leaving just his hat behind. Once again, the sense of natural movement is extraordinary: you've really got the timing just right on this. A good safety manhole from Ben Mills, with a shadowy figure (wearing a cowboy hat?) lurking beneath. Is there a touch of distortion on the manhole and its lid? It doesn't look as if the two could quite fit together. It reminds me of the time I had to do a similar image and did a Google image search for "manhole" - big mistake. I've been trying to get to the bottom of brewell's entry, which appears to be someone sitting on a bed of loft insulation while icing a brick-patterned cake. I have a feeling I'm getting the interpretation wrong! Before I click on one of tooquilos's animations, I always study the still image first to see if I can work out what she's going to do. This time, I was completely baffled... certainly not expecting the coin-operated hand to wind up a jack-in-the-box! Clever - but you do need to watch those over-saturated colours, which are just too strong for comfort. An intricate scene in miniature from Nick Curtain, which would appear to be just a long way off were it not for the fact of the top of the crane breaking the surface. This firmly establishes it as tiny digging people. Interesting how that works. Perfectly blended in, Nick - there's a whole world down there. A spooky image from Frank, nicely constructed using HotChiPs skeletons (glad they're coming in handy!). I like the way they're integrated into the scene - sitting on the edge, hands coming through the bars,,, and the one with high heeled, er, heels is splendid! Good work, Frank. There's a touch of the Black Hole of Calcutta to Mariner's entry, with a captive crowd clearly delighted at being released. I like the way you've added shadows from the railings to match the shadow in the hole - but are they still too brightly lit? Perhaps they need to be even more shaded than this? Once again, munchonu lives up to his Horror Master title with a neat excavation of someone's head. A finely wrought brain, and I like the added distortion on the railings: but shouldn't we see a layer of skull beneath the skin? I think what makes Josephine Harvatt's entry work so well, apart from the perfect matching of the angle, is the fact that the tone of the figure fits so well with the muted tones of the surroundings. Simple, but beautifully accomplished! And what a great expression. A subtle allegory from Jimbean, with the workmen having inadvertently opened Pandora's box - and there they are, all the evils of the world escaping in a green miasma. A very clever idea, nicely realised. An intricate, hand-crafted view from Deb Raskin, looking down on the mouse's front door as the pup (thanks, Google) returns home with a string bag of cheese. Very nicely achieved, Deb - a lot of work has gone into this. A flattened skeleton from aschiewe, very well blended into the earth at the bottom of the hole. I think making the bones slightly more detached would help with the sense of them in the process of being unearthed: are they just too neatly in place at the moment? There's something very nasty coming up from the depths of joeysala's excavation - moles with teeth! The pinkness is especially devilish, and entirely suited to animals best left underground. Scary! A well-made excavation from Vibeke, with nicely conceived onlookers - the boy on the left, with his hand through the railings, is especially convincing. I like the unearthed pot standing on the left, as well. Is the boy on the right too saturated, though? His hair a bit too sharp? A splendid water leak from Deborah Morley, and very topical - here in the UK they've just announced a hosepipe ban, as Britain faces a season of drought (although that does seem at odds with the amount of rain we've had this week). I'd been going to point out that your Wessex Water logo looks nothing like what a real water company would come up with, until I Googled Wessex Water... good grief! What on earth where they thinking? I like the depth in Eva Roth's entry, accentuated by the way the butterflies lose opacity as they disappear into the hole. Tinkerbell works rather well, but if that's Peter Pan, why does he seem to have stained glass wings? A great primeval bog man from Jota120, climbing up out of the ooze. I'd like to see a little more mud spattered over the paving slabs, I think - but otherwise he looks most pleased to be released. A neatly-placed surveyor in the second entry - but what's that yellow line at the top? Very fine bystanders from PDelavigne, who add tremendously to the scene - it's only afterwards that we notice the intricate scene in the hole beneath. THere's a lot of depth to this, and a great sense of discovery - good work! I'm having some difficulty reading marlcliff's entry. A woman who appears to be wearing disposable paper underwear is being spattered with blood from - and that's where I lose you, Phill. Try as I might, I just can't figure out what that red thing is. Are we seeing it through a hole in the concrete? Or is it sitting on top? Help me out here! A terrific piece of digging apparatus from Artwel - great motion blur really adds to the sense of movement. But what really makes this work is the added paving slabs, and the cunningly removed railings. Magnificent! ...and a late entry from Carlo Alessandro Della Valle, showing an archaeologist excavating from just the right angle. The only problem is the lighting on the figure, which shows strong sunlight: shouldn't the railings be casting shadows? Very fine work all round this week. |
Posted on 20/04/12 07:47:13 AM |
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Carlo Alessandro Della Valle
Compositore Eccellente Posts: 100 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Sorry, with that small shovel it might take a while to see what's down there   |
Posted on 20/04/12 08:14:36 AM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 4033 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Absolutely correct. It's size was that of the squares of the first three Prime Numbers. I wouldn't have been able to place the Star Child as easily if I had made it to scale so I cheated. I enjoyed doing this one but could kick myself for not thinking about having Anna climbing through the hole. Excellent addition Anna.  _________________ My neighbour knocked on my door at 2:30am this morning, can you believe that 2:30am?! Luckily for him I was still up playing my Bagpipes. |
Posted on 20/04/12 08:29:13 AM |
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munchonu
Horror Master Posts: 277 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thank you very much steve, never even thought about the skull.....duh Doug |
Posted on 20/04/12 09:39:05 AM |
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brewell
Pixel Pentagrammarian Posts: 752 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
I've changed the title to "The discovery of red velvet cake" Red Velvet Cake is a complicated, delicious traditional cake, which along with Pecan Pie, pretty much defines the top tier of desserts in the American South. _________________ Is it necessary? Does it work? |
Posted on 20/04/12 10:00:09 AM |
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Ant Snell
Specular Specialist Posts: 576 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thanks for your feedback this week Steve (possibly the best feedback to date for me) I did retrospectively spot the shadow issue myself but I had already uploaded by then. I confess I had never heard of Alien Skins (I have just had to Google it). The smoke and flames were just separate layers and I experimented with different blending modes. Thanks Ant |
Posted on 20/04/12 11:06:43 AM |
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Nick Curtain
Model Master Posts: 1768 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thanks Steve Nick |
Posted on 20/04/12 11:07:31 AM |
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marlcliff
Knight of Intrigue Posts: 171 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Cheers Steve sorryfor confusing you it was late last night when the idea of an huge ice cream in the hole and a girl having ice cream on her ... I DID notice the paper underwear lol i gotta find better models or get my facebook girls to pose more lol |
Posted on 20/04/12 11:18:21 AM |
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josephine harvatt
Gag Gadgeteer Posts: 2603 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thank you Steve - I must confess that the angle was just good luck Hi ho! _________________ I'm not really bad - I just draw that way |
Posted on 20/04/12 1:23:55 PM |
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Jimbean
Sparky Shopper Posts: 105 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thanks Steve appreciate the comments. Your so right about the inventiveness of Forum members, what next???  |
Posted on 20/04/12 3:32:44 PM |
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Deb Raskin
Bodywork Boss Posts: 63 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thanks Steve. |
Posted on 20/04/12 4:41:58 PM |
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PDelavigne
Mannequin Mestre Posts: 124 Reply |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
THANKS STEVE ! It's always good to be back in contact with you and the group!!! |
Posted on 23/04/12 4:36:50 PM |
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Eva Roth
Luminous Liberator Posts: 269 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thanks a lot for your comments Steve. I have indeed no idea why Peter Pan has got those stained glass wings... I found him online and that's the way he looked ... should have changed them! |
Posted on 25/04/12 11:10:28 AM |
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tooquilos
Wizard of Oz Posts: 2905 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 398: Keep on digging
Thank you Steve.  Took a while for the inspiration to come on this one but packing up Soph's toys, which includes a Jack in the Box..the idea came to me to include it in the challenge! _________________ Wicked Witch of the West: I'm melting! I'm melting! |
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