themalebob's blog

 Last week talking about the cover for Killing Time - Horror E-Rag(TM) Issue 1-1 ( http://www.batteredspleenproductions.com/store/kthe1-1.htm ) I mentioned about the lamp in the picture. This lamp and much of the positioning of furniture was borrowed from a previous image that I was working on. The lamp has three lights in it in DazStudio. There is a point light to light up the interior of the lamp and acts like the light at the centre of the light bulb. There is a spot light pointing down which casts the shadow of the lower part of the lamp and lights up part of the floor beneath the lamp and cabinet it sits upon. What is not apparent in the Killing Time cover is that there is a third lamp pointing up from the lamp to cast light upon the wall. That third upward pointing light is the most difficult light to fix in the scene and I had yet to place it correctly.

The choice of image for the cover of Killing Time - Horror E-Rag(TM) Issue 1-1 ( http://www.batteredspleenproductions.com/store/kthe1-1.htm ) was an easy one for me to make. I knew there was a story that mentions a woman in a devil costume for Halloween. I knew I had parts to create this woman and her outfit. I will admit this might not have been the first choice for the cover--there is also a story about a woman casting a spell that I already have created most of the image for, but it contains both disturbing imagery and nudity so it ended up falling by the wayside. Still, as can be noted from a quick look at the cover image I did create, there is still a risqué element to the picture. That is a line that I intentionally walk to tantalise without giving too much, both to whet the appetite and to avoid controversy to which I might have to concede.

There is something funny about the creation of this cover and what it displays that might rankle some viewers of the cover. The skirt that the figure is wearing does not properly conform to the figure. After much manipulating and fiddling it was apparent the skirt would not cover the thighs without showing a lot more of the panties and looking like the skirt was flipped up like a piece of cardboard. On a different note, one of the measures I took in composing this image was zooming in the camera to a certain closeness to best display the figure and then moving other items around to fit what would be the final size of the image used within the cover. One of the benefits of this was removing the need to affect how the light from lamp falls upon the wall above the lamp. I'll get into more about that next time.

 This is the first blog entry about my magazine Killing Time - Horror E-Rag™. The natural place to start talking about the experience of creating art for the magazine is with the covers. It starts in DazStudio with the figure, the background, and the poses of each. There are two kinds of posing. One is obvious with the positioning of the limbs of the figure. The other is not quite so readily apparent, and is more about the composition of the shot, if we can look at the render as being an equivalent to a photograph that I have taken as opposed to being set designer, director, and lighting technician. This process is not different than creating any other rendered image, or photograph. What is different, or can be at any rate, is the focus of the image and the constraints involved.

Since this was the cover of a magazine other elements would be added to the image that otherwise would not exist there. Such elements include the header block with the magazine's title. There is also the UPC block for the ISBN and the issue number/information. Lastly are the article titles, which are there both to indicate what is included in the issue but also as a teaser to that content. Finally and less obtrusively, but just importantly, is the company logo at the bottom. These additional elements take up space on the cover and block parts of the image. These have to be compensated for during the composition of the image. It requires a bit of forethought. At the same time I did not layout the text elements to see where I could not place certain parts in the image.

Music: Legions by Stratovarius.

 As I said last week first I wanted to take a look back at 2009 and then take a look forward at what I hope to talk about in 2010. There are some ideas that I already plan to discuss this year. There are surely countless others that may come up this year and on into the future, but I won't know them until they come to me or I find the art, ideas, etc that elicit me to write. That is the nature of creativity and the nature of covering it. As usual sometimes I will write about something I want to do yet, sometimes it will be about what I've already done, and yet sometimes during the writing of one topic I will stumble upon something else I want to write about and create a piece of art based upon as well. I also hope to branch out a little bit this year and get into new and different ideas and medias.

 This is the first time in the new year and new decade that I am posting here. Happy New Year. I thought that I would start off all of the blogs that I write with two special entries. The first is a look back at 2009. The second is a look forward at what I would like to cover in 2010.  There was a fair bit of time off in 2009 on this blog leading to only a few topics that were covered. This number was lessened even more by some of them taking multiple parts while others were a series on a particular topic. There were a few that posed as simple heads ups that there would not be new entries. There was even an attempt at having guest bloggers. Of course that did not go over so well since I know a limited number of artists, at least ones that I was daring enough to approach with the idea.

The earliest entries took a look at creating custom eye maps using what I'd previously learned from mapping spheres into planets. The eyes led back to planets as I explored a way to create planetary revolutions and paths in space by connecting them to a human figure. Next were a couple weeks about photo stitching, which was furnished by Windows Live Gallery. Then I got into designing creatures and going from form to biological function and back. That led to revisiting role-playing game artists with some new faces. Then, out of the blue I popped out a rusted metal mesh tutorial. From there were discussions about strength in simplicity and strength in complexity. The year finished off with an interesting look at negative intensity lights to create darkness in a scene.

It was quite a ride. Next week I'll let you in on what's next to come.

Music: Wait for Me! by Aya Hisakawa.

 A discussion on this blog previously covered the strength of simplicity in an image. Complexity can have its place too. A new image in my gallery titled "Happy Halloween 2009" illustrates this. There are multiple items in the scene outside of the focus of what the picture is meant to convey that add meaning, but could have been left out. Leaving them out of the image would make it simpler and at the same time would take something of the reality away from it. What would it say if it were just a figure in a room with a backdrop outside the window? Would it look like a staged scene like that in a department store display window? Are these items not as important as the pose of the figure and the ambience of the lights?

What is the importance of the knife and the goblet? What is the use of the bowl and the dark glass decanter? Do the washbasin and cabinet along with the furnace and chimney set the time period? The cobwebs certainly say something about the scene. These are the items that add to the complexity of the image. They also give the scene a sense of verisimilitude. The light is not what would be naturally expected for the location or the hinted time period. When coupled with the figure's pose that odd light says something about what is going on in the image. So what of the unnatural figure outside the window? Is it the result of what is going on in the shack or is it drawn there by the events unfolding inside? All of this builds a more complex, well-rounded, strong, image.

Music: One Tin Soldier by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

 Today I have for you special guest blogger, Richard H. Fay. I met Richard on Facebook and immediately took note of his art. It had a certain feel to it, a mood that was very inline with my own sense of aesthetics. I like his line work, the contrast styles, and couldn't have been more pleased than when he mentioned he could write an article on how creates his art by hand first then works on it with the computer. Here is his gracious provided and insightful article. Be sure to check out the links to more of his work.

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Yes, it's Thanksgiving in Canada today. To those in the US, have a Happy Columbus Day.

Music: I.R.S. by Guns N' Roses.

 Recently a tutorial came to my attention through Twitter. It was for text done in metal shades and corroded. It used functions in PhotoShop that I do not have access to in my old version of PaintShop, and are not present in free programs like GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). I set about duplicating their effect as best I could. What I have come up with is slightly different, but I hope just as impressive. Here it is.