Starlac - composition

[lupercal]

Just wanted to say I appreciated the composition in your profile and highlight images. Having done hundreds of the things, I know how hard it can be to get what you want into the frame - especially the highlights (the ones that appear in the 'just added' slot) - usually a problem with getting enough vertical information in.

Obviously someone has taught you, or you have an instinctive grasp of the Law of Thirds. Excellant example was the profile picture for the recent Lupin movie addition.

I do my best, but it's hard when you have to rely on what you can scrounge off the net, and sometimes it might only be one image.

Loop

[starlac]

Thanks lupercal, it’s always nice knowing your peers like your work. I was just hoping that my work was up to the standards of everyone else's.

I was taught how to frame and composed an image and the basic principles of photography when I was doing my design course. One of the more intriguing things we had to do was make a collage and then draw a blown-up section of it.

In animation, one of the first things you are taught is that people will instinctively look at heads (particularly the eyes) and hands first; So I’ve always looked for images with strong expressions and poses.

I always asking how much of the image is relevant, how much could I safety cut without damaging the essence of the whole, is there a better image in the film. Most importantly could someone identify the film etc, that the image is from, or could it be mistaken for something else.

Ironically widescreen films have this problem the other way round, with the profile image losing much more information horizontally than the highlight does vertically.

And I know what you mean about Internet images… I want to replace the “Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat” images, to something that shows off the surreal nature of the series more.

[lupercal]

Every single one of my images is from the web. In some cases they were the only ones I could find. And they were 70 pixels wide or something. So I had to enlarge it (or shrink it) till I could get the right amount of horizontal information in it, and then fudge extra bits at the sides that looked like they were part of the original (a clone brush usually)

Some there weren't even any pics on the web. I've scanned the back of a video cassette slick and I've even taken a digital photo off the TV.

Si until I get a DVD drive I'm afraid my quality is going to be falling below yours for anything obscure. I should get organised but I'm inclined to use computers until they stop working. This one I had for 3 years before I actually started using it!

Loop

[starlac]

:shocked: That's amazing I've never would have guessed. Off the video cover itself, clone brushing; and having to enlarge some of the images, the most difficult thing to get right there is... wow.

My computer is a mishmass of different aged elements, very little of it new. The main bulk of my computer is over four years old and some of the other parts are, I'm guessing are six years old at the very least.

BTW: I'm going to be away and I won't be able to reply to anything till next Friday at the latest... Bye.:hi:

[lupercal]

Hope you had a good time, assuming you were taking a week off to have a good time, and not to beat your head against a puclic building in The Ukraine,

re what we were talking about, the highlight image for Dot and the Kangaroo was made from the video cover as seen in the merchandise scans. There aren't any screencaps out there.

Loop

[MonkeyFunk]

Jerry Beck's book Animation Art has some Dot screencaps in it; I could scan them for you if ya want.

[lupercal]

Thanks; I think it looks decent enough as is - I'lll leave it to Athena, as she prefers the shots be actual screenshots rather than promotional shot s where possible.

Loop