| » Forum Index » The Friday Challenge » Topic: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog |
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Posted on 02/11/06 03:47:44 AM |
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Pierre
Constructional Confabulator Posts: 637 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Flash! Cool! The Friday Challenge on animated GIFs has really made a mark on you! Welcome back!  _________________ |
Posted on 02/11/06 04:12:55 AM |
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raffy
Guest Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thanks,Pierre!It's a hoot!I'm starting an intro course in flash 8 on Saturday at LVS Online! Looooove your pumpkin soup!Looks like it's a spicey one!  _________________ Dogs have masters;Cats have staff. |
Posted on 02/11/06 08:48:30 AM |
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james
Surreal Spoofer Posts: 1194 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Pushing my luck a little.  |
Posted on 03/11/06 09:20:59 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 6935 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Loads of atmosphere this week, as we'd expect from a Halloween theme. Good to see so many of you have taken on board the smoke tutorials from last week - it was certainly needed here. First into the pot was mguyer, with a skull boiling up a treat at some kind of black tie dinner. The chap behind the cauldron (cough, cough) seems to be missing his (cough) legs, and do you (cough cough) think perhaps there's a little too much (cough) smoke? And the flames in the second entry could be a little brighter! Looks to me like all the taste has boiled out of that skull, Marty. A great liquid effect in the third entry though! A great political spin from GKB but too earths? Couldn't one of them have been the moon? Great lava, though, and the shadows beneath the cauldron area very neat. A fine monster in 2bfree's post, with some good flames licking around the side of the cauldron and some evil-looking contents. Good perspective, here, and placing the cauldron behind the foreground rocks does place it in the scene well. I like the second entry a lot, but some more shadows needed uner the crows and the cauldron! A well spotted similarity from Neal: you'd expect a cauldron in a movie about wizard, after all. And, of course, slipping Bush in there really makes the thing sing. Glad you remembered the flat tip to the nose! I love the frog in Ben Mills' entry: I've long wanted to boil that little critter. A good translucent quality to the green liquid, and the grasshopper is a nice touch. Best of all is the subtle blending around the base of the cauldron: there's just a hint of a red hot bottom there. The two bottles look a little artificial, though - their angle of view is very different to the cauldron. A dazzling, textural entry from Tom, who has really gone overboard on the Plastic Wrap this week. A gorgeously lit background, for sure, and you really must check out the high res view of the cauldron. Amazing detail, with wonderful bubbles and body parts. Fabulous! Babybiker has given us a cabin filled with ghoulish accoutrements, all shaded and placed in perspective with great skill. I particularly like the green glow on the ceiling emanating from the cauldron: a very nice touch, which really makes it look luminous. And good to see the original photo for comparison. And a beautiful rainbow in the second entry! A wonderful set of eyeballs from dave.cox - you've certainly raided the spare parts cupboard for those. And the mushrooms are an interesting choice of accompaniment! The flames seem a little dull, though - I'd be tempted to boost the contrast significantly on those. And why such a sunny background? Ah, those skeletons again... good to see them being put to such good use in james' entry. There's plenty going on here, and a lot of work has gone into this montage; when there are so many elements, it's more important than ever to make sure they all blend together. There's always a temptation to make everything you put into an image stand out; but with the eyes in the background, and the cauldron in the foreground, the skeletons distract from the focus. Try knocking them back to make the composition work better: 
A most entertaining second entry, James, with great colour matching and a fine expression on the man's face. Very neat work! And an entertaining (if slightly bizarre) third entry. Is she in the government? A fine, atmospheric piece from pauline, with an excellent ghost and a skeleton that's neatly fitted into the cauldron. Some fine hand drawn flames there, too! A great piece, Pauline. Excellent glows from j.harvatt, and I like the slight motion blur where the lid is falling off. Not entirely sure about the stars - too crisp, do you think? And the man in the cauldron seems a little too cheerful! A great, busy montage from michael sinclair, with plenty of aquatic action. The barely visible face of the drowning man is a neat touch here - but watch the masking on those hands! They're disappearing into the lifebelt! A beautiful first entry from bluOrange, with many textural layers building up a strong image. The gloopy liquid and pentacle on the cauldron are excellent, and the light emanating from it is subtly achieved. If you're going to use the same bird seven times, though, it's well worth rebuilding that missing wing tip first! But an excellent piece of work - welcome to the forum! We're very used to photo realism from vibeke, and it's good to see some real fantasy creeping in here. Great poses and expressions, and the zoom blur adds a good sense of dynamism to the image. Family barbecues will never be the same again! An excellent entry from BigVern: a really good monster, great eyes and perfect shadows. Replacing the side of the cauldron where the lid has been repositioned has been expertly achieved - a very competent image altogether. Classy. Beautiful glows from Pierre, with excellent glowing liquid and a well submerged pumpkin. Very restrained and tasteful work! Some beautiful texture and lighting from Deborah Morley, with great glowing eyes in a really convincing montage. I especially like the Photoshop icon badge on Jamie Oliver, which has been perfectly made to look like it's part of the clothing. Excellent! A good moody image from Eggbox, with a neatly placed witch and a couple of convincing bats. I like the addition of the cat, but feel it's a little too blue for its surroundings: warm this layer up with a little red and yellow, and it will blend in perfectly. Wayne has given us a spooky, evocative piece created with great subtlety: i particularly like the glowing dust falling from the witch's hand. Are the flames a little too dark, though? Up the contrast! A very painterly approach from Toby, with excellent lighting and a great composition. What was the starting image on this one? I'd really like to see how this was put together! A cute image from Steve Mac, with a great sense of moonlight on the floor and good shading. The flames seem a little too yellow, but the hand drawn robes on the skeleton work a treat. Good to see that Raffy has finally got into Flash animation! It was only a matter of time, given the amount of animation we've seen recently. Nice work - but i really want those foreground flames to flicker as well! |
Posted on 03/11/06 09:45:22 AM |
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josephine harvatt
Gag Gadgeteer Posts: 101 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thanks as ever Steve, for your thoughtful and perceptive comments. The pc is ailing and will have to go into hospital for a week or so but I hope to be back again shortly. _________________ I'm not really bad - I just draw that way |
Posted on 03/11/06 10:12:39 AM |
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james
Surreal Spoofer Posts: 1194 Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thank you Steve. You illustrate the point perfectly. |
Posted on 03/11/06 10:15:08 AM |
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Deborah Morley
Makeover Magician Posts: 1319 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Yes, as ever thanks for your comments and for your time in doing this. |
Posted on 03/11/06 11:40:36 AM |
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unitytrinity
* Posts: 6 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
I love the image. The world cracked is cool with the hollow interior effect. Really good job.
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Posted on 03/11/06 12:14:19 PM |
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unitytrinity
* Posts: 6 Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
really good image work. The blending is awsome |
Posted on 03/11/06 12:14:37 PM |
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unitytrinity
* Posts: 6 Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
really good image work. The blending is awsome |
Posted on 03/11/06 12:14:47 PM |
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unitytrinity
* Posts: 6 Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
really good image work. The blending is awsome |
Posted on 03/11/06 12:28:05 PM |
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GKB
Magical Montagist Posts: 3882 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Hi Steve, Thanks for the comments (and yours too unitytrinity). Sorry I was being a bit deep on the 'ashes to ashes dust to dust' theme with the two earths. |
Posted on 03/11/06 1:09:57 PM |
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toby
Guest Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Here you go Steve, this is my starting image. I seem to spend far to long searching for images on the net and not enough time working in Photoshop. Can you help with this, it takes me many attempts to reduce to the 100KB max for the forum. What is the best way to do this? |
Posted on 03/11/06 1:12:48 PM |
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toby
Guest Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Second Try! Hopefully this time with the image. Here you go Steve, this is my starting image. I seem to spend far to long searching for images on the net and not enough time working in Photoshop. Can you help with this, it takes me many attempts to reduce to the 100KB max for the forum. What is the best way to do this?  |
Posted on 03/11/06 1:13:00 PM |
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Wayne
Printer’s Devil Posts: 312 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thanks Steve. As always, your comments are appreciated |
Posted on 03/11/06 1:40:19 PM |
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Wayne
Printer’s Devil Posts: 312 Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Doh! Steve, after reading your comment about the flames, I thought I'd try increasing the contrast as you suggested. Only to discover the flames layer was at 68% opacity (I reduced to allow easier layer masking and forgot to put it back up!) Doh! Again. Here's a before and after  |
Posted on 03/11/06 3:08:16 PM |
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Tom
Texture Technologist Posts: 401 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thanks for the comments Steve and unity. Toby, use Photoshop's Save For Web to reduce file size and dimensions. |
Posted on 03/11/06 3:42:52 PM |
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raffy
Guest Reply |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thanks,Steve!Good idea!That was my first unassisted effort,and I went almost nuts doing it the "hard way"!But I start a course tomorrow,and hopefully I won't have to have my e-mail forwarded to the Funny Farm! _________________ Dogs have masters;Cats have staff. |
Posted on 03/11/06 6:04:36 PM |
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vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2157 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Coulnd't see the link to the original. Best way to get the image size down, is to 'Save for Web' in Photoshop, select 'Image Size' probably between 700 - 900 pixels for the longest side. Then reduce 'Quality' probably around 60%. Play around with it until you get the image down to under 100k. The exact setting depend on hom much detail there is in you original image. |
Posted on 03/11/06 7:04:06 PM |
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Steve Mac
Grunge Genie Posts: 539 Reply  |
Re: Contest 120: Eye of newt, toe of frog
Thanks for the feedback Steve. I've been trying to study the flames of others to get a better sense of realism. Great inspiration from all this week. I learned a lot! Thanks! _________________ Steve Mac |
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