#i cleaned up these and added little backgrounds (portrait style)
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ANNE'S ART ATRIUM: COMMISSION SHEET 2024
► NEWS
Slots for February: 0/4
SINGLE CHARACTER COMMISSIONS are 50% OFF until June 2024 or until further notice!
► ABOUT ME
Hi, I'm Anne! I'm a writer and artist from the Philippines. I love fashion, fantasy, and bright colors in my art, and if you fancy my style, please consider me for your next commission!
► MY SERVICES
Please check back here once in a while to check if other types of services are available!
Palette Busts
This is a style wherein I only color-pick from a limited range of palettes to create a character bust. You may specify your preference of colors, symbols, and motifs to include in the piece. (You may request for cell shade, soft shade, or both.) Turnaround time is around 2-5 hours or 1-2 business days.
$25 - A palette bust with one character.
Character Art
This is a regular piece of character art for your OC, your faves, or both. Turnaround time is around 2-8 hours or 1-3 business days.
$30 - Bust
$45 - Half body
$60 - Full body
Character Outfits
I love fashion, so let me help you give more wardrobe options to your character! This will come as a full body option. Turnaround time is around 5-8 hours or 2-3 business days.
$45 - A single character outfit. Comes with the character in sketch and the outfit in clean sketch. Flat colors will be applied to the piece.
+ 50% - Alt versions that come in the same style.
Custom Character
Want a quick ref for your character? Need your mind blorbo to finally have a portrait? Customs are the way to go! Here I will assist you through the process of creating a character! Turnaround time is 1 month real time.
$ 75 - Front view
+ $30 - Back view
+ $15 - Expressions
+ $15 - Extra details
Add-Ons
Want some extra options? Here are the add-ons I can offer:
+ 30% extra character - All prices listed above are based on only one character. Not applicable for outfits or customs.
+ 50% clean lineart - I will add a clean lineart like my avatar in the comm sheet above.
+ $5 simple background - It will be as simple as the ones you see on my comm sheet.
+ 50% detailed background - While I do not have samples on hand, these backgrounds will be referenced and hand-drawn like your character. Not applicable for outfits or customs.
- 50% sketch - For half the price, I will give you a clean sketch.
???% complexity fee - Depending on how detailed your piece will be, I will add to or subtract from your total cost.
Nope List
This includes things I will outright refuse to draw. The short of why is confidence, faster turnaround time, prevention of burnout, and a wish to show my folks my work.
Feral and mecha
Background only
Romance and sexual
Semi and full nudity
Gore and body horror
Hate and political art
Select fan content
► COMMISSION PROCESS
If you are interested in a commission, please DM me! You may provide as many or as little references as you got, since I can work with or without them. I will also give you an estimate final price and due date.
Once I agree to take the commission, your piece will go through 4 phases:
Sketch - You will have 2 or 3 rough sketches to give you an idea of what I will draw. Pick from the sketches for me to render, or suggest one (1) completely new posing idea.
Blocking Render - The sketch you choose will be cleaned and its pose/s fixed.
Color Render - The lineart will now have colors, highlights, and shadows.
Final Render - A final few layers of effects will be added to the piece.
My turnaround time for a piece is about 3-8 business hours (2-3 days) from the time you approve a sketch.
During the blocking and color render stage, I will provide an update during which to let you know how far along I am. You may request up to 3 major revisions during which. Major revisions include:
Pose
Hairstyle
Outfit
Composition
However, once your piece reaches the final render stage, I will only entertain minor revisions. Minor revisions include:
Color corrections
Brightness/contrast
Basically anything you can do on your first photo editor software
During the commission process, please feel free to bump your message, reach out for concerns, or chat a bit if you'd like! You will be informed of estimated dates of completion, delays, and other concerns.
However, harassment over my work speed, art style, and terms of service will not be tolerated and result in your piece getting deprioritized, put on hold, or cancelled without a refund. The same applies for when you cease communication with me within one month without prior notice.
While I draw during nighttime, I have my DMs open during the day. I officially take Sundays and Mondays off, so inquiries during this period will be ignored until Tuesdays.
► PAYMENT
My payment channels are through Paypal (international) and GCash (Philippines) only. My prices already cover Paypal and other fees, so the price I charge is the money you pay.
I will expect 50% payment from the time of acceptance until the sketch stage. Please note that until I get the initial payment, your commission will be put on hold.
I will expect the other 50% when I give the final render. Tips are not mandatory, but they are appreciated. Failure to pay the other 50% will result in a ban.
Special Prices:
You can pay 200% of the price upfront for a priority order, provided that you inform me of a reasonable due date.
You can avail a kababayan discount if you pay with GCash.
Refund Policy
You are eligible for refunds provided that:
We had a conversation
I agreed to the commission
You already paid
You are not harassing me, and
A desire to cancel from either you (prior to being given sketches) or me (at any given point in time).
► USAGE TERMS
The act of commissioning me means that you have read and agreed to my usage terms.
I retain the rights to publish commissioned pieces on my social media and portfolios, unless discussed beforehand. I also reserve the right to decline a commission for any reason.
Commissioned pieces may be posted on your social media and other online galleries. For credits, please use "AnneLaurant" or "annelaurant.tumblr.com". Credits are appreciated but not mandatory.
Commissioned pieces and in-progress previews will be hosted on my end up until 1 month from the time I finish a piece. By agreeing to this, it will be assumed that I can delete these works from my storage and you have retrieved and hosted your commissioned piece on your storage.
Commissioned pieces can be requested to be put under an NDA. You must state this prior to the sketch stage. Failure to state this intent means that you agree to have your commissioned piece automatically published on my socials.
Commissioned pieces by default is assumed to be for personal use only and therefore will come with my watermark. You may not remove this watermark in any form of image editing, e.g. cropping, erasing, superimposition, photomanipulation, etc.
Commissioned pieces without my watermark can be requested. Failure to state this intent means that you agree to have your commissioned piece automatically published with my watermark.
Art commissions for commercial use is subject to discussion and a commercial use fee of additional 100-200% of the original price.
Use of commissioned pieces as your "own work" will result in a ban.
Use of commissioned pieces for resale, NFTs and crypto, and data asset training will result in a ban.
Use of commissioned pieces to promote hateful and inappropriate behavior will result in a ban.
If you received a ban, your commissioned pieces may be subject to removal from my socials and portfolios.
If you have commissioned me prior to an update of the usage terms, the new terms will still apply - with very rare and limited exceptions.
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Do you have any drawing tips?
•When it comes to digital art, if you struggle making lines clean or sharp enough, using a textured brush erases that struggle because the whole point is not being clean or sharp.
^left is obvious where mistakes were made and had to be erased, looks choppy and needs cleaned up. right does not need cleaned up much. saves time and energy!
•if a drawing looks a little too bland or unfinished, but you don't know what else to do about it, adding a texture overlay does a lot, especially for solid backgrounds
•For both traditional and digital artists, do👏art👏studies👏. No, this doesn't mean sign up for expensive art classes, it means spend a page in a sketchbook just practicing one thing. So instead of drawing say, a character portrait like usual, have a page that's just full of hands in different poses (use references! Very important for studies!)
2016 example, but you can tell which ones had references (hint: only 3 of them did,but they're way better than the rest)
the only recent example I had was an unfinished page of bird skulls :/
Which brings me toooo
Learning to draw realistic skeletons can also really help with anatomy, if your character looks wonky, think "could a skeleton fit in there?"
Thinking abt how their skeleton looks can help notice things like the eyes being too high up or the mouth being too low, or having no room for a brain
*this is not a dig at people with this style! It's okay to have more exaggerated features and you don't need to draw realism! The skeleton rule does not apply to cartoony characters obviously. Just some advice from someone that used to put the mouth too low all the time
•if you get stuck where you feel like you aren't improving, try different art styles out.
•If you have art block and don't know what to draw, try the 'dtiys' or 'draw this in your style' tags and pick something there, or do screenshot redraws from games or shows
•If you usually listen to music when you draw but it's just not doing it atm, switch to something like long YouTube commentary videos or documentaries, and vise versa. Sometimes the brain wants music, sometimes it wants information or gossip. When you get burned out from one go to the other
•this applies to traditional and digital art too! If you have art block on one medium, switch to another! If digital isn't working, grab a pencil or paintbrush, or play with some clay! Sometimes the brain isn't bored of art, it's just bored of the medium.
•If you're trying realism and struggling, break it down to simple rules.
And I don't mean the shape thing everyone suggests, I mean things like "the inner corner of the eye lines up with the mouth, the outer corner of the eyes lines up with the ears, your nose bridge leans into your eyebrows, feet are the same length as your elbow to your wrist, use the collar bone to guide the shoulder position, the armpit curves into the breast, etc.
*this doesn't apply to everyone or every expression! Remember the mouth moves around and comes in all shapes, it's a very loose "rule", and people's eyes aren't always the same distance or angle, just keep the ear around that general eye area
Glasses test: can your character wear glasses?
carlos passes glasses test-
a better rule for mouths is to imagine smile lines, even if whoever youre drawing doesnt have wrinkles, theyre a good guide for mouth placement
•doing color palette challenges can help practice composition and shading with abnormal colors, and helps understand color theory
•for digital, you can overlay colors over a drawing to make the palette more uniform. Don't be shy abt messing around with it
•Watch speedpaints! Watch pencil animation clips! It helps
•don't be afraid to use your art supplies. Ik the struggle of "but I don't wanna waste it", but that paint will go bad if you keep it on a shelf for years! Use it already! Doodle in the "fancy" sketchbook! Yolo!!
•use cyan and magenta for mixing paint, not blue and red. The "primary colors" rule doesn't always apply to all mediums.
•keep your old art! Do not tear it up or throw it out just because you're not proud of it, it's cool to reflect or even redraw it years down the line (backup your digital art somewhere, even the ones not posted online because your computer could just die one day for no reason and take everything with it. It sucks)
•IF you sketch on paper and then digitalize it later, you can draw the pieces seperately and photoshop them together. So dont worry if you drew a really good hand but it's at the slightly wrong angle, or too far away from the body. You can put it where it needs to be without having to erase and redraw it
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HOW I DRAW MY PORTRAITS (long post below)
so I thought it would be fun to talk about how I actually make art. first, these are the main two apps I use:
both offer a subscription type service but you seriously do NOT need to pay for them. I don’t and they’re still relatively useable. for traditional art I take pictures of the piece in daylight and bring it into picsart, and use their copy/paste tool to remove things like pencil marks and such to make it look smoother. for my digital art I use my finger on the touchscreen of my phone on picsart.
my process (using most recent art as the example):
I always always start portraits with a reference image of someone that is close to what i imagine for the character. most of my traditional art (which doesn’t really got posted online) is realism, my stylised art is sort of a mesh of semi realism and comics. having a real base to work from gives me a good idea of placement of features and such. I never make a sketch layer, I just start with line art and clean it as I go with the erase tool. I prefer square brushes because the thicker geometric lines are more satisfying for me visually.
I put very little shadows in my line art, reserving it for the darkest areas. over time I have picked up traits from others artists as well (see three lashes, blocked in upper lip). I think for new artists trying to find their style it’s important to know that we all adopt things from eachother. I struggled to settle into a style because I was trying to find something completely unknown (newsflash: not possible). I also usually don’t give my portraits eye colours, so eyes are finished on the first layer.
next I make a new layer beneath my line art and begin the skin tone. I colour pick from real photos of someone with the skin tone I would like so the tones are accurate. general areas of shadow that I include are the eyes, nose, under the lip, cheekbones, under the neck and ears (and sometimes hairline). though I didn’t do it in this image, I sometimes use a lighter tone along the bridge of the nose and in the middle of the eyelid.
clothes! this is pretty simple. I prefer using muted colours for these
Any small details in a separate layer above the piece. I also tweak the line art in this layer.
Next is hair and any outside details. It’s helpful for me to draw hair as one large chunk before adding strands and pieces that point out
Finally, background. For portraits I like to do monotone solid backgrounds. I will either use a complimentary colour to the clothing or if the character has a certain colour theme I will use that
Finally, I import the drawing into picsart and apply the ‘noise’ filter to give it some texture. Finished drawing is on my blog :D <3
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Thumbnailing: Subject's Way
Thumbnails are an important workflow tool artists use to make creating their works more efficient. They are essentially tiny, low detail versions of the idea you may have in mind, and save time by helping you catch potential compositional errors, clashing colors in palettes(if you blob some colors on), and poses that simply might not.. work in character art as well as many other things not mentioned.
I am a very visual person and sometimes putting ideas to paper really helps me focus better on the task at hand. Organizing things into steps on the page really helps me not get overwhelmed. It might prove helpful to you as well.
In this tutorial, I'll take you through my workflow process when planning paintings and simple character illustrations.
I start off the process by doing a ton of sketches of whatever thing from many angles, poses, etc. Usually if I have a certain image in mine I simply sketch that and adjust little things like angle, placement of limbs, etc. Work teeny tiny, you can enlarge it later. I,t really depends on what the goal is for that piece what the process looks like. Here the goal was to just draw a character, so I have many options.
environment sketches look a bit different for me, as I will sketch them in literal cubes. I am still working through the technique. I just haven't gotten good enough at them yet to consider a tutorial by me would be helpful to anyone though.
Like with piece D, it's good to plan compositional elements here too. I added the moon that would go in the eventual background, swords in the hands of B and E, etc. Had I had more time, F would have gotten rough roses, but I digress.
After I have base sketches, I do very rough lines so I know what I'm looking at, and it primes me for what I could possibly have issues with in doing the final. I keep it VERY loose and don't dwell too much on details. If I'm drawing a character, I'm not even going to look up references, unless their silhouette is very complex. There is not much need for accuracy here. Just to nail down your subject's silhouette.
At this point, you can start eliminating which poses you don't want. Here I was very indecisive so I went through with sketching all of them.
At this step ill also take the time to plan variants if I feel like I would be indecisive about them/need them for certain platforms (optional).
Here's where things start to actually take the form of thumbnails. I work large and draw most of the anatomy of the subject so that things are positioned correctly in the frame. Draw the whole of something, even if you know it's going to get cropped out. There is nothing worse than trying to draw in a way that is already cropped, it messes up your anatomy bad, and you'll spend more time trying to fix it, especially if you are just starting out as an artist.
Physically drawing a box around them to help with framing is really good to help plan the composition of the final piece. Again, you can eliminate stuff here as well if they don't make interesting compositions. Consider the rule of thirds and how much breathing room you want or need in your piece. The one not in a box was eliminated because I didn't like the pose nor would it make a very interesting piece.
I also use different colors on the boxes so I can overlap them and keep my eyes from getting confused where one "drawing" ends and one begins.
If I'm planning portraits/art in my painterly style, I'll take the time to block in some colors just to see what I should shoot for in the final. I will also do several pairings of colors in their own sets of thumbnails if the piece needs it/i want varients. I highly suggest blobbing so that you can see how potential colors will play with one another. Learning the teeniest bit of color theory will help, I promise, but for now, i'lI'lll refrain from the mini-lecture.
these three two (you'll see), I figured would make better cel-shaded/quicker pieces due to how zoomed out they are, any true details I would want to focus on don't exactly work for my current style faraway. Be sure to tailor compositions that suit your style. I will be keeping these sketch ideas for future reference.
It's important to remember that just because an idea doesn't get used in this piece, that doesn't mean it can't be used in a further piece down the road. I actually have a horrible habit of deleting my thumbnails after I'm done with them, but if I'm thumbnailing in a sketchbook? I find myself browsing back over them for future pieces to get some rough ideas of what could work later.
One last thing, you don't have to plan as many thumbnails as I did, but I do suggest at least 3 or 4 to really stretch your creativity.
Thumbnails also make for a good warm-up. If you're curious, I did the initial sketches in this order: A C E D B F. I think it helped me loosen up a bit, but you can be the judge of that.
I went back and tried another approach for a painting, but now I have the base for 3 paintings I could pursue, albeit rough, but it's good to learn how to paint like a sculptor, I digress.
That's all there is to it. the key is being clean enough to get the idea down, but rough enough to save time. work small, using basic shapes to create silhouettes. You can enlarge it later and use it as a base sketch.
Last two cents: I've also learned that sometimes if a piece is just not working, it's probably more than likely a compositional issue, anatomy, or perspective, Which is why thumbnailing can help you catch these issues early.
happy drawing :)
a/n: this is my first time really creating a tutorial. this might not be groundbreaking information for some of you and that's okay. this tutorial was initially created for someone in an art server I'm in on Discord, hence the slide-text-slide format. I have taken the images and text from that and compiled them here to make it easier to pick up the tips. I do not consider myself a pro on any of the things mentioned by any means, merely my take on it all. Get multiple sources, educate yourself, practice, and find what works for you. - Sub
#its not perfect#but i hope it helps#tutorial#composition#digital art#digital illustration#digital painting#reference#art tutorial#art#sketch#thumbnails#illustration#medibang paint#medibangpaint#digital drawing#drawing
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YO!
Hi! 😊
I don't know about you guys, but I think it's time to catch up with our dear friends in the Toppat!Charles AU.
Part 7 was SOOO long, and I will try to pack in as much as I can without excluding an outro.
LAST TIME ON THE TOPPAT!CHARLES SHOW: (Old timey 1920's reporter voice) Terrence Suave escaped the CCC in order to find Henry and convince him to help break Reginald Copperbottom out of The Wall. Although their attempt was successful, Dmitri attacked and almost killed Henry, who was saved by his father at the last minute. Meanwhile, Charles is getting used to his place as leader, even if the reception is a little frosty.
(Back to normal) Of course, if you want the FULL background, here are the previous parts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
With all that out of the wag, LET'S GET BACK INTO IT!!!!
CRAZY JUMPCUT WARNING, IT'S ABOUT TO GET CRAZY!!!
We open on the Toppat orbital station as Charles and Right get an emergency call from Burt: there's a broadcast coming from Earth that's just for them.
On Earth, Henry holds Reginald by his arm, tight enough to keep a hold on him yet loose enough to not bruise. So far, all they have is white noise, but a thumbs up from the general in the next room tells them that this is working.
On the orbital station, Charles and Right watch the white noise as well, but do hear a voice, wven though it's extremely garbled.
"-Arles? ...Righ- ...Man? -You hear m-?"
Back in Earth, Henry clears his throat and tries again.
"Charles? Right Hand Man? It's Henry Stickmin. Can you hear me?"
It takes a minute or so that feels like forever, but the feed becomes clear and shows Charles and Right standing side by side, Charles annoyed as all hell and Right being smug. Neither see Reginald yet because Henry is holding him just out of the camera's sight.
"'Ello again. Miss us already?"
Henry glares into the camera and signs with one hand.
Already knowing sign Charles translates, "Barely. I have a present for you, though."
Henry nods and pulls Reg into the fame, and Right's smug face drops INSTANTLY.
Reginald's time in The Wall has inded taken its toll. His hair, despite regular washing, is still insanely greasy and messy. His moustache is messy too from no time being given to care for it. He's thin, too, thinner than Terrence Suave is, thinner than CHARLES. (For context, Terrence has only lost fifteen pounds, though the augmentations make him tremendously heavy, Charles has lost about twenty-seven pounds, and Reginald has lost nearly forty pounds since his imprisonment.)
Reg gasps at seeing Right, especially the augmentations that follow Right's emotions as he leans forward and closer to the screen.
He pulls out of Henry's grip to try to get closer, even though there's a screen and millions of miles between them.
"Reg!"
"Right Hand Man!? You're alive! How!?"
Right's smile of relief turns to a snarl as he turns his attention back to Henry.
"You son of a BITCH, Stickmin!"
Henry pulls Reginald away from the screen and signs again, Charles translating for him.
"'Eye for an eye. If you want him back...'"
Charles is silent as Henry keeps signing for a little bit, giving a location to meet him.
He only glares at Henry, extremely offended.
"He wants to meet in the desert. The one close to the CCC headquarters. Where we arrested the previous leader."
Henry nods.
Right is about to speak, but Charles steps in front of him and pushes him back.
"And if we don't agree?"
Henry points a finger gun at Reginald, though the threat is pretty reluctant in his eyes. 'Execution.'
Right a mini panic and Charles smirks, especially when Right cuts in.
"Fine! Deal! We'll meet you there tomorrow! Just don't hurt him!"
Henry nods and signs, 'Tomorrow.'
With that, and a few moments of tense staring with Charles, the transmission ends.
Henry sighs and signs to the general and Ellie from behind a window, 'Now we wait.'
"What's your plan now?" Galeforce asks. "What're you going to do?"
Henry makes a rectangle with his hands and then a sort of "opening-closing" gesture.
'Box.'
ON THE TOPPAT ORBITAL STATION!!!!
Charles is roaming the halls, examining portraits of past clan leaders. He hasn't gotten his own yet, but neither has Right. He's mostly looking at Randy Radman.
"That one was one of the best leaders," Right muses from Charles's side. "Got it worse, though. 'Ad a fist fight with gold gun right there." He points to Terrence's portrait. "Knocked 'im out where he stood and made 'im fall into a propeller, back when we used the airship. I remember 'ow 'e laughed afterward. Thought 'e lost 'is marbles. Reg and I 'ad to clean 'im out a few days later."
Charles is silent when Right finishes, only coughing a little bit. After about a minute, he speaks up.
"Guess you're done with me?"
Right shrugs. "As much as I like you, I like Reg a little more."
Charles clenches a fist as Right continues.
"I'm getting 'im back and no one's stopping me. Sorry, kid, but I'm givin' you back. You've been 'ere long enough."
Charles fights the rage boiling inside of him and forces a smile. "I thought you'd kill me when I overstayed my welcome."
Right smirks back. "I like Reg even more alive. Thought crossed my mind from time to time, though."
Charles nods and leaves, claiming he's going to say goodbye to the room and cell he was in, finding some closure there.
Right looks over to Reginald's portrait and gets a sorrowful look on his face as he places a non-cybernetic hand on the painting.
"Soon. Sorry it took so long, Reg."
Back with Charles, though, he storms into his room and has an Aaron Burr "Your obedient servant" brooding moment.
He's been kidnapped, starved, beaten, tortured, and forced to join the Toppat Clan, he has pneumonia and needs to use eye drops, and now he's just being tossed around like a hot potato?
You can see why something like this would piss him off.
Unlike Henry's leadership, however, there's no one to back up Charles.
He gets to his room and throws his hat at the window and trashes his room.
After he's done and has worn himself out, he spots a gun on his desk and smiles, the greatest plan forming in his broken mind
If that's how you want to play, let's do this.
BACK ON EARTH!!!!!!
Henry is chilling in a box that can hold him comfortably, thinking out a plan of escape should the meeting go wrong.
The execution threat on Reginald seemed to work wonders, but there could be a chance Right backs out on this deal and holds on to Charles, just one of the possibilities that could happen. Ellie and Terrence will be joining them for the hostage swap, another precaution in case shit hits the fan.
Speaking if Terrence, Henry gets a knock from the outside of the box and he pops out to see his father giving him weird eyes.
"Guess... THIS is your plan?"
'It might be, if all goes wrong.'
Terrence shakes his head. "Knowing that poodle, he's not giving you any trouble, not with his master on the line."
Henry looks away from him and shakily nods.
"How're you feeling, by the way? Your hand getting better?"
Henry checks his hand, which is in a cast, and nods. 'Yeah. Just needs a little bit to heal.'
"Good." Terrence lightly smacks Heney on the head. "Smart thinking, by the way. Taking on the warrant on his own turf."
Henry winces and signs, 'It gave you guys a chance to get away.'
"And almost got YOU killed. Try saving your friend after that."
Henry nods. 'Thanks.'
"Can't let the warrant kill you before me or Bill."
The two share a smile and prepare for the meet at night.
With Reginald, he tries to make himself presentable for when he sees Right and the clan again, pinching color into his cheeks, trying to fix his hair and style his mustache by hand, and trying to dewrinkle his clothes; he has standards.
When Henry and Galeforce walk in, the general saying grouchily, "Once we get Charlie back and get you back to the clan, don't expect us to keep letting you all off the hook."
"I need time to rest myself after being locked up twice. Don't go flattering yourself."
They get some handcuffs on Reginald and get situated in a helicopter or carrier of some kind and fly off to the desert.
TIME JUMP BROUGHT TO YOU BY EIGHT HAND MAN BEING SOFT FOR REGINALD!!!!!
Charles and Right are already waiting when they see the government, Terrence, and Henry arrive with Reginald.
Ellie, Galeforce, Terrence, and Henry approach, Reg trying to hold back a smile when he sees Right in the flesh. Galeforce feels an emotional gut punch when he sees Charles, but business first.
"Evening, gentlemen."
"General." Charles says with a tip of his head; he is not wearing his top hat. "Good to see you're doing well."
Right grimaces at Terrence Suave, who gives a smirk to his fellow cyborg.
"Mr. Suave."
"Right Hand Man, old friend. How've you been? You look good. Get any new updates?"
Henry clears his throat as Ellie chides, "Focus."
Charles's gaze softens on Ellie, apologetic. "Hey, Ellie."
Ellie is quiet for a second before replying, "Um... Hey, Charles. We're here to take you home."
He hardens again, his face a mix of stoicism and anger. "After he wanted me gone, he suddenly wants me back?" He asks as he gestured to Henry.
Henry looks at the ground and shrinks under Charles's gaze, his sign barely seen. 'I'm sorry.'
Charles scoffs. "All you criminals are the same: When things don't go your way, you'll use anything and anyone you can to make it go your way."
Henry shakes his head. 'I never wanted this to happen. I made a deal with the CCC to be here, just please come back.'
Charles's angry dace breaks into shock.
'I'm sorry I didn't take the shot. I'm sorry for everything you went through, and I'm sorry I couldn't save you earlier. Please just come home.'
Right hides a smirk, Reginald gives Right, 'Really? Overboard, much?' eyes, Ellie and Terrence fight tears, and Galeforce clears his throat.
"Come on, Charlie. Let's get you home."
Charles doesn't respond for a second and remains still before gesturing to Reginald. "Let him say 'hi' to his right hand man first, then we can go."
Reg and Right are both surprised by this, but Galeforce complies, taking off Reginald's handcuffs.
Reg and Right run toward each other and meet in a very warm, tearful embrace, one with crying and one running his fingers through the other's hair, one that makes Henry and even Terrence smile; say what you will, these two make a cute couple.
In this moment, Henry notices a slight movement from Charles.
The former pilot smiles widely, teeth bare, eyes bloodshot and wide, and tears streaming down his face as he pulls a gun out from his coat and takes aim.
With a lurch, Galeforce, acting purely on instinct, goes for his own gun in his belt, Ellie backs away(Charles is one hell of a shot and she doesn't want to learn that again), Terrence reaches for Henry, and Henry darts toward Charles.
"NO!"
BANG!
MAN! Don't you just love cliff hangers? Leaves you right on the tips of your toes and gets you askimg the serious question: "WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?"
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this post and I'm so sorry this took so long to post; I won't get too personal, but where I am right now isn't exactly the best for a creative mind. Hopefully that changes soon, but time will tell.
Any way, I hope you all enjoyed this part. I'm so glad I can do an outro thing for this one!!😂😅
#toppat!charles#copperright#slight gore tw#guns tw#stickvin#henry stickmin#henry stickmim collection#right hand man#Reginald Copperbottom#Charles Calvin
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Starker 007 AU >>
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The painting is hideous, there are no two ways about it.
The longer Tony stares at it trying to find a justification for the thirteen-thousand dollar price tag, the more dumbfounded he becomes. Affixed to the wall it presents like a gaudy canvas banner, a bewildering clutter of haphazard spills and splotches that might have a certain panache adorning the walls of the penthouse of the pretentious elite, but Tony can’t make sense of it.
The gallery is lined with paintings of a similar aesthetic, abstracts that look like psychedelic blood-spatters, moody self-portraits and ten-feet-tall modernism canvas of writhing, spaghetti-lines that looks like it belongs in a first grade art class.
Maybe Tony is a simpleton, but he has at least some taste.
A man slips beside Tony to observe the painting, head tilted up to peer at the artwork in quiet consideration. Outside the corner of his vision Tony can tell the man is stunning. Suit expertly tailored, the sharp lines of his jaw and cheekbones beautifully chiseled, milky skin brushed with a hint of gold and long, long that fingers that wrap around a perspiring glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Tony sips his whiskey, a smooth burn down his throat as his interest is piqued. He’s seen a hundred, a thousand of men just like this one - well dressed and impeccably styled - but however girt by the exquisitely woven threads he may be, the unconscious tug of the mans smile seems genuine in partner with the down-to-earth brown of his eyes. He’s beautiful but doesn’t flaunt it.
It takes only a beat for the man to notice Tony’s staring, the mellow harmonic chords of the piano lulling away in the near distance. He offers a shy smile at the attention, turning his gaze back to the painting to resume his quiet scrutiny, eyes flickering over the slapdash strokes.
Oh yes, Tony thinks. He’ll do just nicely.
He clears his throat roughly, catching the startled gaze of the younger man, mouth falling open in quiet surprise.
“Stark,” Tony introduces himself, holding his hand out in greeting. The man's grip is pleasingly firm when he shakes Tony’s hand after a moment's still contemplation.
“Parker,” the man smiles, eyes crinkling adorably at the sides. “Peter Parker.”
He tries to not find himself charmed by the way the hairs of one of Peters’ eyebrows are swept skyward like he’d rubbed his face, or the way his long fingers tap at the stem of his wine glass as he sips from it, licking his bottom lip to catch a wayward drop.
“What brings you here, Mr. Parker?” Tony inquires, surreptitiously tracing temple of his glasses to activate the sensors built within them.
His vision goes blue for a prolonged moment as the AI brings up schematics and data in a blinding stream of text and symbols. Another tap has EDITH zeroing in on the younger man, registering his heat signature in blistering oranges, his recent social media and his squeaky-clean criminal record.
PETER BENJAMIN PARKER
24 YEARS OLD
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: QUEENS, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES. CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CIVILIAN
A quick skim of the hurried cascade of information informs Tony that Peter was tardy eight times in high school and is now currently an engineer for Oscorp.
That’s a shame. Tony guesses being pretty doesn’t account for taste.
“My employer is a patron of the arts,” Peter smiles. “What about you Mr. Stark? Is this business or pleasure?” He gestures with his half-empty glass to the sea of people, a motley swarm of greasy politicians, haughty high-flyers and glittering socialites.
“A smart man finds a way to do both at the same time,” Tony winks, giving the younger man a deliberately slow once over, warming the hollow patch behind his ribs when the man's cheeks bloom pink. Peters eyes drops to Tony’s lips when he licks the residue of whiskey off them, lingering there for just a moment before politely looking away.
Play indeed. Sure, the auction for the artworks is set to begin at any moment and Tony’s mark is idling somewhere in the background - but there is always time to enjoy himself, Tony justifies as he turns in towards Peter and gives his best charm.
Potts always did drone on to him about having a proper work-life balance.
“What do you think?” Tony asks, pointing to the abstract artwork, analysing Peter as he breaks from their stare and assesses the nervous mess of brown and splintering white acrylic.
“The Delicate Spider,” the man orates expertly, not missing a beat. “Ruth Bauer Neustadter.”
“Wow, just rolls right off your tongue there,” Tony blinks, mildly impressed. “You some kind of art aficionado or something?”
“Nah, I just like spiders,” Peter shrugs, looking over the piece appreciatively. “What about you, Mr. Stark?”
“Me? No thank you to anything with more than four legs and whatever this is,” Tony says truthfully, lifting his hands sheepishly. “Although I couldn’t tell the difference between a Pollock or a Picasso if you paid me, so.”
Peter seems amused, the corners of his lips twitching upwards as he rocks on his feet. He’s adorable and would look far more inspired contrasted against Tony’s black silk bedsheets than any one of these works of art.
“That’s a shame, Mr. Stark.”
“It is,” Tony concedes with a smirk. “It’s a very hard life being so uncultured.”
“I can tell. Maybe I can give you an education some time.”
Tony grins, catching Peter’s gaze. “I’d like that very much Mr. Parker.”
The spell is abruptly broken when the interface of Peters smartwatch lights up, distracting them both. He looks to Tony sheepishly after reading its contents, using his pinky to tap away at it. The wriggle of the small finger shouldn’t be charming, honestly.
“Ah, I’m afraid I must be heading out, Mr. Stark. Auction’s starting.”
Damn.
“Don’t let me hold you,” Tony supplicates, raising his glass to him, even if he is sad to see him go.”It was a pleasure.”
He can’t help the quirk of his lips at the word, nodding politely at the other man whose smile is tinged with regret this time, and the modest sweep of his gaze over Tony’s body tells him everything he needs to know.
Not that it matters, when a warning red flashes alarmingly over his smart-glasses. His mark is moving, which means he needs to get moving himself.
“Pleasure’s all mine, Mr. Stark.”
“Call me Tony,” he calls out when the younger man waves and moves to leave, offering a roguish smile. “Maybe we can catch up afterwards. Get a start on that education.”
A chestnut curl falls delicately over Peter’s forehead when he turns to peer back at him. “Maybe,” he nods, waving again before departing for good.
He takes only a second to leer at the generous swell of Peter’s ass and mourn the missed opportunity, sighing to himself. This is what he gets for having a bonafide actual work ethic - if he were any of his sloppy, bone-headed colleagues he’d have had his tongue buried in that ass five minutes ago.
Nonetheless once he’s out of sight Tony taps his glasses again, following the transparent map that pinpoints where his mark is.
He’s got a job to do.
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Neil McGarrett was a wealthy, eccentric billionaire. A media mogul who made his fortune from humble beginnings, starting from the sale of a single newspaper and now has his name splashed over his own cable news network.
Decidedly right-leaning, McGarrett had an inclination of sensationalism over what some might traditionally label journalism, but it was undeniable that he was favoured by the republican voters in droves, if prime-time ratings were anything to go by.
The man regularly made headlines himself - from his sixth marriage falling apart, to his more unsavoury public affairs. Being photographed naked whilst snorting cocaine on his ten million dollar yacht every other week was commonplace. He’d been photographed dining with sex-offenders and simpering politicians and the wall street elite, caught on film talking about underage women and applauded for it by his peers.
He was a misogynist and a xenophobe and all of supporters loved him for it, dressing it up nice and pretty in what they called classic American values.
For all of his questionable morality McGarrett was also a patron of multiple charities. He gave his time and money to various causes, was caught strolling the red carpet of many a gala and fundraiser and, sometimes, on occasion held a fundraiser - or an auction - of his own.
And that leads Tony to his current assignment, dressed to the nines and brushing shoulders with the obscenely wealthy, pretending like he knows a damn thing about art.
McGarret had decided to generously place a portion of his infamous art collection up for auction and donate the earnings to charity - for the veterans, he had proclaimed, an endearing cause no one could fault him for - even if the charity receiving the funds was for-profit and only repurposed fifteen percent of their donations to actual veterans and its founder was vitriolically transphobic.
It only makes the reconnaissance that much more satisfying.
One of those sparkly big names that McGarret had been associated with was one Justin Hammer, a weapons developer. Whilst the two have little outward affiliation outside the sphere of the billionaire-boys-club, government intelligence suggested that their association may be something more than meets the eye.
Which led to Tony’s mission, scouring McGarrets’ Manhattan abode and gathering evidence that would confirm him as an accomplice to Hammer - the latter of whom was suspected to be selling arms to small island nations and aiming them squarely at American soil.
Innocuous on the surface, they already knew McGarret paid for someone to disguise the transactions between the island nations and oil rich company executives, the media mogul looking to make a quick buck out of warfare and the ad space of the top rating morning program breaking news of an attack on American allies. Shockingly that top rating morning news program ran on McGarrets cable network and more of a ‘surprise’ was that McGarret owned stock in those oil companies and in Hammer Industries.
The auction is a perfect setup for a distraction. McGarret, the mark, will be entertaining his guests, the crowd will have another focus and security will be concentrating on protecting the artworks.
And Tony will be helping himself to some Saturday night intelligence gathering and infiltration. Perfect.
When he starts hearing the raucous bids from the ballroom it’s time for Tony to start moving.
He nods at various dignitaries, toasts to inebriated politicians as he wanders from hall to hall, politely acknowledging the lingering bedroom-eyes men and women cast upon him as he passes, Glock 26 rubbing against his lower back as his hips sway into the heart of the building.
EDITH guides him to the third storey to a plain-looking room down the hall where McGarrets office is located and fewer people are found. The office doors are lined with the kevlar and shotguns of three men, each eyeing Tony with suspicion when he approaches with a teeth-baring grin.
Holding his hands up in mock surrender Tony winks, incapacitating the armed guards with a flash of his palm-central gauntlets, tutting to himself as they slump to the ground in an ungraceful heap.
Whilst he missed the old days of a good pistol-whip or an elbow to the face, there was a particular poetry to the flash and efficiency of the new tech. A certain je ne sais quoi in watching grown men crumple like a house of cards with the twitch of Tony’s fingers.
The EDITH glasses are the only development that Potts has allowed him to bring on field - which is honestly a travesty, however experimental and unregulated his tech is they’re missing out - it’s why they hired him after all.
With a grateful pat to the unmoving hip of one of the guards Tony delicately plucks the access pass from their belt and has EDITH check their vitals.
The little red light turns green when Tony presses the pass against the reader, lock unlatching with a quiet, electronic whir.
The room is dark when Tony enters, lit dimly in a sickly yellow glow by two standing floor lamps. The blinds are drawn, slivers of pale moonlight streaking across the desk as Tony approaches it.
There’s a photo frame on the desk of McGarrett and a busty blonde with her arms around him, fingerprints all over the glass. When Tony picks it up for better inspection his fingers come away suspiciously sticky.
Gross.
Wiping his hands on his suit Tony fishes out the USB from his pocket and leans over to place it in the processing unit of the desktop computer. The monitor awakens in a bright technicolour glow as the tech works it’s magic, hacking itself into the system and retrieving the data, storing it not only on the USB itself but transmitting it back to base wirelessly.
All Tony has to do now is wait for the download to complete, mourning to himself how frightfully boring it is when missions go this easy.
It’s hard being efficient sometimes, he muses, wondering where McGarrett stores his scotch and if he’d notice if Tony helped himself to some.
“EDITH, how long since the download commenced?”
“Three minutes, twelve seconds, sir.”
Tony groans, already bored. Maybe he can join the afterparty and get inappropriate with one of the Victoria’s Secret models on the guest list.
He sighs, turning to face the window - only to be surprised when someone behind him punches him in the face.
“Wha?” he manages, slumping against the desk momentarily as his vision spins, head pounding. He doesn’t have time for any reprieve however as his assailant lunges forward to attack him again - Tony barely manages to duck, aiming an elbow at the tall figure and making contact with their face.
It’s hard to be sure in the dark but the figure appears slight, but masculine and he recovers fast, charging forward to grip the lapels of Tony’s jacket in his hands. He pulls Tony forward and moves a leg upwards to knee Tony hard in the stomach.
The pain steals his breath but only riles Tony up, shooting his fist out to swiftly sock the other man in the throat, slamming his head down against the other guys skull.
It’s enough to release his grip and Tony uses his bulk to crowd the other man against the windows, head throbbing. One hand shoots out to wrap around his attackers throat, the other reaching for his glock and pressing against the mans temple.
Even with a gun pointed at him, the man struggles against his grip, kicking his legs out ineffectually in an attempt to gain the upper hand.
The movements shift the blinds open for enough street light to bleed in, illuminating the attackers face, young features twisted in a snarl.
“You,” Tony muses, blinking in surprise.
It’s the man from before - Peter Parker.
Except, all his previous air of innocence has all but dissipated, brown eyes cold and calculating.
It’s a mistake to look.
Peter uses Tony’s startled pause to knock the gun away and out of Tony’s hands with surprising strength, slipping free from the chokehold with a kick to Tony’s ribs.
Goddamn that fucker is quick, Tony thinks as he stumbles back, clutching his side.
“When I said we should catch up later this isn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Tony snarks, dodging another fist to the face.
With a twist of his body he sweeps his legs out at Peter’s shins, the smaller man falling to the ground in a kneel.
“What, a little late night espionage not romantic enough for you?” Peter retorts, whipping a pistol out from his jacket and aiming it at Tony’s chest.
Tony acts quickly, legs moving on instinct as a well placed kick flings the weapon away.
There’s a split second where Tony gets distracted because outraged pout on the man's face is adorable - it’s however shortlived, when Peter rushes at him, clocking him upside the jaw as they tumble to the ground in a heap, their weapons discarded somewhere to the side. The two wrestle for dominance, rolling over the floorboards, elbows flying as they try to one up one another.
Tony gets another fist to his face and immediately tastes copper in his mouth.
“On the contrary,” Tony groans, using his weight to roll over the younger man, straddling his slim waist to hold him down. “Sounds like a perfect date.”
“I don’t date thugs.”
“Well that’s just a shame, here I thought we had something,” Tony tuts patiently, pressing his thumbs against Peter’s windpipe, the younger man gasping for air as he bucks his hips upwards to try dislodge Tony.
“So, who do you work for, Peter Parker? Hmm, you one of Hammers’ goons?”
Peter’s face goes pink, eyes bulging as his airway is cut off. He scrabbles at Tony’s wrists and tries to take another swing at him only for Tony to press down further.
“What makes you think I work for anybody,” Peter snarks back, bucking his hips as Tony presses him further into the ground.
And, oh. That should not feel as good as it does, Tony thinks as Peter writhes underneath him. The younger mans’ back arches pleasingly as he tries to gain leverage, biting his bottom lip as he chokes.
“For one,” Tony comments, moving his hand from Peter’s throat to grip his wrists, “these little bracelets you have here are definitely off-market and two,” he tilts his head towards the open air-vent in the ceiling, “you definitely weren’t invited in here.”
Tony abruptly finds his back to the floor when, in lieu of answering and in a truly impressive feat of flexibility, Peter brings his legs up from behind Tony to wrap them around his chest.
Using the new leverage, Peter reverses their positions, using the strength of his thighs to slam Tony’s torso to the ground, his arms in a bind against his chest. On top, Peter straddles Tony’s hips, seating himself right over Tony’s groin.
Dazed, Tony tries to not be attracted to the way Peter looks when he retrieves a small dagger from his suit and holds it to his neck, the sharp tip grazing his vulnerable skin. Tony’s hips roll anyway.
“Are you getting hard from this?” Peter hisses incredulously, holding the dagger lengthways along Tony’s throat column.
The metal is warm from Peters body when Tony swallows roughly, throat bobbing against the dagger. Goddamn he’s here to do a job.
“I refuse to take the blame for that. I mean, it’s not everyday that I get my ass kicked by someone so pretty and snarly,” Tony admits, looking skyward for some kind of means of escape. “Even if they’re a petty criminal.”
“Petty -- “, Peter cuts himself off with a growl - and god that’s hot too - reaching back into his jacket pocket to fish out a leather-bound badge, shoving it against Tony’s glasses.
“FBI, asshole.”
Of course he’s a fed.
Tony laughs, muscles going lax despite the weapon aimed at his throat.
“You’ll have to do better than that, sweetheart,” Tony drawls, ease trickling down his spine as EDITH verifies the badge.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Who are you --”
“CIA Special Agent Tony Stark,” Tony talks over him, “Also referred to as TS007 - and that’s my dick you’re grinding on.”
Peter looks down at his own slow rolling hips in surprise, still pointing the dagger at Tony as he rises up on his knees to put some distance between them.
“Show me your badge so I know you’re not full of shit,” Peter demands, lips turned downward in a disbelieving frown. Tony smirks as he complies, retrieving his battered badge from his pocket and waving it aloofly in Peters’ face.
It seems to do the trick. Peter stands to let him up, still looking at him dubiously.
Tony grunts as he stands, back aching and head pounding, all his new wounds becoming known as the adrenaline subsides. He tries for a cocky grin but a sharp pain makes him wince at the action. He licks over a welt on his lip where it swells on one side.
He thanks Peter quietly when he retrieves both of their guns from the floor, passing Tony’s over.
“What are the suits doing here?” Tony prods, lifting his thumb to his lip to stem the blood. When it comes away wet he sticks it into his mouth, lapping at the metallic taste.
“That’s, uh -” Peter stutters, eyes on the digit in Tony’s mouth, “ - that’s classified. What are the CIA --”
“Also classified,” Tony smirks. It’s true, but it’s also fun to watch the muscle in Peter’s jaw clench in petulant frustration. The younger man turns towards him and taps his smartwatch again, fingers flying over the interface as he types in a code at breakneck speed.
“What division are you in?” Tony queries, siding up next to the younger man, looking surreptitiously at the USB that still appears to be downloading.
“That’s classified,” Peter mumbles, adjusting what appears to be a well-hidden earpiece with his other hand, body slumping as the fight goes out of him.
“You’re a bit young to be a field agent, aren't you?” Tony presses, EDITH catching a swarm of heat signatures outside of the room down the hall.
Peter scoffs. “I have a particularly special skill set - and before you ask, that too is classified. ”
His irateness only makes Tony grin, reaching over the desk to switch on the desk lamp so he can see the guy better. Peters curls are in disarray, his cheek is already beginning to bruise and Tony can see where his own handprints have burst the capillaries on Peter’s pale throat. God, he’s a fucking vision.
“A man of mystery, huh? So secretive, I mean not that that’s a negative trait whatsoever, I can certainly get behind that.“
“Do you always flirt on the job?” Peter queries with a frown, but nonetheless spreads his legs slightly when Tony moves to shift between them.
“Only when I have a beauty like you in front of me, darling. You’re a real distraction, anyone ever tell you that?”
“And you’re a shameless old man,” Peter counters. “Anyone ever tell you that?”
“I already told you my policy on mixing business and pleasure,” Tony nods shamelessly, slides his hands up Peter’s thighs. “What can I say? I’m multi-talented.”
“You’re arrogant.”
“You like it.”
“I have a job to finish,” Peter parries, even as an unwilling grin stretches over his face.
The mood is broken when the heat signatures draw closer and sudden yelling is heard outside as the bodies Tony left at the door are discovered.
Peter peers at the door confusedly, crouching slightly to plant what looks like a listening device on the underside of the desk. There’s a commotion of footsteps and raised voices, someone is yelling to hand them over an access pass.
They’re going to have to act quick.
“We’ve got guests,” Tony turns to Peter, grabbing him by the lapels of his jacket and dragging him close. “We’re going to need a diversion.”
The look he receives is unbridled bewilderment as the younger man stumbles into Tony, and for the first time he can appreciate the clean smell of sweat and copper and aftershave from the younger man.
“What are you --” is all Peter gets out before Tony reels him in and kisses him.
Peter’s surprised hum is swallowed by Tony’s lips and he goes rigid for just a second before he snaps into action.
Strong hands grip Tony’s hips, driving him backwards against the desk. The sharp maple edge digs painfully into his lower back as Peter presses against him, slipping his tongue into Tony’s mouth as he boxes him in. The press of Peter’s body against his feels fucking incredible when he moves, all ridged muscle as he presses them chest-to-chest, biting on Tony’s lower lip as he takes control of the kiss.
“Fuck, kid,” Tony breathes, snaking a hand down to cup Peters ass through his slacks, bringing their bodies closer together until Tony can feel that Peter too is just as hard as him. Tony gets lost in the small groan Peter breathes into his mouth, the kiss growing steadily sloppier as the voices grow louder.
The door flies open and the click of multiple guns loading breaks their lip-lock.
“Oh no, how embarrassing.” Tony gasps, pretending to act shocked as the room fills with armed men. “We’re so sorry - as you can tell we needed a room.”
“Put your hands up!” One man yells, readjusting his grip on his gun.
“Great diversion,” Peter mumbles against Tony’s lips, eyes flicking to his periphery as he slowly inches away.
“It was worth a shot,” Tony smiles crookedly, assessing the situation. A number of armed men surround them, firearms aimed squarely at the duo. Going by their uniform they look like untrained goons, security for hire rather than any law enforcement. Perfect. Tony hates paperwork.
“You’ve got four at your six o’clock,” Peter mutters, shuffling discretely retrieve his pistol from his pocket, resting it against Tony’s thigh.
“You’ve got six,” Tony comments quietly, sliding his hand to grip his own glock in his pocket. “Not to gloat, but I think I can take out more than you, shortstack.”
“I said put your goddamn hands up!” The same man yells.
Peter looks delighted by the challenge. The two quickly shuffle so they’re back to back, facing the circle of pointed firearms.
“Loser pays for dinner?” Peter asks.
Tony smirks, raising his gun and gauntlet at the same time Peter raises his.
“Deal.”
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Ridikulus Pt 30
Bent in half in an empty hall beside Vivienne and Ollivier in matching states of stretching the pair found you, having woken to their own mooing alarm clock Glorfindel stroked the chin of to silence. Readied in light robes of silver with matching trousers and boots with varying embroidered patterns the pair were off to breakfast following the servant sent to guide them down to eat. Passing the hall they joined your great uncles mid conversation on their continued youthful pull back to their former appearances complete with the loss of their darkened grey hairs similar to Vivienne’s hair also darkening back to its youthful deep brown. Wrinkles were fading and all, Minerva included had been remarking on the changes you were all facing being taken in link to the change of your ears. Any youthful in heart still seemed to feel the pull while those like Albus and Slughorn held to their aged appearances as a sort of badge of pride for having lived so long.
Yet before question of when you were joining them was voiced you came in and their eyes scanned over the sweats and t shirt you were wearing as you sat to tie your converse on. With your hair pulled up into a messy bun and bangs swaying over your stunningly scar free cheek you peered up at the pair staring at you and asked, “Sleep well?”
Thranduil, “Yes, we did. There is something about that pillow, my head touched it and I was gone. You?”
Eric, “That would be the Hoo-Hoo feathers, help to lull any who rest with it off to sleep.”
Glorfindel murmured, “Hoo-Hoo..”
“Idris, is a Hoo-Hoo. One of the Phoenix family known to have songs to lull people into peaceful sleep, certain feathers on them hold the same qualities. But you have to ask very nicely for them.”
Thranduil, “Ah, most of our pillows hold swan feathers, also willingly granted.”
Minor details were shared and the breakfast was savored between glances at you while Ollivier and Vivienne chatted around you sharing comments through Trina’s feeding of Em. Into the car again and oddly for the men stealing glances at you in your casual clothes far from what you wore to teach they settled still glancing between you and the couple also coming for their own roles as King and Queen they would be disguised for.
Over the city you flew and parked among the lines of other flying cars and got out to join the other actors in line to head for the makeup and wardrobe tents. Overture, Me Who Am I, Loneliness of the Evening, Prologue, Prince returning home from first meeting Cinderella, The Prince setting out to find the owner of the slipper and the talk with the King and Queen about finding Cinderella, exit scenes of town and announcing the Banquet. All of these had been filmed in the past couple days before you had showed up with just your portion of the few ensemble or duet numbers to film in your own locations.
It was hours before dawn and the first scene you would film was your readying for the banquet. Just past when the step mother and sisters would leave and into the tent you strolled smiling at Bernadette’s announcing giddy squeak. “There you are!” Into a tight hug she wrapped you and guided you in filling you in on all you had missed before asking, “Did I hear right you brought two dates with you?”
Chuckling weakly you changed into the servant costume for Cinderella and replied in sitting for the hair stylist, “King Thranduil and Lord Glorfindel.”
Again she squeaked, “Tell me everything. I know you used to dream about them, I want all the details.”
“Not much to say, I told you about Ones,”
“Soul mates, right?” You nodded, “Which one’s yours?” The corner of your mouth ticked up and she gasped patting your arm taking her own seat, “Both?”
Your head tilted to the side allowing the stylist to braid the side of your hair back that was rippling out into a deep maroon shade. “It seems they don’t want me to choose and they are difficult to choose between. Dad seems supportive, I mean it’s no shock that I might have ended up like him, all romantically free and whatnot.”
Bernadette chuckled and said, “Now you and I both know you are nothing of the sort.” Her hand folded around yours, “No doubt they both love you to bits, why they wanted to come and spend the spare time you have with them.”
In a chuckle you replied, “Films are strange to them, especially any where there’s some sort of mock intimacy in it.”
Bernadette’s eyes met yours in the mirror, “They’re jealous then?”
“They are curious. I’ve showed them the play and they wanted to see how it’s handled.”
Smirking herself as her hair was finished and pooled into a tall feather accented beehive she joined you out of the tent holding the front of her extravagant gown. “Oh we’ll calm them down, surely they won’t be able to do anything but fall helplessly for you as Cinderella. Forgetting all about any petty ideas of jealousy.”
A single glance of you from the distance was all they got while you were shown up to the house being used for Cinderella’s home. But in your absence Bernadette hurried over eager to meet the duo who recognized her from a photograph of yours. Pleasantries were traded and off behind the cameras she showed them the best spot to watch the monitors in seeing the scenes of you readying for the banquet with the Fairy Godmother. After changing again to your tattered gown after being supposedly locked up, weeping only to calm at Godmother singing There’s Music In You. Your half of the Loneliness of the Evening came up next sung between chores to the sun rising to match the Prince’s scenes in the Palace.
Next would be various scenes of you for background images for the opening, cleaning, organizing and various chores before scenes walking to town. The Lords stood waiting at the tables for your first food break watching as your cheek was cupped by a dark haired man with his eyes shut who had kept hold of your shoulder for the stroll down half to set block on his own way to another scene back at the Palace the waiting carriage would drive him to. Catching their stares in seeing a kiss on your bare cheek followed by another Bernadette stated, “That’s Andrea Bocceli, he’s playing the Proclaimer of the Orders of the King. You’ll get to hear him tomorrow I believe.”
Glorfindel muttered, “No doubt he is far more friendly with Jaqi that the other actors. Scarcely pays the others any mind.” His eyes lingering on his hand easing down to your shoulder again in your turn to the carriage.
Bernadette’s lips parted, “Oh honey,” that made the pair look at her, “He’s blind.” That had their brows inching up, “He’s one of our greatest singers from our old world, used to sing with Jewels, scores of plays, operas and musicals. I’ve got a whole heap of pictures with him holding Jaqi as a baby when Sirius would bring her to shows. You see, he’s from a long line of Squibs, scattered Witches in between, but the men of the line have a blood curse they go blind. Jaqi found a spell to reverse it, but if you do it would just skip to his son and continue on, but if he remains blind his son’s sight is safe. His shoes are enchanted to sort of give him a feel for where things and people are, but for his friends he doesn’t mind being led around.”
Thranduil, “Ah, you performed with her mother as well, how does she match up?”
Bernadette smirked, “It’s hard to put into words. She has all Jewels’ talent and then some, built more for somber or drama by what she has to draw from, Jewels couldn’t help but burst into giggles after.” She wet her lips, “She might have just asked for acting lessons first off to be a convincing double agent, but she’s far more talented than she gives herself credit for. Even if she signed the contract reluctantly she actually does enjoy acting. Who knows, could take a couple years off when she’s finished the final two obligated films and get a better contract when you have all settled everything.”
A snack with you ended with a pair of stolen kisses before Luis showed up for his own filler scenes in the Palace. Him, his husband and children all greeted you and the duo fondly before heading off to change when your partners were off with Eric and Roderic for the start of their tour of Paris. Museums would be first with a pass by the Eiffel Tower they would see the following day. Each piece in the museums they were shown only adding to their curiosity on what else the Muggle portion of this country had to hold for them. From the Louvre to a Wizarding art museum they saw the vast difference in style and subjects chosen in the moving portraits both silent at chatty.
.
Filler and walking scenes between home and town were captured leading up to the big draw, everyone gathering in the town to do a final run through on The Prince is Giving a Ball you then filmed into the following scene where the Prince and Cinderella would first meet and split up again to head home. Lunch was next and with the final bit left you filming your half of the number Do I Love You at the house again mid chore. All of these scenes were little to be intriguing for an audience in being filmed, tedious and detail oriented but around the table you sat at the empty seats on either side of you were filled again by your partners eager to share all they had seen through the stack of pictures you shuffled through while eating.
Behind the monitor they watched the lead into your next slew of scenes, all mainly musical. In My Own Little Corner bled into scenes of readying the three other women in the house furrowing the men’s brows seeing their harsh treatment of you. A pick up of the second part of my own little corner bled into the arrival of the Fairy Godmother for Impossible through to the ride to the Palace in It’s Possible.
Grins were plastered on the duo’s face between stolen glances at others around them with teary or sentimental gazes holding through each number. Another meal break came at the setting of the sun and in the night scenes you began by walking home post change back with one heel singing He Was Tall lost in a dreamy haze reminiscing on the wonderful evening. The arrival of the carriage out front had you hiding the slipper and readying to greet your returning family bleeding into the numbers When You’re Driving through the following number, A lovely night until the Step Mother sent you all to bed and you lingered behind to lowly sing the second rendition of A Lovely Night.
Noting the time the men had hoped you could head back home again, however after another hurried meeting with you a stolen pair of pecks were taken on your way to the scene you had warned the pair of. When Cinderella would be locked up, in a combination of an agreed upon set of hexes, tugs and shoves from the Step Mother stirring up a tension in the air ending at your burst of giggles at hitting your elbow in the final shove post cut. Hugs and giggles came in Bernadette’s path to change with you.
The final collection of scenes were to be the forest scenes. First, It’s Possible for the final stretch of it heading up all the way up to the Palace gates then into the courtyard, from which you looped around and before the men could get a good look at the Palace you were off to film the big chase scene on the marked path to the chime of the giant clock. With hearts racing even knowing looking on what would happen the clock was giving its final chimes and the carriage split apart full speed behind the transformed horses now mice again. Rolling through the grass in the timed crash your dress turned back to the servant uniform as your hair whipped around you violently when you rolled to a stop.
A glance at the following Prince’s carriage had you clambering to your knees and up behind a tree panting in the closing of your eyes to melt against the tree behind you. Smiling frailly to yourself the remaining shoe on your foot was removed and when the other carriage was gone you began your barefoot stroll through the forest singing He Was Tall on the way back to the house again. Once there however cut was called and you were able to change and head back to the house. Nearly falling asleep on the way back you rested between the guys and filed out to help you to the waiting dinner.
Bed came right after and for a hard drop off to sleep you would get more sleep than the night before ensured by your dreamless draught drop you had eaten to ensure only your alarm would wake you. An early breakfast allowed you some time with Em before heading off to set, only over your omelet your eye caught the paper that had been set aside when Vivienne was through with it. Unfolding the front page your lips parted seeing a picture of you in the bog at the Triwizard Tournament with the stoic duo behind you hovering over the water. The headline reading a bid to have you nominated to be listed as a genuine seer with the image of your arrival the other day with the same duo beside you as proof that years ago you had foreseen the fall here in one way or another and had set about to protect as many as possible to arrive here.
Roderic stated, “Surely they will add you to the lists if they haven’t already.”
Glorfindel leaned over and accepted the paper you tapped the image of stating, “Top one’s from the Triwizard Tournament.”
He nodded, “Yes, the bog Ron stated he saw us in.” Tilting the paper he showed Thranduil who eyed it carefully, “What is the story about?”
“Oh, they are saying I knew, at least partly, on the fall here years before it happened so they want to add me to the list of genuine seers.”
Thranduil, “Is it not well known already your abilities?”
Eric, “That’s not the issue, to be added to the list it must be a large prophecy or vision to be seen coming true witnessed by dozens. Only twelve have ever been added to the list.”
Roderic nodded, “And two have been disproved as hoaxes. Jaqi’s is the largest by far, destruction of a whole world and discovery of allies in a new one,”
Ollivier, “There was no doubt on our following her here, merely up until your arrival here and photographs with her none thought to have proof her visions were at least a sign we were meant to come here.”
Vivienne, “But outside of that are you excited for the morning tour today? We are not needed on set until two. We even secured a tour of the zoo.”
The pair sat quietly enjoying the fact they would be spending the morning with you and with them in colorful robes you wore comfy jeans and a sweater carrying Em on your hip after securing your wedge boots. A short flight later you were parked in the group of some of the cast also wishing to see the zoo either new to this one or new to zoos all together. But the odd animals had the men puzzled when seeing the billboards but Em named what she could and following the map you spent the morning allowing the duo to inspect each of the animals and learn what each sign posted said about them. Both a bit saddened that the boys weren’t here but with a confirmation from you a promise to take them to the London Zoo had them grinning so they could help to guide the boys around alongside you with just a stack of pictures to bring home to tide the boys over until then.
.
Each animal echoed in their mind along with the statements that each zoo would be following suit of the London Zoo, the first of which to have enchanted territories to be closer to those in the wild people could roam through safely to see the creatures in their native habitats instead of cages. It would be a full day outing no doubt and set to open the following weekend with you among a group of other celebrities to bring press to hopefully encourage other zoos to follow suit once they saw how successful it would be for guests and the populations of their animals. Everything seemed spectacular and they couldn’t wait to see it after having seen something they imagined to be similar, your snake room with habitats for each of the snakes to feel safe and happier under your watch. Another sign that your people were actually peaceful and wishing for even the speechless non magical animals to have their own safe homes in this new world to repopulate again.
Work however did call again and this one had the meat of the film for the duo to watch from the sidelines. The start of it being nice and slow where Cinderella frees herself by using a wand her father had left her to unlock the door after having been kept from practicing magic by her step mother after he had died only making her study more while they slept from his old books she’d hidden away. While filming that the Prince and the other women in the film were recording their tries for the magical slipper. Cue the arrival of Cinderella and again the duo noting the sentimental grins of those watching through the proposal and tearful hug you shared.
Explosively the set seemed to flood around the stunning Palace the duo toured through while things were being readied then went back to the director’s sides to watch the wedding including the first of the two kisses. Barely a blink flashed by and it was over, chaste and to the point fitting for a Royal Ceremony ending with the Godmother recapping There’s Music In You. From there a quick change of décor after the wedding parade scene that allowed you both to change quickly the Prince was back again to come and greet the endless chain of women to dance with him while a touch up on the arrival scene to the Palace.
Each lady would dance a circle with the Prince through the sea of waiting Lords to collect the lady and pass them on to another in the next pass keeping the chain of ladies moving, with passing flirtations when each would ease near the Prince again. Through the Palace Cinderella strolled holding the hem of her lavish gown until the doors opened and the big entrance came stunning the Prince. Greetings to the near endless dancing bled into the trip out to the gardens where a second film crew waited to capture your dialog as the Stepsister’s Lament played out inside amusing the crowds looking on behind the camera. Yet in the ticking of the added clock to the gardens the distance between you closed and a tender cupping of your cheek came in a steady press of lips to yours. For the camera angle it seemed very intimate, and yet the angle the Lords were watching from clearly it was forced, but a glance at that screen and they could see why others were grinning madly at the image.
All the same that clock chimed and even knowing the story everyone still seemed to wish that she would get caught and live happy ever after. Still that show was lost and the carriage was jumped into and took off for the Palace to be reset once again for the arrival to the follow up banquet. This second flight away however ended with cheers and claps with a sea of hugs and cheeks kissed stunning the guys until they realized that that was it.
One more flying car ride filled with comments on your final scenes and reactions to it they had seen came before Thranduil had asked, “When are we leaving tomorrow?”
“Um, we actually have to head to the station by midnight to get back in time.”
Glorfindel, “You get no rest at all?”
“I can sleep on the train.”
Thranduil sighed, “Fine, but after class you are coming over to sleep if I have to bring you myself, Darling, you need your rest.”
A quick stop upstairs for you had you coming downstairs again with your silvery blue hair pulled into a bun and white facial scars back again. The dress you had changed into was silvery blue with ruffled skirt under a mostly sheer top with lace leaf pattered panels covering your chest to your cleavage with short sleeves and a collar secured in the back with buttons down the back of it. The dress was stunning and fit the family color chosen for the dinner with Em in a similar ruffled dress of her own complimenting the pictures captured of you all before you managed to sneak back to your duo with Em on your hip while Vivienne and Ollivier greeted the other guests.
Glorfindel accepted hold of Em while Thranduil asked in a smooth of his hand over your back, “Are you tired?”
Peering up at him you smirked saying, “I’m fine. I can handle a dinner.”
Though the approach of Jean, the assistant who handled the affair of discovering Suzienne’s grave and transferring her to Paris with another familiar face right behind him, Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France Luc Gerard. An offer of a handshake was stoically accepted in his introduction to your partners. “We are so pleased to have been able to welcome you for a visit, even if it is just for a short time. Have you enjoyed the few sights you were able to take in?”
Thranduil nodded, “Yes, it was quite enjoyable.”
Glorfindel took his glance falling on his to say, “There is a great many things to take in. Mainly the differing cultures between your countries and varied races dwelling together, we have just begun to learn about them, it seems we have a great deal more.”
Luc grinned saying, “Well said. Hopefully we might be able to bridge that gap and become more comfortable with one another in the future. We have heard a great many wonderful things of your lands and people as well, and might we say we have been curious to discover what the link would have been to the pair of you since seeing you following our dear Miss Black here in that bog challenge.”
Glorfindel, “Yes, we saw the picture. It was intriguing when her family arrived in Rivendell months before her and described the challenge to us as for why we seemed familiar to them.”
From the initial greetings to the dinner table it became absolutely clear that even more than you had claimed you were a natural at smoothing differing cultures together and were the grease keeping the gears moving and the conversation natural. Both sides relaxing into the neutral zone you helped to guide the council and Lords into between luring others from the large guest list into a moment of their own focus of your attention clearly brightening their moods the same as your relatives and the Delacours seemed to pull out of them. Name and influence of this half of your bloodline surely wasn’t missed and even in moments of odds with them you still strove to uphold the names you came from while clearly defending, guiding and teaching the Lords one day to be your husbands. Even in your denials and doubts there was no one more suited in their eyes to bridge the gap or to learn how to aid in ruling the Elves of Greater Greenwood.
Doubts clearly weren’t anywhere close to the impression your family gave on if you could join them, barely seven years and you had silenced any doubts possible of what could have come from their lost daughter’s bloodline. Bad choices and unfortunate circumstances or not through the painful rubble of those lost years and pair of women in their line you were the diamond glimmering out of all of it with Em shimmering all the brighter for your determination to keep her safe. Guests soon left and with a sigh you were up at your room changing back again to your jeans and sweater with wedges added again. A glimpse at the clock showed you still had time and closing your eyes you followed the pull you felt to head to the Pearisiyiae Tomb.
Onto the bench outside of it you sat just talking to your grandmother hoping she was at peace and was content with how you had turned out. A hushed whisper from your mother however in your ear sounded that after years of being back with her family she was ready to talk and they were meeting one another. On your feet you stood trusting that maybe one day she would feel strong enough to let you see her and with a token of her favorite flowers left behind. And just a short walk later you stopped in to leave some flowers for Leta Lestrange as well sharing a few words on how Newt was doing and how much she was still missed and always was spoken of fondly. Zapping back again you wiped the corner of your eye at the tear lingering there and you made sure you had everything then walked down to join the others waiting there to say goodbye while Thranduil kept hold of Em already asleep in his arms and grinned seeing you with them again.
Hugs were traded between respectful nods and wishes for another visit soon from your relatives to the duo on your path to the waiting car. It didn’t take long till you were back on the train again laid out on one of the two beds in the now sleeper car with Em across from the duo grinning in organizing the pictures to share with the boys and Legolas when they returned. Four hours you slept through their elaborate plan of sharing the whole trip and offer to take the boys to the opening of the London Zoo along with the clear way they had decided to bring up the travel papers issue with Elrond and Celeborn. This would all work out, meeting the other Ministers and settling at least a friendship with them as there was little trade needed between your people past curiosity for culture and crafted items. Much like the quartet of animal plushies you had brought back for the boys and Legolas they would surely treasure.
.
One in the morning the train swayed to a stop and in your groggy blink awake Thranduil cradled Em to his chest and Glorfindel helped you up and kept hold of your hand for the walk back from Lower Bulgaria gaining more stamps for their travel booklets only to walk back into Pumpernickel finding it was raining hard. Hastily Glorfindel hoisted you up in his arms saying, “Off to Greenwood. No risking it, you need to sleep.”
A deep sigh from you came in watching Thranduil behind you using his wrap to keep Em covered from the rain on the eager trot to the arch exiting in the main gardens protected from the same massive storm by the canopy above. All the same eyes lit up and heads bowed seeing the Lords returning, yet in their glances at you the reason for your silence was that you had fallen asleep again making the duo chuckle. Carefully tucked into bed with Em by your side they left you to eagerly bring the pictures and the gazelle stuffie you three had thought Legolas might enjoy. Grinning while holding the gazelle he listened to each of the animals you had seen before inspecting the pictures of the museum exhibits, Versailles and the Eiffel Tower and view from the top of it.
Stories of the set were set aside as Elrond and Celeborn came after receiving notice from him that they had returned early. Inspection of the travel papers were taken and altogether it seemed an agreeable deal for the time being to be counted as allies of your Ministry after the details had been shared word for word how you had described it.
Celeborn, “Was her family more agreeable to Miss Black?”
Thranduil, “They were, us as well.”
Glorfindel, “I believe she might have spoken with them to calm them a bit more.”
Thranduil nodded, “Yes, and for all her doubts on being an acceptable ruler it is quite natural for her to ease two cultures into friendship. It was quite masterful her guidance through dinner with the French Minister and Council and other important people in France with us.”
Glorfindel nodded, “Yes, for what little suspicions we might have had on the Pear clan not accepting Jaqi, they seem to be quite in awe of her among the rest of us. Her Great Uncles even remarked how it would have been perfect for her to even have an inkling of interest in performing when they had first met, but to see just how talented she is in various fields. In my opinion I believe they are starting to see her outside of her grandmother’s shadow.”
Celeborn, “That is magnificent news. How was Cinderella?”
Elrond, “Yes, it was quite short notice to bring you along.”
Thranduil inhaled and decided to share the truth, “There are two kisses filmed in Cinderella,” ticking Elrond’s brow upwards, “Just as in the drawn version and in the play her mother performed in they were brief and chaste, from the angle of the camera, while at our angle it was evidently forced.”
Celeborn, “You both seem calm.”
Glorfindel nodded, “Yes, before her trip Jaqi stated it plainly and laid out the whole protocol involved in filming these sorts of feigned intimacies. Once we got to the village they filmed in we met the man playing the Prince and his husband and their children. All very old friends since their childhoods.” That seemed to calm the other Lords more worried on how their friends would have taken the encounter than anything else.
Legolas wet his lips asking, “It is common for actors to kiss in films?”
Thranduil caught his eye, “Apparently some films can grow quite intimate, even involving faked consummation of relationships. However Jaqi was quite clear she does not accept romance centered scripts, I believe the most she has filmed before was a kiss on the cheek for a child one of her roles tasked her to raise alone after the father had passed in an accident, who was played by a child of a friend hired to play her cousin. It was very comforting how clear she was on the rules and what the role pertained, I do not believe it will trouble us in the future.”
Glorfindel nodded, “And everyone watching the tale was equally swept away with adoration for the new recording of the classic tale. Even filmed out of order from the bits we did see it is quite a task to pull a story together, often Jaqi and Luis, who played the Prince were on opposite ends of the city they were filming in. Most of her scenes we witnessed she was alone or with one or two actors in fact.”
Thranduil, “Not counting the day they filmed the wedding and the ball and then banquet in one day. And they had this carriage chase scene, quite intense at moments, it will be a sight, the day the film is unveiled. A few months I believed they said they could edit it and release it widely through the countries.”
Celeborn, “Was Miss Black able to get much rest?”
Glorfindel, “No, she did however sleep on the ride home again and fell asleep when I carried her from the arches in her lands when we saw it was raining.”
Thranduil, “She is resting in our apartment and has been tasked to return here after school for more rest.”
Elrond, “That is good. I would be lying if I did not state we wish to see just how bright her shimmer will grow when fully rested and adjusted here.”
Pt 31
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Cyberpunk Avatar RPG
Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a cyberpunk Avatar RPG?
[Image Description- A logo that says “AVATAR Neon Lights in the Eternal Night” “AVATAR” is done in a classic 80′s chrome style, and “Neon Lights” and “Eternal Night” are done like neon lights. Raava’s diamond dots the “i” in lights, and Vaatu’s diamond dots the “i” in night. The phrase is set over a starry night sky.]
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[Video Description/Transcript-
A woman pants a few times, out of breath. She pauses, and hesitantly turns around. Behind her is an ominous tree with a creepy glowing orange object in it looking like an eye. We cut back to the woman who has turned around and is facing the tree.
Next we cut to a simple game scene where the woman and the tree face each other. There is some simple game gui displayed on the screen. A dialogue box is open.
“A strange tree in the middle of the room regards you carefully. You stare back into a glowing object in the tree’s hollow that you can only assume to be it’s eye. you become transfixed, gazing deep into the strange hollow as the soft hum of neon lights and the strange, heartbeat-like ticking fade into the background.
Suddenly, a voice emanates from somewhere. It is low, but commanding. It calls to you...”
Another dialogue box with a portrait of the tree and labeled “???”
“Well, well, well. What do we have here? You seem... different from the usual humans that bother me. Yes, you don’t wear that hideous outfit and you seem to carry yourself differently...”
Another dialogue box
“...
That tremor in your mortal core...
...
You aren’t supposed to be here, are you?”
Another dialogue box but with the woman and the label “Ember”
“...”
Another dialogue box for “???”
“Do not worry, I am not going to raise any alarms. Quite the opposite, actually. You see, I require your assistance. I have been imprisoned here for well over 10,000 years, and if that wasn’t bad enough, in the past few hundred years humans have come across my prison and decided to exploit me for their own gain. They’ve been draining me for hundreds of years. Please. If you consider yourself an ally of spirits, HELP ME.”
Dialogue options for Ember
“>[Ominous] “I don’t know...”
[Accepting] “Sure...”
[Mean] “Not my problem...”
[Silence] “...””
The ominous option is chosen and this dialogue box from Ember appears.
“I dunno, you seem pretty ominous to me.”
Another dialogue box from “???”
“So, I don’t deserve your assistance because you find me scary??
I deserve to be in pain then.
Wow.”
Ember responds
“That’s not what I said.”
??? replies
“It was implied.
Ember’s dialogue box:
“No it- Look. I don’t even know your name.”
??? now known as Vaatu replies.
“My name is Vaatu. I am an eternal spirit. I have watched the sun’s violent birth, and will be here for it’s burning end. I have existed before time began, and have played role in the shaping of the very universe itself.
My counterpart trapped me in here so she could shape the world without my input. The humans are draining me of my power and I’ve been in agony for centuries. Is that good enough for you?”
Ember’s dialogue options:
“[Kind] “You poor thing...”
>[Accepting] “Sure...”
[Mean] “Not my problem...”
[Silence] “...””
Accepting is chosen.
“Sure. Why not.”
Vaatu replies,
“So, you’ll help me?”
Ember’s options:
“[Accept Quest] “Of course.”
[Deny Quest] “No.”
>[Inquire] “What about me?”
[Silence] “...””
Inquire is chosen.
“That depends... What’s in it for me?”
Vaatu responds:
“Hmm... What’s that you mortals are always prattling on about? Morality?
Do it because it’s “the right thing to do” or something...”
Ember’s dialogue options:
“[Accept Quest] “Fair.”
[Deny Quest] “No thanks.”
>[Assuming] “Bold of you...”
[Silence] “...””
Assuming option is chosen.
“Bold of you to assume I care about doing the right thing.”
Another narrating dialogue box appears.
“There is a silence. Annoyance rolls off of Vaatu in waves. You almost expect the tree hollow to narrow at you.
But instead he replies:”
Vaatu’s reply-
“Fair enough. Help me, and you will be rewarded... quite handsomely.
Do you find these terms agreeable?”
Ember’s dialogue options:
“>[Accept Quest] “Sure.”
[Deny Quest] “Not good enough.”
[Tease Him] “I dunno...”
[Silence] “...””
The quest is accepted.
“Sure. Why not?”
The dialogue box closes and a pop up appears. Saying that the quest log has been updated.
Another dialogue option appears indicating that the player has chosen to interact with Vaatu again.
“Soo, how exactly am I supposed to free you?”
Vaatu replies:
“Well, ending the drain of my energy would be a great start.
Occasionally humans will come in here and check these strange electrical vines for anomalies. Sometimes talking about a “system overload.” It seems this would take their whole set up down. Maybe look into that.”
The dialgue box closes and the characters continue their idle animations for a few more seconds as the video ends.]
Like, that’d be pretty sweet huh?
Anyway, here’s a thing I’ve been working on for past couple weeks. It’s gonna be a long one, so lots of concept art, vids, and descriptions below the cut.
So, anyway, I kind of got this idea for a cyberpunk Avatar RPG fangame and did some concepts and mockups for it. :D
A working title I came up for it was Avatar: Neon Lights in the Eternal Night. The main idea/driving force of the plot is that humans are exploiting Vaatu/The Tree of Time as a sort of infinite clean energy source. And well, while the energy gotten doesn’t cause runaway greenhouse effects that would devastate the planet’s climate, it has upset the spirits, and caused major metropolitan areas to be cloaked in eternal darkness. Also, over the past few hundred years, the physical realm and spirit world have been drifting further and further apart, creating a void/rift realm between the two. And if that weren’t bad enough, the world governments are corrupted and run by big business, and their iron will is enforced by the corrupted police systems.
So you’d have to deal with dark/corrupted spirits, bad cops, evil corporations, and uncaring governments. :’D
My idea for the main game is that you can either choose a preset character or create your own character from scratch. You can choose your gender, bending ability(including being a nonbender!), national alliance(which determines where you start), your appearance, starting stats(make your character as balanced or min-maxed as you want) among other things.
Here’s a GUI mockup I made for the character creator, it’s very basic, only a first draft but it gets the basic idea across. I hope. :’D
[Image Description- A simple gui mockup for an RPG game. It shows the options for naming, gender, ability, choosing an alignment to a particular nation. It also has unshown tabs for looks and stats. There is a window for finalizing the character open, asking “Is this your true form?” A yes or no option is given.]
I’m not 100% on this look/design, but what I was thinking was that the character creator could be split into three tabs- Bio, Looks, and Stats.
Bio would be your name, gender, bending ability(you can choose nonbender!), and which nation you align with. There’s also an option to be unaligned(the yin-yang like symbol), and you’d be offered some info about your ability/nation combo. Like information about the Fire Nation if you choose to be a Fire Nation firebender, or even info about nonbenders in whatever faction you choose, or how people of other bending types exist/are treated by your chosen faction. Like how waterbenders live in the Fire Nation, or firebenders live in the Water Tribes.
I am considering adding the swamp tribe and splitting the Water Tribe into the Northern and Southern variants, but again, this gui thing is just a first draft. :’D
For looks, you’d choose your characters skin color, hair color and style, eye color, as well as from a few small cybernetic options. Of course, you could have a character with no cybernetics as well.
With stats, you’d choose your starting stat distributions. I’m thinking that I’d have stats like strength, bending, speed, agility, and maybe even stats like charisma or spirituality. Charisma would effect your character’s ability to interact with others, and spirituality would affect their ability to interact with spirits or connect to their patron deity.
Someone who isn’t very spiritual wouldn’t have much of a connection to their deity and isn’t likely to be blessed by them however they’re more resistant to the effects of negative spirit energy and dark spirits. Meanwhile, someone who is highly spiritual would receive buffs and bonuses from their patron deity, but would also be much more vulnerable to dark spirits.
Also yes, the character creation screen is absolutely your character standing there as Vaatu ominously stares at you in the background.
Also here’s how I picture the character creator minus the GUI-
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[Video Description- A short video of a character standing in front of the Tree of Time, doing an idle animation. The video looks very reminiscent of PSx style rendering.]
Here are some character models I’ve done thus far~ (They’d probably end up as preset characters)
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[Video/Image descriptions- A simple idle animation of a woman swaying slightly from side to side. After that are a series of screenshots to show off her design. She has brown skin and dark turquoise eyes. Her hair is a slightly darker brown than her skin. She wears a dark purple hazmat/wetsuit type deal. She has dark blue gloves and boots with cyan tops. The boots also have a stripe going down the front. The wetsuit has a cyan collar and a design on the front that looks a little like a fishbone or a pelvic bone with a few vertebra. She has cyan water symbols on her shoulders, and has a water tank on her back. The water tank also has a water symbol on it. She has a dark purple gasmask with white markings over the eyes and nose, cyan filters, and fancy-looking lenses.]
I don’t really have a name for her, I just made the design on the fly, and called her “Cyber Water”. :p I really ended up loving her design though, and her idle. Like it’s just a simple sway/shift weight from foot to foot, but I quite like how fluid she looks, and the way here ponytail swings so nicely~
For her design I kind of got this idea of a hazmat/wetsuit type thing. While, unintentional, I do really like how the marking on her front kind of looks like a fishbone/pelvis and spine. I feel like it kind of adds to the hazmat type effect. Also, I meant for the white on her gasmask to be shine, but it ended up looking like snow/markings, and well, I actually really like the effect it gives actually! She also has a tank of water on her, so she also has some element to use. I haven’t decided whether the water should be tainted so it poisons the people she attacks or purified so she can drink/heal with it should the need arise.
I also really like her face, I feel like I’m getting better at texturing faces. My only regret is that I keep forgetting to add some hair around the edges of her face so her hairline isn’t so awkward/abrupt.
Also yes, I did make her hair danglies droplet shaped on purpose. I couldn’t help myself. :3
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[Video and Image Descriptions- A young woman sways slightly once, and taps her foot impatiently twice. Next are a series of screenshots showing off her design. She has lightly tanned skin, dark hair with green highlights, neon green eyelashes, her left eye is normal and dark green, her right eye is cybernetic and looks like it’s made from a smoothed emerald. Her face is dotted with neon green crystal freckles, she has a silver nosering and snakebites, as well as earring with the same crystals that make up her freckles. She wears a dark green tunic with a gold collar, and golden Earth Kingdom symbols as accents down the front. The bottom is lined with neon green symbols. The symbols don’t mean anything, they just look cool. Her hands are robotic, and she has brown pants that are tucked into bluish-green boots.]
LORD. I had WAY too much fun with this one! Her idle is by far my favorite! That little foot tap. I just, it’s such a small thing but it adds so much character. <3 Also it’s just cute as hell~
Her face is also my favorite. Like, I love her creepy, crystal eye, her nose ring, crystal freckles, even just the way her face turned out. <3 <3 Like, I’m gushing but I’m super proud of her~ Like my idea for her is that she kind of takes body mods to the next level and has crystals implanted into her face, giving her crystal freckles.
Also she got robot arms/hands.
I have more characters, but I’ve reached my video limit, so rip.
I mean, I’ll just make a second post with the other three I’ve made, no big deal.
butsneakpeek
[Image Description- A screenshot preview of five cyberpunk style benders.]
I’ve made three levels/environments so far~
The Tree of Time-
Once a part of the sacred balance of the realms and a keystone holding the two worlds together, as well as a prison to keep Vaatu from reeking havoc upon the world, this place has since been exploited by an enterprising group of humans who decided to use the tree and it’s hapless occupant to power the world and it’s vanities. Hundreds of years later, both the tree and Vaatu remain as a source of infinite energy for mankind, with the cost being the slow spread of eternal darkness and chaos. While Vaatu isn’t happy about his predicament, he is an eternal being. He bides his time, waiting for his inevitable freedom...
[Image Description- Multiple screenshots of a cyberpunk take on the Tree of Time. The first two are rendered in unreal with dark purple lighting and some PSX shaders for some good old PSX crunch. The last three are screenshots from Maya with neutral lighting. The level’s ceiling is a downward pointing cone of many black cables/wires connecting into the top of the tree. The tree itself is also covered in black wires with red lights. Vaatu peeks out from the tree’s hollow. With the way the model is designed, the tree hollow looks like an eye that follows the person looking at it.
Because it is.
The tree sits on a red platform with it’s roots entangled in wires coming up from the floor. Tall, grey metal walls surround the tree, they are all adorned with the symbols of the elements along with a symbol for light and a symbol for dark.
Ember is also there because Vaatu needs an emotional support firebender and Zuko wasn’t available.]
The Jasmine Dragon-
The Jasmine Dragon is a teashop opened and ran by everyone’s favorite proverb giving, tea drinking, fire-breathing Uncle. It sits comfortably in the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, many patrons describing the tea served there as divine, and something to experience at least once before you die. Being an old retired general and ex-crown prince of the Fire Nation, Uncle knows how to lay low in the public eye and hide his cards well. Which is why, despite not appearing on the radar of the Dai Li, Uncle has managed to create safe space for those rebelling against Ba Sing Se’s authoritarian regime.
[Image Description- Multiple images of a more modern take on The Jasmine Dragon from ATLA. The first two are renders from Unreal, with that good ol’ PSX crunch. The rest are screenshots from Maya, which is why they’re actually legible. The walls are a beige color, there are many cream colored tables surrounded by green chairs. There are two rectangular windows at the front with a long table and sofas for customers who want to look outside as they drink. There are also two sets of two smaller hexagonal windows on either side of the restaurant. Down the center isleway there is a green rug with a dragon design on it. The walls are also adorned with many deep green posters, depicting earth symbols or dragons. In the employee’s only backroom there is a counter with a table and a few shelves as well as a couch for employees(Zuko) to rest while on break. There are red posters in the back room and a red backdoor for emergency exits. The Earthbender girl is featured in the first two screenshots. Ember can be seen in the Maya screenshots. She likes the boba tea.
Here’s what all the posters would say if Carnist wasn’t poop at writing Chinese.
-Earth is strong
-Jasmine Dragon
- It is better to go for three days without food than one day without tea.
-Fire
-Fire is fierce
-Exit
-The world [all under heaven] is guided by one.
-Fuck the police.]
Convexity-
As the rift between the material and spiritual planes widens, an airlock of sorts has been created. A void between worlds, created by the imbalance, and shifting of spiritual energy and physical matter.
Yes this place was inspired by convexity from The Legend of Spyro. :’D
[Image Description- Multiple screenshots of dark hexagonal stones with purple/pinkish energy flowing through them. The stones appear to be floating in an empty void, however once one looks down, a spiraling galaxy or maybe a quasar can be spotted.
Also Ember is there.
She really gets around.]
Finally, here’s a bunch of concept sketches-
[Image Description- Several concept sketches depicting a cyberpunk Gaang, the Krew, and even the best Avatar: Wan.]
One last thing I feel I should mention- I wasn’t planing on making a fangame, but if this post gets 150 notes or the video at the top of the post gets 150 likes, or both, I’ll make a functional demo and make the project open source with my assets and such also available for download.
I’m making the game, lol.
Credits-
Character models were made from Jugapugz’s lowpoly base
Aight, I desperately need sleep, so I’ll post the other three characters tomorrow. And I’ll update this post a better description for the concept sketches. Until then, thanks for checking this out~
#ATLA#Avatar#LoK#Cyberpunk#The Gaang#The Krew#Mula#Pabu#Naga#Long Feng#Raava#Vaatu#Zhao#Azula#Wan#Neon Lights in the Eternal Night
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Teaser:
A computer game enthusiast, “E” travels blindly through time, changing her past and future only to arrive at an unfamiliar reality.
Synopsis:
E is an average girl who plays way too many PC games, as a result of this she has a somewhat zombie-like appearance. One day when playing she travels through time and visits her past, however, she is oblivious to the fact that she time travelled and is constantly glued to her PC screen through the entire phenomenon, not realising she’s permanently altering her past. A tragic event occurs in front of her just as she time travels back, this causes her future to change without her knowledge or memories of the experience ever occurring, thus leaving E to return to an unrecognisable life.
Plot/ Animation Techniques:
This story is about a young teenage girl oblivious to the world around her, which inevitably ruins her life and changes the lives of the people she cares about in the past.
The story unfolds with little clues and hints that the past E visit is her own and that the people that she encounters are her parents (for the audience to relate to the character E but at the same time feel for her too).
Hopefully, the software I use this time would be TV Paint compared to Photoshop from my last project, but I guess whatever software I use I want to convey to the story with a lot of lighting in my animation to symbolise the bigger picture, what is happening around the character and how it can affect the story.
Soundtrack/ audio:
For my two minute film I don’t feel like I should have audio as I want the audience to focus more on the background then the characters talking, I do though want a sort of chilling sound in the background that slowly sounds darker as the film progress.
All Character Sheet/ information of that character:
E : She 19 years old female, she enjoys playing PC games, isn’t really interested in making friends unless it’s online, and doesn’t really leave her room. Although she seems unsociable, she has a big heart for the people she cares about.
Like her parents!
Kara & Karl Jeffery (age 32 and 35) both of her parents care for and play with E so they support her dream of becoming a pro gamer, although they worry for their daughter when she doesn’t leave her room for 2 weeks. Kara is outgoing and Karl can be quiet, they are the perfect couple.
This is the younger version of Katelyn Jeffery (age 11) before she dyed her hair and formally goes by E. Katelyn was a joyful, outgoing child that was very curious about the world around her before she played video games.
Concept Art (Style Frames):
I wanted to convey the bigger picture when drawing this concept art with a sort of night and day as the character E isn’t fazed with the things around her and is glued to the screen, not realising the lights keep flickering.
Late Night Gaming The Full Story: ( new title: Absent minded space child)
The gamer girl known as “E” casually starts her day playing games in a very messy room with her favourite items in the background (Pokemon, family portraits, figurines, anime posters). One night as she prepares for a gaming session, a pop-up ad appears on her screen called “time travellers the game” (free 1-hour trial). E willingly downloads the game and opens the application. This then quickly shoots her 8 years back in time (the audience can know what year she visits as the calendar on her desk shows the date and time she time travels)
E is transported into a long hallway where a family of three (a mother, father, and young child) are exiting their flat.
They are startled to see a teenage girl on her PC in front of their door however though nothing of it and assuming she was the new neighbour's child (E also doesn’t pay any attention even oblivious that she just travelled in time as she is too invested in the game).
After the family leaves, E travels through time again, however, this time she moves forward in time where she is in a gaming store surrounded by other, oblivious gamer’s a father and daughter walk by.
E then travels to a few hours later but this time into the middle of a road at night where an ongoing taxi is heading her way, E still doesn’t notice her surroundings, however, can time travel out of the situation, unfortunately, the passengers in that taxi were harmed only leaving one survivor.
For the final scene E is in a foggy field wherein the far distance the audience can see figures in the background of fog surrounding two graves and a small silhouette. Finally, E returns to 2022 to a clean room where most of the items in the background are gone and revealing that the two people that died were her parents as the family portrait in the background is replaced with a shrine dedicated to them. E finally switches off the PC and heads out the door into the hallway to visit her dead parents.
(NOTE: a Dark twist can be E revealing that now she is in a wheelchair due to “the accident”).
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i'm obsessed with klimt!jester and byzantine!molly, my gosh. what wonderful ideas you had for all of them! how long did it take you to settle on each inspiration, and what other ideas did you almost go with?
This is a fun question. Here’s how it went (behind the cut because this got so very long)-
Caleb happened first, and without any intention of doing a whole set. I wanted to try to do Van Gogh’s coloring thing, and Caleb seemed like a really good target. It was deeply fun.
Beau- Hey, I like this Caleb piece! What if I do art stuff for all of the M9? I wanna try those long inky LIchtenstein lines! And what could go wrong? Surely this won’t extend to two months of extensive research and work!
Molly- As soon as I decided to draw Beau, I knew I wanted Molly to be some highly iconographic thing with glorioles and gold leaf and things. I have a longstanding fascination with Catholic and Orthodox iconography and gosh do I love messing with gold leaf. Early concepts included some Fra Angelico action (he does this thing where you texture the gold leaf to create patterns in the frame, which i find absolutely stunning. This is also a Big Look in 17th Century Spanish polychrome sculpture, which I obviously couldn’t pastiche directly, but wanted to reference, if the opportunity came up)-
I also considered going a bit Russian. Russian iconography has probably the most opportunities for adding layers of symbolism (it just occurred to me that I probably would have needed to find someone who understood cyrillic to make it work)-
In the end, I was paging through a book of decorative motifs and was reminded of the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna, which are probably the most iconic of the form outside of the Hagia Sophia. I decided that I’d probably have lots of other opportunities to paint, and I wanted to try my hand at a realistic tile look.
Caduceus- I thought of Mucha straight away, but I really didn’t want to do it, because I had already seen it done several times, and I thought those other artists had done really well, and that the concept was a closed book. The other big concept was Picasso’s Old Guitarist-
It’s got the lankiness and the stylization and I love the pose, but in the end I just really thought that Caduceus was more Art Nouveau than expressionist. Also my brother was really voting against any pose that included a profile, because I had never drawn Cad in anything other than profile. So that cinched it.
Jester- I never considered anything else but Klimt. I tried hard to think of something else, because my last two brain cells have just enough self awareness to know that Klimt is way, way above me in terms of pattern and texture and motif, and I was pretty sure it was gonna be too difficult for me. It was, by the way. I stopped long before I wanted to and didn’t include a lot of what I had dreamed of adding.
Matt- Following my fascination with iconography, I still wanted to do the heavily painted, loaded with symbolism and rich color portrait that Molly wasn’t. I looked at artists like Ghirlandaio, Castagno, and Jan van Eyck (I never considered Da Vinci, his sensitivity is way outside my orbit), but in the end I kept coming back to Holbein, who really raises the bar on color choice and symbolism. I love that all his portraits seem to be set in plain or dark spaces, but are somehow glowing and mysterious. I didn’t have the guts to put in a deep, perspective-y background, but omg I wish-
I mean I’m not a fucking wizard. But holy shit look at that. The notes and crap hanging off the wall all look like clues. Like Sherlock Holmes would be able to write the whole life story of this guy. It’s almost trompe l’oeil.
Yasha- First concept for Yasha was a Minoan fresco from Knossos-
If I was designing Yasha’s tribe, I think I’d go for a melange of Mongolian and Minoan, throwing in some Tibetan textile patterns. I just think this looks so much like her, and also some other Minoan frescoes include insane levels of ritualized badassery, like Bull Leaping and young girls offering saffron to incarnate goddesses. I just love it. In the end, I was worried that the relative clean-ness and simplicity of the lines in the Minoan style would make it look like I was giving Yasha short shrift. This feels a little ridiculous to me now, but I had just come off three in a row that took more than ten hours. My next thought was the Book of Hours of Joanna of Castile. The thought here was that some of the pages actually look like Yasha’s book of pressed flowers-
This felt like a totally winning direction to me. As I researched illuminated books more, though, my concept started to broaden and get more stylized, and I just went with it. I think it turned out okay.
Fjord- Fjord is handsome and iconic, so the ideas flowed easily for him. The first and most obvious was a Fabio-era (read- 80s to early 90s) romance novel cover-
I didn’t go with it because the Tusk Love thing meant that a lot of other artists had tried it already, and many of them had done a damn fine job, and I didn’t think that I had anything to add. The next concept was David’s Napoleon-
Very solid concept, but two issues- 1. Most portraits of Napoleon are pretty standard, in the mold of, say, Holbein, which I had already done. 2. The horse portrait is awesome, but I think Fjord had only been on horses circumstantially. I couldn’t picture him on a horse. He’s not iconically horsey, he’s iconically sailor-y. I can’t confirm whether or not he had a moorbounde when I painted this, but I know I hadn’t seen any of those episodes, yet. So. All of this dithering kept going until the DAY I STARTED PAINTING. And suddenly pulp cover fell out. I love pulp art. This is the second fandom I’ve done pulp art covers for.
Nott- Full credit to @essayofthoughts, who came up with the playing card thing right at the get go. I wasn’t sold, though, and floated two other concepts. First was a Mughal Miniature-
The thing about these is that they are very often like little comics. On one side of the painting, you can have the main character at a lake, picking daisies or being drowned or whatever, and then on the other side that same character can be picking pockets in a crowded bar. There’s loads of opportunity for detail and symbols and fun stuff like that. On the other hand- I’m not a goddam genius. I could not have taken in the style and substance of Mughal storytelling and then just spit it out in a few short weeks and done it any justice. Nope, that concept was just too difficult and too far above me.My other concept was Millais’ Ophelia-
This one might have been amazing, but the second half of the 19th century was getting very crowded indeed, with Caleb, Caduceus, and Jester all having concepts from that era. That and I wanted something more graphic artsy than painty to round out the series. Beau was starting to feel like an outlier and I wanted to loop her in closer to the bunch, if you know what I mean.
Okay that was a lot, but I apparently had a lot to share. I hope you found the unused concepts interesting, at least. What would you have done, were you me? I would love to hear outtakes from alternative universes.
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Personal Project
Because of what is happening in the world, I have had to change my personal project to keep myself and others safe, and make sure I am staying within the law.
My new project is a still life project, using mostly natural objects, but I will have a few man-made objects to contrast the natural ones. I have planned to light the objects with a lighter, giving a warm tone to the images. In some of the images, I will include the flames to add some more appeal to the images.
this was the image that inspired me to use a lighter to illuminate the object and it helped motivate me because i saw that the photographer didn't add any additional light into the scene meaning it was something i could do at home.
Ideas
For my first shot, I want to use the quaich I was given when a baby. I want to make it look like the goblet of fire from Harry Potter with fire coming out of it and a ring of fire around it. I want to make sure I can see the engraving on the front.
For the second shot, I want to take a picture of a quartz crystal that I have and make it look like a standing stone with fire inside. My plan is to stand the crystal in some dirt to make it look like it is at the top of a hill.
For the third shot, I want to take a picture of a pile of matches and I want to make it look like it is a small bonfire. I saw an image that did a similar thing but they put the matches on a mirror and I think I am going to try that.
For the forth shot, I want to take a picture of an apple with a circle of fire around it making it. I think it looks a little bit like Saturn. I want to have it sitting in dirt or on slate. I’ll have to wait and see what looks best.
For the fifth shoot, I want to a big diamond shaped, bit of glass and light it from behind. Similar to the quartz crystal, I want to be looking straight at it instead of sitting on a ‘hill’. I may even add a line of fire at the front depending on what it looks like.
For the sixth shoot, I want to shoot this strange bird sleep charm thing that was my mums (I am not sure what it is) but i want to hand it and have a circle of fire underneath it and if that doesn't look right i am going to just light it and make it look interesting.
For the seventh shoot, I want to shoot a strange ball that I found on an island when I was younger. I want to do it the same way I will do the apple because they are of similar shape and I think that it might look interesting showing the contrast between something man-made and something natural.
For my eighth shot, I am going to take pictures of a bit of wood that I have that looks similar to a volcano and I am going to add a bit of artificial light by making a lava stream out of a led cabinet light in order to make it look like it is erupting. It will also put fire inside it to make it look more realistic. The lava stream won’t look perfect but i will do my best to make it look real.
For the ninth shot, I am going to take pictures of a plant. I am not sure yet which plant I am going to use at the moment because I have a lot in the house but it will most likely be an orchid or a pomegranate tree and if I really get stuck, I could try to use a part of the bonsai tree that I have outside.
For my tenth shot, I want to take a pictures of my contarex bullseye to contrast the complexity of nature by showing something man-made that is complex and if that doesn't work out, I will try it with my mamiya C3 because that has a cool and complex design. I could also take apart my Yashica Electro 35 to show the wiring that would look similar to the veins in the plant.
For most of the shots, I will be at 30 seconds f22 which will allow everything to be in focus. This might change depending on the conditions when I am shooting.
I will be taking most of the photos in my room on my desk and I will be making sure that I am safe and that I have the necessary safety precautions in place: I won’t be putting the flames directly on my wooden desk, I will have a big bit of slat to use as a bade that will protect my desk and I will also make sure to have something to put out a fire in case there is one.
my original plan
For my personal project, I want to take landscape photos and possibly incorporate some cityscapes into it, depending on if my idea can work with cities or not.
The basic idea is to take landscape pictures using a mirror to have interesting compositions. For instance, if I was taking a long exposure star trail or moonlight landscape, I would mirror the scene to make the stars create a triangle. If I was to do cityscapes, then I could take one half during the day then the other at night and show light pollution and how bad it is.
Thanks to my research I have found some images that will work with my idea:
Example 1: the picture would be double-exposed with the skyline of a city and also someone walking away from the camera.
In terms of planning the 6 weeks we have to conduct this project, I have planned to spend the first two weeks shooting the two pictures (person walking away and skyline). I’d also need one week to edit down the pictures and another week for optimising and photoshopping my images. On week 5, I’ll carefully choose the paper, print size of my final images. Week 6 will allow me to get the prints on time and be able to fix any mistakes in optimisations/ prints before handing it in.
Example 2: If the landscapes don’t quite work out, I would want to create landscapes out of smaller natural objects like stones and bits of wood. I believe that I would be able to find some of these things while I am out on location or in my garden. This is a basic image I took with my phone to show the idea I am trying to create because this tock to me looks like a mountain.
Research
A bit of History…
The first double exposure images started showing up in the 1860s. In those times, the images would have been taken on daguerreotype or other old forms of capturing images. It then progressed on to large format film then to medium and then to 35mm film which some people including me still shoot today.
Nowadays, taking double exposure pictures has considerably been eased by the use of digital camera. When you had to worry about exposure and how the images would combine on the film, the use of digital camera has enabled people to have complete control over the multiple images as long as you shoot the images separately and on RAW. The editing process on Photoshop is also convenient for any photographers to blend in their multiple shots together. However, to me, the whole process of doing it on film is far more rewarding at the end if you manage to get an amazing image out of it.
Inspiration…
The first photographer I have looked at who has taken similar pictures to what I am trying to achieve is Sergiu Mara. In my image, I will not be adding a portrait but this image is very similar to my example 1 idea. However, for one of my images, I wanted to do this but
inverted so the mountain at the top and the bottom of the frame.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
The way he creates his double exposures are a lot different to normal and a lot simpler than double exposures that you are used to seeing. In the first image, he uses symmetry very effectively by having the same picture perfectly aligned. In the second image, the way the curtain is bent into the face shows a significant amount of editing knowledge with show how good he is at what he does (editing knowledge). The third image looks to have been on analogue film because of the bleed through from the background image. In my experience, I have had similar results with the background bleeding through that’s why I think it was shot on film. (extend to -> why is this an effective
I don’t like the portrait aspect of this image because it just looks out of place and the very orange tone of the image doesn’t help either. If I was going to make a photo similar to this, I would have added a water/ shimmer effect on the bottom half of the image to make it look like a reflection on a lake. If I was to do this I would try and do it in camera if possible although adding the water texture would be difficult but it is worth a try. If I can’t do it in camera, I will have the separate images to put together on Photoshop. I wasn’t able to find out when he took these photos or any information on him at all I couldn’t find a webpage or any social media accounts but besides that I find his work very inspirational and I hope to use some of the techniques he has used in my work.
I am not sure who took these photos but based on the clothing and surroundings in the image and the style of the models I would guess they were taken in the 1800s probably between 1839-1860 as that is the period that daguerreotype photos were taken and if I am not mistaken that is the process used to take these photos. I find these pictures amazing especially because I would never have thought all that time ago they would managed to get such clear double exposures. Although this isn’t what I want to achieve, I really like how seamless the double exposures are and I want my images to look like that once I have produced them looking as real as possible.
It must have been very difficult for them to capture the images in that time because of the amount of setup needed for each photo and to be able to take the pictures without motion blur from the exposure time. For my photos and in order to achieve the best results, I will probably have to close down my aperture to be able to get the sharpest image and deepest depth of field possible.
The picture of the man getting his air cut and the picture of the girl above it are my favourite two images of this set because I really like the story they portray. The portrait image of the man in the chair looking like he is about to get a haircut because of the way the man has positioned himself almost as if he was in a very posh barbershop and I can only imagine he took this all himself because it would probably be hard to find a photography assistant in those times.
I like the picture of the girls because it is so well done and clean: there is no fading on either of the two exposures although it does look like half of the frame was covered to achieve this effect based on the line in the middle of the shot which can be seen in nearly all of the phots besides the two on the left. The one at the bottom middle is especially different because you can see the background is different in each portrait of the girl.
The last photographer I have found is Hayden Williams. He works in analogue to produce dreamy and romantic scenes out of ordinary moments. Thanks to the double exposures, the way he combines the scenes gives them more impact, beauty and punch.
I especially like the first image for how it transitions and I like the tones inth image giving it a dreamy feel with the green/ turquois hue in the image and I like the stripe of orange in the middle connecting the building to the top half of the image and that would have been very difficult on film because he wouldn’t have been able to match them up very easily.
I also love that it was taken on film, which means that it was done in camera. My aspiration is to create images like these ones, in camera, and with as much character as these images. The first and second images resembles an image you would see on a movie poster and wouldn’t look out of place in one, the tones also resemble a movie poster and add to the mood of the images.
I really like the picture with the water in the subway entrance because in one of my images I want to add a water texture to one half of the image to make it resemble a reflection. In lots of his images he has a purple/ pink hue to the image but for the first image it is green which is a big contrast. I like the picture of the cat because it is of how well exposed both parts are but I don’t like the pink hue in this image because it doesn’t really work with the sunset and they blend together in a less than satisfying way.
Conclusion…
The reason I want to create multiple exposures -other than the fact that I find them fascinating and entertaining to shoot- is because you are able to tell a story with the pictures. It triggers the viewer’s imagination who becomes the person in charge with making up a story:
Is the person walking away leaving an old life behind them by maybe moving to the countryside and leaving the city behind?
If the image of the mountain and the man was edited slightly differently then it could show hidden fear or emotions like for instance if on the bottom image there was the water texture showing the reflection but the image on the bottom he was crying would show that he is hurt inside but doesn’t want to show it.
I am sure that if I was to get out there and try out some shots, I could get a similar image within the time we have to complete this project. It will take a few attempts and I might find it easier to capture these images the combine them on photoshop but the desired method is to do it in camera. I might even try to take some photos on film because I feel more comfortable doing multiple exposures on film as I have done it multiple times in the past with varying results. Most of them have worked out perfectly and only one didn’t work out but I was stressed and rushing to do it in time. However, I believe that I have the skills to create strong and powerful images as the ones shown in my essay.
Constance
· Sergiu Mara research https://mattellgoodphotographer.wordpress.com/2017/03/24/inspirational-double-exposure-photographers/
· Old multiple exposure research, not positive on where I found the image but very inspirational.
· Hayden Williams research https://www.flickr.com/photos/haydilliams/page1
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Contests Schmontests: a few thoughts
It’s that time of year again… AKA photo contest time. I wrote this post 5 years ago after judging POYi for the first time, and housed it on a blog I’ve long-since scrubbed clean. But figured it was worth reposting now since the same conversations are happening now about the winning images.
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Judging POYi is such a unique experience that I wanted to share some thoughts and insights with you. From February 2-6, 2015, AP Photo Editor Jacqueline Larma, South African photojournalist (and last year’s 2nd place POY portfolio winner) James Oatway, WIRED Magazine Director of Photography Patrick Witty and I looked at about 10,770 unique images at the University of Missouri’s 72nd annual POYi competition.
We were judging the News Division — with categories ranging from Feature and Portrait to Human Conflict and Issue Reporting to Portfolio of the Year.
It was an incredible honor to look through the best pictures of the year to determine the VERY best. For me, the goal going into the week was not to not only recognize a very high level of work done this year, and give it a second life, but also to help establish the benchmark for the next year’s work. The magnitude of that task weighed heavily. And I guarantee you, it wasn't taken lightly.
One thing we kept returning to as a judging team was that, above all, this is a photojournalism competition. At its most basic level, the photography has to be there. The quality of the pictures is paramount.
We removed several really good pictures from the competition because of carelessness on the photographer’s part (or sometimes on the part of the entry coordinator — yes some publications actually still have people that enter contests for their staff — which amazes me). Small things like a dirty sensor, poor toning, low res images and crops that left lines or borders on the edges were difficult to get past. This contest is for Pictures of the Year. Before you enter, take a second to ensure there’s nothing detracting from your image.
On a higher plane, come the intangibles. What is this picture saying? Is it truthful? Does the photographer have a voice and a vision, are they moving photography forward with their image? It’s not enough to simply show up (f8 and be there), point, and shoot. When everyone with a camera phone fancies themselves a photographer, we have to set ourselves apart by approaching situations skillfully — photography is, after all, a craft.
Moments always weigh heaviest for me. But there are other elements like mood, composition, light, and what the photographer is trying to say, that we took into account as well. It’s not enough to show up, you have to bring something to the image as well.
That said, judging is a very subjective process. Put different judges on any year's contest jury, and the winners might be different. I think the phrase “best” isn’t necessarily a qualitative term, it’s a quantitative one. A majority of the judges have to agree that it's the best, not all...
We asked ourselves: which pictures resonate with us…. four people from totally different and diverse backgrounds. One thing that was obvious is that when you respect what the other judges bring to the table, it’s an incredibly fascinating process to go through. We talked about the pictures, a lot. You have to be able to articulate why something is good, not just that it is.
But perhaps the biggest thing I learned from this process is that good judging is about compromise and consensus. It’s not a perfect process, no contest is, but when done right... it’s incredibly fair. Ultimately, the other three judges and I had the utmost respect for the work we were looking at, and wanted the best of the best to be recognized.
I say that because I got text messages, emails and phone calls after judging was over asking why a certain story didn’t win, or a certain issue not rise up and be recognized. And the bottom line is this: it's hard to second-guess judging because it doesn't come down to one person's opinion... it comes down to a collective vote by just a handful of people that you've put your trust into.
I'll also say this: you can only judge the work that’s there against other work that’s there. I know that there was some powerful work done in 2014 that wasn’t entered. I know that we saw better pictures of certain events or moments on the wires or newspapers, but that work wasn’t entered. You can’t judge a best of anything contest against the ideal stuck in your head — that’s not fair. You have to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of what’s on the screen in front of you — the end. (On a side note: I hate contests that refuse to award a 1st place, and just give a 2nd and 3rd... It's a contest of, the year, you judge what's there. Because that's the best of what you've got. Period.)
Issue Reporting story was, in my mind, one of the strongest categories this year. And it was my favorite to judge. It shows how deeply people are digging in their own backyards to tell important stories.
Brad Vest’s look at the residents of a Memphis Housing project took us inside this place, put a face on the people there, had heart, and a beautiful aesthetic. The pacing and editing of it really felt like every picture pushed the narrative forward a little bit more, adding something to the story. Lisa Krantz’s story on obesity took us inside the life of San Antonio’s Hector Garcia. It had intimacy and depth. It told an important story about a powerful issue and did so with beauty and dignity for the subject. And notice how both of those photographers also had winning portfolios, because those issues, those in-depth stories, those important and incredible moments, carried them through.
The Staten Island Ferry Portrait Series that placed second resonated with me for the same reason: it’s such a good reminder that you don’t always have to go far or seek out the exotic to make interesting and compelling images.
Feature Picture Story was (again, in my mind, I’m not speaking for the other judges here) one of the weakest categories. It felt like a dumping ground for event coverage, for collections of images photographers were lumping together, for fluff that lacked both substance and style. Without purpose, 12 pretty photos from the State Fair do not a picture story make. Make those pretty images, but then ask yourself what you’re trying to say about this place, these people, this thing… AND FIND A WAY TO SAY IT. The feature stories that won, did so deservingly — especially the first place winner which is a quiet, yet almost lyrical way of telling a story. Different, yet emotive. Powerful, yet thoughtful. But the drop off was steep after the ones that placed.
Before we began judging the Newspaper Portfolio round, contest coordinator Rick Shaw reminded us that there’s no such thing as a perfect portfolio. And he’s right. Although some portfolios came close, ultimately, picking a winner came down to weighing the strengths and weaknesses of a body of work. For me, stories held more weight in the portfolio, because that’s really when you get to see a photographer’s strengths: how they work through a story, how they edit it, how their ideas translate into moments. And then how do the singles back this up?
It helps to look at things in a grid form, all together in a contact sheet, to see how things not only look, but feel, as a group. Are there any clunkers that are bringing it down? Is there a frame there that because of aesthetic or approach feels like it was shot by a different photographer? Are you putting a weak sports or spot news photo into your portfolio to fill a hole or is it really necessary and does it add to the work? It’s definitely given me a lot to think about when assembling my own portfolio for future contests.
The state of the newspaper industry is lousy right now. With layoffs and buyouts, losing experience and expertise hurts. I saw that come through in the editing time-and-time again. There were stories and portfolios that were too long, redundant, or full of too many pointless unnecessary photos. Those we eliminated. It sucks thinking, this is a great photographer… if only they had a good editor.
But the winners give me some hope for the industry. There’s no question that there’s still some amazing work out there by photographers who are findings ways to get it done. There are brave photographers willing to risk their lives to make images that show us the suffering, brutality and inhumanity of conflict. There are inspiring and innovative photographers who are finding new and different ways to make images. And there are concerned photographers digging deeper into their own communities to shed a light on the darkness.
Contests aren’t perfect. And entering them isn’t either. Just because a set of judges doesn’t pick an image doesn’t mean it’s bad. It just means it didn’t resonate with those judges in that place on that day.
And if you win something and have a photo that places, congratulations. It’s a feather in your cap, a pat on the back and hopefully some validation to take back to your bosses to remind them why we need the time and space to do what we do.
The opportunity to see how your own work stands up to the work that’s being chosen is a learning experience. And if your work’s not quite there this year, you know where the bar has been set. Hopefully it’s a motivator more than a deterrent. More than anything though, what I hope people get out of contests is the conversations they spark. The debates about photos are healthy, as long as they’re constructive.
And with all that said: the most important thing to remember is judging is incredibly subjective and it depends on a lot of factors coming together and aligning perfectly — one of the biggest being luck.
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S-Support Wallpapers: Style 2
You can download the Photoshop file for this style here! All the layers, effects, and backgrounds are already ready for you to use and play around with. I would assume you know the basics of how to navigate the program, but I’ll try to take it slow if you’re still new to Photoshop.
NOTE: I made this using Photoshop CS6! It should still open with the other versions (??), but you might have to adjust when following the tutorial.
Style 2, Type A
Ah yes. Everyone’s most favorite because of how cute and romantic it looks. But it’s the most troublesome to edit XD Prepare your artistic skills because you’ll need it for Type A!
To start off, you’ll need the portrait art and the special attack art of your characters for this wallpaper style. To place your files into Photoshop, go to File>Place>then find where your images are> Place.
Put the portrait artworks into the “Original 1″ group folder, and the attack art into “Original 2″ group folder. I would recommend duplicating those folders before you do anything with them in case you mess up and need to restart.
We’ll be working with the portraits first for Type A, so let’s go to the “Original 1″ group folder. Place your character images in between the layers named “Rectangle 1 copy” and “Flower 2″.
Select both character images and resize them together (CTRL+T). It’s easier if you resize them together because they’ll look even that way. It’ll look a bit off if one head is bigger than the other. My preference is to put the characters either knee-up or thigh-up. Sometimes I go waist-up, but I don’t zoom in any closer than that because they’ll take up a lot of space in the wallpaper. It’s always good to have a little bit of space.
Don’t worry about the height of the characters. Using the arrow keys, you can nudge the image up and down after you’re satisfied with the size. No one will know that one character’s feet passes the other.
For deciding on which character goes in front of who, it depends on how they’re posed. Be mindful if they’re carrying weapons too. If they are carrying weapons, you can flip the character image (Go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal), or you can edit it out, as seen with my Laslow/Peri wallpaper above. I had to remove Peri’s lance because it was both blocking Laslow and because it doesn’t match the romantic vibe. But more on how to do that later in the tutorial.
Now that you got your characters positioned how you want, it’s time to do the facial edits! If you’re using original characters that came from Heroes, then you won’t have to worry too much about facial edits, since they already have some. You can combine different facial expressions to make a new one. I’ll also explain how to do this a later in the tutorial.
To start the editing, make a bunch of new layers above the characters images, like so. For a minimum, start with 3. You can always add more if you need. And don’t worry about how many to make. At the end, you’ll merge them so there won’t be a clutter.
You’ll make use of the Eyedropper tool (I), the Brush tool (B), and the Eraser tool (E) a lot for this process.
Don’t worry about what kind of brush to use. No need to be fancy and download brushes. I just use the default round brush that Photoshop has. How you set your brush settings will depend on you and the style of your character’s artist. Be sure to keep using the Eyedropper tool from the artist’s original art, and change brush settings when necessary.
Before you even start drawing, have an expression in mind. I want Faye to look like ^v^. So to do this, I have to cover up her art with her skin color first. Use the layer directly above the character image layer for the skin cover-up (this would be layer 8 for Faye, and layer 3 for Kliff). Using those three tools above, this is how I cleaned up Faye’s face.
If your artist uses a blending style of painting, you can either change the hardness of your brush to 0%, or use the Blur or Smudge tool to blend. Keep in mind that I’m only using the default round brush. If you already have a brush that can do the job, then go ahead and use it.
After the cover-up layer looks good, use the layers above that one to draw in your expression. Make sure to deeply analyze the artist’s style beforehand in order to copy it. Small details like outlines, shading style, and use of shapes really make a difference. Turn the skin layer on and off if need be in order to see the original art below and copy it. And don’t forget to zoom out once in a while to see how your drawing looks from afar!
I can’t tell you how exactly to do this, I’m afraid. So good luck to you on this step. Take all the time you need to draw your expression. Try not to worry about making it exactly authentic!
Here’s how my expression turned out.
And after that, just add the blushies! Yeah, Faye is already blushing, but you gotta exaggerate! For the extra cute effect! For this part, I make sure to put the settings for both the Brush tool and the Eraser tool at 0% hardness, and make the sizes of those tools big.
To start off, brush a huge streak of a red or pink color down on the cheek area. Then using the eraser with very soft edges, erase around the edges of that streak to get the look that you want. I do not recommend pressing and holding down as you erase! Use single clicks! That way you have more control over how the blush looks. You can even lower the opacity of the blush layer to not have it be so prominent on the face.
Erase the blush areas that go past the cheek, like in the hair. You can change the eraser hardness back to 100% for this. If the blush is on the ears, that’s fine. It’s natural for the ears to also get red when someone blushes.
Select all the layers you made for your character and press CTRL+E to merge them. BUT ONLY DO THIS WHEN YOU’RE SURE YOU’RE SATISFIED WITH THE LOOK!
And now Faye’s done! Her change was pretty simple. Just closing her eyes and adding more blush. But what if there’s more to edit? Like changing the eyebrows (there’s a lot of scowling Heroes out there), or changing where the character is looking? Or what about their mouth!? Well, I’ll go over a bit of that with Kliff.
Start similarly to how I made Faye. Make the skin cover-up layer, and then draw what you need to. For eyebrow changes and for the mouth, you just draw on it. You don’t have to make a big change with the mouth. Just erase bits of the corners, and then draw an extension of the mouth to make the character smile, or smirk, depending on their personality. You’d have to draw a completely new mouth if you wanna give them a huge smile. Keep the artist’s art style in mind if you’re going to do that.
For changing where a character is looking, you’d need to use the Clone Stamp Tool (S), in addition to the previous three tools we’ve been using. And you’d have to rasterize the image of your character before you can use the Clone Stamp tool on it. To do this, select the layer your character image is on, right click, and then click on “Rasterize Layer”. Now you can use the Clone Stamp tool on it.
Cover up the irises on a layer. It can be the same one you used for the skin cover-up layer, or use a new one. Now that you rasterized the image, you can draw on that image now, so make sure that you don’t do that!
Once you’re done covering up the irises, go back to the character image and select that layer. Then use the Clone Stamp tool. To start cloning, hold down Alt. Your mouse will change into a circle with a cross in the middle. As you’re holding down Alt, click on where you want the cloning to start; in this case, it is the iris. Pick either one.
And then go select an unused layer. Click anywhere on the canvas to put down the clone of the eye. The Clone Stamp tool will work like a brush tool, duplicating the character image.
This is how mine looks. I even named my layers to help make sense for you (hopefully you can read it?).
And yes, my new eye is not where it’s supposed to be. You can move around the layer after taking out the bits that are not the iris. Don’t worry if the iris no longer fits the sclera. Either erase, or make a new layer and draw the missing pieces. Now do this again for the other eye.
And ta-dah! Now add the blushies, and you’re done.
Like in my last tutorial, you can add the Exposure adjustment the character images using the clipping mask in order to make the character look more cohesive. I did this for Kliff, but left Faye alone.
Lastly, the background. “Layer 2″ is the gradient layer for the background color. Select the Gradient tool (G), For the first color, find the very first layer of this file named “Clair”. There, you’ll find Clair (lol XD). I like to use her hair color for the first color. The second color is your choice, and then move the location of that second color to 50%. Then just play around with the gradient until you’re satisfied with how it flows. Make sure the yellow is on top. Or not, you don’t have to use Clair’s hair.
And you’re done with Type A!
Now going back to what I said before. How do you take out a weapon?
There’s a safer way to erase something, and that’s using the layer mask. I used this tool to take out Peri’s lance, and also for other things.
Look at the bottom of the layers panel. Find the icon of a white rectangle with a hole on it. Select the layer you want to start erasing, and then click on that icon.
Your selected layer should look like in the image above after you click on the layer mask icon. To “erase”, make sure you’re using the color black as you’re brushing away what you don’t want, and use the color white if you want to bring something back.
If you want to have the characters look like they’re intertwining instead of just putting one in front of the other, duplicate the characters, and then use the layer mask on the top version of that character. As seen in the picture above, there’s another Laslow layer below the Peri layer. This is how I made parts of Laslow and Peri go in front of the other, without having to cover the other completely.
If you want to do this, it is best to make the facial edits first, and then use the layer mask.
And lastly, how do you combine facial expressions of a Heroes OC to make a new expression?
First, find all the expressions you want to combine, and place them in the layers. Once you have what you want, select all of the expressions and resize them together. It’s important to resize them together. If you move them, you also move them together. Order the expressions based on the parts of the face you need. When you have the size that you want, use the layer mask on all of the images except the bottom expression. Then just “erase” the parts of the above layers to show parts from the layers below. This might take a bit to understand how to do.
Here’s an example of Alfonse from a request.
Add the blushies, and you have an awkward and embarrassed boy.
Style 2, Type B
Thankfully this one doesn’t take much explaining to do. Goodness, Type A had a lot to be explained oof.
Put the character images in between the layer named “Swirl 2 copy” and the hue/saturation adjustment layer. Then resize and arrange the characters how you want. Unlike Style 1, Type B from the last tutorial, I prefer to have the characters face the same way for this one. With all the special effects flying around, it’s really easy to make Type B look chaotic, but it’s our job to make it not look chaotic.
I like to add a Drop Shadow effect on the characters to make them pop a bit more from the background. To do this, double click on the layer, and a pop-up should appear. Select the “Drop Shadow” at the very bottom. Edit however you like. I prefer to keep all the settings the same except the color. I would change it to something other than black. And then add the Exposure adjustment if need be. Make sure you clip the adjustment layer to the character layer, or else it would affect everything below that.
Once you’re done, select the layer named “Layer 1″, and then create a gradient that you want on that layer. The base I made has 3 colors, but you can also use more or less than that. Don’t forget to play around with the layer modes to see which version can best create the look that you want.
And that’s how you make Style 2! This was a very long tutorial, and great job for sticking to the end! I hope that tutorial was understandable? I understand if you got lost though... Type A was a doozy. My ask box and DMs are always open if you have any questions.
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Clean White Research
The clean white brief is about taking studio portraits on a clean, white background. While studying NC5 photography last year, I was taught the best way to achieve a bright white background was to point 2 lights, left and right, angled onto the middle section of the backdrop. I adjusted the lights until they were registering F11 on the Sekonic light meter. Next, I would place my model approximately 2m in front of the backdrop (to avoid shadows from the front lighting) and set my lighting up to measure F8 under the model’s chin.
My lecturer suggested researching photographers who used this kind of set up and my findings are below.
David Bailey
David Bailey by Ben Hassett bromide print, 2014
David Bailey (1938-), Photographer and film-maker
“Graduating from being an assistant with fashion photographer John French in 1959, Bailey began the 1960s with a contract with Vogue to become the decade's iconic chronicler with two defining portrait publications David Bailey's box of pin-ups (1965) and Goodbye Baby and Amen (1969). They focussed on a new social order that evolved from the decade of change. Bailey was a leading figure in the Swinging Sixties London scene and provided some of the inspiration for the role of the photographer, played by David Hemmings, in Antonioni's cult film Blow Up (1966.) Bailey had his first Museum exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in 1971.”
Source: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp05044/david-bailey
Famous Portraits by David Bailey
Mick Jagger, 1964
Kate Moss, 2013
Damon Albarn, 2007
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/feb/05/national-portrait-gallery-david-bailey
Richard Avedon
“Richard Avedon was an American fashion and portrait photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century".
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Avedon
Famous Portraits by Richard Avedon
Katharine Hepburn, actor, New York, March 2, 1955
Martin Luther King, Jr. with Father and Son, 1963
Janis Joplin, singer, Port Arthur, Texas, August 28, 1969
Irving Penn
“Irving Penn (June 16, 1917 – October 7, 2009)[1] was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still lifes. Penn's career included work at Vogue magazine, and independent advertising work for clients including Issey Miyake and Clinique. His work has been exhibited internationally and continues to inform the art of photography.”
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Penn
Marlene Dietrich, New York, 1948
Vogue cover shot, 1950
Salvador Dalí, New York, 1947
Tips from the web...
4 Tips for a Perfect White Background in High Key Photography
A guest article by Tony Northrup.
A bright, white background creates a high energy, happy, and distraction free scene, perfect for pictures of your friends and family. Known as high key photography, this technique instantly cures problems with ugly backgrounds and focuses the viewer’s attention on your subject.
Besides being a popular for portrait photographers, it’s a more modern choice, rather than traditional (ie., painted muslin). Here are my favourite tips for creating high key photos.
4 tips for perfect white backgrounds in high key photography
Tip #1 – Use a Solid White Background to Eliminate Distractions
I used a big, white piece of paper as the background for this portrait of my twin nieces because anything natural for a background would have clashed with their colourful outfits. The brightness also perfectly matches their expressions.
Tip #2 – use sunlight as your background
To create a solid white background, you need to completely overexpose your background without overexposing your subject. That means you’ll need much more light on your background than on your foreground subject; about 16 times more light (or four stops of light).
Fortunately, we all share a very powerful and free light source: the sun. For this photo of a radio talk show host and his dog, I had him kneel in my kitchen at midday when the sun was streaming through the glass doors behind him. I added three stops of exposure compensation to properly expose their faces. Because the sunlit background was much brighter than the shade in my kitchen, the camera captured it as solid white.
Tip #3 – use a flash on the background
Another easy way to create a bright background is to light it with an off camera flash. Simply move your model four to six feet away from your background and hide a flash behind your model, pointing it at the background. When you take your photo, the flash will light the background to overexpose it and make it appear completely white.
An off camera flash doesn’t have to be expensive. Any manual flash with an optical slave will work, including the $60 (US) YongNuo YN-560 that I often use. Simply turn on both the flash’s optical slave and your built-in flash. When you take a picture, your flash will trigger the off camera flash to light the background.
Tip #4 – don’t over, overexpose the background
You can overexpose a high key background too much. If you bounce too much light off your background, the backlighting will overtake your model and wash out your picture. For example, the picture on the left had too much light on the background, while the picture on the right had just the right amount.
To get a perfectly white background without washing out your picture, start your background light at its lowest power and increase it one stop at a time until the background is barely overexposed. In this video, my wife Chelsea and I show you exactly how to find the perfect flash output. Our book, Stunning Digital Photography, includes more than six hour of video integrated into the lessons, because photography is a visual art, and often it’s easier to learn by watching than reading.
Source: https://digital-photography-school.com/4-tips-perfect-white-background-high-key-photography/
Test Shoot with silhouettes and recreating lighting
Today, we set up in the studio to capture our first test shoot for the brief. The lecturer had asked us to bring in a print out of a shot by a famous photographer on a clean white background to try and emulate the lighting and viewpoint. First we set up the backdrop and positioned two lights onto it, left and right, and metered until the left, centre and right sides were all metering at F16. We achieved this by increasing and decreasing the power of the lamps and moving them inwards or outwards until we had an even spread of light. Next we took silhouette shots to make sure the backdrop was evenly lit before we worked on the lighting on the model. The shot I decided to try and emulate was a portrait of Madonna by Herb Ritts.
I think we managed to get the correct lighting to replicate the shadows in the final shot and stood on a ladder to get the correct viewpoint.
Shoot 1 - First Attempt
I decided to ask James in the class to be my model and brought in a selection of props to see which would work best. I liked the idea of dressing him either as a hacker, using an “Anonymous” mask to show him as if he is revealing his true identity. I wanted the mood of the shot to be quite dark and mysterious so I used a single light above and slightly to the right go his head and fitted it with a snoot. I also brought in a microphone and a set of headphones as I wanted to see if I could make him into a pop star recording in the studio or maybe paying live to his audience. I think the “hacker” shot worked best so optimised this one and submitted it for a class critique the following Friday.
Contact Sheet from the session
Final shots chosen pre-optimisation
Post optimisation
Final chosen shot optimised and submitted for class critique
On the whole, the critique was quite positive, with comments such as “Love the crop”, “Good contrast” and “Love the lighting rig!” The suggestions were, “Tilt mask to show more” and “More effective without headphones?”, which I agree with as, on reflection, they detract from the mask and suggest he could be a DJ. I did further research before the second shoot and decided to drop the headphones and introduce a hoodie along with a 3″CD I wanted him to point towards the camera as if it contained important data. I also thought the highlights from the CD would work well and balance with the highlights from the mask. The film I shot for this session didn’t come out when I developed it as there was very little front lighting, suggesting the lamp hadn’t been firing, so I’ll re-shoot on film too at the next session.
Second session contact sheet
Shot chosen to be optimised
Evaluation
I think this shot works better than the first one and optimised it using Photoshop in my Imaging class, where I created a B&W layer along with a curves layer and added the black key-line. I asked my model to pose as if asking the viewer to “shhh...”, imagining he had revealed his identity to them personally but still wished to remain “Anonymous” from all but a chosen few. I wanted to frame the shot quite closely to the subjects face and keep his eyes in the right upper third but balance that off with the mask in the bottom left lower third. I also cropped in on the mask tighter than previously as I think the shot works better if the viewer has to work out what the object is. The addition of the hoodie as a prop also lends some mystique to the image and I feel gives a better contrast to the face and makes a more flowing shape to the centre of the shot, taking the viewer’s eye from the subjects eyes down towards the mask. This shot also had the least amount of negative or white space, which I felt there was too much of in the earlier attempts. I think the key to a successful portrait is in the planning and propping of the model along with careful consideration of the framing and shapes and balance within the frame.
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Clean White
The images above were taken by the talented photographers, Richard Avedon, Annie Leibovitz and David Bailey. As we were given a project that involved using a “clean white” backdrop, we were asked to research 3 studio photographers portraits and analyse the key elements. We can see that the background is plain and has no visible shadows, making the photograph appear smooth and ‘clean’. All of the images are in black & white, which allows the features of the models to stand out against the light background and creates an obvious separation between the people and the empty space. I chose these 3 in particular, because i noticed a difference in the atmosphere/composition of each.
The first image of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was taken by Richard Avedon. I liked the fact that his jacket had some texture instead of a plain black colour, because i feel this added depth and included some medium tones into the photograph as well. The lighting is very soft and there are barely any shadows visible, apart from where his hand is touching his jaw, which leads me to believe softboxes were used. I think that the composition is interesting because he isn’t looking into the camera but off into the distance to the left. His hand is included in the frame, therefore creating another layer of depth because it is in the foreground and helps to display some shadows in the middleground. Personally, i think these two aspects create some character for the person and make the photograph a bit more intriguing.
The second image of Adele was taken by Annie Leibovitz. As well as the first photograph, this has been set up with a “clean white” backdrop, however most of the frame has been taken up by the model, as this is a close up shot. The contrasting areas are slightly darker than the Avedon image, as she is wearing black clothes and has some dark eye makeup. Although, once again we are seeing some medium tones coming through due to her hair. In between her pale skin and her dark clothes, her hair creates a gradual transition between the two very different shades. We can see soft shadows again, only on her cheeks, making the rest of her face clear to see and due to the use of black & white her features stand out well against her light skin. Just as i think the composition is interesting in the first photograph, i think it is here as well. The idea of her hair being blown creates a nice effect and the serious look on her face as the chaos is going on around her could perhaps relate to her personality and expresses the type of person that she is.
The final image of John Lennon and Paul McCartney was taken by David Bailey. Here we can see a clear difference between the background and the models because the separation line is very sharp and shows a distinct contrast in shades. Compared to the other two photographs, this image has the least amount of medium tones noticeable, as the hair and the suits are very dark and their skin looks very pale. The lighting once again is soft, and seems to be postioned to the left slightly as there are some shadows visible on the right side of their faces. Due to the fact that there are two people in the frame, the shape of their bodies both trying to fit in together is somewhat interesting, as it looks like McCartney is sitting crossed legged, perhaps on a stool, so Lennon could stand behind him. We can see a sort of triangular shape being formed from the top of Lennon’s head to the bottom edges where McCartney’s arms are sitting, the composition appearing well balanced and adding visual impact. There is a hint of symmetry here from the positioning of their arms and the hands being placed in the centre at his torso, brings more light into the lower half of the image. The expression on both of their faces can seem quite intimidating because of their straight faces and serious eyes looking dead into the camera.
When looking at the three images together we can see similar details that should be considered when one would carry out the “clean white” background. This includes: a smooth clean backdrop having no shadows or imperfections, with its entirety being the same shade of white, soft lighting with very little to almost no shadows present, some form of interesting composition and it being in black & white. Despite each of these photographs being styled differently, they all pull off the clean white background very well and i hope to be able to produce an image that has some sort of thought-provoking aspects just like the photos above.
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