Me Painting Me

I made the mistake of telling someone that I had video of painting this self-portrait.  For some reason he wanted to see it.  So....  I dug up the video, edited it late on Friday, and just posted it on a break today.

Hope you enjoy!

Matte Painting

Just recently I finished a matte painting for the movie Remember.  You can find out more by visiting their Facebook page or their website.  I'll post more about making this later.  For now, enjoy!

Direct the Viewer with Faces and Eyes

Today we will talk about using faces and eyes in our pictures, or how to....

Thanks, Mr. Announcer guy!

Before I get into this, let's remember a couple basic composition principles:

Basic Composition Principles

We use some objects that act like targets.  They attract the eyes of the viewer.

We use other objects that act like arrows.  They point to something (often a target object).

A good composition should act like this: the arrow object points our eyes to the target and we viewers find our attention riveted on whatever that target is.  The goal is to develop a good "balance" in the picture.  We put the target in a nice spot for our eyes to rest within the picture.  We place arrows so that they point into the picture and not out of it, toward the target and not away from it.  

Principles Applied to Faces and Eyes

Faces are great example of target objects.  Artists and photographers like to use faces to attract attention.  We viewers usually don't mind, being partial to our likeness.  In fact, even if the artist does not intend for us to look at a face, the viewer will look at it involuntarily.  Faces innately attract our attention.

And yet, while faces always attract, sometimes they also double as arrow objects!  A turned head can turn our heads and point us in a direction.  

Perhaps its the nose that does the pointing....

The trick with faces is to "balance" the targetness and arrowness within the picture.  If a face is pointing in one direction, make sure it has space there to make up for the strong directional prompt.  If it is too close to the edge of the picture, it will point our eyes out and away!

The eye is a perfect example of a target object.  That dark center with the rings around it...  It can powerfully attract our attention.

And yet....

It too can powerfully direct our attention!  The eyes act as arrow objects most often in pictures, pointing at the object of interest.

Combining Face and Eye Directions

When heads and eyes direct the viewer's attention in a picture, they often act in unison.

With both pointing in the same direction, the artist does not have to worry about where the viewer will look.

However, sometimes the face and eyes act independently.

If you ignore the eyes here, the head is pointing down and to the left (his right).

However, his eyes point down and to the right.  (His left.)

A good rule of thumb is to let the eye direction overrule the head direction.  While we are interested in a person, we are more interested in what a person is thinking about.  When we see someone suddenly look in a direction, we sometimes catch ourselves involuntarily looking to see what caught their attention.

Again, this pose could confuse the artist.  Where is a good place to put this head in the picture?

The head is pointing down and right in the picture, almost away from us...

...but the eyes are pointing toward us and to the left.

Remember: eyes overrule faces.  Just wanted to make sure that you got that.

Practical Problem: Something's Stirring Out There

This picture has major problems.  It almost looks like random sketches—like the people are not really interacting.

The only reason that it somehow works is that the directional gaze of the two characters on the left is counteracted by the stirring woman's gaze.  Other than her self-consumed part of the picture, the two men on the left gaze strongly out of the picture.

A better picture might look like this.

By using the young man as the center of interest, and having both characters looking at him, the composition get better instantly.  All of a sudden the characters are interacting meaningfully within the picture.

If we turned the man's head a little, it helps even more...

Practical Problem: It's Alive!

Other than having a creepy mad scientist (or whatever he is), this picture also has compositional issues.  While both of the men are looking at the object of interest, that object is too far over in the picture.

The test tube that the assistant is holding acts as the target.  (It doesn't look like one... but don't think about that, right now.)  Unfortunately for this picture, the test tube is too close to the left edge.  With the strong directional gaze from both of the characters, the effect is very powerful.  The test tube is not a strong enough target, and the strength of their look carries the compositional force out of the picture.

If we merely flip our lab assistant around, the composition instantly gets much better.

The test tube is in a much better spot, compositionally.  Both gazes now intersect on it, creating a much better picture.

Also note: if we change the assistant's gaze just a little bit, the composition changes.  The assistant becomes the center of interest, and the picture now becomes a story not of a laboratory surprise but of the character differences between the mad scientist and his assistant!  Always look for ways for the people to interact in your compositions.

Practical Problem: Off Center

Ok, one last compositional problem.

This one is interesting because each of the faces acts as targets.  

However, the eyelines create problems, leading eventually out of the picture to the left.

If we move a couple of the eyes, we can make a different dynamic in this picture.  Almost a circular pattern... around and around...

By doing this, the little guy who is trying to play basketball becomes the compositional center, creating a fun dynamic of personalities.

Addendum

Of course, the artist can break the rules.  You just can't find an inscribed stone proclaiming, "Thou shalt balance the eye and face directional forces within your picture's composition."  

Especially in sequential art (comics or animation), movement over time allows artists to experiment with misdirection and other compositional tricks.

However, break the rules at your own peril.   Your picture may suffer the consequences....

Beware.... beware!

Early Fog Imaginair

I'm in Illinois visiting my grandparents and helping out a little on the Sample family farm.  But on my way to the airport on Tuesday, my dad and I drove through some beautiful fog.  I couldn't feeling awed at the beauty and painted this during a layover in Atlanta.  Dawn is one of the best times to observe and remember, just because of all the interesting lighting effects that happen.  Here's a dark one.  :)

Imaginair: Sunrise Over a Florida Bridge

As I was driving from my grandparents condo in Orange Beach to the Blue Angels' practice session at the Pensacola Naval Air Museum on base, I saw this lovely sunrise behind an interesting bridge.  I couldn't paint it, because I was behind the wheel at the time.  So I memorized the colors, the lighting, the general composition, and as many of the details as I could, and painted it later.

I enjoy painting many of my artworks.  This one stands out above many of them as being even more enjoyable than normal.

Eating Dirt

Here's a little sketch with a bit of Sample family lore behind it.  A true story from when my brother and sister were a bit smaller.  Great example of my sister being helpful, feeding my very young brother dirt.  My mom thought it was cute, and made sure it didn't happen any more!

Challenge from an Artist to Christian Filmmakers, part 3

Challenge 3: Leave the story behind.

We in the film industry can find ourselves increasingly drawn into the world of the imagination.  As exciting as creating imaginary world's can seem, it's best to regularly leave the excitement behind in favor for the real world.

We strengthen our stories by living in the real world.  Have you ever watched a movie or read a book only to encounter plot points which seemed unauthentic?  We all do it.  We get blinded by the story we are making and tell handicapped stories.  However, some people keep a good grasp on reality, and their stories carry the added weight of experience.  

We strengthen our families by living in the real world.  The elements of strong families have not changed with this influx of media.  Wise Christian families only consume a little media, opting to spend their family bonding time in work, service, worship, reading aloud, or pleasant conversation.  To consume media, even Christian media, may be a shared experience, but it does not naturally lead to a healthy family culture.  Someday we may find our children leaving us for a modern pied piper, having grown up listening to his song during our watch.  Our families are healthiest when we leave the contrived world behind and embrace the real world.

We understand God better through His real creation than through our own.  The mad man does not have a problem with his imagination; he has a problem with his perception of reality.  In similar ways, we can believe lies about God, lies backed by some powerful mental imagery.  However, the created world offers a check on those ideas, and in that check we can recognize the evidence of a God of order, meaning, and power.  The wise will also delve into the truth contained in His scripture to understand God more specifically.

Sometimes inventing worlds in our heads allows us a limited amount of insight into this real world.  G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "All my mental doors open outwards into a world that I have not made."  While we live in a made world, every time that we imagine something we testify that we could not make a world this complex, both stable and surprising.  Thankfully, as interesting as our shallow imaginations are, we cannot stay there.  Such a life is unsustainable.  The real world will eventually break in, rudely awakening us from our dreams.

And when it does, may we recognize the glory around us and leave our imaginations for the greater role we play in the real story of life.

Digging deeper: Colossians 2:8, II Corinthians 10:5, I Thessalonians 4:11