Instruction - Leaving Babel

NARRATIVES

The following pages contain detailed instructional explanations of Studio ideas, thoughts, techniques, and processes used in the construction of artwork and media products.





TO JOURNAL

CONTACT

Don Bergland
redjello@shaw.ca

STUDIO NARRATIVES PROJECT

PAINTING - LEAVING BABEL - By Don Bergland

This site provides a detailed presentation of the Studio processes used in the construction of Road To Eternity.

This painting was started and completed During the Nayarit Residency 1 in Bucerias Mexico (April/May, 2013). It has been in one International Juried Exhibition:

June, 2013 -15th Annual Collage, Digital & Mixed Media Juried Online International Art Exhibition (Juried), Upstream People Gallery, Omaha, Nebraska, USA - Group Exhibition (June, 2013).

TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013

This painting was constructed while working in the Nayarit Residency in Bucerias, Mexico (April/May, 2013).

PAINTING - 1470-BABELTRAIN

Location - Paintings - 1470-BabelTrain

Last Worked on -

I created a Tower of Babel using 3D objects. I've had a few thoughts about how to employ this Tower, but the strongest involves a boy sitting on a train, with the Tower in the background.

I'm going to see if I can find a good train for this project.

- Toy Store with Toys - $13 - There is a train here
- Toy Train - $10 - No flat cars
- Wagon Thing - ShareCG - This worth getting
- 3D Train - ShareCG
- Strange Buggy Thing - ShareCG - Another one worth getting
- Bug with Wheels - ShareCG - Another one
- Simple Piggy Bank - ShareCG
- Toy Train - ShareCG -
- Toy Train Set - ShareCG -
- Spinning Top - ShareCG -

I'm quite surprised at how few toy trains sets there are out there. I'm going to download the following and see what happens.

Toy Store with Toys - $13	Figure/ADS_toystore, Props/ADS_Toys
3D Train - ShareCG	obj - Props/Ryder/Train01 - A long time processing this one
Toy Train - ShareCG	Props/Toy-Train
Wagon Thing - ShareCG -	obj - Props/Ryder/Train01 - A long time processing this one
Strange Buggy Thing - ShareCG	obj -
Bug with Wheels - ShareCG	obj -
Simple Piggy Bank - ShareCG	obj -
Spinning Top - ShareCG	obj -

Pure Studio - I downloaded and installed a set of .obj model, very nice (BuggyThing, WagonThing, ToyTrain, etc. These are really nice models, but when I render them, they all come out GREEN. What a waste of time the installation of these were. I'm going to forget the rest of them and see if what I have can work. I only have two trains.

So, I have two trains:
- Figure/ADS_toystore, Props/ADS_Toys
- Props/Toy-Train

Neither of these trains work. They don't allow proper mapping.

11:30 am. A whole morning of work, $13 in purchases, and I still don't have a toy train that works. I guess I may have to make my own, or buy a train that is a real one.

I tried the train I have in my own inventory, but it seems too long to allow for a good composition.

I like the train itself, so I think I'll go ahead and use it in this composition.

I reduced and eliminated as much as I could from the model. Some back wheels remain, but may be unseen later.

I added the Boy Model I have been designing and modifying recently. I played around with a variety of Poses until I found one that seemed to work. I scaled and arranged the Boy on the Train.

I tried some different Camera angles as well as Focal Lengths, mainly to reduce the length of the train itself.

10.

Okay. I'm not liking the hand Poses of the Boy, so I'll play around with these for a while.

I'm not getting exactly what I want, but it's getting close. I'll leave the Hands in progress for now.

11.

I'm going to add one of the Towers of Babel I created and installed in the Figures Library. I'll place this behind the train.

12.

Some more exploration of Camera angle and framing.

13.

I'll focus on getting the Boy's Hands and Face Posed the way I want.

14.

I'll play with the additon of accessory items. I'm adding a Curtain and also placing a Cupcake on the top of the Tower.

15.

I'll add a Floor and Texture it with some of the Maps from the Mexican folder.

16.

I played with some different Light Sets.

17.

Exchanged the back Curtain with a new one. Tried adding a Mask to the Face of the Boy.

19.

Removed the Mask and started manipulating the new Curtain.

20.

I want to start working with a Background concept early on here. So, I'll make some Renderings to use with some Backgrounds I have. I'll work through these in Photoshop (Render, bring into Photoshp, add Background).

This is quite interesting. I want to try this with a different Texture Map on Babel.

21.

I added a new Texture Map to Babel and ran off another Render for Photoshop. Save as Train02.

22.

Exchanged the Cupcake for an Apple and started building up the drama by adding the famous Wheel and Blockboy (from the Figures Library).

23.

I'll try another Render/Photoshop/Background image for this.

Okay. This is starting to look and feel strange enough. I'm still not happy with the total composition. It feels a little weak on the left bottom. I'm not quite sure how to ameliorate this. I'm also not happy with the Lighting. The problem is that the Train came in at such a huge size, that I ended scaling everything up to its size. Now, the entire set is so large, that when I introduce a Light Set, it is too small to cover the area. Maybe I should just add a spotlight of two and see what that does.

- Boy's hand
- BlockBoy's hand and arm
- The curtain
- Textures on the train
- What if I put an eye on the front train label? Or, a Redeye?
- It needs one more article in it? A rat heading out?
- What about 3 bands on the Boy's sleeve?
- What color should his shirt be - yellow, orange?
- Should I try a different texture on the train?

Hey. In the post-production phase, could I bring in this Hubble, and then bring in the Pastoral Transfer, but just float some clouds out of the transfer Layers? How about the Cypress Trees?

24.

Yeow! 1:40 pm. I've been enslaved to this project for 4 solid hours.

I would like to get it finished today.

Later in the Day

PAINTING - 1470-BABELTRAIN

Location - Paintings - 1470-BabelTrain

Last Worked on - Today - April 30, 2013

Before lunch, I brought this painting up to an interesting stage.

But, there are some major things that need to be done before this one comes close to being finished.

	-	Add Spotlights
	-	Boy's hand
	-	BlockBoy's hand and arm
	-	The curtain
	-	Textures on the train
	-	What if I put an eye on the front train label? Or, a Redeye?
	-	It needs one more article in it? A rat heading out? The Snake?
	-	What about 3 bands on the Boy's sleeve?
	-	What color should his shirt be - yellow, orange?
	-	Should I try a different texture on the train?
	-	Hey. In the post-production phase, could I bring in this Hubble, and then bring in the Pastoral Transfer, but just float some clouds out of the transfer Layers? How about the Cypress Trees?

Ahhh. This feels overwhelming. I don't have any coffee left. No treats in the Casita. How do I get some motivation here?

I'll just work on, slowly.

25.

I changed the color of the Boy's shirt and added a Snake model.

26.

Didn't like the Snake, so exchanged it for a Rat.

Better.

27.

One of the things I need to address is the labelling on the Train. I want to change the following:
- Label on Front of Train - New York Central - Replace with an Eye
- Labe on Side of Train - New York Central - Babel Tower Express

28.

I want to find the actual Map used for the first Label, so I found it using Materials Editor.

29.

I brought this Map into Photoshop.

30.

I went online and found a fairly standard photo of an Eye.

I started processing, sizing, and manipulating this to replace the existing text Label.

31.

I saved this new Map, installed it in Runtime, and reapplied it through the Materials Editor.

32.

Hmmm. Not a lot of difference when seen in the context of the whole composition.

33.

Now, the side Label on the Train needs to be changed. I found the original Texture Map and brought it into Photoshop. It is backwards.

34.

I simply changed the lettering and reinstalled the new Map in Runtime.

35.

I think I'm going to bring this composition to closure.

9:20 pm - I started a Rendering.
9:50 pm - The Rendering is done

I'm going to move the Rendering into a Folder in Photoshop and save it as Master.psd.

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2010

PAINTING - 1470-BABELTRAIN

Location - Paintings - 1470-BabelTrain

Last Worked on - April 30, 2013

On Tuesday, I Rendered this image, moved the Rendering into a Folder in Photoshop and saved it as Master.psd. Now, all that needs to be done is the Photoshop post-processing.
36.	I opened this image in Photoshop.

37.	It seems I was using a Hubble image for this in the trials. I better look at this.

38.	I'll shut off the foreground layer to see what part of the Hubble I was using.

39.	Okay. I need a very large version of this standard Hubble image. I went online and gathered one.

40.	I installed it in the painting. It is a little small, but I'll just size it. I'm going to blur it anyway.

41.	I rotated the image to replicate what I used in the trial.

42.	I got a good basic background and then went ahead with the Black Overlay.

43.	This ended up being very tedious.

44.	Finally, a finished image.

	I'll write this up in the Completed Inventory.

PAINTING - LEAVING BABEL - By Don Bergland

You can explore further Studio Production Instructional Details through Don Bergland's Online Journal