NARRATIVES

The following pages contain detailed instructional explanations of Studio ideas, thoughts, techniques, and processes used in the construction of artwork and media products.
 
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Don Bergland
redjello@shaw.ca



 

 

STUDIO NARRATIVES PROJECT

 

PAINTING - HERESY - By Don Bergland
This site provides a detailed presentation of the Studio processes used in the construction of the painting called Apostasy.
shim heresy
 

This painting was started and completed in the Victoria Studio. It has been successfully juried into one International Juried Exhibition:

Nov. 2012 - Solo Show - Empire of Belief. Caladan Gallery, Beverley Massachusetts, International Juried Solo Exhibition (November).

FRIDAY, MAY 27, 2011
 
PAINTING PROJECT - #1224 - DOLLHEAD WINGS
1. I'm going to try and combine a photograph with some rendered 3D wings, then apply a Texture Grain filter to the finished result.
2. I have recently taken a number of photographs of a diorama I've set up. This was of a dollhead in a vintage cabinet. I'm going to look through those photographs and select one of the better ones.
3. I found a good photo and saved it as 1224-Photo.psd.
  I'm now going to cut the head out and put it on a separate layer. I'll first make a rough cut.
  ps
4. I'll now make a better cut.
  ps
5. Now, I need to find a pair of wings that will work for the doll. These must look real. I'll have to build a 3D set with lighting that simulates the lighting in the photograph.
  light
  light
6. I'll open Poser and open an existing set with wall and floor and one spolight (1211-MoodRoom - file darkroom04).
  set
7. This set has a floor and wall. I moved the spotlight in roughly the same position. Just for the sake of realistic simulation, I'm going to map a wood texture on the wall and floor.
  In fact, I'm going to take my camera, and actually photograph the wood texture of the cabinet the head occupies.
  Note - This is not a required activity for this Project.
8. I set the cabinet up in a number of locations and took many photographs.
  cabinet
  It was absolutely impossible to take a photograph of the exterior of the cabinet without large shiny reflective areas appearing.
  wood
9. I found one clean (unreflected) surface and built up a continuous texture in Photoshop.
  cabinet
  I saved this in Runtime/Textures/DonTextures/cabinetwood.jpg.
10. I'll map this texture to the wall and floor of the existing set I'm building.
  set
  This is a fair simulation. I'll save this set as dollheadset01.pmd to the Project Folder.
11. I now need to find some wings and place them in the set. I have the following wings in the Inventory:
- Figures/ArticulateProps/Angel Wings
- Figures/Angelyna Wings
- Figures/ HV ANgHell/Wing
- Figures/SP Airman
- Figures/DNA_Wings
12. I'll start with Figures/ArticulateProps/Angel Wings.
  set
  The shadow that is being cast is wrong. It should be more level with the wings themselves. The light is also too bright. Maybe reduce the intensity or move it back farther.
  I'll save this set as "dollheadset01.pmd" and resave the file as "dollheadset02.pmd/"
13. I lowered the light and also lowered the intensity.
  set
  Not much actual difference in the wings themselves. The light is rather pink.
14. I'm going to turn visibility off on the wall and floor and do a rendering. This should give me a file with transparent background.
  I rendered the wings with transparent background, then brought them into the photograph, placing them behind the head layer. I had to scale the wings as well as add some yellow to the color.
  set
  Very interesting. The shadow would have to be added to the existing head shadow.
  This first set of wings is saved as "dollheadset02.pmd." I'll resave the file as "dollheadset03.pmd"
15. I'll try - Figures/Angelyna Wings
  Unfortunately, these wings install in a very strange pink color and only render black. Even when I go into the Materials Editor and change their color to white, they still render as black. I'll move on.
16. I'll install - Figures/ HV ANgHell/Wing
  These are difficult wings to work with. The left side wing is in darkness, so it doesn't show up well.
17. I raised the intensity, turned the wings inward, and made a rendering of the wing set (without walls and floor).
  I brought the rendered wings into the Master file and positioned them behind the dollhead layer.
  set
  Shading would need to be applied. This remains "dollheadset03.pmd"
  This set of wings is saved as "dollheadset03.pmd." I'll resave the file as "dollheadset04.pmd" and move on.
18. I'll install - Figures/SP Airman. This model comes with an engine which drives the wings.
  set
19. I selected the engine and turned visibility off.
  set
20. I turned visibility off the floor and walls and then rendered the wing set.
  I brought the rendered wings into the Master files and positioned them behind the dollhead layer.
  set
  I think it is possible to consider these wings in a variety of different ways (larger, Y-scaled, etc.).
  This set of wings is saved as "dollheadset04.pmd." I'll resave the file as "dollheadset05.pmd" and continue with the last set of wings I have.
21. I'm going to explore a new set of wings - Figures/DNA_Wings.
  set
22. I turned visibility off the floor and walls and then rendered the wing set.
  I brought the rendered wings into the Master files and positioned them behind the dollhead layer.
  set
23. So, out of this small visual exploration, I discovered that I can combine photographs and 3D models quite well. And I've also discovered that the wings look presentable using this particular dollhead set.
  I now have the following 4 wing sets in the Project Folder:
01 - dollheadset02.pmd
02 - dollheadset03.pmd
03 - dollheadset04.pmd
04 - dollheadset05.pmd
  wings
24. I will apply the Texture/Grain Filter to one of these and see how this works out.
  texture
  I'll leave this project as is.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 2012
 
shim
  PAINTING PROJECT-#1259 - DOLLHEAD
Location - Archive/Painting #1259-Dollhead Last Worked on -
I'm repurposing an old project started quit a while ago (#1224). This was a project that tried to unite the virtual and real studios. The dollhead and cabinet were real while the wings were constructed in Poser. May 27, 2011.
doll
I'm thinking that I might try some rats, or other virtual things to add to this. But I think I need to figure out what kind of lighting I used for the virtual set. I might have to explore the files created in #1224.
According to the Journal on May 27, 2011, I actually constructed a virtual set to replicate this physical set. I set the background and lighting up to replicate the physical set. I saved this as "dollheadset02.pmd."
The real set for this image is in a Photoshop file. I'm going to save this as 'realset.psd" to the new Project Folder.
25. I'm going to launch Poser and open "dollheadset02.pmd." I'll resave this as virtualset01 in the new Project Folder.
26. I'm going to see if I can find something that replicates the dollhead so I can build the rats around it.
  set
  I think I need to do some camera manipulation to bring these two images in synchronization.
27. I adjusted the camera to bring the virtual set more in alliance with the real set. I also added a rat and scaled the body to 136%. I adjusted the pose to give it a sense of query with the dollhead.
  set
  The lighting is a little pink. I need to change this to a more yellow color. I also need to assess whether the rat translates into the real set.
28. I will turn off all parts of the set except the rat and then render it. The virtual rat will have to be saved as a .png file and brought into the realset.psd. The realset.psd file is large (5000 x 4000 px), whereas the rat rendering is very small. So, some enlargement will occur that will affect the resolution.
  image
  I changed the wings. These darker ones look better than the small white ones. Lots of post work in Photoshop required here, but I think the rats will work.
  This should have some sort of title like, the sacrosanct memory, inviolable, etc. I wonder if I could bring it around to my current theme - commentary on the effect of ideology on human activity. Probably.
  I wonder if there is some other key object that could be fit into this envrironment. I do have some very powerful curtains (Drapes and Swags).
29. I opened the D&S File and selected a few curtains to try. I tried green and red, but the gold seems to work best.
  image
30. I tried another curtain.
  painting
  The shadow is off. Anyway, this is a bit premature. I have lots of work to do on building the foreground, adjusting the dollhead, and bringing all components into some kind of hyper-real synchronicity.
AND LATER ON IN THE DAY
 
shim
  PAINTING PROJECT-#1259 - DOLLHEAD
Location - Archive/Painting #1259-Dollhead Last Worked on - Earlier Today.
I'm repurposing an old project started quit a while ago (#1224). I've been working on trying to integrate some virtual rats with the real dollhead and cabinet. I just tried some curtains sets with the production.
painting
31. I'm going back to the Poser Virtual world and see if I can get a few more rats interested in the dollhead.
  rats
  Okay. This is not a bad composition. I need to put the rat (facing out) so the head is down more.
32. I changed the position of the forward rat and made a high resolution rendering of just the rats in the scene.
33. I then brought the rat file into the main .psd file, adjusted some of the levels (on the rats, face, and wings).
  painting
  I had to really paint in some shadows behind the rats to give it some realistic authenticity. I might have to try some different lighting in the virtual set. I'll also have to paint some shadowing in on the face itself.
  I do have to bring this to conclusion quickly. The deadline for this exhibition is tomorrow. But, I need to let it sit for a while before getting some perspective on it.
THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2012
 
shim
  PAINTING PROJECT-#1259 - DOLLHEAD
Location - Archive/Painting #1259-Dollhead Last Worked on - Yesterday, Mar. 14/12
I'm going to continue with this project today. I have arrived at a solid position, but need to do several more things to bring the image into performance mode.
painting
So, some of the things that need doing:
- Different Lights - more orange - Virtual Set
- Face needs more dark Levels - Real Set
- Paint shadows on the face - Real Set
- Reflections on table surface - Real Set
34. I'm going to run off a final Render of the rats with the lighting different.
35. I ran off the Render and saved it in the Folder.
36. I added the new render to the image, made some adjustments, added a black shadow overlay and it is final.
   
PAINTING - HERESY - By Don Bergland


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


© 2013 Don Bergland