Author Montage picture...

[seawasp]

Here's a pic of me that I Photoshopped together with stuff relevant to my writing, etc.







(Click on the picture for a full-size version)

I put this together for Genericon, but I think it's just overall a pretty good pic of me too.

Comments

[melchar.livejournal.com]

It's a very nice picture - and the subject of it looks quite distinguished, as well. Well done.

My picture must be very misleading!

[seawasp]

Or did you mean I look extinguished? :)

Re: My picture must be very misleading!

[discarn8.livejournal.com]

You don't much look like a used matchstick, nor a partial candle, so I'd have to tentatively rule thumbs-down on the 'extinguished' bit, sorry.

-John

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Nicely done.

[fallenpegasus]

You don't look at all like my mental image of you.

Heh.

[seawasp]

I don't look like MY mental image of me, either.

Your pic didn't jibe with my impression of you either, at first. Now I've internalized it enough to make it seem right.

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

Is your forehead really that yellow? Or is my monitor off?

I really don't know.

[seawasp]

It doesn't look particularly off to me, but I'm not much of an artist in the sense of recognizing subtle color shifts.

Re: I really don't know.

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

If you were to email me the layered psd file (so I can separate you from the background), I'd be willing to adjust it for you. It's what I do for a living.

In case you lost my address, it's alex at swavely dot com.

[claidheamhmor]

I like the pic! I always wondered what you looked like.

Oh?

[seawasp]

You didn't think I looked like, for instance, this icon? :)

Re: Oh?

[claidheamhmor]

Yes, indeed. I just hadn't visualised your human persona... :)

[callahanshappy.livejournal.com]

Fascinating.

[noctyrnus.livejournal.com]

This is a good picture of you , Ryk. You look content :)

Was the ...

[seawasp]

... revision up or down?

And how DID you picture me?

Re: Was the ...

[(Anonymous)]

/set safe_answer ON

Er, younger, and no glasses? Maybe not too much younger than the very vague age floating around in my head. .. which shall remain undisclosed for the time being; that sounds safest. (Your age, not my head.)

Re: Was the ...

[alex swavely (from livejournal.com)]

I pictured you closer to Mad Mike.

[zizban.livejournal.com]

Pretty neat!

I haven't seen you on LWE's newsgroup in a while so it's good to see you still live.

[nerem.livejournal.com]

Hey, have you seen any of the Hades - Inferno chapter yet? The anime is also making a brand new story arc not in the manga, but I dunno what to think about that... I'm not real happy with the animation of the recent OAVs, since they seem a lot less then what they could do, but maybe I'm just spoiled.

I blame you for getting me into Saint Seiya, by the way.

Photographic critiques

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

I don't remember your hair looking like that -- so very, if I may say so, boring. Of course, I last saw your hair a full decade ago, and it may have changed. Or it may just blend into the background of the image.

Next photo, I'd go with a solid-color collared shirt. Stripes just don't say "professional," and in this case, there are already too many textures in the image. I don't like the blue-grey, but it might look fine as a solid.

Also, there's no energy to that pose. The asymmetry is bland. Your crossed arms are tangent to the lower edge of the image, which is a compositional no-no; your face isn't at the magic one-third position; and it looks like you have stubs for fingers.

Your facial expression and head position is very bland. You're not baring your teeth in challenge, quirking an eyebrow, or turned to three-quarter view. You're leaning towards the camera, so your neck is foreshortened. You look positively vapid.

I think the upper frame of the eyeglasses obscure your eyebrows blend together in this shot, and they also bend down at the corners -- it looks a bit dour. And the yellow tint gives a jaundiced tint to the area around your eyes.

Re: Photographic critiques

[seawasp]

I don't remember your hair looking like that -- so very, if I may say so, boring. Of course, I last saw your hair a full decade ago, and it may have changed. Or it may just blend into the background of the image.

A decade ago I had more hair. If I wear it any longer than in that pic, it looks just stupid. For some reason, longer hair on a guy balding in front just emphasizes the baldness.

Remember, this was just a photoshop mosaic to show a theme. I can do decent Visio sketches, but a professional -- or even semiprofessional -- at artwork I ain't. It got the overall effect I wanted, at least for me, but I wouldn't expect it to be used by someone in, say, a national ad campaign.

Next photo, I'd go with a solid-color collared shirt. Stripes just don't say "professional,"

Fortunately, I don't say "professional" either. I say "geek", "nerd", and "otaku". I'm not sure I *OWN* a solid-color collared shirt, if by "collared" you mean "something that could take a tie". I have one or two ties... somewhere. I haven't worn one, even to military presentations, in at least two years, and -- gods willing -- never will again. Maybe at a awards ball I'll make an exception. Maybe.



Also, there's no energy to that pose. The asymmetry is bland. Your crossed arms are tangent to the lower edge of the image, which is a compositional no-no; your face isn't at the magic one-third position; and it looks like you have stubs for fingers.

At this point you've passed into the "what the heck are you talking about" phase -- where the layman is hearing jargon that means nothing to him. I literally don't understand what you're talking about. My wife might, being an art major, but ... I'm *sitting*. Energy? Of course not. It's a casual sit-down -- like seeing me at a signing. The fingers, well, it's a crossed-arm pose so the fingers are folded. The middle part there totally loses me, though.


Your facial expression and head position is very bland. You're not baring your teeth in challenge, quirking an eyebrow, or turned to three-quarter view. You're leaning towards the camera, so your neck is foreshortened. You look positively vapid.

Why would I "bare my teeth in challenge"? It's a casual, friendly picture. I *HATE* the "Overdramatic Author Pictures" that I sometimes see published, with them having some freaky angle or extreme expression. I suppose it works for someone like Stephen King.

I think the upper frame of the eyeglasses obscure your eyebrows blend together in this shot, and they also bend down at the corners -- it looks a bit dour. And the yellow tint gives a jaundiced tint to the area around your eyes.

Yeah, apparently the tint on my screen is off. And it's even differently off with respect to printing. I tried doing a quick tweak before printing a couple pics, and what looked more like healthy "me" skin tone on the screen came out as "almost sunburned red".

And it's not the glasses. My eyebrows *DO* blend together and bend down at the corners. To make them look more like "eyebrows" instead of "eyebrow", I have to have them trimmed/waxed. Haven't had that done in a few years...

Re[2]: Photographic critiques

[lexomatic.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the delay.

:::A decade ago I had more hair.

Curse you, testosterone receptors on follicular cells, curse you! Indeed, I can sympathize. I look just fine from the front, but have recently had cause to find that I respond well to Minoxidil. I also have an alarming (i.e., nonzero) amount of grey at the temples; if I'm lucky, I'll end up looking like Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.

:::Remember, this was just a photoshop mosaic to show a theme. I can do decent Visio sketches, but a professional -- or even semiprofessional -- at artwork I ain't.

That's no reason not to use it as a learning experience. And basic compositional theory is applicable to everything from vacation photos to written report layouts.

:::I'm not sure I *OWN* a solid-color collared shirt, if by "collared" you mean "something that could take a tie".

No, a polo shirt would work just fine.

Alternatively, you could go with a vest, jacket, cape -- you've got a fondness for capes, right? -- or rakishly-wound scarf. Anything to add some detail to the shoulders and the shoulder-neck junction.

###Also, there's no energy to that pose. The asymmetry is bland.

:::At this point you've passed into the "what the heck are you talking about" phase -- where the layman is hearing jargon that means nothing to him.

Basic composition: an image acquires visual interest through dynamic imbalance: value (light/dark), color, line weight, position, size, foreground/background. Exact bilateral symmetry is boring. Asymmetry, done right, isn't. If Aspect X is unbalanced to the left, and Aspect Y to the right, the net effect is balanced.

This is especially important (and tricky) in montage, when you're working with multiple elements. You can probably think of movie posters that have done it badly.

For the "energy" of a figural pose, freeze-frame any anime, or take a look at the "how to draw comics" section of your local bookstore. If you're just sitting or slouching, that's not it. The parts of your body will add up, visually, to a boring pile. (Mirror neurons are probably involved, too: see a fellow human in a pose, and you feel that pose.)

:::Why would I "bare my teeth in challenge"?

Because life itself is a challenge! The universe is no friend of ours. It wants to squash us! To squash us like the tiny, squashable things we refuse to admit we are! To crush our cosmically irrelevant hopes and aspirations against the cold and uncaring rocks of the gravity well on which we live our tiny, laughable lives!

Or it could be a reaction to the intimidating swords-akimbo chap in the upper-right. But that may just be me.

###And the yellow tint gives a jaundiced [cast]

:::Yeah, apparently the tint on my screen is off.

Ah, the perils of color reproduction, and the mysteries of Photoshop's color-separation and Pantone features. The classic black-and-white portraitists didn't know what they were missing, but would be glad that they were.