[Holbrook]

I don't know what I like till I see it.

Then he says wow!

Oh for information HE, they had a huge firework display last night at that place down the road we visited ;)

[Dazzlinkat]

Emotional faces in turbulent moments are the best. I also like dramatic poses, like Boris Vallejo's work. (Ok, so I got a weak spot for hunky guy poses, too :p )

[Radthorne]

Emotional faces in turbulent moments are the best. I also like dramatic poses, like Boris Vallejo's work. (Ok, so I got a weak spot for hunky guy poses, too :p )
I'll take that as a request. :) It just so happens I was thinking of a Vallejo-type image, so let's see what I come up with...

HE: Yes, I comcur completely that each viewer really does bring a whole new 'experience' to an image. I recall the two robot ladies image (where I was messing around with the depth of field). You and KatG had quite different ideas about what you were seeing, both of which were different than mine. We all bring our own experiences to whatever it is we're viewing (or creating), and that makes for some interesting conversations, to say the least! (Now, we have to see if we can get KatG to write a gothic doll face story to go with one of my Anime pictures...) :D

[Radthorne]

Aha! I see that SFFWorld returns after a couple of days hiatus, but sans the last post I put up here. Must have been a nasty outage... Anyway, here's the picture I put up as a "placeholder" while working on Dazzle's Boris picture (which is almost done, just needs some touching up). This one is just a little contemporary scene. Yes the colors and outfit are funky (meant to be so), but I particularly like her head and the hair on this one...

https://home.comcast.net/~radthorne/Data/Pictures/Meadow.jpg

[BrianC]

You know,all of the scenery that you do is always very nice, sometimes quite breath-catching, but I think that I agree with KatG that the people are very often doll-like. I think I know why. It's not (usually) the pose or the clothing but it's the skin. There is almost never any flaw to the skin, not a freckle, a mole, a line, none of the little imperfections that we come to expect in a living person. I think that's why they often seem like dolls.

[juzzza]

No scars, missing ears, missing teeth... ;)

[Radthorne]

I'll agree with you both on that. The skin textures vary quite a bit in quality, with the best ones being created from actual photos of real skin. However, there aren't as many of those as I would like, and they don't always have the right coloration for what the rest of the scene is like. The other thing that inhibits showing off all the detail is the size of the images here on the computer screen - some of the models actually do have decent skin detail, but it gets lost at 72 dpi when showing a model full length on the screen. On a close up, or on a printed image, a lot of that comes back.

Here's a close up of the Meadow girl. This particular skin texture is not terribly detailed, but there is some, with some slight blemishing on her neck. The lips look pretty good.

https://home.comcast.net/~radthorne/Data/Pictures/MeadowFace.jpg

Now, if you want to see some real texturing, Juzza knows of where I speak. :D I'm working on a character for him that is far more grizzled than our Meadow girl here. However, I don't know if he'd like the fellow to come out for public consumption yet...

[juzzza]

Not yet...

:cool:

[KatG]

It varies by model and what Kevin does with them. (In the old thread, we had a couple of discussions about this, with Kev getting quite techie on us.) If it's a distance shot, where the figures are smaller, it's not going to matter much, and some of the action shots as well. But the close-up portraits, you're going to notice. Sometimes Kevin uses very realistic models, and may age them up a bit, using light and shadow to add depth, plays with their hair, etc.

I do actually like some of the anime figures -- I like anime -- but sometimes that sort of look doesn't go with the very detailed clothing Kevin is using or very realistic backgrounds. It clashes, and thus, for me, makes the figure in portrait less interesting. (Although, having a cartoon character placed on a photo background can make for some interesting art.) My favorite of all the ones he's done I think remains "The Airlock" with a woman sitting in front of an airlock/hatch, wearing a slightly improbable but not entirely unbelievable outfit. While the face of that figure is not entirely realistic, the lines, lighting, etc. all work with the background, so the picture fits together for me.

The more anime models are very flat in the face -- the cheekbones and features are not very well developed, just quick, pointy lines, the basic shapes of the face. The eyes are usually large and round, making them appear glassy. The lack of developed features makes the figure seem very young, child-like or doll-like, regardless of the skin texture.

In the placeholder picture, I think the figure basically works and is realistic enough to match the background, though the eye color is a bit much. But for me on this one, the lighting on the figure is off. I think Kevin was going for dappled light on her, but it doesn't quite work, especially as she's standing in a pool of deep shadow. There's a spotlight on her belly that should splay to other parts and does not, and so looks very strange to me.

[Dazzlinkat]

I get the biggest sense of 'doll-ness' mostly from the eyes. They are almost always wide with the whites very prominantly bright. Very little 'eye' expression.