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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Ed's thread (2 Viewers)

Ed - the comp. sketch is vital and very convincing. I can see the subtle differences in the digi pics and I do prefer the 2nd (although how it actually relates to NG I have absolutely no idea!) - keep us posted on the progress. Oh, and there are a few outstanding pieces required for your end of term crit. - namely, BTD in flight and 'rocking chair' Great Bustard - would be nice to see them soon. (By the way, exactly how many hours are there in a Keeble day? - you work full time, are an accomplished sculptor and digi-wizard and can bloody-well draw better than I hope ever to - er, I know there's no footie to interest you on TV as a Gunner, but it still leaves Mrs K and kiddie Ks somewhere in the mix - is time warping another of your talents?)
Nick's two efforts are both reassuringly fun (the 1st) and exhasperatingly beautiful (er, the 2nd). Excellent contribution to a stimulating thread.
Love your observation, Woody - I don't know how many times I've presented an illustration just for some d*ck to suggest I move the holly leaf a bit to the right - On a f*cking original!!!!! One very senior client actually started brandishing a black marker pen at 50 hours worth of watercolour illustration - thought it was as easy as pressing 'revert' on Photoshop! Ah computers, where would we be without them and all they can do . . . . .
 
Had a brief chance to revisit the WBD composition- here's a more aggressive version achieved by kicking the perspective and straightening the line where the weedy rocks meet the water- previously it was a bit cosy, as if the diver and grebes were swimming happily around a nice round village duckpond..
 

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Ed - I've been thinking about this piece today (whilst enjoying a belated Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day lunch at a local hotel) and I wondered if you may get more of the 'Jaws' effect if you turn the scene around. (I'm reluctant to suggest things which you may alrady have considered and dismissed, so I hope this isn't inappropriate - ) - Reading and viewing your account, it seemed to me the dabs were somewhat startled! - I found the most frightening scene in the film was when the two wannabe shark catchers inadvertantly caught Jaws and it proceeded to pull the jetty into the water - the water-level cinematography was extremely scary. Have you considered a view from the dabchick's perspective (or from just behind them?) - the diver can then be almost frame-fillingly huge beyond the grebes, and swooshing towards them with menace. Just a thought.
 
timwootton said:
Ed - I've been thinking about this piece today (whilst enjoying a belated Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day lunch at a local hotel) and I wondered if you may get more of the 'Jaws' effect if you turn the scene around. (I'm reluctant to suggest things which you may alrady have considered and dismissed, so I hope this isn't inappropriate - ) - Reading and viewing your account, it seemed to me the dabs were somewhat startled! - I found the most frightening scene in the film was when the two wannabe shark catchers inadvertantly caught Jaws and it proceeded to pull the jetty into the water - the water-level cinematography was extremely scary. Have you considered a view from the dabchick's perspective (or from just behind them?) - the diver can then be almost frame-fillingly huge beyond the grebes, and swooshing towards them with menace. Just a thought.

That is a thought and defimitely in order- I'm currently being a bit stubborn about painting it as seen. Here's a study for the conventional view but you should have warned me about these watercolours Tim- get em wet and they go everywhere! Whitebalance on camera also misbehaving..it reminds a bit of an illustration from Peter Rabbit with these hues..
 

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timwootton said:
(whilst enjoying a belated Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day lunch at a local hotel) and I wondered if you may get more of the 'Jaws' effect
:eek!: :eek!:
Tim, just what was your artistic inspiration??

Ed, love the watercolour, I thought water was supposed to flow... ;)
 
timwootton said:
Ed - I've been thinking about this piece today (whilst enjoying a belated Mother's Day and Grandmother's Day lunch at a local hotel) and I wondered if you may get more of the 'Jaws' effect if you turn the scene around.....Have you considered a view from the dabchick's perspective (or from just behind them?) - the diver can then be almost frame-fillingly huge beyond the grebes, and swooshing towards them with menace. Just a thought.

Ok Ok I had an honest appraisal of it this morning in daylight and it is frankly just a bit boring..so no time to actually watch Jaws but here's something a bit more zappy done over lunch- black biro over blue typing paper, finger tinted with a soy/wasabi mix and diet coke used (appropriately enough) as a thinner.
 

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ah ha, now this is dynamic indeed, I love the diver's expression. Don't you love it when a 'great' idea becomes boring and then you find something really exciting such as this. I spent hours on a pic of a Middle spot, thinking it was going to be great, the end result looked like a blurred photo with some wacky colours, then had a rethink about the composition and have nearly finished something I find more exciting. Seriously, this composition is on to a winner.
 
[QUOTE and diet coke used (appropriately enough) as a thinner.[/QUOTE]
I really think we ought to start a "Ed's Witticism Thread" - if no-one else does, I'm gonna compile them in a book and make a fortune!!!!!
(I still remember fondly the "Where there's muck - there's ******!" - absolute classic).
For details of Ed's quote - please pre-subscribe (Audubon fashion) to Tim Wootton at an adjacent thread.
 
peter mathios said:
Is diet coke archival? ;)

It could have been worse- I was offered a jam doughnut by a colleague on Monday afternoon (as food, not as art materials) and that eye was just crying out for a well aimed splot of red...
 
aw shucks

compliments in return Tim for prompting the sharking up of the image- without which it would still have been chugging across the page more like car ferry than carcharodon
 
Now I know where I've been going wrong all these years. I just eat my food and drink my drinks, when I should have been creative with it!

I'm looking forward to the 'worked up' image.

Woody
 
Just the thought of being creative with my food brings memories of being told not to play with my food.
 
Never tried using food to colour my sketchbook, must try it, then I can take just my sandwiches and leave all the heavy painting stuff at home.
 
ed keeble said:
Here's another ongoing project at the ultra fiddly digi-illustration end of the spectrum (sorry Tim- digipainting hasn't gone away, just keeping a low profile whilst so much real bird art is pinging about). This should turn into 3 Nordmann's Greenshank as the poster for this year's campaign against rampant mudflat reclamation in South Korea (last year's Spoon-billed Sandpiper previously posted). Currently locked in deep email discussions about breast profile, crown shape..head versus body size... Tiny changes make a big difference and it's a real test of discipline after the intial spontaneous first draft.

The Nordmann's poster nudges along- still early days but a good reminder here of how eyesize affects overall impression of size and shape. Head and body are exactly the same size on these three, but you wouldn't think it..
 

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timwootton said:
Rather you than me, Ed! - It is looking very good, by the way.

still nudging this one along- the next two killer challenges being grappled with here are-

getting the scaps laid out correctly, but not tooo correct and regular

legs and toes aah legs and toes

Early days on both, but I'm off on an undeserved and I suspect unbirdy holiday for a bit, so regards to all in the meantime.
 

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