Animation comparison:
 

Today I decided to see how closely Apotheoun conforms to the original 1981 slide image, with a GIF animation.

Well the result is it does not perfectly conform, which is interesting, and human, I suppose. There is some distortion which suggests I at least did not project the reference or paint over a photo. Maybe that's a good thing :oops: .

Anywhere there is movement apparent, the painting varies slightly from the photo reference. This technique could be instructive in the future with other portrait projects.

Gosh, is this too revealing?

Garth

Garth,

Now, how did you do that? You are full of tricks. It looks like the boy is breathing and his mother is tapping her feet to the radio. I would be totally scared to do that to one of my paintings!

Seriously, I think it's good that they are not excactly the same.

Alex

The secret?
 

Hi Alex!

Actually I found an animation palette in Photoshop yesterday. It's hard to explain and not user friendly until you "get' it. At least in version CS2 it is in the Window menu heading. One must construct the image in layers in the animation palette and save it as a GIF file. Great care must be taken to keep the file small enough to post here, which means some compromises to the image quality, which is also why I posted the original images along side the animation.

Thanks,

Garth

Camera distortion?
 

I am looking at the painting on the wall in my studio, and it looks like it conforms better than the GIF animation suggests, at least to my naked eye. It is more than possible there is some minor distortion present in the photo of the painting here, though certainly none is intended. It seems the raised bent arm and the blue shoe are more in line with the photo reference, than in the animation.

Garth

6000!
 

To mark 6k hits, I am adding another GIF detail. Perhaps it's back to the drawing board for me!

Garth

News Break!
 

I know Apotheoun has attained oversaturation status here at the Portrait Artist Forum, but there is still more: The Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Competition has chosen this painting to be among the competition semifinalists for the inaugural exhibition of the reopening of the National Portrait Gallery, on July 1, 2006. So there is another round of jurying coming up in early March 2006. Wish me luck!

Garth

Oh my goodness - you must have just been blown away when you heard! A HUGE congratulations to you !!!

Congrats Garth! :)

This doesn't surprise me one bit. Once again, I love your tight realistic and "painterly" style...especially when one comes up close to view all those wonderful brushstrokes. I can't stop looking at this work! :o

~Gear

Dear Michele and Geary,

Sincere thanks!

Michele: Your reaction is not unlike my own last night. Initially there were buffering emotions of disbelief as I braced for less than great news. I sat down securely, and read the email once again and suddenly a swell of seemingly undeserved elation raced through me as I jumped into a spontaneous quiet cheer. YES!

Geary: I was indeed surprised and stupified (resampling the math in my head). My eyes were definitely bugged out for a moment too. The feeling is not all that familiar yet, and it is hard to contain; that is obvious by all of today's posting transactions!

Pinning down emotions is an elusive activity. I have to remember this is only part way through the competition and avoid becoming deluded too much by a momentary high. Trust me, reality is still hanging out just around the corner!

Garth

Garth,

Hot dog!