The bird flu idea was already in there in the back, but the powers that be were semi ignoring it in favor of making war and stealing taxes etc… I’ve got another possible option that will solve my compositional problem and stay closer to my original theme. Coming right up.
Oh btw, that is Bones with the crow, Spock is the one with the pointy ears. And Kirk is the fat guy in the yellow shirt, hahah. Much respect to Shatner his recent records and Tv are very funny.
Here is option 3. I guess I should tell you that my title is ‘We Don’t Eat the Feet’. So this works nicely I think? Those red shirted disposable guys have come in really handy. This one is clearing away a foot. Does it read ok? Maybe the foot pile should be more stacked up? Plus this option throws open the question; ‘who is next on the dinner menu?’
haha- you can see I’m no Trekky!
gee you’re making it hard soapy…I like both 2 and 3 the best-either is great. maybe I lean to no 3 more- but I like the bird too one coz it’s topical
‘We Don’t Eat the Feet’
Oh my! I was laughing out load when I saw this - great title and great comp too
haha ‘We Don’t Eat the Feet’ - wicked and wonderful 
not me I hope… :hmm:
this is killing me of expectation… let´s us see the whole image with the story… :wip:
Brilliant, just brilliant! You and shakes put a smile on my face every time I visited your threads 
/Anders
Pretty simple post effects for me. I rendered full res with a multilayer render with a depth channel. Then used the depth channel with a blur in photoshop to create DOF. I rerendered when I saw a pill in a spot I didn’t like and then cut and pasted it out. Finally I did a little unsharp mask on the bottom layer and an levels adjustment layer.
"We Don’t Eat the Feet’
The spectacular feast of Mr Biggy, champion of the people! Big mostly does as instructed by Mr Small, aka The Purple People Eater who sits on the block of destiny and rules over the whole toy box. Meting out control with their vast military industrial plastic consortium. Consuming, cannibalistic, vampiric, psychopaths. Even as the throne of power crumbles they will repaint the leadership in a new light. Purple is ready with the bait, the leopard can change his spots! “Clear up this mess and bring us more dinner…”
The above is my interpretation of the image. I don’t normally do overtly political art, but this one got away on me. I always try to slide in under the radar in any case. My intention is always to allow the viewer to draw their own conclusions and not lead them by the nose down any one narrative path. My program is to build fantastical toy scenarios into a realistic environment. Using a fun toy world to cloak the sinister. With the compositions I try to create a snapshot look. I think it suits the haphazard still life realism I am trying to convey. Likewise I keep the lighting simple and direct. And while I am not a huge fan of DOF it seems to work well in re-enforcing the scale for these little toys.
A few things to note: While the concrete block was based on the Stone of Destiny in Edinburgh castle, this story does not represent actual persons or events… and those guys in red shirts are not the Redcoats. Although you know, the United Federation of Planets always did seem to me to have a decidedly imperialistic program in spite of their claims to the contrary. But these items do nicely signify the whole process of seizing and declaring power. Originally I thought of Biggy as background filler, a guy so big and lazy the homies tagged him up. I thought it would be fun to put everyones cgtalk tags on as the graffiti. Apologies if your tag is hidden or missing. I realized a lame dolt model like Biggy was the perfect ruler in this little kingdom, fitting in these political times no? Purple came as divine inspiration one morning as my son and I listened to the Flying Purple People Eater song. He turned out to be a great politician; tunnel vision to power, blood sucking teeth and a trumpet of propaganda. He will fly in and sort out the campaign no matter how dirty the candidate. Spock was the winner of my little contest within a contest to force soapy to model something. He was so much fun and so easy to make I decided to do the whole Trek crew. And boy did those disposable red shirt guys come in handy, in addition to being good cannon fodder they work great for filling holes in the composition. In the back you see Bones leaning over a dead crow, could it be a global plague? Don’t worry we got pills. I don’t know where Marilyn Manson came from. Is he the entertainment or the next course? The yellow and green gremlin is another mystery, he is either Purple’s henchman and cheif executioner or perhaps also a meal in the making?
So basically, I just made it up as I went along. While I think that the old way of working through sketches is still valid and I used sketches to build models, in this case I decided to build the composition in the computer. The ideas developed as the work progressed and changed in a fluid manner. Luckily 3d is very flexible, especially since I didn’t have an idea three months ago… 
Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way, I had a blast with you guys. Cheers.
hey soapy, big congrats mate! you really got the balance right with the composition in the end, and it makes another beautifully surreal, funny and bent image from you. I’ve loved watching this evolve, and the crazy way you put your stuff together. can’t tell you enough what a big fan I am of your work. bring on the next challenge!
Hey Jim,
a very original, unique final picture!
:bounce: Congratulations![size=2] :bounce: [/size]
It was a pleasure and great fun to follow your work! All the best wishes for you!
-sabrina
CONGRATULATIONS
Jim … a big a very long :applause: and a :bowdown: haha a really excellent work ! You can be extremely proud of you… all your figure rocks ! (heee… feets… lol)
jdd
Congrats, Jim!
Well - I suppose it’s no secret I love this one … very special and a great concept. The whole idea of using toys to stage scenes is so good I wish I’d come up with it :). Hope to see more in the future - and good luck with the jury!
this is fun to watch, and well made…
I love those toys… and in the end we got the story to…
spectacular[size=2] in a soapyway…[/size]:bounce:
soapyway is not a word I guess…
but is a good description on this…
hi soapy … a :bounce: BIG CONGRATULATIONS :bounce: ! … truly unique image and very nice indeed! like the dof a man!
cheers and goodluck!
