More HDR.

Did a wide-ish HDR shot of the old set; looks pretty neat. May not be tossing the thing after all. I'm going to sleep on it still, we'll see. The HDR really highlights the texture and curves (like in the floor), which isn't all that evident in regular snapshots. These shots are still 'snapshots' though, in that they're isn't any lighting going on per se. Just one big industrial light.

Some new HDR shots (details); the bottom one didn't turn out too good, but you get the idea. It really emphasizes detail and texture.

Gonna start again on making props for the set - I can't really be wasting weeks while I decide the fate of my set (whether or not to rebuild it). Gonna make some little cases, of specific colour and size, to fit into my 'pile of crap' composition. I'm also going to make the birdcage, which should be a day's work. In one of the first scenes, Cornelisz brings out a big-ass evil bird. I figure he's got to keep it somewhere.

Dave Sikma, of Dave Sikma fame, is going to cook me up some HDR shots of the old set (the one that I don't like). I remember that we photohraphed it before when it was just a few pieces of junk, and I thought it looked awesome. We'll see what I have. It may be that a little lighting tomfoolery will fix the main beefs I have with the thing; we'll see.

It would be real nice to be able to say that i'm not back at square one. That would be sweet.

I'm taking a very brief hiatus (two weeks at the most) while I whip up some art that i'll hopefully be able to sell. Then i'll be back on track. Might even be sooner.

Here's me mockup - its ugly, but it tells me lots. The bottom picture is an extremely rough photoshop job of the thing with some planks nad junk. Won't look quite like that; not many right angles - a regular funhouse. The funhouse angles are hard to communicate here.

Here's one last pic of the 'ol set. It'll still be around in case I change my mind about it. Doesn't seem very likely, though.

I've been examining various permutations of set design, trying to see what does and doesn't work. I made a crude photoshop sketch, trying to really exaggerate the 'gestural architecture' thing; the picture is what a side wall could possibly look like; the painting would be perpendicular to this plane, on the left. I thought it was a bit crazy looking, but i'm starting to like it.

SHIT

It's looking almost certain that i'm going to be scrapping the 'Interior Cornelisz's Studio' set, i.e. the one i've been working on for a month and a half and have spent alot of money on.

The problem with the thing is the layout; the design of the thing didn't emerge from a coherent spark or single image of an interior; its a frankenstein, composed of various ideas and concepts and past decisions made that i'm no longer even aware of. It doesn't look like a coherent or logical interior ; its quite odd looking.

The main problem though is the the angles are almost all awkward looking, and unphotogenic. This is a problem with film.

Making wee musical instruments is pretty hard, it turns out. This is the most carefully built prop i've made yet, and it still looks a bit gimpy. Oh well.

The finishing work isn't quite done on the thing, but you get the idea.

Made a trunk. It's going to be buried in a pile of junk - probably won't even see it. So I didn't try to hard with the thing. Turned out pretty good anyways; its hard to predict what is or isn't going to suck.

I did a little photo shoot of some of the debris arranged together; seems to be working pretty good.

And here's the Print Cabinet, version 2. It took a long time to make; most of it is mahogany plywood (about 1/16" thick) which is much harder to work with than balsa. The bottom picture in the two-picture snapshot is the cabinet before I finished the paint job on the thing; my standard procedure now is to stain it, and then put a very thin wash of flat paint over it to flatten it out and hide the grain.

REJECT

I made a wee cabinet for holdings prints/sketches etc. I knew it was a bit shitty when I was doing it, but I plowed through to the end. The next day (today), I decided that the thing just didn't cut it. Its always the right decision to do it over, but it sure sucks to have to write off so much work. Maybe it'll make an appearance in the shadows some where, in the big pile of junk i'm planning.

I made more books. Whoop dee doo. I made a 'new' book; top right corner. It's much harder than making old gnarly books. Making small things is spoiling my attention span; having to make something that takes hours feels like murder after making something that takes a half hour.