Welcome back! I know you’ve been waiting for this post because, let’s face it, Friday Challenges are way more fun than reviewing my progress through the book. Although How to Cheat in Photoshop by Steve Caplin is very entertaining, creating something from scratch is much more interesting .
Madge Gets Her Way
On his How to Cheat in Photoshop online forum, Caplin eventually gives regular participants a nickname when he feels their work has improved enough to deserve one. The Friday Challenge entitled “Open the Pod Doors” finally earned me a moniker: Pixel Perfectionist.
It also happened to be Caplin’s the 499th Friday Challenge, for which he posted this image:
His instructions were:
One of the exhibits at last year’s 3D Print Show in London was a prototype of a futuristic car, in which it was claimed that 3D printing played a part – although I’m not quite sure how big a part. The car itself, though, is intriguing. How, exactly, would you get into such a car? How does the door mechanism work? And how hard will it be to take it out of the showroom and put it on a city street?
When I originally saw this Challenge I thought that there was no way I’d be able to open the door. So, I submitted this image, instead:
To create the scene I used the Warp tool so the car would be in perspective. I also added a dark, stormy sky to dramatically reflect how Madge felt about her neighbors.
I’d planned to post just this image. However, another HotChiPs (How to Cheat in Photo Shop) forum member posted an image he had found of the real car, which showed how the door opened. Then, yet another member – who posted a closed-door image – posted a new image where she opened the door. So, I decided if she was willing to make a second try, then I would too.
For my second effort, I created a prequel to the first image:
To get the man’s arm to appear to be holding onto the door I used Puppet Warp. For the woman, I had to make her clothing match the original image. I re-colored her dress and put yellow sweater in her hand. To make the sweater appear folded, I used the Liquify filter. Since this it was a prequel, I added a slightly less stormy sky to hint at Madge’s mood.
Here’s what Caplin had to say:
A very strong image from srawland, whose car is well integrated into a suburban street. I like the view of the woman inside the car, although it’s hard to see exactly what she’s doing – and the woman peering out of her front windows. Very nicely achieved. The second entry is splendid: a perfectly integrated scene. See – I knew you could do it! And it’s certainly good enough to earn you a much overdue title. Shall we say Pixel Perfectionist for your great attention to detail? Good work, Sara
I was so happy to receive my appellation that I didn’t bring up the deep ambivalence I felt surrounding being called a perfectionist. If he knew the story, I’m sure he would have come up with a different title. But, all the same, I’m still pleased Caplin felt my efforts deserved bestowing a nickname.
Buoyed by my success, I decided to add a final image to complete the series. Now it’s all blue skies for Madge:
To give you an appreciation for the whole story, in the proper order, I created this graphic:
Like Madge, hope all is well in your world too!
Next: Friday Challenges: Seeing Double & Back to School