[Godwin]

Decadent Progression
Click to enlarge

In his endless pursuit of progress, man has built around him a Machine. It is a construction of utmost magnificence, but though man is its operator, subsistence, and champion, he relishes in the success of his own creation and becomes a slave to it, bound in perpetuity to its artificial nature of necessity. This is not some fantasy vision of a future world, it is right here and now, all around us � the Machine is an archetype of the world that chases after money mindlessly. Just what is this economic betterment we all strive for? Bigger homes, brighter children, healthier lives � everything in the definition of a modern society is tied down to the concept of money, so much so that it is ingrained within us all that such a �reality� is the true purpose of life. From the point we are "mouldable", lives are planned, expected and demanded as mere assets and investments towards the greater advancement of humanity. We become blindly driven by those around us and even ourselves to succeed within the framework of this Machine, expending all strength, emotion and commitment to ensure its eventual continuation.



Done for 'A' level art coursework, original size (that is the PSD) is 90x127cm@300 dpi, but they're presented as A1-sized (I think) prints, framed and hung. Took about 3 months' on-off work, not inclusive of the other prepratory studies and (unnecessary) crap (which the system demands) that was done through the course of this year.

Details:






Just some notes before you guys fire away and (possibly) destroy my ego...
I do realise that the perspective on each composition has become wrong (or so I think?) towards the top and bottom ends, especially on the left piece, and I admit that I have trouble visualising what it should look like, but then I didn't really want to make it look fish-eyed and warped, so I kept all the vertical lines straight (which is also much easier to paint). If anyone would like to illustrate what a *realistic* view would look like, feel free to paintover or explain.
The machines and structures featured are not meant to be fully functional, even though I did make it so that some obviously work. It's a lot of figurative, metaphoric and symbolic elements explored prior to creating the work itself.
Also, the colours (that greeness) are deliberate, I know it isn't exactly a groundbreaking, innovative piece(s) of work or a masterpiece, but I never set out to make it one, so... yeap.

One thing I really failed at when working on this was making sure that my colours were the way I wanted since things often showed up differently on different monitors, and I wasn't well-informed in what colour profiles and stuff did. I eventually settled on "no colour management" and luckily the prints came out fine, but if possible could anyone enlighten/educate me in this area in how to ensure that works preserve their originally intended colour for printing?
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[Reakshun]

I like it. I moreso appreciate the sheer amount of work it took to produce. It "looks" like it took alot of time.

You might wanna space out the pictures for other views. Right now they look like their supposed to be together.

Good job. Did you use any photos or is this all raw?

[gLitterbug]

Looks very good. I especially like the machinery stuff. As Reakshun said already, the viewer sees and I think will appreciate the amount of work that got into it. I sure do.

About the color-managment. It�s a bitch. I think pretty much all you can do without having to invest in a colorimeter or whatever their name is, is to run some calibration software and set contrast/brightness/temperature and stuff. Which according to a guy in a very professional art printing business I emailed with, isn�t enough at all to ensure the image will print as intended. He said the only way to get sure is to get that color-management hardware thingy and then set it up with the right profiles and all.

If I had the cash to shell out like that, I�d probably buy me such a thing(its about 300 Euros afaik). After all, if you compare the price of it to the cost of getting real nice prints done, it�ll probably pay off soon if you don�t have to worry about expensive prints turning out shitty.

Sorry that I can�t help you much more than that.

[Capt. Fred]

Well done!

(based on my limited experience, it's not possible to set things up so that the print will look like it does on screen. There are a number of things you can do to help including asking what colour profile the print shop uses, and setting photoshop's colour settings accordingly and then making adjustments to your image accordingly. After you have done that, and whatever other witchcraft you have heard helps, you can ask the shop for some colour proofs of a section of the work, and depending on the strength of your character, keep nagging them until they come up with a decent colour set-up.)

[Tzan]

I turn off color management and use Adobe Gamma to adjust my monitor.

Back in 2001 I needed some prints and contacted Boris in Boston, which is out of business now. They had a "continuous tone" process on a machine called "HK". It produces a really nice image with no dot patterns on paper that feels and looks like photo print paper.

The machine uses a 30" wide roll and you pay by the square foot, $30/sqft.

They had just got it and didnt have it tuned right and the image came out wrong. So of course when I complained they figured it was a monitor vs print problem. I went back in and they loaded it up on their Mac and the image looked just like it did on my machine. So they adjusted the HK and thanked me for pointing it out.

The final print looked just like the screen. I dont know if it was just dumb luck or if that machine is just better at reproducing a screen.

[Godwin]

Reakshun: thanks, yes it did take quite a bit of time, it was even supposed to be a triptych but burnout and time constraints didn't allow for it (and it was quite out of place anyway)


This is what it looks like printed and hung, yes there is a little space between them

It's a temporary gallery setup just to facilitate marking and stuff thus that low wall, it's around eye level anyway. There's some bad glare since it faces the windows but once the viewer steps right up to it he'll block it out.

I did make studies on the various subjects: machines, cranes, buildings, construction sites, workers et cetera but the final work didn't involve photocompositing of any kind... maybe I should have, but it was all raw from scratch. Here're some progress shots I compiled last week:
http://godwin.ralert.net/gallery/wip/c3allweb?full=1
http://godwin.ralert.net/gallery/wip/c2allweb?full=1


gLitterbug: thanks! Hmm it's fine, I probably won't be doing anymore print works anytime soon anyway, was just curious as to how things work
I did have another piece of work printed on superlarge format 40"x60" as part of the local HYPE gallery promotion, and it turned out fine too...


Capt. Fred: thanks! I actually wanted to supervise the print or something to make sure that the colours on the print computer was as I envisioned, but call it laziness or lack of time, I didn't. It was all done in-school, but I don't even know how professional the guy who handled it was, well I had classes on and faced a tight deadline so whatever heh.


Tzan: thanks too.

What of those people who're constantly dealing with print work? Graphic artists? Advertising? Or comic artists even, penny-arcade comes to mind, they've been making lots of prints for sale and they look just like the web versions. All down to good communication?

What I've gathered from you guys is that EVEN on the screen that's connected to the printer itself, the colours may not correspond? How does that work out? Shouldn't printers print what you see? I was under the impression that it'd just be down to maintaining the look between your monitor and that.
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Derelict Studios|Godwin's Space

[B0b]

prints will generally look less saturated in print than they do on screen..

if you really want ur prints to be calibrated a spyder will help

WP Godwin, fantastic art

[Max]

Amazing!! The detail is stunning and I really like the idea.
I think it's like a mix between scifi and surrealism. imo.
Keep up the great work!

[Godwin]

Thanks guys. Yeah it's surrealist but without all the classic surrealist ideas, or something... Familiar objects in a somewhat familiar setting, but totally unfamiliar drama (on the surface).
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[The Real Mark]

awesome, looks like it could be turned into a cool video game or even movie!

[Naeem]

thats some awesome work man. i agree with everyone.
keep it up!
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[SquarePixel]

amazing piece, thanks for sharing this with us.

[Godwin]

Thanks again for all the compliments

Here're a handful of other miscellaneous stuff created over the course of this project that aided in the idea's visual development and exploration. A few were actually done after the work was finished some of these were really rushed.
They don't get many people doing stuff digitally (I do draw and paint too, of course), and so my tutor suggested I showed off, in a sense, the range of possibilities of it as a medium, including speedy/sketchy stuff. All of this also served as stylistic experiments for myself, albeit perhaps not pushed very far.






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[topeira]

oh.... my... god...

truely amazing! amazing i tell ya!!

i have nothing to say about this besides - holly crap!

only problem is presentation - those two pix shouldnt be attached. just a lil space between them would suffice.

incredible work. 3 months well put. i would buy it! (how much does it coast in dollars?)
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ToPeirA

[Godwin]

Yes if you scrolled down a little further there's an actual photo of them framed up and hung quite a bit apart

I don't have a pricetag on it, I don't even know how much it cost to print them since it was all subsidised by the school.
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Derelict Studios|Godwin's Space