Sunday, March 3, 2013

How to Pose a Figure in a New Pose from an already existing photo

Hello, first post in a while and I wanted to make it a descent one to start with again. 
Here is the photo that I am working with.
This is a photo of Peter Hewitt.  I do not currently know who shot this photo but I will find out soon.

So, what I want to do is take this photo and find a spot somewhere else next to impossible to take this image.

I am going to put the camera under the board or behind it as if this was a clear tunnel.

First thing to do is learn the original pose so we can proceed forward with more working confidence.  So study the image and do a drawing from its perspective, in this case I am using figure construction methods to help me determine the volume presented before me.

Here is the drawing that I did a study of to start the process.

Note that I have analyzed the volumes cylindrically and I have also found the camera angle from which the photo was taken.

Next we will break down the image into what would be termed an orthographic view.  WHY?  A good practice to know everything you can about something is to move all the way around it and learn about the 1. balance, 2. relationships between the pairs - hands - feet - hips - etc.  3. to completely understand the pose and the action behind the pose.

Here is the ortho view.

This ortho starts with finding one of the two core shapes directly in line with the camera.  In this case I found the back and built the first drawing starting with a flat view of the ribcage.  From there the other views were easier to construct.  This helps me now totally memorize this pose so I can now invent it from any new angle I choose.   Why so much work?  I cannot ever recreate this moment to shoot it myself, therefore I must find some way to get into the situation if I am ever to do anything else with the pose I have as a reference.

From this I know the weight of the pose, where the center of gravity is, how the limbs balance each other out, etc.

From this I can proceed to the invented drawing.  Here is the finished plate. 

I added grayscale to it so you can see the difference in the spaces with Photoshop.  Again, remember that the camera is positioned under the largest wheel as if the fullpipe was a clear tube.  The face and hands etc. were detailed out by finding other photos of Peter to complete the image.  This was a possiblity because I took ownership of the pose by doing a thorough job with examining it and understanding it so I can manipulate it to my liking.

More to come on how to do an ortho view.