Anyone up for a forum-wide challenge?

[Angst]

...My friend wrote a clever "Seuss-ean" story (of sorts) and is looking for illustrations for it.
I'd be happy to help him (and likely I will at some point with something) but I'm really not an illustrator exactly and being that there ARE so many of you in here, I figured that it might be a nice activity to rally around and have fun with.
The story is called "A Bird on my Head" and, like I said, is pretty amusing. I know it would interest little kids so you might be in on the ground floor of something cool if it ever gets published (which he's looking to do). He fully believes that illustrations will bring it to life and seriously interest a publishing house.
Go here:

http://www.wolfsongs.net/df/

to see the poem itself (in the left column) and some of his thoughts on illustrations (in the right). Check out his note to me at the top and then scroll down to see the actual story elements beneath...
I'm not done putting it all up yet, but it has a fun ending and I'll get it all up there as time permits.
In the meantime, you can read the beginning (enough to whet your collective appetites) and what he plans to do once everything is done (payments, credit, etc.)
If I were a better illustrator, I'd certainly be doing this but, as mentioned, I'm not.
Anyway check out the piece and let's put up some illustrations. (Who knows, there could be something in it for you at the end.)



<obvious taunt> ...or are you chicken? </obvious taunt>

[PsychoHamsterStudio]

Hello Angst,


I am very interested in this work. Could you please pm me any further details you have relating to the project? I will upload an image or two within the next few days.

Cheers,

Psycho Hamster

[Angst]

Hey there, (I tried sending you a PM, but was informed you have that feature turned off.. hence this PUBLIC Message),

Well, no particular details other than the ones he posted in his message to me (at the top of the link).
The story elements (on the left) correspond to those notes on the right, pretty much one-for-one (where there is no note on the right, it usually means that two or more of stanzas of poetry are using one image).
Let's see. He wants to get published, the rest of the story is really amusing (I'll be putting it up as soon as I get the chance) and he's convinced that if it has some nice illustrations, he can get some real interest at a publishing house he knows of.
As a matter of fact, he HAS had interest in the past, but everybody has told him that it "needs illustrations".
In his letter to me, you can see that when he setles on a particular illustrator, he fully intends to compensate them. "How" and "exactly what" will be between both of you (them), but I know he plans to pay and / or share a percxentage of the book.
That's all I know at this point so go wild and have some fun (remember, each illustration should look like it's in a photograph, the book will be full of them).
Hope this helps,
Thanks for the interest (I'll give Dave the link so he can follow it himself. He'll be thrilled that somebody expressed interest).
~Angst...

PS oh, for what it's worth, I have no idea what your style is, but he DID see some of Boozy Floozy's work on the forum and commented he liked the feel of it. I'm not saying he's locked into that style, but I'm only passing on what he said. Dave also made it very clear to me that he's open (and eager) to see ANY style that anyone chooses to submit, so knock yourself out!

[Lumin8]

What's the deadline, if any?

[Angst]

'Morning Lumin8,
No deadline whatsoever. I mean, he DOES want to publish this eventually, but other than that... nothing.
He has a friend at work who is actually quite a brilliant illustrator doing some preliminary stuff which looks really good (and I advised him to continue using this guy for the whole story) but I don't know if he has the time to do it all.
Dave still wanted me to see if anyone here was interested (he loves all the ZBrush Illos he's seen).
So - to recap - no deadlines, but eventually if nothing pans out here, he's going to find alternate solutions.
Thanks for writing and let me know if there's any other info you (guys) need.

~A...

[Lumin8]

Okay, great! One more question. Where should one send their projects to? I didn't notice an email address anywhere.

[Angst]

Just post 'em right here in the forum... that's what I'D do...
I'll give Dave the link and he can just come in here to have a look at everything in one neat, easy place.
If he likes any of them, I'll get him and the artist in touch via EMail and they can work out all details of commission, royalties, etc. etc. between themselves.

~A...

[Lumin8]

Awesome! I wasn't sure if you wanted to keep it private or not. Ok, here's what I've got so far. The mesh was originally for a character a friend and I came up with some months ago. Yes, oversized head and all. I "youngened" up the face quite a bit. I may re-do the lips for the boy ...and the bird, I'm not too sure about just yet. Maybe from looking, Dave can lead me in the right direction. Also, The text at the bottom can go away. It's just so I can keep track of what I'm doing.

P.S. I just attached it instead of putting on the page, as that might make it easier for you to browse through when/if everyone else posts their pics. Plus, it is rather large in size(pixels).

[Angst]

Lumin8,
Sweet! Well done.

The only thing I'd mention is that every illo is supposed to look like it's a photograph (as in "make it look like a Poloroid shot with that 'white box' around it" as though all these had been pasted into a child's photo album... you know the look I mean). I only mention this to save you time in the future if you plan on doing more. In other words, you don't have to do these wide, letterbox landscape shots and all, being they're all going to be "boxed" in the photo 'frame'. Perhaps you already realized this and were just putting up an image you had finished without the bother of post production. Either way, nice illo.
I'll point Dave at this tonight and let him check it out himself. I think he'll like it.

I'll let you know what Dave says (or, if you want, send me a PM with your EMail and I'll just forward that over to him so the two of you can get on the same page).
Later,
~A...

[Lumin8]

Yes, you are indeed correct In your assumption. In the future I'll put them in the polaroid box. I'm making up the boxes as we speak. Glad you liked it! I've got lots of time today, so I'll post some more later this evening/early morning. (pacificstandardtime)

[Lumin8]

Angst,

I've sent you my address in your PM.

As I'd mentioned, I've worked on props and clothes and the woman next door, her cat and the little shack. I'll post them hopefully later on today or this evening. For now, here is the first polaroid scene with a little more post-work. I was going to just do the polaroid blank in photoshop, but decided it would be fun to model one.

Hey, I noticed that you're a bassist! Very nice. I sort of play musical chairs and also am head recording engineer/mixer where I work.

[Angst]

Lumin8,
Nice. I like the Photo look.
I understand why you put the poem text on the 'photo' itself (as a place holder to yourself), but you know that the poem and the illustrations will likely be separate. (I'm not even sure why I wrote that... I KNOW you know).
I gave Dave the link this morning and hopefully, time permitting, he'll have a chance to come in here today and check out your work.
I advised him to join the forum (so as to be able to post directly to you in here), but if he doesn't, I'm still happy to act as a go-between (at least until I get you each other's EMail info).
I'll check my PM now, get your Email and shoot it over to Dave.

Yep, I'm an idiot bassist. My best friend (and keyboard player) also runs a studio and we've been recording a lot recently (crazy progressive stuff that no one but friends and immediate family would ever want to hear (and even THEN, only out of familial loyalty)).
The stuff is on the order of: 'Yes' meets 'Kansas' hitchhiking, stops to pick up 'ELP' and 'The Beatles' and gives them all a lift to a 'Queen' concert.
We're using all digital (Cubase SX3 on the PC) and it's really turning out nice.
Ah, all that work so seven people can listen to it... *heavy sigh*.

Later,
~A...

[Lumin8]

yeah, I sort of gathered that that would be seperate. My brother suggested the book "Organizing for your brain type". I fear that the author would simply tell me that I was a hopeless case and to just forget it. lol. I'm constantly writing myself notes and reminders, so I guess I'm not doing that bad.

Hey, I would probably love your guys' stuff. I'm into pretty much every genre that there is, with the exception of "some" obnoxious hip-hop that all has the same not only musical themes but the lyrics are nearly the same. Yes is one of my all time faves.

I'll try to get on later today (dial-up. gotta keep those phones open) to see what Dave says and await further instruction from him. Adios, amigo!

[Lumin8]

Well, I thought I would go ahead and post some more preliminaries. These are far from done. Just a quick and dirty sort of post-working and is really very sloppily done. I just wanted to see how far I could take certain things. As a result, I'm even seeing myself, what could be better and/or changed. The bird will most likely need a retopo job, or just redone all together. That's just fine with me. I know exactly how I did it. Plus I saved my zspheres tools.

I need to be able to get more expressions out of the bird. Since the beak is just one piece, it actually needs to be two... or at least split so that his mouth can open. I'll just do like I did with my sauron and retopo it to have more of an actual mouth. And... once again the text is temporary. Anyway, enough of my psycho babble. Here's what we've got so far.

[Edit: needed to clarify about my quick sloppy postwork.

[Lumin8]