HOME | DD
akela9 β Alice Returns
Published: 2008-07-30 05:56:35 +0000 UTC; Views: 1473; Favourites: 22; Downloads: 0
Redirect to original
Description
Alice has been an adult for many years, now, and is no longer inclined to fall into childish flights of fancy. She realizes, however, that she is not getting any younger and in a fever of nostalgia longs to walk in Wonderland at least once more before passing beyond all known realms, forever. Through a strange turn of events Alice finds herself once more at the entrance of the place where so many amazing adventures were to be had in her younger days. Alas, Alice is gripped with a sudden fear of understanding that time is no longer on her side, and she can not seem to find the courage needed to cross the threshold that would allow her to enter that most amazing land.Some braveries and some magics really are lost once we are no longer children.
Stocks used (Thank You!):
-background
-girl
- clock
-flowers
-door
- bottle
-table
This is supposed to be surreal, so some of the perspectives are off for a reason, but feedback on lighting, blending, and anything else that needs tweaking would be MOST appreciated.
Special thanks to for her encouragement and her amazing suggestions on shadows and perspective. I still don't think I have it *quite* right, but I hope to with time and practice. Thanks, hon. You're the best.
Related content
Comments: 31
Thank you, very much, hon.
π: 0 β©: 0
I came here from GimmeFeedback.
First of all, I really like the idea and the mood. And for a first photomanip this is really really good! Imagine how your art looks a year from now, I think it`ll be awesome!
The mood is what pulls me in, the colours, the setting, the little details and what the girl seems to be thinking (good idea to show only her back, you can only guess what she thinks since there is no facial expression) I think you picked a good model. when reading your description and looking at her you get a sense of disappointment and hesitation.
The little details are lovely! Though some could `blend in more`For example, the clock looks awesome but it`s still a bit awkard in the whole scene. I think it`s mostly the colours. The floor, door, wall and flowers and also the girl are a bit more pale. The clock colours are very saturated.
The little table is what strikes me the most as being `pasted in` Something about the lighting isn`t right. To me it seems the light is coming more from the front, as the wall is very light in the middle and gets more dark to the sides. The shadow of the table is pointing to the left though. Also there seems to be shadow under the paws (is that an english word??) of the table, maybe if you would leave that out the table would look more like it`s standing on the ground so it`d blend in more.
I love how you did the wall and the flowers, it has nice colours and texture.
This is really well done!
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you, very much for your detailed critique. I agree with your assessment. And I agree that the clock and the table look a bit "stamped on". I have a LOT to learn about blending, yet, but thank you very much for your positve spin and for being so encouraging. I really appreciate that. And I really appreciate the
I'm so relieved that if nothing else, I was able to get the mood across. Thank you for commenting on this and I look forward to future feedback!
π: 0 β©: 1
Glad I couldbe of service
I don`t do photomanips myself but I really liked this one so I thought I`d give my thoughts on this.
Yes, the mood is really strong in this one, I think it`s the great choice of elements and the way you`ve composed them, also the colours struck me.
Keep up the great work, I look forward to see more of your manips!
π: 0 β©: 0
I like this piece. It has a sense of both nostalgia and apprehension which is obvious even without your explanation, so you're doing your job.
The shadows don't really bother me but is right about the clock. The thing that's distracting me is the way the horizon line and molding are lining up with the darker stripe at the top of "Alice's" skirt. They sort of blend together and suggest a transparency that I don't think is deliberate. This problem can be solved by either raising the horizon line or lowering "Alice". I don't know anything about photomanipulation, but I hope that's an easy fix.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thanks, very much hon. I really appreciate having a different "eye" seeing the piece and giving such great feedback. I am seriously keeping note of critiques on this one, so that I can either do a "final edit" someday, or at least keep from repeating the same mistakes in future pieces. Thanks for your feedback. I really, really appreciate it.
π: 0 β©: 0
not bad for your first piece..the whole piece really looks stunning
especially those flowers on the wall..great job
..now, there are 2 things that just bothers me...
first, the model looks a little desaturated...try adding some colors by adjusting it..then it would look so cool
second, the clock on the wall is..well, kinda too light against the background..it grabs the attention of the generally the whole piece..
well..more power to you 
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you, so much hon. These are things I will try to make note of for future edits. I rally appreciate the critique! Yeah, I never could get that darn clock to look "right' no matter how much tinkering I did, but the piece lost something when it wasn't there, too... Just something I'll have to keep playing with. I think Alice looks a little "dead" due to my blending choices. I think I need to play more with the flattened image once the layers have been merged. Again, just something I'm trying to learn about as I go along.
Again, thank you for the feedback. I really, really appreciate it!
π: 0 β©: 1
its always a pleasure..good luck
π: 0 β©: 0
This picture reminds me of a Swallow the Sun song called These Hours of Despair. I guess you can tell why, lol.
The mood you've created here is very well-achieved. You made it transmit desperation and ending using warm colors and just the right details, and that's very important!
Very good work!
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you so very much! I really appreciate it, and I'm glad those darker emotions shine through.
π: 0 β©: 1
You're very much welcome (:
π: 0 β©: 0
Came here from GimmeFeedback
This piece is good, it creates an unsettling mood, as the scene is very surrealistic. I like the blend mode used on the flowers and how they seem to rest against the wall like they do.
Best way to improve on photo manipulations is to pay attention to detail. For example, I like the flowers, but the illusion of them resting against the wall goes away when you reach the base of the stems and you can see the molding through them. You can change that. Also, the clock and the flower, should that flower be on top of the clock? At present the clock looks like its just floating, which is okay -- but is it meant to be on the wall? If not is there a way to place it more in the room? Like a shadow of the clock, cast on the wall? or floor? Would their be a reflection of the clock on the floor? Stuff like that. Another important key is to pay attention to the directionality of shadows. If you want to increase the photorealism, make sure you imagine where the light sources are in the scene and try to figure out where all the shadows would fall. That's the best advice I can give anyone trying to do photo manips.
Good luck with everything in the future. If this is your first composition, you are really doing a great job, so far. Keep it up!
π: 0 β©: 1
Trish, hon, you always give such great feedback. And yes, this is a first, so I don't exactly know what I'm doing, but the tips are certainly appreciated. The molding showing behind the flowers bothered me a bit, too, as I sort of wanted to give the impression (initially) that they were growing out of the tile floor, but I couldn't pull that off and could never "fix" that darn transparency. Hopefully I'll learn a few more tricks as time progresses.
Yes, I was hoping the clock could sort of be "floating" in a way that would make Dali proud, and I actually didn't mind it looking a bit stuck on, or out of place as it were in this case, but if it doesn't work (?) [Seems like I hardly know what does work in these kinds of cases. I've done abstract(s), but never done anything really surrealistic before, so that was another first, and again, critiques are helpful!]
I tried really hard with the light source/shadows, and gave me a great tip on how to create shadows, but perhaps I didn't get the placements quite right? I really tried, but maybe that's something I'm just going to have more practice with. Thanks again for your wonderful feedback. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.
π: 0 β©: 1
well what I noticed as far as shadows go... the shadows from the flowers on the wall vs the shadows on the ground... they go in slightly different directions. I see that the lighting of the person and the table match their shadows on the ground. So the overall piece might be fixed by flipping the flower layer (if its doable) or flipping the person, table and respective cast shadows in foreground to the same direction as the flower shadows.
I totally believe you on the whole shadows thing, you got the lighting on the person and their cast shadow to match, for example... now to make it consistent, that needs to occur for the whole scene. But hey... its a surreal piece so who says the shadows have to match? 
As to the clock being floating -- okay that's cool. But there's something about the way that the clock and the flower intersect that seems off. I guess I can't really tell what that is -- but the image flattens out right there, you know what I mean? Not sure why.
As far as ideas for how to fix the molding line... an extra layer of paint, carefully duplicating the stems' color and effectively getting rid of that demarcation of the line of the molding or use of the smudge tool on a layer above... (if you got cs3-- maybe cs2 also), you can smudge the layers below. The rubber stamp tool on a separate layer may also work. That way you don't damage your layer and the transparency of the layer with the blending mode won't come through.
Another idea might be to create a flattened version and use one of those techniques on the flattened version to get rid of that line.
Its wonderful, and I hope that I did not sound overly critical and discouraging of your work, which is beautiful. I really want to be helpful.
π: 0 β©: 1
I do, I do, really really REALLY appreciate it! I will work on these things if I ever do another edit of this piece, and certainly keep all the tips for future pieces. (I'm sincere. Like I've got a Word document going with tips people have given me, and yours are going in there! I reference it often.)
And you ARE helpful. Very. I think I like reading your critiques almost the *best* from all the club members (though everyone is great... love you, guys!)
You've got a great eye and you don't just come in and say "fix this" you actually take the time to go into what processes might be used TO fix things which is so very, very helpful.
That darn clock. I had it behind the flowers in an earlier version and maybe that worked better, but it still didn't seem "right." Just something I'll need to play around with...
Thanks again, and PLEASE feel free to be honest (even if it seems "brutally" so... Which you never are, btw, so don't worry a bit about it!)
π: 0 β©: 1
From *GimmeFeedback ... I really quite like the background the door, the flowers against the wall ... even the clock. Beautiful work. Oh, and the "drink me" is a nice touch.
π: 0 β©: 1
Thank you. I appreciate it.
π: 0 β©: 0
from gimmefeedback:
I think you did a really good job in composing the different stocks into a whole picture. The mood is... well, kinda dark. Like a darker version of Alice in Wonderland, or something.
π: 0 β©: 1
Yes, it's Alice. *points to description*
And older and more cautious Alice, but Alice, none-the-less.
π: 0 β©: 0
OH! this is TERRIFIC!! 
You did a fabulous job!
It does feel like more of an 'Alice' story...really well done!
π: 0 β©: 1
Yay! I'm glad you think it works okay!
π: 0 β©: 1
it does!! it's wonderful 
π: 0 β©: 0
I have featured your work in my recent journal dedicated to photo manips - you can view the feature at this link:
[link]
if you wish for your work to not be featured in this manner just let me know. Otherwise keep up the great work!
Sandi
aka `oibyrd
π: 0 β©: 1
OMG! OMG! I've been featured! :wh00t:
You SO just made my day, month, year. Thank you SO much and this is my first piece like this so this just totally blows my mind!!
π: 0 β©: 0
Oh, LOVELY! I really like the back wall, and the clock. Nice work with the new shadows, too. Did you write the first part of the artist's comments yourself? I think that definitely adds a different dimension to the picture.
π: 0 β©: 1
Yes, I did, luv. I had a friend tell me once the only thing she hated about "abstracts" was that she always wondered what the artist was trying to say, so I thought this might help. 'Tisn't Shakespeare or anything, but hopefully helps a bit with the "mood".
Thank you VERY much.
π: 0 β©: 0
Yay!! There are aspects in the original that I miss in this one, but I like this one, too... More of a "story" I think...
π: 0 β©: 0