Digital Contact Sheets

Hot off the presses! I just learned this.
So I'm clunking around in PS making a digital contact sheet by hand for Rebecca's class and I think to myself (as I often do), "there's got to be a better way!"
Indeed there is. You can whip up a digital contact sheet in seconds using a highly underrated little program that installs itself along with photoshop: Adobe Bridge.
Bridge is basically amazing; its effectively a file browser built specifically for images. It lets you preview raw files, which is huge since windows doesn't natively support that (not sure about mac). Helps you index and rename large numbers of files and keep your picture folders nice and organized, and lots of other nifty features. But lets talk about contact sheets.

When you open Bridge (CS4) you'll notice four menu options at the top right of the window: Essentials, FIlmstrip, Metadata, and Output. Output is where all the magic happens. give it a click and you'll be treated to a window like the one I have here. There's lots of fancy options you can tweak at your leisure (you'll notice I'm set up to make 5 columns of 4 images each, with a maximum of 20 images per page. See how fun multiplication is!?) When you're done just click Save and viola!

STALKER II

I make movies. I write a lot of stories and they usually end up being cool enough to adapt into these little short films. STALKER is my big project and its spanned years of production (for realz, not just laziness).
I also do most of the art direction and concept design for the series, so it occurred to me: hey dummy, those would make neat posts! So get ready to follow my progress on the newest installment to the STALKER family. Get ready for STALKER: Affliction. You'll forgive my lack of exposition regarding characters, factions, tech systems, etc but short of uploading the entire script it would take way too long to explain (and I'm not about to do that till its copywrited). So I'm just going to pretend like we both know what I'm talking about. ;)



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The Order Corporation's lead wetwork specialist, Lt. Michelle Jacurro, needs the right tools for the job if she is to be an effective fighter. Xira Wireless (an Order subsidiary) presents the X220 series Mirage™  holotool. Xira's Mirage™ employs the very latest in digital planar holography, using a transparent sheath of nanite optics fitted over the user's hand and forearm. The Mirage™ features encryption standards up to 1Mbit, making it ideal for military applications and sensitive data transfer between the Solaris network and ground interception forces. It is capable of providing the user with simultaneous live feeds of squad vital statistics including weapons, health, and mental condition monitoring along with satellite surveillance options and advanced hostile movement interpolation.
The Mirage™ is the ultimate in helmetless HUDs; see a Xira Wireless dealer for a hassle-free quote today!

Midtorm?

As most art projects do, this one began to take on a life of it's own through the course of its life cycle. What was originally intended as an injection of sin into worlds untouched by violence and vice became an exploration of boundaries; what is acceptable to comment on in this cartoon context?  One main parameter I had set in the beginning of this project remained intact--the fact that I drove myself to create "darkly humourous" imagery. Upon showing the class my final prints the consensus seemed torn between laughing at them and reporting me to Megan's Law. Ultimately this is the kind of uncomfortable environment I had sought all along, so in that vein I believe the project was a success.

Now that the dust has settled, I am free to share the less dark and more humorous rejects from the project. Enjoy a cheap thrill!