Just got off the phone with Karl Stevens who had, yesterday, gotten the letter and "notes" I spent the week putting together on his first attempt at a "bridging page" in SDOAR.
One of the problems, he decided, is that a) he needs better photos, better lit and b) that it's not really fair to Tony to try to get him to sit for photos, where the light needs to be adjusted, etc. etc. at his store or to drag him out to Karl and Alexis' apartment to do so. Good point.
So, the solution Karl suggested is: is it okay to use Alexis or himself as the "store owner"?
Yes, that made a lot of sense, particularly when it came to the "costuming". If Tony wore a plaid or striped shirt (one of the secrets of the Alex Raymond photorealist school is plaid and striped clothing because it establishes irrefutable contour pretty effortlessly) but it didn't "work" -- well, how far away is Tony's closet to look for a substitute? In the case of Alexis, shooting the photos at the apartment, her closet is right there.
I don't know how long Million-Year Picnic has been in business -- they must be coming up on the million-year mark by now -- but we will now be ret-conning a woman owner! How 2016 is that?! Or maybe Alexis is an employee? Anyway, we will be using the front of the store for the first two or three pages.
The other thing that we've figured out is: instead of getting Karl to do a finished page and then my critiquing that, I'm going to get him to do photocopy mock-ups of the pages and critique those, since they involve a lot less working time lost if they need to be tweaked.
Further updates as they become available.
One of the problems, he decided, is that a) he needs better photos, better lit and b) that it's not really fair to Tony to try to get him to sit for photos, where the light needs to be adjusted, etc. etc. at his store or to drag him out to Karl and Alexis' apartment to do so. Good point.
So, the solution Karl suggested is: is it okay to use Alexis or himself as the "store owner"?
Yes, that made a lot of sense, particularly when it came to the "costuming". If Tony wore a plaid or striped shirt (one of the secrets of the Alex Raymond photorealist school is plaid and striped clothing because it establishes irrefutable contour pretty effortlessly) but it didn't "work" -- well, how far away is Tony's closet to look for a substitute? In the case of Alexis, shooting the photos at the apartment, her closet is right there.
I don't know how long Million-Year Picnic has been in business -- they must be coming up on the million-year mark by now -- but we will now be ret-conning a woman owner! How 2016 is that?! Or maybe Alexis is an employee? Anyway, we will be using the front of the store for the first two or three pages.
The other thing that we've figured out is: instead of getting Karl to do a finished page and then my critiquing that, I'm going to get him to do photocopy mock-ups of the pages and critique those, since they involve a lot less working time lost if they need to be tweaked.
Further updates as they become available.