Suspended in Time
Fire & Ice
SO0oo much time spent editing on Photoshop Elements Editor and Lightroom! Let me explain the process I went through so you could further appreciate this piece of work.
I wanted to show the conflict between fire & ice, hot & cold, and I think it's captivated best in the eyes that are locked and loaded. My greatest struggle was getting the middle right because I wanted to show fire and ice intermingling, instead of a clashing wall of two separate elements. It was difficult to not make one side seem like it's overwhelming the other. I made my skin tone more orangish-yellow and the ice guy's more bluish-grey, then worked on the ice guy's side first:
I added frost in his hair, I put cerulean energy seeping from his eyes (which I got rid of the pupils), I put frost on his collar, put ice crystals on his shoulder, put pieces of ice floating around him and adjusted the skin tone on the right side of his face to be more warm and yellowish because the light is coming from the fire guy's glow, casting crisp shadows on the other side of the ice guy's face (which I like because not only does the contrast satisfy me but it makes reference to things that tend to be colder in the absence of light).
For the fire guy, I put flames spilling from his eyes to symbolize the burning anger he has for ice that's physically manifested into a beam of heat directly from his irises. I made the hair color in his back more light and reddish, and put embers blazing around the bottom. I wanted the flurry of dancing flames to have a smooth flowing movement towards the upper-left corner, joined by a flare of sparks in the middle near the furious eyes.
I think it worked to my advantage to refrain from shaving that day - it appears more untamed, animalistic and wild (adding to the effect of uncontrollable rage), whereas the ice guy is more cool and collected, he shaved so his skin is smooth as the surface of water before it freezes. I wanted him to be smirking, like he's aware of the conflict but he's more prepared to "play" than fight because he's not worried - this may leave room for an impression of a cocky personality. En garde!
Fire & Ice
SO0oo much time spent editing on Photoshop Elements Editor and Lightroom! Let me explain the process I went through so you could further appreciate this piece of work.
I wanted to show the conflict between fire & ice, hot & cold, and I think it's captivated best in the eyes that are locked and loaded. My greatest struggle was getting the middle right because I wanted to show fire and ice intermingling, instead of a clashing wall of two separate elements. It was difficult to not make one side seem like it's overwhelming the other. I made my skin tone more orangish-yellow and the ice guy's more bluish-grey, then worked on the ice guy's side first:
I added frost in his hair, I put cerulean energy seeping from his eyes (which I got rid of the pupils), I put frost on his collar, put ice crystals on his shoulder, put pieces of ice floating around him and adjusted the skin tone on the right side of his face to be more warm and yellowish because the light is coming from the fire guy's glow, casting crisp shadows on the other side of the ice guy's face (which I like because not only does the contrast satisfy me but it makes reference to things that tend to be colder in the absence of light).
For the fire guy, I put flames spilling from his eyes to symbolize the burning anger he has for ice that's physically manifested into a beam of heat directly from his irises. I made the hair color in his back more light and reddish, and put embers blazing around the bottom. I wanted the flurry of dancing flames to have a smooth flowing movement towards the upper-left corner, joined by a flare of sparks in the middle near the furious eyes.
I think it worked to my advantage to refrain from shaving that day - it appears more untamed, animalistic and wild (adding to the effect of uncontrollable rage), whereas the ice guy is more cool and collected, he shaved so his skin is smooth as the surface of water before it freezes. I wanted him to be smirking, like he's aware of the conflict but he's more prepared to "play" than fight because he's not worried - this may leave room for an impression of a cocky personality. En garde!