The Making of 'Times Nine'

Evolution104 · The Making of 'Times Nine'

Inspired by the work of Andy Warhol, I decided to try my hand at a pop art entry for the Week 5 'Time' Weekend Competition.

This is simply a recount of the steps I took to make the image. I've never done this before, so I'm sure there are lots of other ways to do something like this.

These steps are using Paint Shop Pro version 8.

Step 1:
Take the pictures -
I needed 9 images of a clock face, so I set up my tripod in front of my wall clock, and carefully set the hands of the clock so each of the 9 images showed exactly the same interval (1/9 hour) in time from the previous time. I used a flash set to -2 flash compensation. The flash was fitted with a diffuser and I also held a piece of paper over it to cut the light even more.

A typical image looks like this:

Step 2:
Create a mask -
After taking the nine pictures, I needed to isolate the clock face from the background. Since the face is perfectly round, I decided to create a mask. I'm not going to cover the details of mask making here though. When done, I have a black background with a feathered and transparent hole sized for the clock face:

Step 3:
Extract the clock face from the original images -
Now that I have a mask, I can open one of the clock pictures. I then copy the mask and paste it over the clock as a new layer.

Having the mask as a layer allows me to make subtle adjustments to its position if need be. Now flatten all the layers. If you moved the mask, touch up the outer edges of the picture where the mask doesn't reach the edge.

Using the magic wand, select the black area, then invert the selection. Cut the selection (the clock face) and paste it into a new image with a transparent background. Save this image as a .pspimage, .bmp or other lossless format.

Step 4:
Create a template for the coloured blocks -
My target output was this forum, which has a maximum image size of 650px, so that dictated the size of the image. But I also wanted to have the option to print it, so I created an image 2433px square @ 300 dpi. This is roughly 8 inches square. Another reason for the large image is to have better control over the details when "painting" the clock faces. To fit 3 coloured blocks in each axis and allow for borders, I ended up with a 96px outer border, 48px between blocks, and 715px blocks.

I opened a new image 715px x 715px and flooded the background with the first colour I wanted to use. This image template will be used for all 9 blocks. All I need to do is change the colour each time before copying it into the main image.

Step 5:
Create the base image -
Now I opened another new image, sized it to 2433px square @ 300 dpi. I gave it a grey background. Next was to copy the 715px template image as a new layer, and position it correctly.

It's worth noting at this point that it would be faster to start with this step, and instead of creating templates for the blocks, simply create the base image with a white background and draw a grey grid on it, then fill the blocks with colour. I chose not to do this so I had the flexibility of moving my blocks anywhere, in any order, at any time.

When done, I had a canvas that had nine different coloured blocks, each in its own layer.

Step 6:
The fun part! -
Now it's time to convert the clock faces. Open one of the clock face images. First, resize the image to fit in the blocks (I used 700px square at 300 dpi).

In Paint Shop Pro, from the menu select Effects > Artistic Effects > Colored Edges...
Set the intensity to 100, luminance to -200 and blur to 5. Then select the colour you want as the base colour.

After this, all the additional colours are added by using the flood fill tool and selectively adding them one at a time. I varied the tolerance level as necessary between 2 and 100. For this image, having the Match mode set to RGB Value worked well.

Once the image is how you want it, go back to the base image and select the block layer you want this clock face to be merged with.

Go back to the clock face and select all (Ctrl - A). Copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl - C). Return to the base image which has the block layer selected, and paste as a new selection (Ctrl - E). Position the clock face where you want it, then from the menu, select Selections > Select None. This will merge the clock face into the block layer which is the current selection.

Repeat for the other 8 images.

Step 7:
Finish it -
Save the base image with its layers as a pspimage file to preserve the layers.

Now flatten all layers. Resize the image for the forum and save it as a jpg.

That's it!

creators

John, thank you, it's a great walkthrough. I'll be having a go later on, I'll post it so you can see how I got on. Thanks again.

Evolution104

Thanks Keith,
I can't wait to see your art.

Oh, I forgot - with the flood fill tool, I had the Match mode set to RGB Value (although I think Color will work just as well in this instance).

John

Venom

Very nice walk through John thanks for sharing and it's a good entry (take some beating IMO)

creators

Cheers John. Hmmm, tricky, this could take a while.

Evolution104

creators

I'm not sure if it's having a different version of PSP to you.

I've just had a brainwave, why don't I use your images up here to check it out? I suddenly feel very silly. Nothing like overlooking the obvious.

Evolution104

creators

No, the images here are fine. They are certainly good enough to test this out with. Thanks.