The Making of a Desk Potato
The original image started from a potato (the talent) set on a doll chair with a woodgrain
project box in front. This was his last performance, as shortly after this picture was
taken he was killed in a freak cooking accident.
The desk set was positioned to match the "desk" in the original image and the
equipment was carefully pasted in place, one element at a time. The cup is multiple
elements to allow the handle to be transparent. Shadows were then added to the mask
channel and applied using a masked color-correction to give the objects
"presence".
The original potato's eye was mirrored to produce a "left eye", then the glasses
frames were pasted in, in several pieces. The lenses were simulated by applying a
"pinch" distortion to the area inside the lenses. To complete the effect, a
reflection was added.
The outline of the nose and the left ear and mouth were pasted in from a video image of a
human face (guess who's). The elements were color corrected to match the "skin
tone" of the potato. A small stretch was applied to add a "chin". Shadows
of the glasses, nose and ear and philtrum were added to complete the effect.
To get the arms in the right place, a pose was aligned with the image on the computer
screen. The individual arm elements were pasted into place after color correcting (to
match skin tone) and perspective adjustment.
After a few final touches such as softening the background, and a right ear (a
perspective-tilted mirror of the left ear), the final image is complete.
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