Realistically, and if we can enter this piece in any competition, there has to be balance in the composition. And that means that the background must yield to the foreground bot. Actually, it wouldn't hurt if a toy with eyes, like a teddy bear, was watching the bot spell its plea.
Now here's possibly an unpopular idea:why not let everyone model at hogh res, and let me do some shadows and composite work so the other toys are played down. My reasoning? This is supposed to be fun, and who wants to contribute 4 polygons to the scene? Make it your best toy ever, and then allow me to handle the dynamics of the picture in Photoshop. This would also take care of modeling platform incompatibilities.
Urgent message coming in: we should probably not use trademarked products, or if so, disguise them in a clever way. I know, I know...I myself am the WORST at copyright violation. But I'm doing it for a giggle, and not a piece we could get published.
Examples of creative subterfuge:
-cover the bottom of an Etch-A-Sketch with a doll or book or something. The knobs on an Etch-A-Sketch are the identifying trademark...you don't show them, no problem.
--Raggety Ann and Raggety Andy are copywritten out the wazoo by Knickerbocker toys...and I know the owner and the answer is still "no". So you put "Groucho glasses" on Raggety Andy...it's funny and problem solved.
-Sharon, be REAL careful with book titles. If I were you, in fact, I'd make cover illustrations on models of books and skip titles for 2 reasons:
1.)We can be sued for unlawful appropriation of title.
2.)No one, in theory, should be able to clearly read titles. If you can, the attention moves away from the toybot and towards the book. If you REALLY want titles on the books, I'd suggest sound-alike titles, such as
-"Raggety Carl and Raggety Phyllis"
-Curious Georgette"
-"The Little Princess"
-"The Velvetine Swamp Lizard"
...and so on.
Other toys might be small,tradional ones, like the ball in the cup toy, a yo-yo. Ross, it would be interesting if you told us what year this scene takes place, and we could accomodate with toys of the era. For example, today's Jack in the Box dates back to 1613 when it was called "Punch in the Box", presumably after the puppet of Punch and Judy fame. Does this influence anyone who's searching for ideas for the Jack in the Box?
By the way, all of Sir John Tenniel's renderings of Alice in Wonderland went public domain a few years back. Anyone want to do a caterpillar on a mushroom smoking from a hookah, a Knave of Hearts, playing card soldiers, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle Dum? You can get a copy of the original renderings from a pdf file at adobe.com.
How about a Humpty Dumpty toy?
My Best,
Gary David Bouton
Gary@GaryDavidBouton.com
Free education! The Writings Web site
and the updated GaryWorld Gallery is pretty okay, too.
[This message was edited by Gary David Bouton on October 08, 2001 at 15:09.]
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