December 2008 - Christmas lights

The original:



The brief:
Well, Christmas is upon us, and it's time for a seasonal Challenge. I toyed with several ideas for this year's festive offering, before Ted Eggs posted his link to a rather spectacular animated illuminations house. It's a beautiful piece of work - and I assume it's all 100% real.

So your Challenge is to take the rather dull image of a house, below, and add festive lighting to it. Ideally, this should be animated so the lights flash on and off. (If you're not sure how to do animations in Photoshop, I know of a good Reader Forum where you can get top quality advice.) Any other seasonal extras are entirely up to you.

Note: My computer will be turned off on Christmas Eve and it won't go back on again this year. So this will be a two-week Challenge: the write-up, and the first Challenge of the New Year, will appear on Friday 2nd January.

Happy Christmas/Channukah/Winterval/Saturnalia/Non-Denominational Seasonal Celebration, everyone!

Finished work: click here for animation ...

December 2008 - Skating on thin ice

The originals:


The brief:
Hi ho, hi ho - we're well into December, so it's time to crank up the artificial snow machine and think about getting festive.

I have this picture of a skater, who needs to have her skates changed from roller to ice. The chief challenge, though, will be to create a reflective surface for her to skate on: what would it look like? How would the reflection appear?

For those who would like a bit more of a challenge, here is the same skater from a different angle - which should present a rather more tricky reflection problem!

Finished work:

December 2008 - Grabby little hands

The original:

The brief:
I went to London's Natural History Museum last weekend, and once again was awestruck by the fantastic Waterhouse interior of this magnificent building.

There were several animatronic models in the dinosaur exhibit, and I was particularly taken by the size and position of the hands on this one, held in front of it in a remarkably human way. It could be holding a shopping basket, or grasping a tiny Fay Wray, or leaning over a windowsill, or... well, it's up to you. After the trials of last week's technical Challenge, I'm giving you pretty much a free rein on this one.

Finished work: