| Pic Description: |
P4NW (my Nigella character) and P4NM, rendered in Poser 4, postworked with Paint Shop Pro. Identifiable prop credits: Walls and Wall with Door by John Stallings, Basket by Gerald Day, Hall Table by Tony Lynch, Belt Pouch by Ikyoto, Belted Skirt by Indoda, Updo Hair by Kozaburo.
Visually communicating weird ideas of the strange and inexplicable is difficult, at least in contrast to more tangible horrors like fire-breathing monsters, gruesome violence, or flesh-rotting diseases. That''s not to even say this is necessarily intended as a horror image. The thing about truly strange experiences is that we don''t even know whether we should be scared, grateful, indifferent, etc, as the matter is inscrutable. I tried to depict that with Nigella''s subdued expression and pose; whether that approach was successful is of course for viewers to decide. I''m certainly no expert in composing these kinds of images, though like anything else, I think the best way to learn is probably the old Thomas Edison method (''I''m making progress! I found 99 ways that won''t work for making light bulbs!'').
I''m generally not a fan of the ''cutaway view'' technique I used here to show Nigella on one side of an enclosed space and, eh, something else outside, but on occassion it''s the only effective way to convey such an impossible vantage point. I initially tried a visually and dramatically more interesting angle from behind Nigella, looking over her shoulder and through the door. But that turned out too narratively ambiguous, leaving the other character in the scene to perhaps be confused for some mundane criminal jumping out to snatch her purse on a dark foggy night. |
