Joan Charmant : photo manipulation.

i got these pictures from . . . http://www.joancharmant.com/index.php . . . .this is an artist that tries different things with photo manipulation.

about joan:

 Identity

- My name is Joan Charmant, born june 1978.
- I live in Bordeaux, South West of France.
- Software Engineer.

Technology
- I'm developping a piece of open source software called Kinovea, to analyze motion in video.
- Kinovea was finalist at the Trophées du Libre awards 2009.

- I contribute to framalang, a french translation team focused on free software and free culture.

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Please tell us more about your art and design background

I have virtually no academic background in art. My dayjob is as software engineer.
I had been involved with graphical arts, but more as a catharsis thing. I almost never shared those works.
I started photography manipulation in 2004, when I stumbled upon UFO pictures and wanted to see how hard it would have been to fake.

While looking for tutorials I found the website Worth1000.com and I started to spend days and nights entering contests there.
It took a lot of trial and error and a fair ammount of constructive criticism from other members, until I could be happy with some of my images.

I've always been addicted to this moment when an idea/concept comes to life into something tangible. I don't think it's specific to art though. Software design and engineering in general is much like the same.

Can you tell us a bit about where you get inspiration for your ideas?

I guess my inspiration mostly comes from scif-fi short stories and novels. I have that huge collection of books, from Clifford Simak to Greg Egan via Phillip K Dick and all the others.
I always like taking a concept and see where it goes when pushed in one direction or the other.

I'm fascinated by a lot of things, nature, technology, science, cultures differences... I'll compulsively look for reference books everytime I stumble upon a area unknown to me.
The consequence is that when I design an image, I will often make connections between remote concepts and come up with (hopefully) something fresh or bizarre.
I will try to mix contrasting ideas and feelings. For example, I like to apply a domain-specific logic to think about something completely unrelated.


Could you describe for us your typical 'start to finish' workflow when working on a photo manipulation?

Well, when I start thinking of the theme, I try to isolate myself and let my thoughts wander. Pictures flow until I get to an interesting visual.
From there, I try to forget about the pictorial content and focus on the concepts. I try to push and stretch the concept in various directions, until I suck up the “juice” of the idea.
Once I have that elemental juice, I start looking for sources. It allows me some degrees of liberty on the scene setup.

I will collect various set of images to account for perspective coherence. Perspective is the most limiting factor when you don't shoot your own sources.
To overcome this issue, I'm working my way around 3D modelisation lately. Hopefully, this will allow me to use small objects exactly at the target perspective.

Merging the main parts will generally give me some time to think about the concept a bit more. I write down whatever potential nice additions comes to my mind during that process.
When the image structure is almost finished and I'm adding small bits, I try to take a step back and have a fresh look.

When I'm done with structure and local color adjustments, I'll generally apply overall adjustment and enhancing.
At that point I consider the final image as a photography and try to simply make it look pleasant to the eye.

What technical equipment do you use? (mac/pc, tablet, software, camera, etc)

I use a PC, and an optical mouse. I had a cheap tablet but never got the hang of it.
Even though I'm a free software enthousiast, I keep using Photoshop as it has some features I can't live without (like layers grouping).
I'm currently learning Blender3D to get more control over small objects in the scene.


Do you have any tips for upcoming artists and designers?
- Fix reality in your sources whenever you have to. Don't say "It was already weird in the original".
- Try to avoid foreground objects coming straight from an edge.
- If you can provoke the same emotion with less elements, it will have more impact.
- If something is supposed to be huge, balance it with some tiny people.

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i like this picture because i think it is really cute, but also really sad, because there is a baby dragon who has just come out of its egg, and the first thing that it see's are people on a boat, dragging a dead dragons head to the shore, i think this is really sad because even though they are dragons, and aren't real, it still shows what damage that people can do to other creatures, i like how the baby dragon is still near the place where it was laid, and how it is just sat there staring at the dead dragon, i like how they have added extra details to the dead dragon by having blood turn the river red. i like how they have got the shadowing, on the dragon and on the rocks, and i like how there are water falls in the background.

i like how this picture is bright green and how there is a little women playing with her flute, and looks like she is floating, i like how this plant has a big lizard eye in the middle, but till looks upset, i also like how it is a really big plant, and has little swirl plants on them, i like how the background of the forest is all blurred and how the front bit is in focus, the thing that i dont like about this picture is that it looks quite fake with the girl sat there, and how there is no big shadows. i personally think it ruins the picture.

i really like this picture because she has a blue and metallic look to her, and i like that she looks quite sad, and like she has just been romanced, and she looks like she has a broken heart, i like how there is a bird flying onto her, and i also like how half of her body is missing and how there is black wire, like in a tape. i like how the background is blurry and how the front is in focus.

i really like this picture, because i really like cactuses, haha, i like how they have placed the cactus houses onto lilly pads, and how there is a glow in the picture, i also like how they have placed a small person in a boat on the way to the lillypads, i really like the background in this picture, because it makes the place look peaceful and calm.

this picture personally creeps me out, and makes my nose feel funny, i really like how they have changed the skin into wood, and how they have kept the wrinkles of the mans smile, and eyes, it makes the picture look more realistic and makes the wood look movable and flexaible, i like how they have kept the teeth and gums normal, and how they havent taken the shine away form the smile.and also how they have kept the eyebrows in the image, because it makes him look more normal and human. i really like how they have added a nail into his nose, and how they have made splinters and broken bits of wood around the nail, it does make me feel funny, but i do really like this picture.

this picture really creeps me out, the fact that she looks dead, and there are metal spiders crawling on her creeps me out, i like how they have put them on her face and how one of them is cutting her, and how they are crawling on her eyes, and i like how there is a doctor out of focs in the background, so it makes the picture look more freaky.

i think this picture is really cool, because of how they have opened it, and also put a zip onto it, i like how it opens like a banana, and how there are strange clock like things coming out of it. i like how they have got the plain background, so its not taking the attention away from the orange, and how there are details on the fruit to make it look more realistic.

 really like this image, i like how there is a calmeleon on a branch, and how there are some real bits of the animals, and then some machine bits of the animal, this makes it look like a wind up toy or something. . i like how they have kept the natural background, and how some of the background is out of focus.

i find this picture very creepy and interesting, i like how they have the dog, and then the features of the spider on the dog, i like how they have the dogs body, and most of the head, but has taken the eyes and changed it with spiders eyes, i like how they have put more then 2 spiders eyes, to make it look more interesting, i like how they have placed a little spider on top of the dog/spiders head, and i like how there is one square of grass in a square underneath the dog, but the only bad thing about this picture is that the tongue of the dog looks a bit fake and edited.

i think this picture is very interesting, i like how they have kept the lizard in the natural shape, but changed the whole of the head into a flower head, i like how they have kept the colour of the flower, and of the lizard the same, and how there are still details of the flower still there, and i like how both of the things have its own details, but still looks a bit of the same, i like how they have got a fence post underneath the lizard/flower, and kept the focus in the background so that there are more information and more eye focus onto the lizard/flower.

i personally dislike this picture, but only because i hate ladybirds, but i think this picture is actually really cool because of how they have got that puma growling and has its eyes closed a little, and how there is a ladybird on the puma's head, and how is it placed in a very good place and it makes it look more realistic. . i like how they have placed a flying ladybird in the background out of focus, and how there is a plain outside background to keep its attention onto the puma and ladybird. 

i think this picture is actually amazing, i really like how there is a tube of battery, and how it has little details of writing on the tube about batteries, and how when you squirt the tube batteries come out of it, i like how they have the lid still on the picture, and how there is one battery that has been made, and the is all bendy and looks melted, i also like how they have kept the background plain and white, so you can see more detail on the picture, and of the batteries, 

i think this picture is really clever, i love how instead of the dog peeing on the car, the car is peeing on the dog, i like how it is a monster truck, and how the wheels are really dirty, and how the car is tilted onto one side, and how there is oil coming out of the car. i like how the dog is doing nothing about it, and is just led there. i like how there is a blank white page so that there is more detail and information on the picture.

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