 Here is another tribute to the beauty of the human body... This time featuring my favorite Ranger. I call this one "Future King", because it shows a Very young Aragorn in his Prime before the hard years in the wild took their tole. I also wanted to show how the combination of his numorian heritage and his upbringing could give him an almost elvish air at times... definitely still a man, but also much more. Perhaps this is how Arwen would have seen him when she lost her heart to him .. Or at least she would have if he had been running around without his shirt on *Snicker* call it 'Artistic License'. It is also my first time working in Black and White which in some ways is more difficult than working in color. I have colorized the eyes however to create and effect, and draw the focus of the viewer to them. BTW, the face in this picture was actually from a Viggo picture taken a couple of years ago, Not an Aragorn picture. Enjoy. Cactuskim |
 Like with Smolder, the original version of Future King was too big to post, so I have once again made you a Wallpaper using the full Size close up of his face and eyes. Hope you like it. Cactuskim |
 This is my "Sketched" version of my manipulation 'Air'.. It is a Sort of Hybrid technique which combines some Photoshop manipulation techniques with a Lot of hand drawing done digitally using my Wacom Drawing tablet. I started out with my manipulation 'Air' and used some photoshop techniques to block out the image and get basic out lines established. the results of this method are very similar to the way many professional traditional artist 'Graphite a picture/photo' to save time and quickly establish the outlines and proportions of a picture. I then used my Wacom drawing tablet to draw in all the rest of the image by hand digitally. All of the shading and fine detail of the face is hand drawn with a lot of drawing over on the rest of the image also. A drawing Tablet allows a person to draw on a hand held tablet, and the results are directly transfered to the computer screen.... in this case onto new layers in my photoshop document. you can pick different size/hardness/texture tips for the tablet's pen in photoshop the same way you would chose different pencils and brushes etc... by hand. It is even pressure sensitive. I have posted a small copy of the original Blocked out base I created in photoshop from the original manipulation in my Phobucket account so you can see how much was drawn by hand and how much was not. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a153/Cactuskim/Air_Block-out.jpg I would love to hear what you think about this, it is very new for me. Cactuskim |
 This picture was done using the same techniques that I described in my sketched version of 'Air' only I used my original manipulation Remember How to Smile. I did not like the way the jaw line looked in the blocked out version (Sort of bulgy and funny), so I redrew that part completely. Here is a link to a small copy of the' photoshop blocked out base' for this drawing. http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a153/Cactuskim/RHTS-Block-out.jpg Hope you like it. Cactuskim |
 Eomer is the first of my "Perfect Portraits" series. These are pictures that are made to look like perfect idealized portraits/captures straight from the movie, *EG* But they are not ;p. Most of them are actually a blend of 2 to 4 different screen caps to create the figure and then enlarged, plus a whole new background also frequently blended from multiple sources. Then the lighting and color are altered dramatically, and they are painted over by hand (digitally) to repair artifacts from the enlarging, or create details that were missing in the original versions. Eomer's figure came from 3 caps with much of the sky painted in, and all of the backlit hair hand painted. Enjoy Cactuskim PS... the eyes in all of these portraits required extensive painting. |
 True Heart is my version of Faramir the Faithful Steward as he looks out at the approach of the the victorious armies, and prepares to faithfully welcome the Return of the King. An occasion both filled with joy and hope, and also sadness because of the loss of his family. Part of my Perfect Portraits series; Faramir's is a blend of 3 caps...The main face cap was very badly chopped off on top and on the bottom thanks to PJ, and Eowyen who was just about nibbling on his ear was cutting off one side of him too ;p . Lots of hand drawing especially on the hair and eyes, and the background is one picture that has been taken apart into 6 pieces warped and reblended together to get the look I wanted. Hope you like it. |
 This is my version of a Happy Boromir (not easy to find ;p) as I imagine he might have looked many times during the early days of the fellowship when the call of the ring was less and he could enjoy the childlike innocence and fun of the younger hobbits... and allow a bit of his own inner child shine thru a bit also. I love Sean Bean's big wolfy smile, it is fantastic... too bad PJ so seldom had Boromir smile in the movie, and when he does, he is either moving, or it is not a close up *Sniff*. In order to create this Smiling Boromir cap, I had to start out with a picture of Sean Bean (no costume,wig or beard) and turn him back into Boromir.... Talk about a pain in the back side (especially the beard); if Boromir had not already died in the movie and the book, I would have killed him myself ;p. Good thing I like Boromir though... I may even do another Boromir someday. Enjoy Cactuskim |
 Moonlit Memories is another of my perfect portraits series. You probably recognize the face I am using, but the original was cut off a bit on top and a lot on the bottom (the original can be seen in my photobucket account... see link below). I recreated the missing parts by drawing/painting them in and then did extensive repainting over the whole figure... so much that if I make the original screen cap layer invisible, I still have a Legolas face and figure. I also resculpted his face a bit in the process and moved his eyes some. New background also of course ;p. Hope you like him. Cactuskim |
 This picture is titled Earnest because of Aragorn's earnest expression... I know lousy name ;p. It is also one of my 'Perfect Portraits'. Aragorn's figure is composed of 3 different caps and has a new background with lots of painting. Check out the original face cap in my photobucket account if you want to see what kind of changes I made on this one... there are more than I can list ;p Enjoy. |
 I chose a picture of Elrond that was less grumpy than most (Why couldn't PJ let Hugo smile more?), Which I thought could be changed from a slight scowl to a soft bittersweet introspective look. My thoughts are that he is lost in though contemplating the fate of __________ you fill in the blank (I'm thinking the fate of his children and the choices that they will be faced). I call it Bittersweet. His figure was composed of 3 pictures in order to rebuild his shoulder and the top of his head which is missing in the original picture (the original can be seen in my photobucket account). lost of painting to make him look more Ageless and elvish and a lot of work with the lighting etc... The background is a room that I created out of about 10 different pictures.... the hall of fire maybe? ;p Enjoy Cactuskim |
 Version 2 of Bittersweet: Same Elf lord new setting... What can I say, I am sometimes fickle when it comes to backgrounds ;p. This background is a blend of 2 pictures blended taken apart into about 5 pieces and blended together. Cactuskim |
 Marchwarden is the first... and last... time I have ever played with Haldir. I'm not a fan of poor Haldir, but a friend begged, prodded and wore me down, so I worked with him this one time. ;p This is my version of how he might have looked as he said farewell to his beloved woods before leaving them for the last time... That is to sail west, NOT to get killed at Helms deep. *Sigh* What was PJ thinking ;p. Also one of the Perfect Portraits series, Haldir's figure is composed of 3 different pictures and lots of painting to fill in the gaps. ALL Haldir caps are horrible to work with (seriously, ask any manipper) so lighting, coloring and restoration of detail was a huge problem to fix... a copy of the original face cap can be seen in my photobucket account. The background is from a photograph that I took in Big Sur California with the light beams painted in by me . Hope you enjoy him.... because you won't see him again. ;p cactuskim |
 One of Problem; that scene is very bright and badly washed out in the movie, and it was also badly cropped, so I had to restore/recreate the bottom 25 to 30 percent of the picture from other caps and lots of cloning and painting. I also had to create and wrap Aragorn’s arm around Dari… it is not that way in any of the caps… and then paint/extend Dari’s shirt down and drape it over the top of the arm slightly the way I think that it would do naturally if you are picking up a child. I also had to paint in a lot of the missing detail on both figures because of the poor image quality, and the new background is all brush work.the original cap can be seen in my photobucket account Enjoy Cactuskim |
 Pippin is the subject of my next perfect portraits picture. His figure is composed of 2 caps, and the background is a blend of 2 different pictures. Lots of painting over on everything especially eyes and hair... I hate Hobbit hair ;p. BTW, Billy Boyd always seems to have his mouth open in every scene.... Whats up with that? ;p Hope you like him. Cactuskim |
 I call this picture 'The Time we have...' and it shows Frodo's anguish as he remembers Gandalf's words and decides to leave the Fellowship. It is another of my Perfect portraits of course, and Frodo's figure is a combination of 3 pictures. The original face cap is cut off just above the eyebrows and above the chin.... no, that "above" is not a mistake, the chin was cut off also *Rolls eyes* Thank you PJ ;p. The original face cap can be seen in my photobucket account. Did I mention that I hate Hobbit hair? Enjoy... now that just sounds wrong when speaking about a picture where he is crying doesn't it. ;p Cactuskim |
 I call this picture 'Grief'. Remember the scene where Pippin is crying while Merry holds him just after Moria? Well, in the movie, you never really get to see that. In the movie, the camera pans up and you only see one of the hobbits at a time, you never really see them together at the same time, not even for one frame.... Yes, I really did watch it one frame at a time to find that out ;p Well, for this 'perfect portrait' I have fixed that by blending 3 different caps together (not easy) and also removing the elf legs, crying dwarf and Boromir from the background. I also played around a bit with the lighting and colors. Hope you like it Cactuskim |
 I saw this cap of Aragorn with Arwen that I just loved the feel of, but the image quality was extremely poor and it was also quite small. I decided to play around with it anyways despite it's problems, so I enlarged it played around a lot with the lighting and colors, improved it as much as possible and gave it a soft painted feeling overall. The original cap can bee seen in my photobucket account. Enjoy Cactuskim |
 Here is another of my perfect portrait series I hope you will enjoy.
A friend asked me “Hey, how about
that Elf next to Elrond in the coronation scene, Do you think you could
do a picture of him?” OK, I know that according to the Movie
folk, He is suppose to be Galdor, but I rather like the title “that
Elf next to Elrond” it is totally silly, but what the heck ;p. Well here he is. I had to rebuilt the part cut off by Elrond of course. He also got sort of nasty when I pushed him up so big. He did not have a lot of detail especially around the eyes , so I repainted his eyes… not just the details of the irises, but the eye lids and everything… they were a real mess. I also painted in the lips a bit fuller as well as painting in a lot of hair, and other things. I then played a lot with his shading and lighting, and gave him a new background.... light beams are painted in also. Cactuskim |
 The White lady of Rohan makes a lovely addition to my perfect portraits series.... LOL, I know, what a shock, I did a girl! ;p. Well I just couldn't resist with such a lovely starting image as I found for this one.... it is posted in my photobucket account if you would like to see it. Unfortunately the lighting was very dark especially in the shadows, so much of the details of her face and eyes were lost. It was also cut off on the top and the bottom, and had a busy unattractive background. Eowyen's figure is a combination of 3 caps, and her new background is created from about 4 different images. Softening the lighting to get rid of the overly deep shadows was very difficult, and much of the lost detail for one side of her face had to be painted in especially around the eyes, and hair.... all those back lit wisps of hair are lost when you change backgrounds on a figure and always have to be hand drawn in all over again. Hope you like her. |
 I call this picture 'Lady of Light' and is the last of my 'perfect portraits series'.... for now ;p. I love Galadriel's expression in this picture. Too bad in the original, the whole top of her head was missing, and also everything from about mid neck down. Well I fixed that for this 'perfect portraits' version of it by blending it with 2 other images, and also did a lot of painting and color alterations to enhance it even further. The original face cap can be seen in my photobucket account. Enjoy Cactuskim |
 I call this picture 'Trapped', and it is an illustration from a scene in 'Exile' by Cassia and Siobhan. Here is a Quote from the scene that inspired this picture; “Suddenly something whizzed
by Aragorn’s head and hit the tree next to him with a sticky splat. The young
ranger jumped back. He had just enough time to notice the thick, rope-like
strand that seemed to have suddenly become affixed to the tree in front of him
before another sticky rope shot through the air towards
them. "Spiders!" Legolas spat, whipping off several arrows faster than
thought. Two big, black-bodied beasts fell to the ground not far away, their
eight hideous legs still twitching, but there was no abatement in the hail of
webs being thrown at the two friends. Aragorn drew his sword quickly, and looked up. What he saw there froze the blood in his veins. The treetops above them, in front of them, behind them and on either side seemed to be alive with spiders…” *EG* The boys are in trouble again, and I could not be happier.... I am such a meanie ;p.Aragorn's figure is from one cap with lots of painting over, and Legolas is a combination of 3 caps also with a lot of painting. the bow and arrows are mine (from pictures of my real bow ;p) and the background adapted from a cap of Fangorn forest with the spiders added in my me.... yes, I added spiders even though they give me the creeps. ;p Enjoy Cactuskim |
 This picture is called 'Return" and it was inspired by a scene in Cassia and Siobhan's story with the same name. In this scene from near the end of the story, Legolas and Aragorn are standing on a hill side watching from a distance as the refugee's that they have rescued file into the underground palace of Mirkwood. Legolas desperately wants to return because he has heard that his father is dying, but he knows that his life will be forfeit if he does. Point of Artistic license; In the story they have their hoods up, which would actually have made my job easier because I would not have had to reconstruct the top of Legolas' head and almost 1/3 of Aragorn's head... the original caps can be seen in my photobucket account. also, the lower half of their bodies had to be recreated. reconstruction of Aragorn's head was especially hard, and I had to do a lot of work painting in and enhancing the colors and details and hair on both figures that was missing in the small washed out caps. Hope you like it. Cactuskim |
 I call this picture Moonlight Swim, and it is My vision of a young less scruffy and worn Ranger (clean also ;p) in the water at the edge of a lake at night thinking of his newly betrothed... Hey, any excuse for a Wet sexy Ranger is a good one isn't it??? ;p Needless to say I did not manage to get Viggo to hop in the lake and pose for this ;p. I started out with a head shot of him from just a few years ago which can be seen in my Photobucket account. I made him younger, added the beard and stolen body ;p splashed water droplets on his face and lots of wet hair (wet hair is much harder than dry hair BTW). I also added in the ring and pendant and played around a lot with the lighting. The water came with the body, and everything else in the background was added by me. Enjoy. |
 What happens when a mad maniper having trouble with a stubborn Legolas manip reads a silly thread at a forum board where all the ladies are making up stories about Legolas running around in a Speedo??? Yup you guessed it, she manips the poor elf into a speedo LOL. It is totally tacky and lends new meaning to the term "AU" but what the Heck, it was fun. ;p *Cactuskim Looks at Legolas* Well Elf boy, are you going to behave yourself from now on, or will I have to embarrass you like this again someday??? *Looks at difficult Ranger* you could be next hot shot, so play nice with me. *Looks at viewers* What!?! You don't talk and have arguments your characters??? Yeah right; you are as crazy as I am or you would not be reading this. ;p Well, have fun and Enjoy. Cactuskim BTW, if you think that I found a picture of a guy wearing Red Sequined speedos in a setting like that, Guess again. ;p |
