FIGURE PHOTO: “Danhausen And The Danhausens”

 So, I have four Danhausen figures. Three of these Danhausen figures have capes. To me, this added up to 60’s singing group, because, well, that’s how my brain works. And so, the work began.First obstacle: hands. Four Danhausen figures, all of whom come with extra hands, and not a one of them is a gripping hand. Maybe not even a fist. Lots of pointing, lots of Nosferatu, a couple regular splayed, but no gripping hands.

Luckily for me, “holding a mic” hands in Definitely Caucasion have been  a staple of Jazwares’ line fromn day one, so I was able to dig out four right hands that worked. Pointers for the back row left hands, splayed for the frtonthausen.

Then, the posing. This was a single shot, whether it technically needed to be or not. Getting them spaced, trying to match poses, taking pictures, checking them on the iPad for flaws, adjusting those flaws, knocking them over while adjusting their flaws, rinse, repeat, etc.

And then, the elements. SO MANY ELEMENTS. The right stage background. An old-school “stereo” logo. An old-school record price sticker that made me think of Sam Goody in the 90’s. Figuring out the nuances of the text and outline modes in Affinity Photo 2. 

And a LOT of painstaking joint erasure. It’s not something I normally do, but this, I felt, needed the visible pins and joints smoothed out. Hooray, inpainting tools. Getting the positioning and layering right, hand-drawing in the shadows, then perusing it for errors normal-eyed people might spot. A few days of work total, way more than I usually spend on a casual pic. Oh, and coming up with an album name. Batman Forever works on a couple of levels, I think.

Also possibly my favorite thing I’ve done so far, in terms of complexity and overall final polish.