Thursday, May 17, 2007

Zeno lives!

















In April of 2006 I made a post called Evil and Ignorance. The picture for it was a statue of Socrates that I colorized and tried to bring to life. It was alright but a rush job. I decided to try again, this time with the founder of Stoicism, Zeno. In the Socrates picture, the weakest points were the sculpted hair (which doesn't look right even if you colorize it) and the eyes. So this time I decided to take the Zeno statue and blend in some similar eyes I found online (from a mug shot of some guy), and got the hair from Daniel Dennett's beard, then blended in patches to make it match the shape and style of Zeno's. After that I painted in the various skin tones, added highlights and shadows, and colorized the clothing and background. I think this version came out better. It might be the closest thing we have to what Zeno may have really looked like - I hope anyway!

Update May 23, 2007: Dr. Keith Seddon of the Stoic Foundation has decided to place my picture the foundation's homepage at www.btinternet.com/~k.h.s/stoic-foundation.htm. He put a neat fading effect between the two images, which can be seen in MS-Explorer. Firefox shows the two back and forth, but without the fade.
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13 comments:

  1. nullifidianMay 18, 2007 at 1:50 AM

    That's absolutely excellent. What a keen eye you have. Brilliant stuff.

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  2. DT StrainMay 18, 2007 at 4:31 AM

    Thanks very much Nullifidian :)

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  3. holyromanemperorMay 18, 2007 at 10:32 AM

    Excellent!


    Do "Alexander the Great" next. I've always wanted to see what he "really" looked like.

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  4. AnonymousMay 19, 2007 at 4:58 AM

    His eyes are completely wrong, flat, and formless, they need re-doing completely.

    The eyes are the most important feature of any face. If you can't get them right then forget the rest.

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  5. DT StrainMay 20, 2007 at 4:46 PM

    I'm afraid you'll have to take that complaint to the parents of the man whose eyes those are a photograph of :)

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  6. JSMay 22, 2007 at 9:55 AM

    I like the eyes. They seem to look off the page and straight at you.

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  7. DT StrainMay 22, 2007 at 10:59 AM

    Thanks JS :)

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  8. AnonymousJanuary 6, 2008 at 11:23 PM

    I like it. He's got a wise Obi-Wan look about him. :)

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  9. DT StrainJanuary 7, 2008 at 6:25 AM

    Haha, thanks anonymous. Incidentally, there are some interesting parallels between Jedi and Stoicism.

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  10. PhilippeNovember 8, 2008 at 6:03 AM

    Amazing work! The eyes are right dt strain because the glance is pleasant and peaceful. This resurrection from scultures is incredible. May we ask for Epictetus?

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  11. DT StrainNovember 9, 2008 at 3:01 PM

    Thank you Philippe! I would like to do Epictetus sometime. Not sure when though :)

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  12. Fred OrmondroydSeptember 26, 2009 at 10:28 AM

    I'm ambivalent about the eyes really. Sometimes they seem just right and then again.... a certain glazed look to them. Still an excellent effort though.

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  13. DT StrainSeptember 27, 2009 at 11:13 AM

    Thanks Fred :)

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