Tuesday Musings–Grati Reinterprets the TH3BOFA All Character International Movie Poster, October 28, 2014 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #652)

I loved the new international poster for “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” shared by TheHobbitMovie.com folks!

But then, I cast a more critical eye to the poster and felt there were some aspects of it that could be enhanced:

1) Bilbo’s head was too big for the poster, let alone, his body. His head was out of proportion to his arm and hand. And the sword Sting was too long and out of proportion as well.

2)  Thorin appears too small. When you consider that it is Thorin’s angst, conflict, etc. that drives the plot, his character image should be larger and more prominent. And I’m not suggesting this merely because I am a fan of the oh so talented British actor Richard Armitage who portrays Thorin Oakenshield

3)  Smaug looks scrawny and not fierce at all–like a sickly Dementer from the Harry Potter series. His eyes and teeth do not show–as if he is hanging there dead. And he doesn’t have any shiny golden scales or fire breathing out of him to give his image some dynamism. The first poster that came out with Smaug and Bard front & center was fierce. (right)

 

So on a lark, I set about to reinterpret the international TH3BOFA poster–keeping in mind that I have no talent for drawing. But I do have a basic working knowledge of Photoshop.

So the image at the bottom left is the original international poster image (note my critique of it above). And to the right of it is my reinterpreted TH3BOFA poster–addressing the issues I raised above. In my poster reinterpretation, Bilbo’s head is smaller and in proportion with the rest of him, Thorin’s image is larger, though not overpowering. And I gave Smaug open eyes–he looks somewhat creepier that way.  Ha!

  

Original                                           Grati’s reinterpretation

In my international TH3BOFA poster reinterpretation (above, right), Bilbo still retains prominence by having the largest head on the poster and him leaning slightly forward. Whereas Thorin’s image is larger and his head is higher than Bilbo’s head–befitting his importance to the plot–and yet, he is behind Bilbo.

Now, how did I do it?
1) First, I made a copy (via lasso tool) of just Bilbo’s head (right). Then I filled in the poster where Bilbo’s head is with gray sky. Then I placed the Bilbo head onto the neck and zoomed in smaller with the size handles until I liked the proportions. And it took me several tries to get his curly hair right in the masked version of him. I also shortened his sword. If it was supposed to be Sting, the sword was too long. So I shortened it.

2) Then I tackled Thorin by copying him (via lasso tool). Then I sized him bigger and placed him on the image–trial & error there until I liked the size proportion. Thorin was rather easier to work on since his long hair was straight.

3) I sampled some of Smaug’s breast to cover up some areas where the bigger Bilbo head’s hair had been. Then I brightened Smaug’s eyes by making two white slits. Smaug really needs a new version of him for this poster, but someone more talented than I will have to do that.

 

It would be nice to see more of the other Dwarves in the poster as well. But space is at a premium. Ha!

Thanks for visiting! Cheers!   Grati ;>

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