Alright, so I tackled something kinda fun today – playing around with image manipulation and trying to recreate that whole “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” vibe. You know, the Shepard Fairey OBEY thing? Here’s how it went down.
First things first: The Source Image
- Started by grabbing a decent pic of Andre the Giant. Googled around, found one that was high enough resolution and had good contrast. Crucial, trust me.
- Then, dumped it into GIMP. Yeah, I’m old school like that. Photoshop is cool, but GIMP does the job for what I needed.
Getting the Look: High Contrast & Simplified
- Immediately went for the contrast. Cranked that baby up! Colors -> Brightness-Contrast. Pushed the contrast slider way to the right. Aim was to get those stark blacks and whites.
- Next up, posterize! Colors -> Posterize. This is what really simplifies the image and gives it that iconic, blocky look. Experimented with the number of levels. Settled on 4, seemed to give the best balance of detail and simplicity.
Outlines and Details: A Little Bit of Manual Labor
- Okay, the posterize gets you most of the way there, but it’s never perfect. Needed to clean up some of the outlines. Zoomed way in and used the pencil tool to trace over some of the key features – the jawline, the eyes, the hat. Keep it chunky, not too refined.
- Also, filled in some areas that were too light or too dark. Just solid blocks of color, nothing fancy. Again, pencil tool to the rescue.
Adding the “OBEY” Element (Kinda)
- I wasn’t trying to straight-up copy OBEY, more just get the feel. So, I created a new layer and added some geometric shapes in the background – a couple of circles, a triangle. Kept it simple and graphic.
- Then, added some text. Not “OBEY,” but something similar, kinda tongue-in-cheek. Played around with different fonts, settled on a bold sans-serif.
Coloring and Finishing Touches
- The original OBEY stuff is often black and white, or red and black. I decided to go with a dark blue and white. Just felt right. Used the bucket fill tool to change the colors of different elements.
- Finally, added a bit of noise to the image. Gave it a slightly rougher, more printed look. Filters -> Noise -> HSV Noise. Just a touch, nothing crazy.
The Result?
Not gonna lie, it came out pretty cool! It’s got that distinctive vibe, but with my own little twist. It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, and now I’ve got a unique piece of digital art. Maybe I’ll print it out and stick it on my laptop.
Lessons Learned?
- High contrast is your friend. Don’t be afraid to push it.
- Posterize is key for simplifying images.
- Sometimes, a little manual cleanup goes a long way.
That’s it! Might try another one soon, maybe with a different subject. Who knows?
