Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Afraid of Heights?

Allen left a comment on aprevious post about drawing a scene from above. High angle, yes. High and off to the side? Sure. But he is not a fan of the directly overhead shot. I understand that. There is nothing terribly interesting about seeing someones' bald spot, but there are all kinds of reasons to lift your 'camera' for a bird's eye view. With the help of some photos from my Reference file, I will give a few reasons why you should not be afraid of heights

Panic in the streets! Let's the say the writer is establishing an atmosphere of chaos. How do you show frightenened crowds and whatever goes with it? The fuzzy photo below shows all the players and it looks like the photographer is sitting in a cherry picker.

Death from above! The enemy swoops down on the hero and the point of view is from the bad guy! The hardest thing about this shot is getting the perspective right on the people on the ground.

Sad endings. I have read too many bad funeral scenes in comics. One good way to show a mourning crowd and the open grave is to get right over the coffin. This photo shows some great composition and all you need some long shadows.

When I drew the overhead panel, I had to include a lot of stuff the writer called for. Lifting the camera up was the best choice for the panel.

3 comments:

Allen Gladfelter said...

Not to belabour the point, Don, but all of the examples you've posted here are high and to the side. None are directly overhead as your panel is.

Don Hudson said...

That's the thing Allen, It's not directly over the man's(Train conductor) head. The vanishing point is a little in front of him.

Don Hudson said...

The conductor walks down the train car with his head down. I should have been clearer about that.