September 17, 2012

• Anatomy of a Profile Pic: Buster Miketon

  ANATOMY of a PROFILE PIC SEPT. 13, 2012

  I just created my 92nd proflie picture. Since before I even had premium Xanga service, which allows for multiple profile pictures, I'd made about a dozen profiles, taken from photos across my age spectrum, "themed" to different times in my life, and with a dreamcatcher showing somewhere in the background. My first intent was simply to not only "datestamp" my entries, but to "feature" what I looked like at the time of whatever memoir I was telling.

  

   

  In no time at all, I'd amassed dozens more profiles. I used to modify the entire theme of my blog, and the profile and header always matched. Most everyone knows how to layer images in art and photo editing software nowadays, but back in the mid aughts the software wasn't that ubiquitous. A lot of Xangans are still using the same picture, culled from web searches, or simply a shot of them holding a camera or phone up at a mirror. My profiles are a tad more ambitious. I posted the first Anatomy of a Profile Pic in 2007. The blog entry showed a step by step construction process for my own favorite profile pic, me as Groucho Marx (a test shot shown above). I also posted an Anatomy of a Profile Pic in 2009 detailing how I turned myself into "Mikula" for Hallowe'en that year.

  As soon as "The Artist" won Best Picture last year at the Academy Awards, I vowed to create four or five monochrome images of me as different silent film stars. These will hopefully include Buster Keaton, the subject of today's Anatomy of a Profile Pic, plus Harold Lloyd and Charlie Chaplin. That I look nothing like these iconic comedy giants doesn't bother me in the least. I've been a clown, a Star Trek Borg, a Navi from the film Avatar, a white knight, Ray Charles, a pirate (with eyepatch supplied by my eye doctor during one of my cataract operations) and Stephen Spielberg. A couple of years ago I created the morphing image of my profile pics which forever recycles them in the upper left hand corner of my header.

  

   I began the process of turning myself into Buster Keaton back in March, and then had all kinds of computer problems, which prompted me to eventually have to get a new graphics card for my main puter. Now that it doesn't crash every ten minutes, I can spend more time being creative with my imaging software. The passing of my friend Jim yesterday further prompted my creative urges. A death in the neighborhood usually spurs those of us still living to revisit abandoned projects.

  The image I want to ape is above. It's a simple shot of Buster seated on a metal trash can, staring out with his "great stone face". This isn't a tribute to my favorite silent film comedian. (Buster Frank Keaton, who shares my middle name, and whose first name is really Joseph, can be researched from his wikipedia entry HERE.) So I won't clutter up the entry with facts about his life, for those who aren't familiar with him. Suffice it to say, I agree with film critic Roger Ebert, who has written that he's arguably the greatest actor director in the entire history of film.

   

   

  It took the better part of an evening to get the pose, and I just concentrated on my body, after realizing I just couldn't seem to be able to pose correctly and put on the "stone face" as well. Even though I'm pretty agile, and my hip replacement has completely healed, attempting to copy the pose Buster seemingly does with ease was pretty difficult. Buster had a dancer's agility and any look at the many stunts he performed and pratfalls he took in his movies is enough to show his mastery of body movement.

  

  I got the body pose I wanted, and then took some shots of my face, in an attempt to "act" as Buster is in his photo. Again, not that easy. I watched about four of his early shorts (again) including "Cops", one of my favorites, for inspiration. Right before the computer took it's nosedive, I'd captured a few face shots, but my rosacea was acting up and my face is really red.

  

  Buster's face is frozen in stone, but his eyes are always bright and show the emotion his face lacks.

  

  Last night I aimed my camera at me again, and got a shot which pleased me. Now I have to cut out my head, and paste it on my body.

  

   

  Here is the result, without completely erasing the head on which I'm pasting, or the background, which is removed with masking tools.

   

  

   

  Now I'm all set to don my straw boater, position myself on a trash can, monochrome the whole image, and voila. My costume consisting of pants and shoes, pretty much matches Buster's. I don't have "clown shoes" so laceup boots had to do. Also, I don't have a suit jacket like Buster's so I figured I'd photoshop the jacket.

  

  Here's a trash can I found on the internet. I don't even know if they make galvanized metal trash cans anymore!

   

  

   I don't have a pork pie in my massive hat collection, so I "borrowed" Buster's. I'm trying to darken my white tee shirt becuase it's getting late, but I'm not satisfied with the results, and it's going to take too much time to "find" a jacket. I don't want to start all over again at this point either.

   

   

   After resizing the trash can, darkening the tee shirt, along with my eyebrows and what's left of the hair on my head, I monochrome the whole image, and here you are. I don't know if I like this all that well in retrospect. (I'm posting this entry the day after I created the composite.) My face just doesn't have the stoic look Buster was able to achieve, and perhaps if you weren't familiar with the image I'm copying, you might not know who I'm supposed to be, but at least I made a creative stab at finishing the image I started quite a few months back. (I seem to be missing the dreamcatcher in my most recent pics, maybe I'll "add" one when I get home from work.) I'll be posting an entry like THIS ONE, from 2008, sometime soon, showing my "gallery" of 92 profile images. The morph is fun, but it doesn't give anyone a chance at lovingly gazing at my artistic intentions. Until next time, I remain, if not Buster Keaton, at least Michael Franklin Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool, and silent film comedian in my dreams and on my blog!

  Posted: September 13, 2012 7:37 AM

  • 4:23 pm
  • 45 Comments