I AM Vampire

[private]

This qt Pie wants to be a vampire for halloween, so as a freebie gift I want to turn the kiddo into a vampire - not the scary ones you see in old movies but the modern ones - cute and scary. This is what I have done so far - BUT the fangs look weird to me, not too sure about the blood either. Is there anything I am missing?

[Nicole]

I agree, the fangs do look strange. There's something that makes them not look like they're blending into the picture at all and just kind of sitting on top almost like a sticker. I'm not quite sure how to fix it, but I'll try to think of ways that are possible.

One question is did you apply a texture over the shot and did you do so before or after adding the fangs? If you did so after adding the fangs then something would probably need to be changed at the fang level since they don't fit the same graininess of the rest of the shot.

Two aesthetic things I'd probably change would be the size of the fangs and the location on the mouth. I'd probably scale them down a bit (have you tried using something like cat fangs and blending them into the shot?) and move them a bit closer to center (just so they aren't right at the very edges of the mouth).

The last thing I can think of, aside from changing the brightness of the fangs, is to move them down on the lip a little since at the moment it looks like they're on the lip rather than under the lip. So the lip would be covering the top and there should possibly be a little shadow underneath the tooth.

Otherwise I think the textures / colours / etc are off to a really good start.

Hopefully some of that will at least give you some ideas. It's much harder to do it to a photo with a closed mouth!

[windrider86]

I agree with Nicole, the fangs need to be moved a little more towards the center of the mouth. Think about your canine teeth are at!
I'd also do a tiny tiny drop shadow beneath them to give them a 3-d appearance and make them a tiny bit whiter. The blood needs to be dripping off of the fangs rather than sitting behind them. As they are now they look more like a shadow.
Have you thought about using the warp tool to point his ears a tad as well?
Cute!

[kurtwall]

I'd move the fangs toward the center of his mouth -- they're too far apart. I think they'd look more convincing if they were positioned where his canines are (or would be if we could see them).

[wmbtaylor]

I was thinking the same thing as kurtwall. Where the fangs are now appears that they are for his molars and vampire fangs are the canines.

They also don't appear to be "real" they look like stickers or something as was previously mentioned.

[private]

I will move the fangs a bit - no idea how to drip blood, but I will try -

[WooD]

I agree with everyone else about moving the teeth in some. It's still a nice shot, and I bet he loves it.



I'm working on a group multi shoot vampire project. Our deadline in June 2010.

Adding teeth to a closed mouth, and have them look believable is something I've been battling for weeks. Getting the lower lip to look right is what I'm having the most trouble with.

Lucky most of the shots they have their mouths open in a bitting fashion.

If you get this right please share it with us.

[pix_e_l8]

Agreeing with the above suggestions, definitely move them closer to center, I was thinking too, that if you cut out the boy's top lip and layer it onto the teeth, it may help to make a more natural look. Some shading too..what fun! Maybe some lighting too..a greenish grey tone? Maybe airbrush some darker colour beneath his eyes (not much though if you're trying for cute). Good luck with this, can't wait to see what you come up with!