Isabel Pohjanen

Media Literature Spring 2020

Essay 1

Ron Brinkmann, The Art and Science of Digital Compositing

Compositing is one of the key elements for any professional visual work, ranging from film to games
and illustration. Compositing explained shortly means the manipulated combination of at least two
source images to produce an integrated result. This is the secret behind creating believable work
with a natural feel to the audience. I was originally instructed towards this book by my former art
lead at Bon Games, who said that this book is one of the key elements to truly understanding all of
the aspects that go into making digital art. Considering that he is a highly respected professional in
his field of work, it was obvious to me that I should buy this book and learn as much from the pages
as I can.

Despite my hopes towards my career being more geared towards visual arts than technical things, I
feel like buying this magnum opus has been one of the key books I have read during my career. The
book is in no ways easy to read, and even though the title has the word ”art” in it. While starting to
dive into the book, it became quickly very apparent to me that this will be a dissection of the
computer and its relationship to physics and human anatomy. During my time with my former art
lead I experienced a big shift in the way I viewed art. I used to be a lazy artist with no interest in
math or physics, I just always considered myself more of a creative person. But I think that for me
understanding how the technical aspect tightly knits together with the end result was one of the
most humbling lesson.

I always considered myself quite good at art. But after realizing how much holes I have in basic
knowledge even on how the computer and human eye work, was hindering my progress as an artist.
While reading the first pages, I understood completely that this technical viewpoint is one of the
most important aspects in my lead’s work, and how he has become so great in what he does.

The Art and Science of Digital Compositing starts from the atom in visual world, a pixel. It’s a strange
thing to accept, that even though you have been drawing and creating all your life, you still have big
holes even in the basic knowledge. I mean of course I know that a pixel is a thing pictures consist of,
but before the book that would have been the most anyone could have gotten out of me. Starting
even from the most basic things, I feel like this technical monster of a book is a very important
wakeup-call for artists such as myself. It is important to be humble and eager to learn more,
especially if you don’t truly understand the basic tools you are working with.

The book goes through in extreme detail all the different aspects you could think of from light and
shadow to how a scene was composited in The Lord of The Rings. Even though extremely heavy to
read, all the text in the book is absolute fact and information, and like it guides in the beginning, it is
not meant to be memorized completely through. Of course it doesn’t do any harm, but the chapters
have a specific guide in the beginning on things that should be memorized, but a huge chunk of
formatting and other tech things are considered more of a glossary and a tool to combine with your
work as a compositor. Only the first few chapters are things that a digital artist should memorize by
heart, if possible. But even then, the book encourages is using itself as a reference, like the
professionals do.
I have used Adobe Photoshop ever since I was approximately 11 years old. My aunt won a copy of
Photoshop Elements from a lottery at their workplace, and it sparked my interest towards digital art
after she gave it to me. The first chapters of Brinkmann’s book go through many of the adjustment
tools universal to digital programs, such as brightness, hue, saturation and matte layers. More
embarrassment from my part in how little I actually know about many tools I have used for well over
a decade. Even rotoscoping and many other things that are considered to be one of the most
important cornerstones in a good compositing felt hard to understand and fathom. Mainly because
the book is, like I previously stated, purely facts without anything added in the middle. Quite a tough
cookie to read at one sitting.

As I mentioned before, there are short instructions at the beginning of the book that tell the reader,
how the chapters should be read, whether you are a person about to create something with the
information or only interested in the value of knowledge. Every chapter has an introduction in the
beginning, and the book deems this to be the most valuable core information that should be read if
one had to leave everything else out. These instructions are short and straight to the point with an
ease to the text so that you don’t have to have a wide knowledge of the subject to understand what
the chapter is about. Extremely useful, I might say.

Chapter 2 is according to the book” important to anybody who wants to understand the visual
nature of the compositing process”. The book also encourages the reader to read the chapter in its
entirety. I did how the book instructed and was stuck on this chapter for several weeks, going back
and forth trying to seep all of the information to my brain. I’m quite a perfectionist and it was
apparent that this book would need quite a few read-throughs so that I could really understand
thoroughly every aspect of the chapters. Chapter 3 was a big sea of definition, that was one of the
most difficult for me to not just skip. But as the book proposed, it did make the rest of the book a bit
more comprehensible. I have a strong belief that the biggest thing that I learned during the process
of reading this book was that I need to be more ready for technical stuff and It is crucial for me to
learn to control my tendency to get bored. After all, this is what my career will consist of, so might as
well get ready for it.

After going through the chapters about technical fundamentals that Brinkmann deems the things
worth learning and memorizing, there is a big chunk of pages at the end of the book that felt
rewarding for me after crawling through the first chapters and even having to go back on several
occasions. Chapter 15 was mostly case-studies, breakdowns on many scenes of my favorite films,
Lord of the Rings, Prince of Egypt, Narnia and more. The case-studies at the end felt like the biggest
reward, and more so the ability to actually understand what went into making the shots, the
terminology and the whole concept overall. I remember when I first acquired the book, I felt
extreme interest towards the chapter about case studies, but taking a peek made me feel just a tad
bit disappointed after waiting for the book for two weeks to arrive. But now after reading everything
that went into the book before the studies, I had a very different experience. I felt actually
interested in the technical aspect, more than just a mere curiosity of ”How was it made?”.

I feel that if gone through strictly and properly, the ending with the case studies and glossary will be
big reward for any digital artist. For me the biggest learning curve was the patience-factor. I needed
to use a lot of my brainpower just to stay focused, which is something I have never had to get used
to. I have always been a fast learner, but only on topics that interest me personally and make me all
giddy and excited. This book was a different experience, since I am extremely interested in the
subject, but it is not for a reader who is interested in visually pleasing pages or is not ready to put
real effort into gaining more knowledge. After the initial work has been done, the reader is
presented with examples on how the use the new found information they have gathered during the
first tedious chapters, and a full glossary of terms to use in the future and to search with ease. And
everything somehow seems to make sense more than they did in the beginning.

What about moving on after reading The Art and Science of Digital Compositing? Well, I can first say
that I can now state what a pixel is with more than just ”things that make up a picture”. A pixel, an
abbreviation for ”picture elements,” is a rectangular array of individual colored points that an image
consists of. Each one of these points is referred to as a pixel. So I have learned something, or maybe
more so deepened my knowledge on many basic factors that I use every day as I aspire to become a
highly valued industry professional. The book was not fun to read, but I believe personally that
”growing pains” are called what they are, because learning needs to hurt a bit and moving out of
your own comfort zone is the only thing that will help a person develop new skills, in art and in life.

I do think that despite me having a lazy attitude, this book will be something I will keep as a
reference and I want to learn how to utilize it as a tool in my work pipeline. There is so much
valuable information from professionals, that it would be an impossible task to try to collect all this
information in any youtube tutorial format for example. There is simply too much, and the book is
planned as a tool to be used in your everyday work as a compositor after it has been read through
thoroughly. I myself will not aim to be a compositor to be exact, but the skills presented in the book
provide the reader a thorough understanding of what goes behind professional work, and most
importantly the book answers the question ”why?”.

The most important aspect of this reading experience was for me to create some strict habits for
myself. I have never been the most consistent in doing anything, and the very thought of being
bored makes me uninspired. But at the end of the day working is not going to be only times when I
feel inspired, and for me to truly climb towards my goals, the technical knowledge and ability to do
tedious things without ”inspiration” will carry me a lot further than only doing things that I deem as
inspiring, lighthearted and fun. Understanding depth of field is more important, than only knowing
that there is a thing called depth of field. The best artists in the end are athletes in their own way,
and you need to train any muscle to make it stronger. That includes the brain, and sit-ups aren’t
always fun.

I can feel myself becoming more of a technical artist and appreciating the most basic fundamentals
more than ever. For me it really has made a big difference separating myself from the mindset that
since I work for art, my job should be always fun. That’s also a big reason why I wanted to read ”The
Art and Science of Digital Compositing”. Because art will not always be fun, and for me to make
money and a career out of it, there will be lots of mileage and things to be learned, that are not only
fun, but still fundamental. And I have been told by the professionals, that training without doubt and
being ready to fail a hundred times will be the thing that will eventually get me further. And
accepting how little I know.

Despite of my not-so-fun time diving into the world of compositing and tech-side of things, I do
believe that every single one of my co-students and anyone pursuing art as a career should give this
one a read. Because learning is not always meant to be fun, especially when it’s about mastering the
basics. Sure it is not a fun and colorful art book, but it has some of the most basic information in
between its pages that any digital artist will highly benefit from.

The book helps the reader understand, rather than just copy what another artist understands and
understanding the fundamentals behind concepts will set any artists work apart from mere copying
and illusion of knowledge. Of course you can create great art without knowing much about
rotoscoping, what are mattes and all those other things, but knowing the laws which your own world
revolves upon is helpful. It is bound to help eventually. Even if it’s just about knowing what tools and
techniques will provide the desired effect without putting too much trial and error to it.

There is a reason behind why the professionals recommend this piece, and it works as a tool for the
rest of your career, since there is always things and terms that need to be checked. It doesn’t matter
whether you will be a compositor, video game artist, illustrator or even a web designer, it has
something for truly every digital artist in my opinion. It also doubles as a marvelous coffee coaster,
since the book is so fat it keeps your coffee out of harms way with ease.