I spent my morning at work tracing supermodels in PhotoShop.

Now that I have your complete attention...

(I'll not name which one in particular, since I'm not at liberty to disclose the details of my current project.) Suffice it to say that this particular model, and even these particular pictures of this model, were needed for my design on this project. And to use these pictures, I needed to separate her from her background.

I imagine many men would have killed for such an opportunity. I spent the time sweating bullets and praying. I was also communicating with a very good friend over e-mail about what I was doing. As I shared my thoughts on the project with him, he thought I should post them.
As a preface, he had just reminded me that Alicia was the standard this supermodel had to reach. Here was my response:

I actually noticed that a long time ago. I was looking at a photo of a model and it struck me - I wouldn't want to spend five minutes with this person. There is no way I could possibly have the same fun with this person that I can have with Alicia. We wouldn't talk about the same things, laugh about the same things. This person hasn't given me three beautiful children. This person hasn't sat beside me through four kidney stones, gallbladder surgery, insane drug-induced pain therapy, fibromyalgia, etc. This person hasn't been my constant companion for ten years of my life. (I can't say they were the ten best years of my life - all the Murphies - but I can say that the marriage was the best part of the ten years!) Not to be too graphic, but this person on my screen doesn't know how to please me the way my wife does. We've been perfecting that for ten years. Why would I want to start over at square
one when its just going to keep getting better.

Another thing that helps is that when I am tracing in PS, I have it zoomed in so close that I'm really seeing large patches of color, nothing too discernible. Of course, it is a large patch of skintone color. But I suppose its not the same as seeing the complete picture the whole time.

During college, I had a job working at a video rental where they edited the movies for content. (This has since become a bigger legal issue and the store closed shortly after I left.) The owner actually gave me the job of previewing and editing the films. So I was going to BJU and getting paid to watch rated R movies and clean them up. (I'll probably get a letter tomorrow stating that my degree has now been rejected). I learned how to watch with a critical eye.

Sometimes, though, I struggle in my own art. I've trained myself to see the art - the beauty - and not the sensuality. So I see beautiful lines, elegant contours, etc. It could be a Monet or Van Gogh or a Dodge Viper. I'm seeing beautiful shapes. And I've had to get Alicia to double check my art for me, because I might start to draw something that is excellent from an artistic perspective, but could be problematic from a modesty perspective. (You remember well how much I enjoyed Conan and that Frazetta-style art back in high school. I still do. But modesty wasn't a requirement for the damsels in distress in those paintings). The Rebelution guys' Modesty Survey helped me a lot. I was able to go through it and read what the majority of guys consider to be a problem and I use that as a standard against my own work. I'm working on a digital painting at home now in which I wanted to really capture beauty for one of the characters - make it a contrast with the other characters. I found a way to make the cloth drape like silk that is really cool. And I'm also pleased that I think it all fits within the Modesty Survey standards.

That's the stuff I deal with on a daily basis.

Something funny I noticed, too. Apparently the airbrusher fell asleep at some point during his job. Because, as I had PS zoomed in to this supermodel's leg, I noticed she hadn't shaved that day. Maybe longer than a day. The hairs were at least as long as my eyebrow hairs. I also found a pimple.
Nope, she doesn't hold a candle to my wife.