Altered Images

The following is a collection of digitally altered images, most of which were created for various Photoshop contests on Fark. I used The GIMP, a freeware image manipulation program. The images are ordered chronologically; click on the thumbnails for the full-sized image.

	My very first Fark entry. The challenge was to photoshop the woman wearing the gaudy costume (from some Brazilian street festival, if I remember correctly).
	I had so much fun, I created a second image for the above contest. Not great, but satisfying to do.
	Another Fark contest; the original image was of a poodle, I believe. To quote Homer Simpson, "It's funny 'cause they're monkeys!" Or apes, in this case.
	This one was actually done for a contest on the Archie McPhee Web site. I didn't make it into their "favorites", but I had fun doing it.
	At the time I did this, one of the favorite Fark cliches was to post a picture of Admiral Akbar with the caption "It's a trap!" (one of his lines from Return of the Jedi). I noticed that his head was the same basic shape as Homestar Runner's, and did this on a lark.
	Fark photoshop contest: "Photoshop this Mars rock".
	Another non-contest image which I inserted into a Fark comment thread about PETA. Took more time to find the image than to alter it.
	Another Fark photoshop contest: alter Miss America 2003 being crowned. I already had the headless Admiral Akbar, so I dropped her head in.
	In the same contest, someone posted two side-by-side pictures. At first I thought it was one of those cross-eye 3D images, but it wasn't. But it got me wondering how difficult it would be to turn a 2D image into a 3D one, so I tried it. Turned out to be fairly easy, actually. To see it in 3D, look at the images and cross your eyes so that the two images merge into one. Or, if you have red/blue 3D glasses, click here.
	This contest's theme was to photoshop Drew Curtis, the creator of Fark.com. To get the participants started, somebody posted a bunch of photos of Drew. At one time, there was a running gag about Drew's lawn gnome having been stolen, and Karen had recently had to scan a lawn gnome vendor for her job. So I stuck Drew's head in place of the original, and just for good measure, put his face on the two foreground gnomes just for good measure.
	This contest was to photoshop the movie poster for the next Star Trek film. Personally, I think Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have ruined what used to be a fine show, and driven it far away from what Gene Roddenberry originally intended it to be.
	Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Photoshop 49ers receiver Tai Streets. I couldn't find a good picture of a Hertz Rent-A-Car counter, so I painted the Road Runner out of this original and put Streets in his place. I actually placed third with this one, the highest I had ever climbed in a Fark contest.
	To celebrate Cambodia's first escalators, we were challenged to photoshop this Reuters photo of Cambodians riding the newfangled device. According to some news reports, some shoppers are frightened to use the magical moving stairs. Perhaps the above image is what they're afraid of?
	A quickie second entry for the same contest. I'm shocked that I didn't think of this earlier.
	The contest was to photoshop this image of the Evil Galactic Overlord Xenu standing outside a Hubbard Dianetics Center. I covered it with the (slightly modified) text of a legal threat that I got from one of Scientology's law firms. To my chagrin, it was placing third when the two huge animated GIFs in first and second place were deleted by the moderators. I didn't expect it to be anywhere near the top, since it required no actual photoshopping skill. I feel kind of guilty about it.
	When I saw the contest original of Don Cherry, the goatee and the plaid jacket just screamed "Sam Snowman" from the Rankin-Bass Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
	The contest: photoshop Dubya speaking in front of a backdrop of boxes. So I changed him to the robot Box from Logan's Run. A couple of people got the reference, so I was happy.
	Contest: Photoshop a propaganda flyer being dropped on Iraqis. I used the text, and the text of several other flyers, to illustrate the real message: "We're gonna bomb you back to the Middle Ages!"
	First thing that came to mind when the contest topic was a surfer. I don't want that psychoanalyzed, thank you very much.
	The contest was to photoshop some hip-hop artist whose nom-de-rap escapes me. The theme of the final image is disturbingly close to the previous one.
	Contest: some wrestler (football player?) pimping a brand-new DVD format in Japan. Yes, I'm a science-fiction geek.
	Contest topic: Photoshop this cartoon, "The Muslim World: The Average American's View"
	This contest's theme was to photoshop the results of Michael Jackson's next cosmetic surgery, or something like that.
	We were given a selection of various Scandinavian (?) pop groups from the 1960s. For some reason, their outfits made me think of The Prisoner.
	Topic: Photoshop this news anchor. His head looked a little big to me, so I tried to correct it. Looks like I overcompensated.
	This one was done at Karen's request. Being a native Ohioan, she hates Art Modell with a fiery passion.
	A costumer got bored and photoshopped herself into several historical portraits. It looked like so much fun, I decided to try it myself. Here, then, is Jeff Lee as Sir Henry Lee.
	In fact, it was so much fun, I did it again: Jeff as Sir Thomas More.
	And again: Jeff as Philip II.
	Fark contest: "Can we please photoshop my boss on his trusty ski for his birthday present?"
	Another Fark contest, to photoshop someone's friend at WWE RAW. The previous day, there had been a link to a nebula which the guy's posture resembled.
	Contest: Photoshop this Farker's retiring boss. I know it's in poor taste, but for some reason the word "boss" just carries certain connotations in my mind...
	Contest: Photoshop a picture of Bill Cosby, fist upraised, at a Baylor University concert.
	Contest: Photoshop this strange shower contraption. Yay! I finally won a PS contest!
	Photoshop theme: Turn the presidential contenders into superheroes or villains. Difficulty: Must be a new character
	Contest: Photoshop this walking machine