The Last Good Man
Musgrove on set sitting in a shallow pool of water.
View 1 of the top of the room, above the water set.
View 2 of the Musgrove set.
View of set painted to look underwater.
Detail of underwater set. Wall was painted with an algae line to further the illusion of aging.
Detail 2 of underwater set.
Stacey hand painting water stains.
Unretouched "before" and finished "after" of Hubris.
Original oil paintings next to digitally painted versions to look more "real."
Ransom & Mitchell worked with painter and sculptor Scott Musgrove to create two portraits that captured him in “before and after” scenarios. The Last Good Man (top image) represents Musgrove as a historian at the end of his days living in a seemingly desperate situation, yet doing so with dignity and hard earned wisdom.
To complete the illusion, we constructed two matching sets, one above a small water pool so Musgrove could actually sit in water. The second set was painted and dressed to appear underwater. The two sets were brought together digitally. Scott also provided large resolution samples of his work to be used as “family portraits” hanging on the walls.
Hubris (second image) represents Musgrove in his early years when he set out to catalog and domesticate the strange creatures lost to antiquity.
To create the image, Musgrove posed with a stand-in animal and a chain was suspended in the air next to him. Later we added digitally painted beasts modeled from Musgrove’s own paintings.
photography, set design, compositing, digital manipulation, digital painting
Featured in Lürzer’s Archive 200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide and in their traveling exhibition which debuted in Prague, CZE. Featured in Hi-Fructose Magazine.