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The Alchemist is an artist portrait created by Ransom & Mitchell capturing the essence of surrealist oil painter Greg “Craola” Simkins. The portrait concept was inspired by his own drawings and paintings which are rich in symbolism.

To further the narrative, we custom created a set and a variety of hand-made props. Additional objects were photographed and digitally composited into the main image. In many instances the “movement” of the final image was achieved by photographing each object in a state of motion. For additional personalization, the artist provided a number of drawings and iconic emblems which were composited into the image as chalk drawing, lapel emblem, book illustration and more. All of this was swirled together with a healthy dose of digital painting.

Greg “Craola” Simpkins

Book cover

photography, set design, prop fabrication, compositing, digital manipulation

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