BTS & Install of 2017 Phoenix Taskforce Team Composite

The 2017 Phoenix Taskforce of Phoenix Fitness, Dover, New Hampshire. The Phoenix Taskforce is a team of all-natural powerlifters and bodybuilders.

While I love the creative process, there is nothing like enjoying a finished art piece on the wall. That's when it becomes real.

We continued the tradition of the Phoenix Taskforce composite this year with another 36" acrylic. Acrylics are my favorite medium because they stand out like no other; the metal print just "pops" through the 1/4" acrylic resin, and with the metal posts, it literally really stands out from the wall. 

Thank you Phoenix Fitness and Phoenix Taskforce members for the opportunity to commemorate the second year of the Phoenix Taskforce. 

Creation

Each athlete was photographed individually in the studio, and then extracted or "cut out" into a transparent background as a .PNG file. I like to capture a variety of poses with each individual, facing left, center, and right, so that when I bring each individual into Photoshop I have the capacity to mix up the sequence of poses. 

This is what the base captures look like from studio. 

Multiple poses provides variety for when I bring each individual into Photoshop and put people next to each other. I chose Dani's pose on the right, but they all looked pretty badass.

Compositing (Photoshop magic)

This is the most intensive part. This one took about 10 hours to extract individuals, line them up, layer them, dodge & burn, and finish it off with smoke layers between athletes. When I finished, there were almost 100 layers in a 2GB .PSD file. Photoshop was starting to do weird things.... 

Naming layers helps to keep organized.

Installation

Thanks to my wife Chrystn and Coach Sara for lending a hand. My mom was in town, so she came along to "supervise." The artwork was installed into wooden tracks, which were anchored into the cement wall.