We are nearing the end of 2011′s Comic Con, and while we were not physically present, we did have a presence there. A short while back we had shot a portrait of the fantabulous monster maker Alex Pardee of Zerofriends. The idea cropped up as Stacey was manifesting one of Alex’s monsters for a music video. The creature took about a week or so to put together, from building the frame on an old aluminum backpack frame to hand rolling a bunch of foam teeth. The monster made a brief appearance in the video (as it goes in the business) so we had an almost 9 foot tall monster that needed a little more camera time. And we’ve taken to involving a lot of the artist and their work into the making or concept of their portrait. This seemed like the perfect excuse to pull something fun off.

Alex was tickled by the prospect and quickly put out that he’d like to be represented as the grim explorer from Jumaji (or the like). That seemed perfect for us so we called in FX makeup from Margaret Caragan and specialized wardrobe by Margaret Hasley. Stacey and I were talking about how to create a setting and settled on a hazy/foggy daytime swamp. We ended up employing some serious tricks to pull this off, such as using mylar to cover the floor and provide us with the proper style reflections that help tie this together (the results can be seen in our portfolio website in the portraits section).

So when Alex went off to Comic Con, we set him up with a thick stack of special to the con 8.5x11s photos with a bit of branding on there. He slotted them in as a secret session on Saturday as part of his massive promotion schedule. I’m curious to hear how things went from his seasoned experience. At this point all I do know is that he want to buy us dinner.