CHOPPER PROFILE 5
This chopper is one of the long time active members. Joined 09 May 2002, 11 wins and one of this sites most helpful members. So lets get to know this chopper a little better, lets meet...
1. What is your nickname and how did you get it.
Don't really have a nickname other than jerry717 which is my first name and my birthdate, July 17. Of course I gave this nickname to myself for online forums such as this one.
2. What is your real name and age.?
My name is Jerry P'Simer and I am 46 years old.
3. Where are you from and what’s so great about being there.?
I have lived in the Detroit area of Michigan all of my life. There is nothing particulrily great about living here. It is a great town for working though because of the auto industry. Winters suck but summers are great.
4. What do you do to keep the bills paid?
I am a professional chopper. I do retouching and color correction work for imagery used in national magazine advertising and high end print. ie...showroom brochures and the like. Mostly automotive related. I work for a lithographic trade shop in the printing industry and have been a digital retoucher for more than 20 years.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s not aware just what a lithographic trade’s person entails, care to tell us more.
A lithographic trade shop is a rather old term that was used before the age of computers. It is equivalent to saying that I work for a printing service bureau. We do not do any printing. I was trained in all aspects of printing pre-press and I still consider myself to be a lithographer. Essentially what our primary duties are, as a trade shop will be preparing files for print. i.e.; color separations. Re-touching, color correction, page layout, press imposition and we handle shipping for our clients. We send files all over the world, for print in magazine advertising as well as a vast variety of other types of printing from small brochures to highway billboards. Our clients are the major advertising agencies in the greater Detroit area. Obviously the bulk of our work is automotive related.
5. How did you find PSC, and what do like the most on this site?
I found this site after seeing a feature of it on the Howard Stern show. I believe it aired back in late April or early May of 2002. What I like most about this site is the way that it has evolved and grown since it's meagre beginnings. Kudo's to Jeremy Helper (jmh132) for developing a great web community filled with friends and able competitors.
I agree mate and am hoping to be able to do a special profile of jmh132, get all the inside information how the site was developed and some stories of the early days.
6. You don’t post as much as you use to any reason for this?
I don't post as much as I used too because I just can't afford the time to compete with the better choppers here who spend much time on their posts (as in hours). If I can't complete a chop in under twenty minutes I don't even begin. I chop for a living and that's where I spend most of my energy.
7. You are considered one of the better choppers here and an old timer. What changes have you seen on this site that you beleive has been for the better and why?
There have been many changes that have occurred here. I have been around since the first version of this site and it still amazes me how much this site has grown. All of the changes that have occurred have been for the better. Even the ones that have come and gone. Without trial and error you can not make improvements. jmh has done a great job listening to the users here and trying to incorporate the many ideas that have been suggested. He is truly a remarkable host. No one could have done a better job.
Any thing you would like to see changed?
If there was anything that I would personally like to see change it would be in the general attitude of the contest posting. I was attracted to this site for it's comic relief and in my opinion there is not enough of that left. Of-course, that is just a personal feeling that can not be controlled. I still think that this is a great web community and one of the top web communities in existence on the
www.
I use only Photoshop to create my chops for this site. I work on a G5 Mac with dual processing and dual monitors (at work). G5 iMac at home. I use a standard keyboard and mouse. Don't need no stinkin' tablet or any other artificial aids. I'm pretty old school. I use google for searching for source images. I often find interesting images that have nothing to do with what I am searching for and save them for later use for the right occasion. Also, I may totally change an idea based on something that I find that sets me off in a new direction.
1. What gets your creative juices flowing, how you create that masterpiece?
This is a tough question and the only real answer that I can give you is Idea. Without a good Idea to start with I usually just sit and spin my wheels. That's not to say that an image will always follow the path of the original idea. Ideas evolve like everything else, but without a decent idea to start with I am usually doomed. I will also sometimes do a very generic search when I haven't yet attained a useful idea for a chop. This process will sometimes be very fruitful in coming up with something that I would never have thought of up front.
2. What do you use as inspiration?
I'm generally driven by humor or other emotion when preparing to do a chop but again the biggest factor for me is whether I have a decent idea to start with.
3. Do you have a system?
Other than my experience as a digital retoucher...no. I have developed a work flow or line of attack for any work that I do. That is something that has evolved over many years of retouching. I don't really think about it any more. I just do what needs be done in the most logical order for me to achieve what is necessary.
4. Does a chop have to be done a certain way following steps or are you a messy chopper and just go with the flow.
Well as above but, I also I believe that there really are no rules. I do what is needed to get the job done. I can usually decide on a plan of attack in just a few minutes and then go for it. Because of my experience I am very fast. (It's rare that I spend more than 15 minutes on a chop for this site.)
Wow that’s quick, I take that long just to get my toolbox sorted out in PS, before I even think about chopping. 15 minutes is very quick and looking at your portfolio it’s outstanding work, you must spend a little more time on the chop?
When I do a chop for this site I first try to get an inspiring idea and then I search for the source images needed. This is the most daunting task of any image that I do for this site and the most time consuming. I try to keep my ideas relatively simple so chopping time is very quick. If I can't come up with an idea in a short amount of time or by doing some idea inspiring searches, I usually give up quickly. I'll sometimes spend hours searching for the right source if I have an idea that I just have to follow through on. Here is an example. The image was chopped in under 20 minutes but the image search took several hours to find the perfect images to complete my vision.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/62590/display.html
Here is an example of where I had a perfect source but needed a contest to complete my vision. I held this image for nearly a year waiting for the right contest. This image took about 45 minutes to chop. That is longer than I usually spend but I think that it was worth it.
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/63296/display.html
5. Filters, brushes and techniques.
Yes...I have some.
Actually...I have been using Photoshop since it's birth and I still choose a very manual way of achieving the results that I am looking for. For the most part I don't really use many of the automated or artificial tools or filters that have come about in the apps evolution. There is a manual way of achieving almost anything that usually allows for much greater control.
6. What style of chop do you like most?
I love the humorous chops most of all. I don't really care about the quality of chop. This is a learning ground for many. If it is not done very well but the idea is there and it makes me laugh it will always get my vote.
I'll answer this with a cut and paste from the comment section of a win that I had in this recent contest:
http://photoshopcontest.com/photoshop-contest/1516/disc-toss.html?l=&o=votes
Quote:
Quote: ScionShade Jerry, Thanks- I've been in dire need of an EXAMPLE of just what the heck I am talking about when I say that color correction AND image correction often should be a basic first step before beginning a chop. THAT said, of all the image fixes
and sharpening techniques I have seen, and by all the examples I have seen, you are literally the only one I have seen who does it well, and DOESN'T OVER-do it. I envy your skills, beautiful work.
jerry717 Thank you very much Mr. Shade...I'll take that as a vote.
What is your favorite type of source picture and why?
a. machine (Car, boat, electronic parts)
b. people
c. nature
d. obscure views
e. all of the above
f. other
I would have to say B and C
For me, people are the easiest way to create a humorous post. The most humorous posts that I have seen here have always started with people as the original source image or the addition of people in an original contest pic. Nature shots also afford a reasonable chance for creating a humorous post. Here are two examples:
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/26362/display.html
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/42028/display.html
1. What makes a good chop for you?
Almost anything that is well thought out and properly executed. That's not to say that they will get many votes. Some of my favourite posts have gotten the least votes.
2. When you chop is it, Fast and solid, or slow and steady
Either... OR. It really depends on the idea and execution.
3. Do you prefer to vote on?
a. all source image
b. import and blend
c. effect i.e. rain/snow/flood/fire/blood
d. as long as it’s a good chop it gets my vote
e. all of the above
f. I don’t vote
I would say for the most part all of the above. I do really like a well executed "all source pic". I'm not particularly fond of effects (filtered) because in my opinion most are not done very well.
4. What chop did you do and it did not do as well as you expected?
Oh...they are just too numerous to list just one. ;P If there is anything that I have learned about this site it is this: If I like it it is doomed for failure. If I don't like it much it will usually do very well. ;P If I have to name just one it would be this one
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/63184/display.html It is from the same contest as the snail contest linked too above. I thought that this image would have done much better than it did. Oh well.
That’s one thing that will always surprise me at PSC, it’s the way votes and voting goes, I don’t think there is one person on this site yet that has cracked the voting code.
1. What's your best chop.
I presume you are referring to chops done for this site. I have worked on over 250,000 images in my long career so that would be a very hard decision to make. Unfortunately, my favourite chops that I have done for this site no longer exist (before jmh started hosting our images). Of the images that are currently available it is still a very tough decision, but I think that this one
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/62988/display.html is my favourite because it is the only image that I have ever completely hand (mouse) drawn from scratch. The only source image that was used is the background and even that image was retraced and manipulated to an extensive degree. I dedicated the image to jmh because he did a personal favour for me and wanted to do something to show my appreciation. I think that it did very well in the contest.
2. Now your worst chop.
There are many ;P To pick one that is still available, It's got to be this one:
http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/62826/display.html
my inspiration was the fact that I am a big fan of Adriane Barbough(sp?) and the movie "The Swamp Thing" The image did as well as I expected it would.
3. Who do you consider to be one of the better choppers out there.
Well, this is just a personal opinion and really has nothing to do with technical skill as a chopper. my favourite all time chopper at this site has got to be yourmom because every post submitted was funny. Unfortunately, yourmom no longer posts here. Also, Ed209 for the same reason, but Ed209 is a much better chopper than yourmom. (no offence yourmom, if your out there)
Really there are just too many to mention them all here.
4. What you hate to see in a chop and why you hate it so much.
I hate to see a previous contest image used as a source for a current contest. There are a billion images out there to choose from, one does not need to steel from this site to find a reasonable source image to use.
One exception...I love the homeless guy that L@rue has used in many of his entries and funny pics he has created for the chat board. Hooray L@rue.
5. The best chop of all time.
My favotite all time image no longer exists on this site. It was a picture of Mike Tyson's head inserted on a little girl involved in a pillow fight with another little girl while jumping on a bed. It was absolutely hilarious. It was from a contest called (I believe) "Iron Mike" on March 29, 2002.
http://home.carolina.rr.com/rmartinko/pillow.jpg
As an aside, I find it ironic that Ed209 posted as his favourite image the exact image that I described in my first answer set to you. He posted the image in this thread:
http://photoshopcontest.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3713
I spent an hour looking for that image when answering the first set of question. How I miss the old day's. Ed209 and Ironmc are probably the only active members that have been here longer than I have, so I'm sure that they both have some fantastic recollections of the old days.
Names noted...
Don't ever take this site or it's voting too seriously. PSC is a fun place to hang out, but like anything else, if it gets too serious, it's not fun any more.
Good advise for everyone...has it ever got too serious for you?
Although I have never taken this site too seriously, I have seen others take it to unhealthy extremes. This should be a fun place for testing ones abilities or to be used as a learning environment. Personally I have only used this site as a place for some comic relief. I've made some friends here and I still enjoy posting from time to time.
Jerry it’s been a pleasure doing this profile about you, you are one of this sites true gents and in my opinion one of the all time great choppers here at PSC. Thank you for taking the time in answering my questions, and the great insight to your chopping style.
Blue_lurker
IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CHOP.
