Your picture will be used to illustrate a game character.  Since I want to show characters in different emotional states, I need more than one photograph of each person, if at all possible.  Because the pictures will be "comic-ized," you don't need to be a great actor -- or even a good actor :-) -- for this to work.  Once the comicization process is complete, the small details of an image are lost, and only the broadest outlines remain.  So, a little bit of overacting is good. :-)

If you don't want to take all 5 pictures but just want to use pictures you already have, I can still use you, but as a minor character.  I still need the model release, though; see under "Where to send them."

Although I've said, "I want your face," I'd actually like to have a picture that shows more than just your face.  If possible, please send pictures that show you from the waist up.


General Directions
Some people want things to be as simple as possible, whereas others like having a lot of detail.  So there are 2 version of the general directions for models:

General Directions -- Less Detail

1.  Please wear clothes whose color contrasts with your skin and hair, so that nothing blends into anything else.

2.  Please stand or sit in front of something that isn't the same color as your clothes or hair or skin.

3.  Please have even lighting on your face and neck; your face shouldn't have any strong shadows on it.

4.  Most people are more relaxed and comfortable when sitting down, so please sit in an armless chair, unless you really prefer to stand.

5.  Take pictures from the waist up.

6.  Wear the same clothes in all the photos, unless you're making two sets of photos in order to be twins (see #9 under Clothes).

7.  Please look AT the camera.

8.  Thank you!!!

9.  If all of that sounds too complicated, then forget it.  Skip to the "Poses" section, and just take pictures  I'd rather have imperfect pictures of you than none at all!. ;-)


General Directions -- More Detail

1. Your face -- or face and body -- will be taken out of the picture you send and pasted onto another background.  You might be plunked down into an office or a restaurant or a library or a house.  So if at all possible, please stand in front of a plain background.  If you have a section of wall that's just painted (not wallpapered) and has no furniture or pictures or whatever, then that's good.  If you don't have something like that, throwing a solid-color sheet over whatever is behind you would be good.  Please make sure the background is a different color from your hair, your skin, and your clothes, if at all possible.

2.  Please have good contrast between the colors of your skin and hair and that of your clothes.  If you have light beige skin, please don't wear a white or beige shirt.  If you have dark brown skin, please don't wear a dark brown or black shirt.  If you have dark skin, you might want to wear red or white or yellow or orange.  If you have light skin, you might want to wear blue or black or green or brown.  If your hair color is very different from your skin color, then you'll need a fairly bright color so as not to blend into either one.  So, if you have light skin and black hair, then you really need bright red or bright blue or something like that, to contrast with both.  If you have dark skin and white hair, then well, bright red or bright blue again.  Think contrast.

3.  Please arrange the lighting so that there are no strong shadows on your face and neck.  The cartooning process adds dark lines wherever there are boundaries, and if there's a big difference in the lighting on one side of your face than on the other, the cartooning process will put a big black line down the center of your face ... which looks very weird.

4.  Most people are more relaxed and comfortable when sitting down, so please sit in an armless chair, unless you really prefer to stand.  

5.  Take pictures from the waist up.

6.  Wear the same clothes in all the photos, unless you're making two sets of photos in order to be twins (see #9 under Clothes).

7.  Please look AT the camera.  You'll be an NPC talking to the player, and looking at the camera will make it look as if you're looking at the players while you're talking to them.

8.  Thank you!!!

9.  If all of that sounds too complicated, then forget it.  Skip to the "Poses" section, and just take pictures. ;-)  The above describes my ideal photos, but I'd rather have imperfect pictures of you than none at all!


Poses

Please send me a picture of you (wearing the same clothes!) in each of the following moods:

1.  Picture of you in a neutral mood.  You aren't happy, you aren't sad, you aren't angry, you aren't much of anything.  You might be slightly pleasant, the way you would be if you were meeting a stranger for the first time.

2.  Happy picture -- smiling, hands in a happy pose

3.  Sad and/or discouraged picture -- head dropped a bit, looking at the ground but not dropped so far that we can't see your face

4.  Surprised picture -- eyes wide, mouth open, hands in a surprised pose

5.  Angry picture

6.  If you're enjoying taking pictures, I'd love to have Thoughtful, Skeptical, Amused, Interested, and Excited pictures, too, but if you're tired once you've taken the first five, feel free to stop.

7.  Optional extra credit :-) -- Some of the characters will be dateable.  Dateables might need an additional outfit or two -- one very dressed up, for going out to fancy restaurants or dancing in a nightclub or something, and one in underwear, for if your character has sex with the player.  (Please note that I am NOT asking for nude photos.:-) )  If you're including extra pictures in order to be dateable, then your facial expression should probably be loving or flirtatious, but again, in broad outline.  If you'd like to be a dateable, then you could consider striking a dance pose in one picture.  
     Some players will start the game as 18-year-olds going off to college, and some players will be middle-aged people who've become dissatisfied with their lives and have decided to make a fresh start.  So dateables can be any age between 18 and 70; you don't have to be young to be a dateable.






Clothes

I need pretty much anybody, but there are some kinds of people I especially need:

1.  A woman between 35 and 70 in a professional outfit -- a business suit or the kind of dress that a lawyer would wear to work.  The lawyer is the principal quest giver and a major character, so if you send a good version of this, you're almost guaranteed to be in the game. ;)  Since the lawyer is the main quest giver, I will need those additional moods (the Thoughtful, Skeptical, Amused, Interested, and Excited moods mentioned in #6, above) if you can possibly manage it.

2.  Several people -- male or female and of any age -- in a waiter or waitress outfit

3.  A person -- male or female and any age between 18 and 70, but should be reasonably fit -- wearing gym clothes -- for an instructor at a fitness facility

4.  A person -- male or female and any age between 30 and 70 -- in a white lab coat, to be a doctor

5.  Some people -- both sexes, any age from 18 to 70 -- in semi-nice to nice clothes (the kind of thing you'd wear to work)

6.  Some people -- both sexes, all ages -- in very casual clothes (e.g., jeans and a tee shirt)

7.  A few people -- both sexes, all ages -- dressed to kill (what you'd wear to go out dancing in a fancy club or to eat at a fancy restaurant)

8.  A person -- male or female and any age between 35 and 70 -- in a business suit, to be the mayor of the town.

9.  Lots of people between the ages of 18 and 26 to be university students.

10.  And, for anyone who really likes being photographed or who's just really helpful, I need someone who will be a set of twins who were separated at birth.  To be twins, of course I need for you to take a full set of pictures wearing different clothes.  And if you could change your hair somehow, too, that would be great.  Part it in the center in one set of pictures and on the side in another set.  Or have your hair in an afro in one set and in braids in another set.  If you have long hair, have it long and visible in one set of pictures and put it in a bun or pony tail or something for the other set.  I want your face to be obviously the same -- so that the player notices that you're twins -- but of course since you'll be two different people (and people who don't know each other), you won't be dressed identically or wear your hair in the same fashion.

11.  The town all of this is set in is a quirky town that's run by ageing hippies, so tie-dye, long hair, and the like are all welcome.  Of course, people still dress appropriately for their roles, but the mayor (if male) might have a pony tail in addition to his business suit, and the gym instructor might have tie-dyed workout wear, and like that.

12.  If you can't decide, then do #5 -- dress as if you were going to work.


Where to send them

1.  Please sign the Model Release since I can't use your pictures unless I have it.  The model release basically says that you know that I intend to use this picture in a computer game, and that's okay, you signed up for that.  For the model release in rtf format (read with Word Pad), click here; for the model release in pdf (read with Adobe Acrobat), click here
  a.  If you live in the US, please mail a paper copy of the model release to the address that's given for me on that release, if you can.  If you can't, then please take a photograph of the filled out and signed model release -- one where all of your data is clearly visible -- and send that to me in e-mail with your pictures.
  b.  If you do NOT live in the US, please take a photograph of the filled out and signed model release -- one where all of your data is clearly visible -- and send that to me in e-mail with your pictures.
  c.  I need a model release from you even if we're friends and I know you and love you and trust you.  I'll probably be self-publishing this game, but just in case I luck out and get a publisher or distributor, they'll want to see a model release from everybody.  

2.  Send your pictures to MedicalProblemsQuiz at gmail dot com

3.  Tell me what name you would like to appear in the credits -- you can use your legal name, your usual nickname, your forum name, or any permutation of those.  You can also choose to be anonymous, if you prefer that.  

4.  I promise not to give or sell your address or other information to anybody.  All I really want is your picture, and permission to use it in my game. :-)


Thank you VERY much!!!


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Thanks again!