May 06 Contest Votes

[cazubi]

So many nice drawings.

1. northernshadow
2. dannyraphael
3. soleah
4. JanetPetty
5. NancyJ

Some other favorites: chrishoggy, CjSwartz, Goose443, LonK, franklopes.

Cathy

[Doug Colwell]

I wrongly assumed that this contest was going to be about simulating a pencil drawing without actually drawing. I'm still of the opinion that it's difficult to compare these pics without knowing how they were produced - drawn from photo, drawn or traced on photo, or not drawn at all. But since all of these approaches are in the mix I thought it would be fair to discount qualities like 'good likeness', 'realism', and 'fine detail' since these are all present in the original and are easier to preserve by doing little or nothing. Anything that looked too real or looked like it could be the original photo peeking through got eliminated. So for me it was up to the drawers, tracers and non-drawers alike to completely replace all of the photo elements with their strokes or filter effects and these are the 5 I thought did this best.

1.byRo (inspite of the snaggle tooth)
2.Soleah
3.Cazubi
4.Janet Petty
5.Mseydel

[Lorraine]

There are so many different and great styles.

I narrowed the entries down to those that (1) kept the original look, (2) had enough texture to look like a pencil sketch, and (3) were what I would want if I were the customer. These are my picks.

1. T. Paul
2. NancyJ
3. Peth
4. auroraskye
5. RetouchPix

Would like to give honorable mention to twinbnj, CJ Swartz, Cazubi, CathyH and alllan.

Lorraine

[DannyRaphael]

First of all let me say, "Congratuations to all who participated. Each of you is a winner."

I used a multiple pass system:
* Purely subjective criteria: Like it/don't like it
* Downloaded the ones that passed the first test and used a management tool called a "decision matrix" to prioritize the remaining candidates. Here's how it came out...

1. Lorraine: After comparing yours to the rest, it’s the one I believe our ficticious parent would like the best -- regardless of what one would call the style or how it was generated. Nicely done. Stop by anytime!
2. Northernshadow: I just liked this look and would have liked the overall outcome more had the background been knocked out.
3. BobDown: Liked yours almost as much as Northernshadow’s interpretation.
4. Drach: Bold approach. Liked the texturing. Didn’t look computer generated.
5. chiroka: Very hand drawn looking. Would have liked this one more, too, had the background been knocked out.

Honorable mention (alphabetic):
* bart_hickman: I especially liked how you did the background.
* Bluedog2: An exceptional manipulation.
* CathyH: An absolutely wonderful job on the eyes.
* Infinitemonkey: Had this been a smudging technique contest, you would have received my winning vote.
* Lkroll: Bold approach using my favorite tool. Next time consider knocking out the background.
* MargaretM: I applaud you for your strokes work. The results you got on her hair was exceptional.
* Mseydel – Very novel technique. The strokes are exceptional.
* NancyJ: Wonderful smudge technique.
* OnAir: Bold manipulation. Her mother would probably not approved, but I thought the technique was especially appealing.
* Palms1: Really liked the high key + arty approach.
* Peth: Positively wonderful smudge work.
* Tpaul: The eye work is great. Liked the manipulation of the necklace to make it look hand drawn. Great subject this month.

If you like doing this sort of thing and have not yet checked out the Photo-art forum, stop by anytime. There are some great people manipulation opportunities there, too.

Cheers...

~Danny~

[Swiftbow]

Voting was hard. I tried to make a short list and then kept bouncing between images. I noticed that my final list favored all the tight crops. Here is my cast:

1-RetouchPix, I liked the pencil lines while retaining detail in the sketch.

2-InfiniteMonkey, beautiful sketch and great work on the eyes.

3-Peth, the work with shadows around the eyes and cheeks was great.

4-TPaul, I liked the softness of this image and how it looked like individual stands of hair could be picked out.

5-byRo, I thought the way the pencil lines were done in a crosshatch pattern was well done.

Doug

[Caitlin]

Some pictures I loved that weren't strictly sketches, others that achieved the sketch look perfectly, but I didn't like as pictures. So this list is a bit of a compromise.

1. Mseydel. I'm not sure it's my favourite style personally, but beautifully done, and completely sketch-like.

2. Peth. Simple but effective.

3. byRo. Just a shame about that tooth!

4. Chiroka. I like it, but something odd is going on with some colour in there I think.

5. Bart Hinkman. More ink that sketch, but I love it.

[CarolB]

I voted for the pictures that I would like to have done of my daughter. I really liked Peth's technique and would like to know how he did it. The others were great too. Voting was difficult, so many good entries.

1. Peth

2. T. Paul

3. infinitemonkey

4. dkcoats

5. CathH

[byRo]

As the contest is for Pencil Sketches, this was my most improtant factor in voting.
However, the sketch must also lead to a result pleasing end result.

My top five:
1) Bob Down - although the end result seemed to be lacking something, I liked the sketch effect;

2) Soleah - same comment as Bob. A different and effective mix of outlines and "pencil" shading;

3) T Paul - a beautiful portrait that any mother would love, a bit lacking as a pencil sketch though;

4) Peth - A nice big crop, really gave the portrait some punch. Seemed more like smudging than skecthing;

5) Nancy J - Probably the best portrait of all, though it would be difficult to sell as a pencil sketch.

Semi-finalists: Infinite monkey, Janet Petty, T Page.

Honourable mentions:
Drach for the sketching technique
Mseydel for the couragous technique (as I remember the first entry was better)
Lonk for the final result
DKCoats for the crop.

Of course...Congratulations to all who entered and a big welcome to the newbies.

Ah. I did mean to fix the tooth. Just plain forgot. DUH!!!

Rô

[T Paul]

So many different styles! Well this took awhile and was by no means an easy decision as there were bits and pieces I liked from different entries. There were numerous stunning entries but some looked more like paint than pencil and many I felt the texture detracted too much from the portrait. Anyways art is subjective and here are my choices…I went with those that really looked more like pencil to me…

Peth – wish there were more pencil strokes, especially the upper-right corner (it’s too sharp)

NancyJ – would like to see the highlights a little brighter and perhaps some pencil strokes to make it look more like a sketch

Mseydel – I just really liked this one, very arty. However, the neck bothers me as it seems halfway finished.

KR1156 – would like to see just a bit more detail to bring out the facial elements such as the eyes

Soleah – Nicely done, a strong sketch feel but the eyes bother me on this --perhaps the pupils are just too dark and need some catchlights to give them life.

[T Paul]

Voting is now closed.

[T Paul]

Okay the votes are in and we have a winner…..

Congratulations Peth!

The Prize:
Digital Collage and Painting: Using Photoshop and Painter to Create Fine Art by Susan Ruddick Bloom, donated by Focal Press.

Top 10
Peth – 61
TPaul – 55
Soleah – 52
Tie…InfiniteMonkey & NancyJ – 34
NorthernShadow – 33
Mseydel – 28
Bob Down – 23
Tie byRo & DannyRaphael -22