PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #07: The Birthday Present

[DannyRaphael]

PHOTO ART: Mini-Challenge #07

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category.

Unlike “official challenges” for this forum which can be found here, this one will be self-contained within this thread. It is intended as an opportunity to engage in this artform until the next official challenge is posted.

The rules are more-or-less the same:
* It’s a challenge, not a contest -- intended to provide opportunities to experiment, share methods and/or techniques.
* Everyone who participates is a winner.
* There’s no expiration date.

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#7 – The birthday present

A good friend of mine, whom I've known since high school, will be turning 50 soon. I thought it might be fun to have some of you artsy-crafty folks convert this relatively recent photo of him into "something arty." I'll take whatever entries are submitted and turn them into a special, one of a kind collage. Talk about a unique gift, huh? (Tentative title: "Here's Lookin' at You, Kid"!)

I'll need some "funny ones" as well as some "serious ones," so let your creativity flow.

Tom: If you want to do one where his eyeballs pop in and out or steam comes out his ears or whatever, I'll be sure to e-mail him the animated version. He'd NEVER get anything like that from Hallmark.com!

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His birthday is August 8.

Entries submitted after August 3 (of any year) will be preserved and sent for his NEXT birthday.

Wow. Talk about the gift that keeps on giving! (and the mini-challenge that keeps on going)
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Guidelines:
1. Use any method, application(s), style(s) you like:
. * Convert to sketch, grayscale, abstract, watercolor, oil painting, pen-and-ink, Conte crayon, impasto, van Gogh or any style of your choosing
. * Add elements from other images (collage)
. * Wanna add animation? Go for it. (rolling eyeballs? disappearing/reappearing Graucho glasses?)
. * Hand painting? Tracing? Freehand? You bet. Always appreciate entries of this nature.
. * Apply filters from your favorite application(s)
. * Tweek it with 3rd party plug-ins

Bottom line:
How you create this masterpiece makes no difference. Whatever floats your boat as long as you follow guideline #4 in the process.

2. When done, reply to this thread and attach your work (don’t forget the 100kb size limit).

Note: Multiple entries OK if you’re so inspired.

3. By all means include some verbiage on how you achieved your masterpiece so others will benefit from your skills and experience. Make it as descriptive as you like. Grammar and spelling will not be graded. Priority given to content, not how it is written.

4. Have fun.

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The checkered flag has dropped...

Permission to have FUN! has been granted.

It's up to you.

~DannyR~

[Blacknight]

Saved it as a GIF because it changed it in what I thought was a nice way. Happy Birthday!

[CJ Swartz]

On our birthdays, we think of the years past, so I took him back a few years -- usual History Brush after a severe Dust/Scratches softening, cloned away his long hair (his parent's wouldn't let him wear it long when he was a kid), added some hair (he went thru a "permed" phase -- I do lousy hair... ). Then I ran it thru the Ink Outlines filter and backed it off a bit.

Happy Birthday!

[DannyRaphael]

What a WONDERFUL wakeup surprise!

PHIL:
Your handiwork will fit right in with his "Haight-Ashbury" phase. He probably still has his 'original' lava lamp. Perfect.

CJ:
You're so right. His parents did object to the longer hair. A few years later he in fact tried the "perm thing" when Disco was the rage. I can still picture him wearing that tan polyesther leisure suit jabbing into the sky, John Travolta style, to the beat of a Donna Summers tune. I think he was even dancing with a girl at the time! (Dare I admit I even know about these things?)

Great work. Great gifts. He's gonna bust up when he sees these. Keep 'em coming.

~Danny~

[CJ Swartz]

I can still picture him wearing that tan polyesther leisure suit jabbing into the sky, John Travolta style

Okay, Danny -- Now what were YOU wearing? Just in case one of us tries to give your buddy a composite photo of him and you...

[Woody]

Here's my best shot of him in oils

[OhThatGirl2001]

Ok - well this one was pretty easy. I used an action called Paint on Canvas and that was that. I can't wait to work on the funny one!

Lisa

[Doug Nelson]

What every little boy wants for his birthday.

[OhThatGirl2001]

Throw back from the 60's.

Lisa

[Jakaleena]

Dunno what it is exactly. And I fiddled around with it so much I lost track of how I did it. But here it is...

I know it involved Paint Engine a couple of times, smart blur, difference blending mode, gaussian blur, and a whole slew of layers...

I hope your friend has a GREAT birthday, Danny!

[Sanda]

Here's my attempt. His birthday is the day before mine so I had to do something.

[pstewart]

Jak, nice job on the mini-challenge "birthday boy.'' Looks very macho...he will LOVE it!

Phyllis

[Jakaleena]

Ooooo-eeeeee, way to go Sanda! Good job! I love it....

(And thanks, Phyllis. I had an awful lot of fun with this one...!)

[OhThatGirl2001]

Sanda! What a great job. I love it. Tell us how you did it!!!

Lisa

[Sanda]

How did I do it? Well the first step was to find a leather jacket and resize it to fit and with a little skewing and distorting I was able to get it to look ok. Next was the bandanna, I found a site selling bandannas and "bowwowed" a bandanna to use a base. I resized it to fit the shape of our birthday boy's head. Then I thought it needed more so I "borrowed" the eagle, resized and distored him to fit.I found some sunglasses that looked a bit "biker" so I resized and distored them but there wasn't a visible left arm on the glasses I found so I had to build that from scratch. SO with a little drawing and playing I got something which looks a bit like the arm of the glasses. He needed an earring to complete the job so I found a picture of a gold cross pendant in my family photos and with a little skewing, distorting and playing around I got it to fit on his ear. And that's about all I did. It took about and hour and a bit including looking for all of the elements. I was going to give him a mohawke haircut but the biker look won out.

[CJ Swartz]

the biker look won out.

Good job, Sandra - and he makes a great looking biker!

[Mike Needham]

Sorry I couldnt dedicate more time to this, but heres my contribution to the cause, for the man who has everything

[Woody]

Great idea Mike! I love it!

[Sanda]

Oh that IS cool. I love it.

[tom c]

A little Warping...a little paint....and his true character comes out...
tom

Sanda...The Fonz would love it.

Jak...great paint job

Oh girl...What no love beads?

Doug...Playboy fits in with Hef etal.

Woody...Sony Bono???

CJ...Is that Robert reed???

Black kgt...A coalminers daugeters dad???

Mike...love your manipulation.
.

[CJ Swartz]

CJ...Is that Robert Reed???

-- Tom

Tom, it does look like "Mr. Brady's" hair, doesn't it.

I hope your version is true ONLY for his birthday...

[DannyRaphael]

You guys are killin’ me! These are hysterical. I’m gone for a day and you’re going bonkers in the ol’ sandbox.

It’s like everbody got into the catnip at once. It’s wondeful!

~~~~~~~~~

Woody:
You’ve captured how he looked one night or maybe it was the morning after the two of us drank way-too-many margaritas. Doing him "in oils" was right on, cuz we got pretty "oiled" that time. (Actually soon after this relatively current picture was taken, he got a lot of his hair cut, trying to do the “spikey (hair)do” look.) An inspired version. He’ll like this one for sure.

Tom:
How did you know one of his favorite sayings years ago when Flip Wilson was the rage was, “The Devil made me Do It!”? He frequently claimed to be able to "swat flies" with his tongue. This just proves he was right -- well maybe more like "torch flies." What a riot.

Thank you, Lisa…
For helping balance out the collection. It’s a wonderful companion to “The Hippie” version. The theme on #2 is perfect, since he actually attended the original “Woodstock.” One of his favorite songs was (and still is) Steppenwolf's rendition of "Born to be Wiiiiiii-iiii-lll-d." Unfortunately he still plays it on his RECORD PLAYER (no kidding). Very glad to see your work again.

Doug! Doug! Doug!
“What every little boy wants for his birthday?” That would be a glass of apple juice in one hand and a photo-op with, Hef, right? I'm sure he had at least a damp dreams about this senerio (less Hugh, most likely). Now there's proof. Ingenius.

Jak:
Yours is reminiscennt of how he looked at night in those crowded disco lounges, looking for love in obviously (now) all the wrong places. A very stylish rendition, indeed!

EXCELLENT sunglasses, earring and leather jacket, Sanda!
This is funny. When he graduated from high school his dad got him a Honda-90 motorbike. It wasn’t even a motorCYCLE… barely got up to 30 miles per hour! I’m sure he WISHED he could have looked this cool. Splendid job.

Mike…this is the ultimate compliment.
Being “carved” in stone could hardly be more appropriate. Among some of his workmates these days (all of whom are 20-30 years younger than he is), he’s referred to as “Ol’ Granite A$$.” A very unique and clever rendition.

And, CJ...
For the record I'll never ever ADMIT to having worn a leisure suit. At this point I'm gonna put my plans for submitting a picture of the two us to this crew for creative interpretation on permanent hold! LOL. Can you blame me?

~~~~~~~~

I can tell you now that before I posted this mini-challenge I gave fleeting thought of posting a picture of myself. I think…no, I KNOW -- that I’m glad you’re experimenting on my buddy first. TG my birthday isn’t until February!

This just keeps getting better and better -- and just think I can take entries until August 3. The prospects are mind boggling.

I can't thank you enough.

~Danny~

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Here's a desaturated original on which Colored Pencil was applied (paper brightness about 40), topped with a multiplied version of itself, topped with a copy of the color BG layer set to Color, merge 'em all together and run PE using Vikki's custom 0Wetter and Voilat! Kind of a colored chalk effect.

[fugitive]

Here is my entry, hope I'm not too late.

[fugitive]

Oh yeah, my 2 cents. I like Sandra's best.

[Mike Needham]

Yes there have been some great entries for this so far. Is it just me or does the Hippy have a little of Gene Hackman in him?

Tom, that devil one is great, although it scares the pants off me

[qom]

Ok, better late than never... Here's my entry. Just a bit of a water color effect and a PhotoImpact lighting effect for good measure.

[OhThatGirl2001]

Now that you mention it Mike - he does look like Gene Hackman! LOL

Lisa

[Sharon]

Sandra. Great job on your biker version.

Sharon

[pstewart]

Thanks for the fun challenge, Danny!

I decided your friend should go south of the border for a birthday fiesta, so I gave him a sombrero and a serape that I made by liquefying Photoshop 7.0's built-in "blanket" pattern under "styles" (which also created the background along with the "chalk&charcoal" filter for roughness).

He looked way too "hometown Kansas City" though, so I used "distort-pinch" to exaggerate his smile (gotta be happy at your fiesta de cumpleanos, after all!) and to crinkle up his eyes for a caricature look. Then I used brightness and contrast to deepen and accent those sexy wrinkles, while brightening up his teeth and giving him a sunbaked complexion. Finally I clone-stamped his ponytail to give him macho sideburns. Esta un hombre muy guapo, no?

Phyllis

[Sharon]

Hi Phyllis,

Wonderful job on your version. The colors are so bright and cheery.

Sharon