PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #91 – Vietnamese Lady

[pstewart]

FIRST MINI-CHALLENGE -or- NEW TO PHOTO-ART?
Click here for "Information and Guidelines."

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PHOTO ART: Mini-challenge #91 – Vietnamese Lady

Here’s another “mini-challenge” to play with in the Photo-based Art category until the next major challenge is posted here.

The base image can be downloaded by clicking the link below the photo description.

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Jeanie (Jeaniesa) took this wonderful photo of a woman in Vietnam. What a story her face could tell! See what history and moods you can bring out with different artistic techniques!

Phyllis

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LEGAL VERBIAGE
Jeaniesa retains the U.S. and international copyright © not only for the original image, but also for any photo-art versions of it. Unauthorized distribution or use of this image without permission are prohibited.

[pstewart]

Quite often my abstract technique doesn't give good results on faces, but it seems to work just fine on this weathered face.

Phyllis

[TwinbNJ]

oooooh --- very nice effect on this! Weathered yet soft. Fabulous.

[TwinANJ]

Phyllis, Love the eyes! They seem to draw you in.

Jean

[TwinbNJ]

What a wonderful subject to work with.
I wanted to make everything around her face to look more eroded and soften her face.

Made a layer and applied Craquelure filter, opacity to 35%, added some noise. Erased the face and neck part of the layer.
Made new layer from the original selected the face did and inverse and deleted (to bring back the crauelure in the bg). Used the smudge stick filter to soften the face, opacity to 46%.

[Pam]

Phyllis-
You have a way with that abstract look, I can't get it to work for me no matter how hard I try!

Jill-
Very nice effect. I especially like the tone and texture you achieved on her face. It almost looks like a dye transfer print.

I tried Phyllis' anisotropic filter (I call it "her's" cause I learned it from her it's a great one), along with some other stuff and kind of worked it into an airbrushed look...kinda sorta...

Pam

[CJ Swartz]

Jeannie -- wonderful image! I wanted to emphasize the face - used palette knife over glowing edges with a layer mask to bring back some detail...

[jerry]

This is a very interesting portrait to work with..

Phyllis.. Your abstract is very effective with this portrait..

Jill..The Crackle..texture works well with this lady..Nice work..

Pam.. Your isolation of the portrait and new background are very artlike..

I started with the smudge painting technique..Sharpened several times..Used a glazing technique to add new background..Sandstone texture..Edge action #4 (I think)...Buds double matte action..

Jerry

[TwinbNJ]

Pam – I love the soft pastel look without compromising the character in her face. I also like how you choose to crop this --- very effective.


C.J. This effect works very well with the image. Very dramatic.

Jerry the frame and scalloped matt puts the finishing touch on your image. The burgundy just enhances her face even more!

[jerry]

CJ
Sorry I missed seeing yours..We must have been posting at the same time..

Your glowing edge effect is really unique..Very artlike technique..

Jerry

[themanda]

Once again, stellar entries.

Phyllis--I love the strenght of the black lines juxtaposed against the coolness and softness of the pastels. Probably a lot like the woman herself...she has so much character.

TwinB--this has fabulous texture to it without being distracting from the subject's face. love it!

Pam--I really like how soft this feels without being washed out. You've got a wonderful light touch and it plays well with this portrait. very good!

CJ--great! i love how the texture of the palette knife plays against the glowing edges. terrific!

Jerry--I really love this. You've presented her perfectly. your attention to detail is great, too, all the way down to matting and framing. she's ready for somebody's wall!

[themanda]

I used my newest favorite technique--The Smudge Tool as introduced to me by Phyllis.

I wanted her to look a little more worn and sad, so before I went in with my tool I played with her features a bit in liquify. Made her eyes droop a little more, made them slightly smaller, gave her more defined jowls, dropped the edges of her mouth. Then I upped the contrast a bit to bring out all of the fine lines, which I then pulled out a bit more with the burn tool.

Using a small brush, I smudge painted her face. I used larger brushes for her hair, wrap, and clothes. PE'd a background and painted it in with a layer mask. Then I used many different layers of blend modes topped off with a crossed light render lighting effect to add some more depth.

I'm very happy with her!

Amanda

[TwinANJ]

Jill Craquelure hmmm wonder who told you about that filter? Very nice use of the filter.

Pam you pastel background brings out the face. Lighting and blending on the face is very natural.

CJ I love the glowing edge effect and have not figured out how to use it yet. Never thought to use the palette knife. I will have to play with this. Needless to say I love the effect on your submission.

Jerry The border is a nice touch. Sandstone texture works well with the subject.

Took the orig. layer and made a copy used the lasso tool to cut the face in half. Used the brush strokes accented edge on multiple layers to smooth out half the face. Added a little more red to the lips added eye shadow. Used lighting effect on multiple layers and worked the opacity for the background and shading.

Jean

[jerry]

Amanda

I'm REALLY likin' everything about that one.. Your turning into a smudge teckie like me..

Jean..The young/old concept..Very interesting...

Jerry

[KenB]

Here's my attempt. First converted to a sketch with heavy outlines, copied this sketch onto a new layer of the original. I then created a new layer , filled with while and used the history brush to paint some color back in. Gave a little texture and saved.

Ken

[themanda]

Thanks, Jerry! I love that technique!!! It's too much fun, and I love how your image sort of flows like paint under your brush. Instant gratification with none of the nasty side effects.

Jean--LOVE IT! What an inventive approach!!! Great application of your idea.

[TwinANJ]

Amanda...You and I posted about the same time so I missed yours. Dial up! takes forever to upload. I like the overall flavor of your work. The face is so full of expression.

KenB very soft younger version. What is the filter you used on the overall picture?

Jean

[KenB]

The plugin used to texturize was Alien Skin Splat.....I think that's what you were asking TwinANJ.

Ken

[TwinANJ]

Ken yes that is what I was asking. Jill had alian skin at one time I will have to check and see if she still has it. Thank you for the quick response!

Jean

[CJ Swartz]

Amanda -- truly wonderful rendition! Your subtle use of Liquify changed her expression without changing her features, and your lighting (plus all your painting strokes) created a true portrait. Your eye matches your skill!

Jerry - I love your matting and frame - unusual and fits the subject.

Phyllis, Jill, Pam, Ken -- it's so much fun to see her look so many different ways, and yet retain her expressiveness and character!

[pstewart]

Jill, your craquelure idea is so similar to my most recent attempt that I won't even post it. I did pretty much the same thing but used an embossed leather pattern instead of embossing with craquelure. What's that they say about "great minds"...?

Pam, CJ, and Amanda, love how you show just her head and scarf...and brought out different aspects of the woman’s life. Pam’s shows a gentle softness in the aged face, CJ’s intense dark image shows determination in adversity, and Amanda’s shows pain and anger. All those moods from one face!

Jerry, a lovely and complete portrait. I really like the framing effect you created, and how you faded out the background. You definitely softened her look...even looks a bit like a smile now!

Jean, you have such a great imagination. Clever idea and very well done. And great job making her look young!

Ken, great illustration...just enough outlining to emphasize her expression, and the coloring and textures are subtle enough to add interest without distracting the eye from it.

Chuck, dreaming of better days? WOW! This one is beautiful and powerful!

These are all so inspired...what a wonderful batch of photo art here tonight!!!

Phyllis

[pstewart]

Outline done with strong motion blur, then unsharp mask, touch of crosshatch, parchment pattern overlay.

Phyllis

[TwinANJ]

Phyllis… You are the master of sketches. Your rendition is specatacular. I have seen challenges that I wanted to try that effect and have no idea where to start. Do you know of a site with a tutorial that could help me try this type of rendition? You have inspired me to try this technique!

Jean

[angue]

She reminds me of my grandma.

[phili1]

Phyliss nice pencil sketch as always

Twins NJ love the pattern

Pam brings out the pain and suffering.

CJ nice tp see you again., Very nice brings out the harship she had.

Jerry nice effect.

Thermanda, awsome effect.
Ken nice combo pencil & water.
Chuck, I like the dream effect, make her pretty.
Agnu, nice painting effect & frame.

Being a Photog at heart I tried for a dramatic effect.

[DannyRaphael]

A wonderful image, Jeanie. Thanks for sharing it. And thanks, too, to each of you for sharing your creativity.

Here's how I did mine...
1. Applied Levels adjustment layer to original layer to bring out some shadow detail (selective via layer mask).
2. Merged levels and BG into a separate layer.
2a. Duplicated layer created in previous step.
3. Added Noise (5,Guassian,mono)
4. Applied olored Pencil (4,14,38)
5. Duplicated BG and dragged copy to top of layer stack; changed blend mode from Normal to Color.
6. Created a new layer at top of layer stack.
7. ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+E to merge all visible layers w/o collapsing.
8. Applied Gaussian blur (2)
9. Applied Watercolor (7,0,1)
10. Duplicated layer created in step 2; moved to top of layer stack, created a layer mask which was inverted (CTRL+I)
11. Chose soft-edged brush, selected airbrush, low opacity, low flow, foreground color=white and airbrushed in some eye and facial detail.
12. Flattened and applied Bud's blackwood matte frame (with a Hue/Sat adjustment layer).
13. Applied texture via separate layer filled with 50% gray and blend mode set to Overlay, opacity=10%.

[pstewart]

Originally posted by TwinANJ
Phyllis… You are the master of sketches. Your rendition is specatacular. I have seen challenges that I wanted to try that effect and have no idea where to start. Do you know of a site with a tutorial that could help me try this type of rendition? You have inspired me to try this technique!

Jean

Thanks, Jean, but I am not the sketch master...lots of folks here really excel at pencil sketch techniques that I am, frankly, too lazy to tackle. I just started with the basic outline technique and made a change in the "gaussian blur" step. You can read the detailed method here: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...&threadid=4770

The change I made was this: Instead of gaussian blur, I used motion blur set to a large distance (you can see just how much by the size of the dark blur behind her head). I overlaid this version onto a layer which had been treated with Videorave convolver plug in, but you could also use a layer with another method which emphasizes and/or raises edges without eliminating the photo's solid areas.

The rest of the job involved a few other filters and a pattern overlay, but the basic "sketch" resulted from the method in the link above. I later blended it over a b/w version of the original which had been treated with artistic>film grain and a bit of (faded a lot) brushstroke>crosshatch. Lots of little tweaks along the way which I can't recall, but you are off to a good start with the basic blur>color dodge layers method that most folks use somewhere in their sketch.

Phyllis

[TwinbNJ]

Thank you for the link Phyllis! Went out did the tut --- played with texture, brightness contrast, and used the art history brush to bring in some color. Had a great time learning how to do this !

[bubba]

Danny - loved the look
Jill - nice first sketch!

bubba

[jeaniesa]

Hi everyone,

Wow! All of these renditions are superb! I've been visiting my sister and having a difficult time keeping up with everything here are RP. Her unusually slow AOL dial-up connection is driving me crazy. (I'm used to a cable connection.) Plus, chasing a toddler around doesn't leave much time for being online. So, I don't have time to comment on everyone's individual entries , but I did want to let everyone know how much I've enjoyed all of the different versions of this photo!

You all are the best!

Jeanie