[DannyRaphael]

Something out of the past, taken during a recent reinactment event.

BTW: "Civil War": Oxymoron?

~Danny~

[jaykita]

May we have peace on earth and goodwill towards all men...

[Janet Petty]

I followed Trimoon's sketch tutorial to a minor extent then placed the cutout soldier above and overlayed him on for some color.

This portrait speaks to me on several levels and I found it to be worthy challenge. Thank you Danny for posting it. Amen to your comment about the Civil War. And Amen to Jaykita for wishing us peace on earth. And at the risk of offending...May God bless us all.

Janet

[raniday]

First of all, I'm half in love with the beautiful man in this photo; his eyes truly mesmerize me.
Jaykita, I like how you mutted the background, making him, even more clearly, the focal point.
And Janet, this is the best interpretation from Trimoon's tutorial that I have seen. You really nailed it!

[LQQKER]

Levels adj.
Corrected color.
Hue & Sat adjustment.
Simplified and masked.
Created backdrop.
Overlayed BD.
SketchMaster in portions.
Xero clairity.
Ran Nik brilliance, midnight.

[rlspencer1]

Danny:
A nice image to work on:
1. Did levels and hue & saturation to adjust image.
2. Used Shan Canfields tutorial for a sketch affect. I hope someday she will get time to finish the tutorial, I know she is busy.
3. Used a Photoshop charcoal brush to color in.
4. Finished with extension frames.
Bob

[Neve]

Wonderfully varied and superb results....

PaintShopPro8.01

Duped original image twice.
3rd Image - Applied a PSP8 Brustroke/square sponge
2nd Image - left as is...
Back to original image...

Added a raster layer and filled with white, reducing opacity.
Added a raster layer and selected a Paintbrush
Foreground Pattern - selected Image 2
Background Pattern - selected Image 3
Ticked 'Wet Look' Box
Applied brushstroke all over image at 50% opacity
Then again over the soldier only at 90%

Merged top two layers. Duped Merged layers.
L3 - Mode Multiply 50%
Merged top two layers again. Applied some AIM/USM to emphasise
brushtrokes on L2.

Merged top two layers and deleted bottom layer.
Canvas texture applied twice.
Increased colour saturation.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by rlspencer1

Danny:
A nice image to work on:
1. Did levels and hue & saturation to adjust image.
2. Used Shan Canfields tutorial for a sketch affect. I hope someday she will get time to finish the tutorial, I know she is busy.
3. Used a Photoshop charcoal brush to color in.
4. Finished with extension frames.
Bob

Bob:

I like this a lot. One of your best works, yet. I hope you print and frame this one.

I, too, hope Shan finishes her charcoal tutorial someday. She is very, very talented.

~Danny~

[Northernshadow]

Beautiful work! Janet I especially like your rendition, it really gives a mood to the image.

Sherry

[Manjumena]

I am back from vacation

[Janet Petty]

Manju, I only have two words to describe your effort.... Ewwww Kewl!

WTG.

Janet

[earthman]

Hi, I''ve been lurking here for a while and I thought it was time to try one of these challenges. I used two more civil war pictures to form a sort of collage. I extracted the soldier and desaturated him. Then I created a sort of sepia tone on the entire image in an adjustment layer, did some burning, and finally, played with the liquify plug in. I'm sure I missed some steps, but I rarely do things the same way twice anyway

Phil

[Axleuk]

Earthman,

Welcome and what a great way to make an entrance. Great collage and very inspiring.

If i may comment on one point though, the civil war soldier has his back to the the rest of the picture, now the jury is still out on this one, as it can be interpreted as putting the past behind him, in that sense seems to be a well thought out image, however my eye leads off the page and i find it to be a little distracting.

If the Civil War Soldier was better placed on the canvas, then perhaps it would help to balance the image a bit better.

Please take these comments with a pinch of salt, your work is fantastic, but i thought i would mention it nontheless.

Would love to see the same theme but with a slight variance.

[earthman]

Hi Axleuk,
and thanks for the welcome I was trying to somehow show what this soldier might be thinking... all the death he has seen in his time. That was why I used the liquify effect, to give the two pictures behind him a dream-like feel. It didn't quite turn out the way I'd planned, though. I agree with you that the composition needs work. Much too heavy on the left. Maybe if I lightened the cemetary pic it would help. Perhaps I'll fool around with this more and resubmit it. Thanks for your critique. I really do appreciate it.

Phil

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Phil:

Let me add my welcome.

Yours is a very compelling creation. I applaud the introduction of the other images for effect. Two big thumbs up.

Look forward to seeing more of your handiwork in the future. Glad you took the plunge.

~Danny~