Creative interpretations: Civil War Soldier

[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 PS 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 PS 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~

[Janet Petty]

What a thought provoking picture and very nicely executed. It certainly makes a statement. My only comment (I hope you still have the layered file) would be to flip the background so it moves right to left and place the soldier on the right side of the composition.

Janet

P.S. On second thought, forget the flipping. I like it the way it is.

[Robt]

Wow, I don't know how to discuss this one. I lurk on this site and play with the methods discussed but this thread has me stopped. Most times the images started with and created are 'art' meaning I see them as how to take a subject and maybe tell something but more likely to show something 'pretty' [I know thats not the word I need to use but the only one I can think of].

This image started out the same, lets see how people make a different piece of art of what they see. I had decided that LQQKER had made a phenomenal portrait, then I came to earthman's statement.

I am floored. No matter what others may think of his composition or methodology, That may be one of the strongest statements of war I've ever seen.

I'm not even going to try to edit this cause if I didn't get across the passion this image brings to me, If I failed to state it the way I feel, I'm sorry.

Earthmen, well done.

Robert

[earthman]

Thanks for all your kind words. In the cold weather, my work slows way down, so I'm able to fool around with photoshop more than usual. This site is a great resource for knowlege and inspiration. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute in some way.

[Legacy~Art]

Welcome to the forum Phil its a pleasure to see such a interesting collage...Very inspiring, its a picture to make a person think isn't it...Well done!

Legacy

[earthman]

Thanx Legacy

[raniday]

This thread is a gallery of wonderful portraits.
I did this with Painter impasto & clone brushes on a canvas texture.
http://www.pbase.com/image/39491289

[Neve]

Absolutely marvellous Raniday!

[raniday]

Why thank you, Neve! I really love your art in this forum, so your opinion is important to me. I'm just now getting brave enough to play in Painter, and I'm enjoying it.

[Neve]

I'm enjoying Painter too Raniday....but still tend to get tied up in knots over things that are simple in PSP but don't appear to be so simple in Painter.

[raniday]

Exactly, Neve. I get irritated with myself for not knowing my way around Painter as easily as I do PSP. I don't think it's as intuitive as PSP, but I'm trying to make myself open it more often and get in there and do something, anything to get more familiar with it.

[byRo]

Seems like I'm missing out on a lot of fun. raniday's impasto is a pretty good Painter commercial. Meanwhile...A bit of art-history
Watercolour background, oils up front.

Rô

[raniday]

Originally Posted by byRo

Seems like I'm missing out on a lot of fun. raniday's impasto is a pretty good Painter commercial. Meanwhile...A bit of art-history
Watercolour background, oils up front.

Rô

ByRo, is that good? I'll take it as a compliment and much appreciated as your tutorial was one of the things that got me into Painter.

This one of yours is a very interesting effect (Done in Painter?). I hadn't thought of combining watercolor with oils because in the real world I could never do that. I gotta think outside the box on this stuff!

[Trimoon]

Larger Image

[Janet Petty]

Steve, I'm sure this man would be honored and proud to have your portrait enlarged, framed, and displayed in his home. Absolutely top notch no question!

Janet

[raniday]

Trimoon, this is wonderful. Could you please give some details of how you achieved it?