Retouches - What do you think?

[mowz]

HI!
I'd like to hear your opnion on a few of my retouches.
old ---> new

http://mowzi.deviantart.com/art/The-...ouch-102921381
http://mowzi.deviantart.com/art/Reto...Eyes-111809610
http://mowzi.deviantart.com/art/Reto...neye-112012657
http://mowzi.deviantart.com/art/Reto...n-56-118640083
http://mowzi.deviantart.com/art/Reto...n-57-118792367

THx

[MooNy214]

Hello. I'm late but.. whatever.
The first one i really like it, you removed everything that was unnecessary. For the second link, i have one minor objection: the lips. They look like they are cut; she has big, full lips that only needed some blur to make them softer. If you make her smile, don't remove the smile creases arround the moth. Everyone has them.

At the third link... The brows are too obvious, the lips are a no-no. But i love the way you shaped her face.
Next one.. i L-O-V-E the eyes, but the skin from the forehead is a it too smooth. The colouring of the skin is discontinued, spotted; it can easily be solved with minor airbrush.
The last one i adore. She has a different shape of the jawline on each side, but looks amazig.

[jansandahl]

First one is great.
Second has way too plastic skin texture for my taste.
Third one looks artificial as well.
The fourth one could have been great, if it didn´t suffer from the same kind of plastic skin feel - mainly in the highlights this time.
The fifth - same thing here...

In general they are overly retouched when the personality no longer shines through. i think your images will be way better if you concentrate on both perfection AND personality. ;-)

[mowz]

thanks. i know i tend to overdo things, i really have to work on that

[Markzebra]

And wherever you read "always whiten the eyes" - ignore it. Unless you are actually TRYING to frighten people

[morpheus1870]

i think your work is amazing! can you please share the order in which you tackle a retouch from start to finish. Do you start with sorting out skin colour or eyes or heal tool etc. Also do you use d&b on everything or do you ever apply blur. I am finding it so difficult to get results like yours and wish I knew what I had to do in order to get that lovely even skin tone and skin texture. I also love the way you make the eyes pop by enlargening/opening them up more and adding that special pop. I have bookmarked your deviant art site and hope to emmulate your quality one day. How do you d&b? do you use two curve layers set to softlight or one grey layer set to softlight? Thanks for all your time.

[morpheus1870]

Originally Posted by jansandahl

First one is great.
Second has way too plastic skin texture for my taste.
Third one looks artificial as well.
The fourth one could have been great, if it didn´t suffer from the same kind of plastic skin feel - mainly in the highlights this time.
The fifth - same thing here...

In general they are overly retouched when the personality no longer shines through. i think your images will be way better if you concentrate on both perfection AND personality. ;-)

All the images look plastic and artifical and have no personality? totally disagree. They do look retouched but not over the top, I think they look fresh, striking and visually appealing.

[W.Smith]

Some people consider a glass half full, morpheus, while others consider that glass half empty. Yet they're all looking at the same glass with the same content.

[jasz]

Very nice work, though number 2 is way to much, especially like 4 & 5

Jasz

[LQQKER]

I think there is no question that you have talent. You have an artist eye for what something should look like, which many individuals simply don't have. But here comes a big "however".

Using the childs image as an example, although well done, too much has been altered. The nose, waist line, facial structure, smile lines and mole are part of who she is. I doubt if a family would want to remember their child in this manner "if" this was done for a family. Now if you were simply using the image for fashions, this look would be fine.

I'm not sure why you change the lips on the second image. What's wrong with sensual lips??? (Angelina Jolie's feeling would be hurt). Was her nose that bad?? But again, if you are selling contact lens . . .not bad.

The third image, like the first, looks nice retouched, but facial structure has been altered considerably, probably more so than the others. Lips, nose, eyes, jaw line, etc. None of these changes could have been done with makeup, only plastic surgery. If I knew this lady, I'd not know who she is. The results are attractive though.

The fourth image may be a bit overdone. However, I have a friend that uses this "new" makeup that looks similiar to the effect you created. When applied it seems to cover the pores, leaving the face somewhat plastic (so much for texture argument). Leaving a few imperfections often give an image a more realistic look. Such as a mole or a skin crease in the neck, etc.

The last image her chin was altered to be symetrical which I question if you should have changed that. The skin is a nice tone, but maybe a tad too smooth, but it all depends what you had in mind.

I think you have all the tools and talent already. Being a perfectionist is fine, but how much depends on the audience. Wish you the best.

[Godmother]

You are on the right track...

now...

WHY oh my god WHY do u make all ppl smile???? Everyone 's smiling? is not SUCH a happy world u know? There's beauty in serious too.

Having said that... I like what u do, don't change the features so much, they choose THAT model because they liked her.

Good luck

xx