Creative interpretations: Connor - a Happy Kid

[DannyRaphael]

Here's a kid who looks like he's having a lot of what most of us need more of...

Photo by Uncle Gavin.

~Danny~

[jch71566]

A great looking guy!

I have a mental block that tells me I can't do portraits, so I make myself!

Desaturated background & shirt.
Adjusted levels to give high-key look.
Duplicated eyes in screen mode to lighten them.
Increased saturation on eyes.

-Jeff

[gina]

Hi,

Great and funny kid. I wish we could all stay like that hé!

Jeff, you went for the lighter look , I for the darker

Copy bg 3 times

1 : run fp boss-emboss
2 : run kpt3-twirl filter till I got a good one-boss-emboss
3 : cloned connor's hair around his face and ran twist or swerve filter- ran kpt3 twirl -boss-emboss filter
With layer masks let only part shine through to make up the image

gina

[Lorraine]

Hi gina and Jeff --

Both of your interpretations are wild and wonderful.

Thought I'd give this one a try. Tried to get a "comic book" look for this happy kid.

Knocked out background on Connor photo and duplicated twice. Ran Fresco filter on one copy and Angled Strokes filter on the other. Lowered layer opacities over original.

Inserted roller coaster into background.
Duplicated 3 times and applied motion blur.

Moved each layer to the right and erased all but motion blur on roller coaster.

Merged roller coaster layers visible, duplicated twice and applied Fresco and Angled Strokes filters.

Flattened layers and applied text.

Lorraine

[gina]

Hi Lorraine,

great effect!

The experience suits his big smile!


gina

[AndyB]

A newbies first post!

Hi Folks!

Well after lurking around the forum for some time now, I thought it was about time I got off my backside to contribute something! Please be gentle saying I'm a newbie (as far as posting goes) won't you?!

I must say I find this new hobby totally fascinating...the trouble is once I get started I find it difficult to stop!

It never ceases to amaze me to see the quality of work you guys produce....it certainly inspires me I must say!

Here follows the basic proceedure I used on this image, (It is a pretty laborious technique, but in my opinion it produces far more convincing results than simply running filters.):

1) Layer 1. Duplicated background & increased saturation / contrast. Also brightened up the eye whites a touch etc.

2) Cropped canvas to include more background on left hand side.

3) Smudge Layer. (Copy of Layer 1).
Applied a little Noise to help create the brush strokes.
Then using an Intuos graphics tablet, I chose the smudge tool (Dry brush, Other Dynamics set to Pen pressure), and proceeded to brush over the entire image.

4) Paint Daubs Layer. (Copy of Smudge Layer). Ran the Paint Daubs filter (brush size 2, sharpness 7, simple brush) Reduced the layer opacity until happy with result. Used the smudge tool at low pressure setting to go over any excessive pixellation caused by the filter (especially around the eyes). I find running this filter after smudging the subject (with a dry brush setting) really brings out the brush strokes.

5) High Pass filter Layer. Copied the Paint Daubs layer, changed blend mode to Overlay and ran the High Pass filter (usually with a radius of between 2 & 3, but experiment). Once again I reduced the layer opacity until happy. I've found that some images don't require the High Pass layer as the brush strokes are already prominent enough...once again just try it and see.

6) Solid Colour Fill layer. Click on the "create new Solid Fill or adjustment layer" icon at the bottom of the layers palette and choose "Solid Colour". In the colour picker that appears choose your "Canvas colour" and click O.K.
On the layer mask that is created with the fill layer, paint black to reveal the image beneath. I chose a Dry Brush preset from the WOW! book CD-ROM (I turned of the texture setting on the brush though as I wanted to add my own canvas texture later). I applied less pressure with the Wacom pen the closer I got to the edges to reveal less of the image, and to try to create a "painted" effect at the border.

7) Texture Layer. Created a new empty layer and filled it with 50% grey (blend mode to Overlay). Chose texturizer from the Filter>Texture menu option, and used a Canvas preset (from Trimoon I THINK?) Relief set at 4, light direction of Bottom Right.

Finally I added my signature and that was about it (I THINK!)

No doubt there are a number of ways I could improve on the technique, but I'm quite happy with the results it produces most of the time. Any Tips or suggestions would be most appreciated / welcomed of course!

In the meantime, I hope you find a use for this technique. Until next time...

Cheers,

Andy Ball, Bolton, UK

[DannyRaphael]

Andy:

Welcome and well done. Glad you decided to jump into the pool. We're all minnows, not sharks here!

Your detail is terrific. That level is very helpful to others, especially newbies. Hopefully some will be inspired by your effort.

I know what you mean about the facination with this art form. You're not the only one who has been bitten.

Now that you're feet are thoroughly wet, I hope you'll continue to jump in and have fun.

~Danny~

[jch71566]

Andy,

Great picture! I look forward to seeing more of your work; keep them coming!

Gina, I like the "Dark" intrepretation. Cool.

Lorainne, the background couldn't fit any better.

Cheers,
Jeff

[Mig]

Something a little different.

Through a combination of noise, the median filter and blend modes I gave the kid a 5 o'clock shadow. He's a rugby player, see. It's Sunday afternoon where he's at and he's just finished up a game. He hasn't any mud on his shirt so he must have been hard to catch.

I borrowed the logo. Then changed its blend mode to get rid of the white part of the logo, which was distracting.

Changed the picture to b&w because it looked better that way.

Now it's Miller Time.
I don't drink, so it's not for me.

Mig

[DannyRaphael]

Mig:

You're such a crafty genius! This is great.

Well done.

~Danny~