Stripes and a smile

Jo Ann Snover · July 22, 2019, 08:24:15 PM

I am nowhere near done with this restore, but I've made some progress - enough to think I can probably make something worthwhile out of it. At the beginning, I wasn't sure I could make something believable.

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I think the smile is key and I'm still not happy with it. I can see mine is different in "feel" from the original, but I'm having a hard time fixing it.

And then there are the (expletive deleted) stripes!

The shirt is not straightforward in construction. I think there is a center placket and then on each side some stripes at 90 degrees (or there's a seam; I can't see enough to tell). I'm 99% sure there are ruffled edges to the sleeves, but as I think this is a young boy, I'm a bit surprised to see ruffles (given the era I'm guessing the picture was taken). For the moment I've been roughly painting in the shirt and stripes; I'll "fabric-ate" the result once I'm happy with the logic of the shirt

The photographer's stamp - I'm assuming it's a gold embossed one, but I couldn't find anything online for this studio. Probably local and no longer around. It'd be easy enough just to leave it monochrome if there's a policy about that sort of detail.

I haven't finished the hair (it's too sharp and you can see the painted strokes) but I'm hoping it looks sort of right for a boy haircut of that era given the little bits I can see on the undamaged side. I'm thinking he's a dark blond/light brown haired boy.

I wasn't planning to do much with the front of his shorts/pants - I can barely make out where they are - but I can add the hint of a center seam/fly front if anyone feels strongly or can see something I'm missing there.

Any other thoughts most welcome. Mostly I'm posting so that (as with the last one) I don't give up and down tools :)

Lynnya · July 23, 2019, 09:20:38 AM

Don't give up... you are definately on the right track... the cockoo stripes and just that... say no more.. maybe blur them a bit (blur is always my solution to things I can't fix lol..not so good at times) I think the smile is almost there.. maybe the teeth are a bit larger on the original? and maybe soften them a bit? All in all I think it's going great! Just to add.. and I'm sure you probably do this.. with hair and fabric etc I use blur/motion blur.. using the appropriate angle.. tip from Tess I think..

Hannie · July 23, 2019, 09:50:35 AM

You are very brave Jo Ann, great job so far.
One thing jumps out at me, the highlight in his right eye seems to be on the wrong side?

Shadow · July 23, 2019, 12:50:25 PM

Very brave indeed. Good luck. Know it'll be good.

Jo Ann Snover · July 23, 2019, 01:19:13 PM

Glad someone is keeping the faith for me - in case I temporarily forget.

And Hannie, when I mirrored the clone tool for the eye I forgot to fix the catchlight. Thanks for catching that.

I'll play with the teeth a bit to see if that gets the original look - when I followed my outlines I had something more like bugs bunny, and I was afraid of creating a cartoon instead of a child! When I look at some of my kids' early pictures though, there's a stage where you have your adult teeth but your face and head haven't grown into them yet and they're temporarily a bit too big :) I think I'll just draw a bit on a new layer until I can get the look right - without mangling any prior work.

Thanks all.

Jo Ann Snover · July 23, 2019, 08:39:31 PM

I think I'm getting closer on the smile; I fixed the catchlight; improved the hair so it has the texture of the rest of the photo. No more work on the striped shirt yet

Mhayes · July 23, 2019, 10:30:37 PM

Great job on a very difficult photo! You will now be in charge of stripes. :cool:

Jo Ann Snover · July 23, 2019, 11:47:59 PM

Thank you - I think....

If I send some large boxes of delicious pastries to all board members, perhaps I can get someone else to be in charge of stripes :)

Mhayes · July 24, 2019, 12:55:52 AM

Oh Sly One, I mean Jo Ann, everyone on the board is way too smart to succumb to pastries when it comes to being in charge of stripes. Keep trying. :cool:

Lynnya · July 24, 2019, 09:24:51 AM

Umm.... I'll take some :P

Shadow · July 24, 2019, 10:33:59 AM

So Margie, if we toss in some extra sinful goodies for all the board members can we keep Jo Ann for stripes and maybe add Lynn for plaids!? :funny:

Jo Ann Snover · July 24, 2019, 11:43:27 AM

So it's a bidding war!!

(No Lynn, until you can hand out tasks laced with menace, no pastries for you :) )

Wine shipments perhaps? Or perhaps fruit baskets and wine??

Lynnya · July 24, 2019, 01:45:58 PM

I'll take them too... :cool: :D

Jo Ann Snover · July 24, 2019, 02:33:16 PM

Some more work this morning. Anything obviously out of place or odd-looking? I'll go through and try and clean things up (after a break) but after a while, you get so eager to be done, the eyes don't work as well, so I'd appreciate fresh eyes seeing what they can spot :)

Lynnya · July 24, 2019, 04:36:35 PM

Wow I think it looks amazing! only thing I would change is it seems a bit sharp around the edges of the corners of his mouth and the corner of his left eye (on screen) and I'm not absolutley convinced that the corner of his mouth on the right is as straight at on the original.. tiny things but just things I noticed.. And I'm very glad you get the stripes from now on.. your've earned it.. :up: :up:

Just to add.. I did a blur layer of about 2 px or less and masked it out.. just touche the corners of his eyes and mouth at about 50% opacity.. see what you think it it's made it more original..
p.s. love the teeth :loveit: