Glenna's New Challenge 3/25/07

[glennab]

Hi Volunteers,

I've gotten far enough with this precious little guy to be ready for picks!  There's something about his face that's bugging the heck out of me, but I can't figure out what it is.  Maybe younger or more experienced eyes can discern the disparity.  Appreciate any input!

Original


Progress so far:


I had no idea what the background was, so I just chose a color to start. I'd like to put a little glow or a light source behind him, but do you think that would be pushing the boundaries?  The blue looks so plain.

Let me know what you think, please.  And have a great week.

Glenna

[GP]

Glenna,
You are right, something looks not quiet right. I think his head looks a bit disproportional, like his left cheek is bigger than his right. Maybe it's just the shading, it's too even. His hair also needs a little more work, but it's allready pretty good. You have been practicing with the hair brush tool! :up:
Gerlinde

[cmpentecost]

Hi Glenna,

I think you are off to a good start.  I agree though, that something is out of proportion with his head.  He has a big cheek by his left eye (our right).  You have the baby cheek there, but I think it's too low.  As for the background, Kurt demonstrated something in another topic, showing how to do the background.  I'd try to find it, but it's beyond my bedtime as it is.  However, I think the background needs to be a much softer color.  Other than that, I think you are off to a great start ( as long as you keep the cats off the keyboard!!!).

Chris

[Ausimax]

Hi Glenna,

I just started to post and Christine's came in, I agree with her about the background colour - here is the link to what Kurt suggested.

http://www.oprworkshop.org/forum/index.php?topic=509.15

The face doesn't appear to be too out of proportion, you would have checked that against the original in layers anyway, you have to watch out for the effect looking at the damaged image so much does - when you clean it up it starts to look wrong.

I think the colour on his left cheek could do with a bit of adjustment, and the hair coming down to his right ear could do with some texture (looks a bit like he has been shaved there) and hi-lights there and on the right top of his hair.

Other than those nit-pics, its looking good. :up2:

Max

[VBrestorer]

Glenna:

You've done a nice restoration though I agree that something appears slightly askew.

I think it is the placement of the "low point" of his chin - it is too far to the left as we face him.  Extend an imaginary straight line from the center of the tip of his nose (the shiny part) through the space between his two front teeth, and continue past his chin -- on this line will be where the center of his chin (the lowest point of it) should be.

Keep up the good work!

Larry

[Johnboy]

Glenna,

What you have done looks great. I hope I can get to that capacity some day. Just as an observation between the original and your restoration, it looks to me that there may be a shadow on the boys lower left cheek starting just above the lip line and extending down to under the corner of the mouth or almost to the intersection of the cheek and collar. Maybe adding some darker tones in that area may give the cheek more shape definition. The left cheek has a chipmonk with nuts in its mouth look to me. Either that or shave off a little of the left cheek. I wonder if there may be too much hair at the boy's top left. It looks to have a bump on his head in that area. The portion I am talking about starts about 1/4 the way across the top to the left from the top right corner and down to where the hair meets the forehead. Again I am compairing it to what I think I am seeing the the original. The original doesn't look to have that much hair in that area.

My 2 cents for what it may be worth.

JB

[glennab]

Hi!

Thanks so much for all your input.  I wish I were home so I could start working on him now.  Larry, I'll definitely try your method.  I actually took the original, darkened it, and outlined him in as much detail as I could to cut him out of the icky background, hoping that I could work within the mask and keep the shape of his face, but somewhere in the areas that aren't distinct I went astray.

Max, thanks for the reference to Kurt's post.  I actually started with a "clouds" background and then decided to go with the solid blue so I could see the little boy as well as possible.  When you all give me the thumbs up, I'll definitely go to a softer background.  Any suggestions on color?  The background is obliterated, so anything I do will be guesswork.

As for the hair, Max & Gerlinde, what do you think needs done?  Max I know his hair is VERY short by his ears,  It's as if he has a regulation military cut with a wonderful curly mop on top.  Actually, I created the hair stroke by stroke because I wanted to control the color.  I haven't gotten into the hair brushes yet.  Heck, I've had a Wacom for at least 6 months and haven't even hooked it up.  Hubby was carping at me about that last night.  Now that I'm feeling better, I need to get out all that wonderful stuff and start using it!

JB, you were posting while I was.  Thanks for taking a look.  He actually does have wonderfully chubby cheeks as best I can tell, but I'll consider myself under advisement about the "chipmunk" look.  I think the shading is a big issue.   I tried something new, which was to place the original above the restoration, make a new layer and then use a darker flesh-colored low-opacity brush to try to replicate the contours.  I know I'm not there yet, but that's why I posted.  I knew you would all see things I missed (forest, trees, etc. -- plus no fine art experience to speak of).

Stay tuned, and thanks again for all the great feedback.

Glenna

[Ausimax]

Glenna,

Just downloaded both photo's and checked them out! You have the chin in the right place as the original, his left cheek may be a little wider, but only by a whisker, I agree with JB that you have too much hair on his top left- the hair on his right side above the ear if you could do some strands of hair there, as you have above it would look great, and add some hi-lights.

I think you have done a great job on the hair so far, especially if you aren't using a Pen, perhaps when you have finished the hair. a run over all of it with the blur brush to soften it would help.

You are" doin real good" keep up the good work. :up2:

Max

[pcraft]

Hi Glenna...  Where GP says somethings not quite right...  I think the photo below might show you where...  It seems you cut to everything to the left of the red line
and I think you should add in what I've shown to the right of the red line...  It seems to me that the side of his face goes over a little more than you kept in your
work.. I think the shading or damage over there threw you off...  I hope this helps?   :)

Regards,
Robert

[GP]

Glenna,
Robert is right with his observations. I downloaded the image and did a quick curves adjustment to get more contrast. I also did a Hue/Saturation adjustment to desaturate the yellow. Than I used the cloning stamp and the burn tool to outline his face and hairline. I did not pay any attention to the damage at this point, it's only to help you with the proportions of his head and hair. I can't believe you are doing all that with a mouse. Start using your graphic pen, it's so much easier once you get the hang of it.
Gerlinde  :hug:

   

[pcraft]

Wow!!  That shows it excellent Gerlinde ....   :up:

[glennab]

YOU ARE ALL THE GREATEST! Thanks for the help in figuring out why he doesn't look quite right yet.  You've definitely seen things I missed.


I'll be back at him tonight.  Last night was spent in mundania (grocery shopping, dishes, cleaning up cat messes and on and on).


News at 11!

GG

[glennab]

Before my eyes fall out of my head, I wanted to post the latest iteration.  I tried to use all your feedback to get him closer to finished.  Appreciate comments!  Thanks.

and Goodnight!

GG

[GP]

Hi Glenna,  ^-^

I like the new background you generated. Also the proportions of his head are now pretty much the same as in the original.
The shading on the right side of his face seems a bit strong and kind of covers his earlope. He looks a bit painted, what is not suprising with all the damage.  ???

Maybe you can add some texture back to his face. I'm not sure how the best way would be to achieve that. Could you use the contrasty one I made and try Kenny's sandwich technique? Were are all our experts???

Sorry Glenna, I'm probably of not much help here   :-[

Gerlinde

[kstruve]

Hi Glenna!

You've done a lot of cleanup on this one.  It's looking much better.  To my eye, there are a few things I would do differently.

1.  The boy's left eye, on our right, looked perfectly salvageable in the original, so you shouldn't have needed to mirror his right eye over it.

2.  It looks like at least 70% of the boy's hair in the original photo was repairable and just needed some dust removal, so I wouldn't have painted him an all new hairdo (which may be a little too bright red in my opinion).

3.  The cute little skin folds under his left eye have disappeared.

4.  The left side of his lips (our right) have lost their highlights and look kind of flat.

I think you're on the right track, but should strive to save the information that's there.  Keep going!

Kurt