Makeover of a lady to her younger days-Painterly look Please comment.

[ALB68]

Here is a manipulation I did. Tell me what you think. Lady was a download from free photos at the Morque file.
After:

Before:

 

[Inkz]

It's a nice effect but I think you may have gone mad with the sliders lol...

 

[ALB68]

Sliders? Not that I recall. Thanks for the compliment on the effect though!

 

[RTContent]

Are you trying to achieve the painted look? Or are you aiming for a more realistic manipulation?

 

[egosbar]

depends if your happy with it , to me there is way to much contrast in her skin , id reduce the contrast and make it more realistic yet still look painted and also bring her original eye color back

 

[ALB68]

I want it to look painterly. I was not going for reality.

Are you trying to achieve the painted look? Or are you aiming for a more realistic manipulation?

 

[Inkz]

My guess was you used topaz...

I guess my guess wrong. I didn't mean anything by the sliders lol.

 

[ibclare]

Personally, I'm OK with the eye color, but that's since I love making those alterations. Use the technique you have on her eyes on the rest of the face. I mean to say that the eyes look really well adapted, but the rest of the color looks flat, and a painter would have made it blend in better. But it's a good start. You might want to augment the painterly effect by adding the illusion of more brush strokes. Just my suggestion. (I'm a painter if that isn't clear)

 

[ALB68]

I am not as pleased with it in the browser as I was in Photoshop. Thanks for the input.

depends if your happy with it , to me there is way to much contrast in her skin , id reduce the contrast and make it more realistic yet still look painted and also bring her original eye color back

 

[ALB68]

Ha, your right. It was partially in Topaz but I never touched the sliders. That is Topaz Clean/Cartoon and then brushed out by hand with the Mixer Brush tool. No offense taken!

My guess was you used topaz...

I guess my guess wrong. I didn't mean anything by the sliders lol.

 

[ALB68]

Aunty Bee, you know I'm just a wannab. Never took an art lesson in my life. Thanks for the advice!

Personally, I'm OK with the eye color, but that's since I love making those alterations. Use the technique you have on her eyes on the rest of the face. I mean to say that the eyes look really well adapted, but the rest of the color looks flat, and a painter would have made it blend in better. But it's a good start. You might want to augment the painterly effect by adding the illusion of more brush strokes. Just my suggestion. (I'm a painter if that isn't clear)

 

[Inkz]

Ha, your right. It was partially in Topaz but I never touched the sliders. That is Topaz Clean/Cartoon and then brushed out by hand with the Mixer Brush tool. No offense taken!

No worries...

Should change your name to Topaz lol

 

[ALB68]

Well, you see Inkz, I have have those lovely plug-ins, I am not talented enough to figure it out on my own. Old guy needs as much help as he can get!

No worries...

Should change your name to Topaz lol

 

[ibclare]

I like that as a user ID. Topaz. But it should be a girl not a guy I think. :mrgreen:

 

[Paul]

Loving the skin tones and blends within, but the rest is way over done and to brashly coloured overall.
But you are enjoying the shop so play on dude.

 

[ALB68]

Brashly done eh..that means rude and overbearing..that bad huh? I liked it on my montior. Thanks for the critique. Are you referring to the hair, background or what exactly on the color?

Loving the skin tones and blends within, but the rest is way over done and to brashly coloured overall.
But you are enjoying the shop so play on dude.

 

[Paul]

Hey mate i was not having a dig, just an honest critique. Like i said i liked the blending of the face and the soft colours there in but the rest is brash and rough looking compared.

 

[ALB68]

Just pullin your chain dude..ROFL

 

[Paul]

 

[Tom Mann]

IMHO, you don't want to overdo push-button efx, especially on a woman's skin. !!! ESPECIALLY ON A MIDDLE-AGE WOMAN!!!!!

I learned this many years ago when I worked on a photo of my wife, was very proud of what I had done (I thought I had achieved utterly realistic brush strokes), presented it to her, and she said that she was sorry to have to tell me this, but she thought I had made her skin look like Boris Karlov in "The Mummy". I can assure you that I've been much more circumspect in my tweaks of women's skin after that incident. :mrgreen:


So, how 'bout something more like the attached version. I can easily make it more painterly, but I wanted to start with the first, more photographic tweaks first, ie, a slight thinning of the face, re-shadowing cheekbones, minimizing the deeper lines and pores, etc. OTOH, I was much more aggressive in treating the background to look painterly.

T