Coupla 5-minute sketches; felt like I hadn’t been very spontaneous lately, so I scribbled the first 2 characters that popped into my head.
You’ll have to forgive my brief detour into photo restoration; it’s always been a fascination of mine. While coloring Grandpa’s photo the other day, I wondered if I could subtly add detail to photos, or even restore damaged photos, by painting.
This photo of Tata (my other grandfather) is from the 1920s–a detail of a group shot of his middle school graduation. It’s not damaged, but there’s not a lot of detail in the faces. So tonight I did some experimenting. First, I painted a minimal amount of detail, using a clearer photo as a reference. Then I blended it into the original photo by adding some grain and reducing the opacity of my strokes a bit.
What I like about it is that when viewed from a distance at actual size (as with a typical framed photo), it looks about the same as the original. But if you examine it closer, there’s a little more detail and expression.
Next, I’d like to try an actual damaged photo; you know, one of those where important bits are completely missing and need to be painted back in.
Worked late tonight editing an interview with the world’s least flamboyant evil dicator. Here’s what he kinda looks like.
The other day my Aunt Carolyn asked when she’d show up on my website. Boy will she be sorry!
Honestly, I kind of hate this drawing, and if not for my self-imposed deadline, I probably would have redrawn it until I got it semi-right. On the upside, it was a good test of my new Copic markers and pens, and also my new scanner.
Ultimately, I don’t think I’ll use the super-expensive markers very much; I’m much better at coloring on the computer. But the ink pens are great, and would be especially useful for drawing a comic strip. Hmm.
You’re right, this isn’t a sketch or drawing, but Grandpa warrants an exception. Besides, when I do these colorizations, I end up using a lot of the same techniques as I do when I paint digitally.
I know the conventional wisdom is that colorization is unnecessary and usually cheesy, but one of the reasons I enjoy it is that it’s like opening a window into the past. Sure, it’s not perfectly realistic, but it gives me a little impression of what Grandpa looked like about 58 years ago when he got up and went to work. It’s also fun to do the necessary research to get the colors right (no guarantees that I did).
