Well, this is my first attempt at coloring a historic engraving (if you don’t count my Victorian lady with an orange dress and purple hair). There are definitely some issues. I know his pants are somewhat ridiculous. I really was going for brown. And why would he be carrying a deep blue, almost indigo, sack? I have no idea. But this was more about form, and figuring out HOW to use coloring in Photoshop, than it was figuring out the actual colors. That comes next. One step at a time.
The original engraving:
My colorization:
Thanks for any feedback.
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March 23, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Lynn,
(You may want to check your blog layout as the comments button below the pictures is actually the comments for the previous blog posting.)
As far as the colors, I like the tone and subtlety of the blue shirt. The pants and sack stand out because of the brightness of the colors more than the choice of colors. Using a low opacity when I added in colors helped me to create the softest tone, then I simply repainted over again in the areas where I wanted some depth. This created darker tones each time I reapplied.
My wife also mentioned that certain colors added to a main color add depth and complexity. In my work, I struggled with a green shirt and added dark greens to the shaded areas. The effect, though, was to “blacken” up my shirt and black tends to kill color. She recommended mixing in some red to my green (huh????), but when I did, it created an olive variation that was much more effective than simply adding black.
So in your piece, instead of replacing the colors you have, see if you can vary opacities and add some contrast colors.
March 23, 2010 at 12:38 pm
[...] By rwanysibaja I appreciated Dave’s process description on the image assignment and I tried to help Lynn (but I may have confused [...]
March 23, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Thanks, Rwany! I tried to do what you did – adding in lighter and darker shades, or even white, and the outcome was awful. Thanks also to your wife for the great suggestion – now I have more ammunition to play with in trying to get better colors.
(Also, not sure what is wrong with my blog? I’ll look into it.)
March 25, 2010 at 9:47 am
[...] I don’t know why but it reminded me about these pants. So, Lynn, what do you think? Is it possible to apply your pattern on any sculpture of Frederick [...]
March 25, 2010 at 9:53 am
Hi Lynn! I posted something on a similar colorization project: http://alesanu.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/avantguarde/
July 19, 2010 at 7:13 pm
[...] Coloring in Photoshop was an…interesting aspect of the class. For my first project, I attempted to color in an engraving of Frederick Douglass escaping slavery. Yes, I’m not an artist. Yes, the class [...]