Recolouring old photos.

Mushroom Queen · **Posted:** February 27th, 2009, 7:44 am

Has anyone done it? It's not as easy as I thought it'd be. Since I haven't produced a piece of art in nearly a year, I figured I may as well try.

Please take a look at the old picture first:
http://lorivintage55stock.deviantart.co ... per-Stock-1-65762803

Recoloured:
http://nemina.deviantart.com/art/Midsummer-114284821

Given the blurriness of the original, I did my best to repaint in the little details (strands of hair, eyelashes, etc).

What do you think?

Adbot · **Posted:** February 27th, 2009, 7:44 am

Shreder · **Posted:** February 27th, 2009, 1:49 pm

I think it's absolutely amazing.
great work.

Total Plox · **Posted:** February 27th, 2009, 2:23 pm

Wow, that's amazing.

Ryan · **Posted:** February 28th, 2009, 3:44 pm

I think I'm in love.

CreepyPirate · **Posted:** February 28th, 2009, 4:14 pm

Pretty as a picturee. LOL.

Still not a fan of the flowers though.

Humus · **Posted:** March 1st, 2009, 4:51 am

Yeah I've had a hand at it quite a few times and it is hard, but you've done it really well.

The hair is perfect, flowers look very good also but they do look a bit painted. To me her right cheek looks quite low quality; you can see the circular brush strokes but only a little. Im not sure about the pillar bit on the bottom left, it makes the image look cluttered and makes it too complex, just the leaves and her would be fine as there is already the red/pink from the flowers, the browny gold from her hair, and the rich blue shades of her top.

Adbot · **Posted:** March 1st, 2009, 4:51 am

Steven · **Posted:** March 3rd, 2009, 9:23 pm

That is incredibly impressive, MQ! Great job! You could hardly tell it was once a black and white picture!

Mushroom Queen · **Posted:** March 4th, 2009, 5:58 pm

Thanks, guys! Yeah, I know what you mean about the cheek, Hummy. I felt like I should've added the pillar in because before I did, the whole thing seemed too dark and shadowy. Maybe I should've picked a different image for the pillar. That one was somewhat low-quality.

Gontcha · **Posted:** March 17th, 2009, 2:56 pm

Dear Mush
Care to share how it is done?
I have few b&w pics of my dad in the army i'd like to recolour =)

many thanks,
G.

Mushroom Queen · **Posted:** March 18th, 2009, 6:51 pm

I started out with the basic colouring of the flesh and hair on a new layer. I messed with the layer modes..I think I used either Soft Light or something like that. When I had the base down, I used varying hues of peach and light pink to paint the blush of the cheeks and the shadows of the eyes. Then, I added the makeup around the eyes and reddened the lips. I used the dodge and burn tools to add highlights and shadows to her face to give it a more realistic quality. Then, I hand-painted the details in the hair and eyes.

I wish I had a more straightforward technique to show you, but a lot of it was just "messing" around with layers and painting.