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Posted on 10/09/04 08:12:36 AM
Steve Caplin
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Contest 11: Rebuild the head
This is a skull I was given some years ago by a friend who was a nurse. Heaven knows where she got it from, it didn't seem appropriate to pry too deeply. I watched one of those police/forensic programmes on TV the other day, where they rebuilt a face using a skull as reference, and I was wondering how difficult that would be to do. Any takers? As usual, there's a high res version here - and I've added a clipping path for those of you who don't like the pen tool (you really must learn it, you know).



Posted on 10/09/04 09:00:06 AM
trinityofone
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Ouch! Drawing human anotomy has never been one of my strong points (along with forna, flora, and pretty much everything else), which i why I think I got into the montage lark in the first place

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Posted on 10/09/04 7:15:55 PM
Steve Caplin
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
You can, of course, take skin grafts from any suitable subject...

Posted on 10/09/04 8:04:52 PM
trinityofone
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Aah, I didn't realise that would be in the rules.

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Posted on 10/09/04 10:41:54 PM
maiden
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head


click for bigger version

Constructing a realistic skin was extremely difficult. I'm not sure I got the remit of this one correct, there isn't a lot in the book about reconstructing skulls.


Posted on 11/09/04 00:39:52 AM
russ davey
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Very good seeing as youve drawn the parts (expt teeth and blonde hair) shading/dodge & burn work really well Maiden. Im not sure if Im breaking the rules, using a face, but I dont have the skills to draw a face like that. Im thinking this week its a bit out of Russ' league, bl00dy novice!!

Here's my "interesting" attempt anyhow!



Posted on 11/09/04 05:02:46 AM
Atomicfog
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head


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Posted on 11/09/04 11:12:28 AM
maiden
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Posts: 471

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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
I had another bash as I was unhappy about the pasted on mouth - so I created another mouth from scratch based upon the skull's rather bad teeth.



Posted on 11/09/04 12:04:26 PM
russ davey
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Maiden, thats cool, I love the texture of the face and freckles, the shading is just right especially the shiny bits. The only thing I would change is I would use a tiny smudge tool on the hair, although you probably already tried that and maybe it didnt work. The hair looks a little "cut out", maybe try smudging a bit from the scalp too (center of hair by her fore head).

I cant talk this challenge is way out of my league, my image is pants. lol

Posted on 11/09/04 12:10:40 PM
maiden
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Posts: 471

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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
I agree with you about the hair, Russ. However, I'm not sure if I can be bothered to have another bash though as I know for a fact that Tweaknik will blow everything I could do straight out of the water - just look at his website and you'll see what I mean

http://www.coolbubble.com/gallery/index.htm

Well I did have another bash and the hair works much better now, thanks Russ.




Posted on 11/09/04 12:50:57 PM
tweaknik
Pixel Perfector
Posts: 49

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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
maiden: nice work, you've blended the montage parts reall well with the hand drawn parts, although the skulls teeth are a little scary. If you do plan to do any more work on it, I'd raise the hairline a little and bulk up the right cheek (I'd probably use liquify with a large brush). it's looking good though. If my pictures are discouraging anyone else from entering theirs then I'll stop.

russ: that's terrifying...


Posted on 11/09/04 1:07:25 PM
maiden
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
At 12:50:57 PM 11/09/04, tweaknik wrote:
maiden: nice work, you've blended the montage parts reall well with the hand drawn parts, although the skulls teeth are a little scary. If you do plan to do any more work on it, I'd raise the hairline a little and bulk up the right cheek (I'd probably use liquify with a large brush). it's looking good though. If my pictures are discouraging anyone else from entering theirs then I'll stop.

russ: that's terrifying...


Thanks for the tips. I'll try them later. I don't think your pictures are discouraging people they are very impressive, which can be a bit daunting as most of us are still at the praticing stage.

I think I'm a little in awe of your Photoshop skills, as I've always said so on b3ta, particularly how you can simply paint from scratch a photorealistic portrait whereas I'm more inclined to simply Photomontage stuff.

I think it's great that you are here, but it's a steep learning curve for the rest of us to get to where you are now.


Posted on 11/09/04 1:22:31 PM
trinityofone
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Blimey! Your work is awesome Tweak!! I wish I had an Nth of that artistic talent!

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Posted on 11/09/04 1:31:50 PM
russ davey
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
At 12:50:57 PM 11/09/04, tweaknik wrote:

russ: that's terrifying...



Yes terrifyingly bad photomontage.... lol



Great site Tweak - those paintings look so real

Posted on 11/09/04 1:52:38 PM
maiden
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Posts: 471

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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Okay this is the final image, no point in tweaking it any further.

As suggested by tweaknik some cosmetic dentistry, raised hairline, and a more fuller right cheek.







Posted on 11/09/04 3:39:50 PM
mj
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
"How to cheat in photoshop", Since I am not an artist I did exactly that, cheat.




Posted on 12/09/04 7:08:07 PM
Jiger
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Hi Steve and everybody !

Bought "The Book - 2nd ed" a while ago and *have* I had use for it. Great book. Really.

Great idea also this Friday Challange thing. Splendid entries from all. Couldn't do half of it since i'm not much of a montage guy myself.
Having sad that I'd might show another way of using Photoshop (7.1) ... ?

Ok - now, recreating a head from the cranal features of a skull is a highly demanding forensic technique that puts great stress on skills within science, anathomy and art.
Unfortunately I have non of those. Can't draw a straight line on a piece of paper, really ...

If I freely associate around what I see of the skull ( in 2D ) I come up with this:
Were looking at the remains of a woman, caucasian, not yet in her middle age, rather slim with attractive features and green eyed. She was most probably a victim for... ahem... ahmmm - let's not get into that, shall we ?

But why green eyed ?
Simple ! I like green eyed women and I'm doing this recreation here !

So, how do I go about it then ?
Well, I'll use a nifty li'll program mentioned in the book called Poser.
... and there I load up a default Vicky character.



One of the better features with Poser is that you can alter the features of the character to your liking using morph targets ( pre-made ).
So, I position the character about the same as the skull is positioned, get rid of that awful "texture" and start altering morphs.
After doing that for a while I come up with this.
Quite close to what I imagined, isn't it ?



Happy with what i've got I take the image out of Poser and into Photoshop for finals, and after a number of hours in Photoshop I get this result here.



Now, could I have done this without the skull to begin with?

Most probably, yes, but the challange made me think !

Posted on 12/09/04 11:31:34 PM
russ davey
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Very nice, maybe you can introduce us? How are you finding Poser, I always struggled to get to grips with it.

Posted on 13/09/04 09:14:20 AM
tabitha 1
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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
Just wondering how to compete with the current entries? And Tweaknik hasn't even entered yet!



Posted on 13/09/04 09:37:01 AM
maiden
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Posts: 471

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Re: Contest 11: Rebuild the head
At 09:14:20 AM 13/09/04, Tabitha 1 wrote:
Just wondering how to compete with the current entries? And Tweaknik hasn't even entered yet!




I'm sure whatever you do will be great Tabitha, you have a good eye for detail.

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