FMP - Portrait

In today's session, I developed my portrait sketch in photoshop because I felt it would look far more effective in colour rather in black and white, and because I need more practice in the art of digital painting. I started off by importing the sketch into photoshop and editing its levels so that I got a sharper looking sketch and to clear the white background in preparation for my new aged paper texture. I started off with a white background for initial painting, just so I could nail the regular look, and began painting in between the lines of sketch adding tonal elements when necessary to enhance the image. I played with the colours quite a bit in this particular project as I wanted a unique look and feel to the piece so it could replicate those portraits of old. I made sure to select two textures for this piece; one for the general feel of he paint, and one decrepit texture to make the portrait look more cracked and water-damaged lie it actually has got a few years on its back.

The next part was to layer these images together so that it would look as convincing as possible to the audience watching but still retain its uniqueness. After experimenting with a variety of textures and photoshop effects to perfect this image, I finally managed to get a refined, aged look that was aesthetically pleasing but surprisingly colourful. I think the hardest part of this image to get right was the painted effect and the aged effects as I needed to find a balance of what is realistic and what is aesthetically pleasing. I think I've managed to achieve a mildly convincing effect but I'll look into other practical and digital techniques to improve this images realism in future. However I think the overall design is eye-pleasing enough and manages to be historically appropriate for this time period but still keep its unique style.