ban_sidhe vs HoboSong: Crayon Clash 2010! - Contest complete

[GbyP]

Congratulations to ban_sidhe!


Let's get ready to Colorrrrrr!!!!! Welcome to the Misfit Squirrel Crayon Clash of the CENTURY!!!
round 1 of 7000



This contest features a Clash of Colorization Gods - ban "Terrapin Slayer" sidhe Versus Hobo "Panda and Klompen Crusher" Song

ban_sidhe and HoboSong will be submitting their images on Saturday June 12, time tbd.
Voting will be open shortly thereafter and last ~3 days.
The Squirrel Colorization Champion will be decreed Tuesday June 15th!



Right-click link for large version (1000x1333)


Good Luck Misfits!!

[ban_sidhe]

Here is the full-size version: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/jenniferjo/beachwind_jjw_lrg.jpg">http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v31/j ... jw_lrg.jpg</a><!-- m -->

[HoboSong]

[Vortex Dweller]

these coloring themes are too much; y'all are AMAZING.

EDIT: well now seeing the votes I feel bad for HoboSong, but will say the dress (mostly) that won me over.... Huge congrat's to both of you though, seriously!

EDIT 2: Hobo, that hair is top notch. You are deserving of additional internets.

[ban_sidhe]

I'm not sure whether voting has technically ended yet or not, but I've gotta ask:
HoboSong: Are you willing to share the technique you used on her hair? The results are fabulous, whatever you did. Mine looks kind of blurry and scribbly.

[ElectronChaser]

crap! I missed the voting window!

I'm so fired....

[HoboSong]

ban_sidhe Wrote:I'm not sure whether voting has technically ended yet or not, but I've gotta ask:
HoboSong: Are you willing to share the technique you used on her hair? The results are fabulous, whatever you did. Mine looks kind of blurry and scribbly.

Im more than willing to share, but I dont know if I could sum it up as a "technique". And, Im always willing to share the PSD files, but since I usually use several, I dont know how helpful that would be.

Overall , I:
Create the masks
Do some basic coloring on the layers (using mostly gradient maps)...and lbend mode either multiply/screen/or overlay
Merge layers
Set blend mode to Color
Tweak/Blend/Manipulate with smudge
Merge visible layers, use the output as the "base" for the next round
Repeat


The differences in this job (pertaining to the hair):
1) I spent some time with the pen tool and "stroked" some of the finer hairs, and added/removed from masks.
2) Used highlight tones by brushing them in on an "overlay" layer where I wanted the sun to highlight and add contrast to her hair.


At the end of the day, I probably used 20 layers for the hair...not including the photo filters I used on the overall pic.
The reason it takes so many is that I try to add color to the full spectrum, and many are very subtle....like I'll add a
dark blue shadow layer.....use "multiply", but set the opacity to like 5%.... just to get some blue in the shadows. You can
barely notice a difference, but after you do many layers with all the ambient colors, the overall picture starts to
accumulate fullness and depth. The same colors from the ocean,sand, dress, and seaweed are in her hair...but they are
added as either multiply, overlay, or screen....and a (very) reduced opacity.


I think an interesting exercise would be to take a small square from a jpeg and save it. Then desaturate it and
colorize it yourself. When you're done, display them side by side at 1000X. You'd probably see that there are
many more colors than you think in a photo....and even if the normal eye cant tell you what and where they are,
they need to be there in order to not look "flat"

[ban_sidhe]

HoboSong Wrote:Im more than willing to share, but I dont know if I could sum it up as a "technique".

Thanks much - very informative!

I should not have saved the hair for last. It intimidated me, so I kept putting it off...

[Vortex Dweller]

No offense, Ban, but I almost feel bad about my vote after that explanation.... Like: why did I vote after only 3 views of 15 min ea? WTF? Ban, I still really dig yours, but after that explanation of process and taking into account the love I feel for that hair... It's not like it was a fly-by-night decision or like I'd take your votie away, the complexity of it took a few more views to set in... You both deserve a heaping serving of internets. Awesome challenge, awesome results. + eleventy all around!

[GbyP]

And now the original...

[attachment=0]

Nice job both of you! Points to HoboSong for rendering the hair and skintone; points to ban_sidhe for better capturing the detail of the dress.

[ban_sidhe]

So...does anyone else want to play?

Considering we have a bunch of people with close to the same level of skill, maybe we could have a non-contest: just post a pic and let people have at it and enjoy the different interpretations.

[HoboSong]

Im in