Another Portrait Attempt

[ShadowB6]

Mahendra, you're right, I need to keep on trying to get better. Here is the one I'm attempting now, but am having a few issues. Issues are:

1) In trying to keep some of the background details, there's just so much. Some parts look cluttered. But that's OK, I'll just keep on eliminating.
2) Ben's eyes are just way to dark. I've tried to get the area of the eyes lighter, but I'm not happy with my results.

I've included the original along with my latest attempt. I haven't removed the islands yet or fine tuned it. Help would be greatly appreciated. Real sorry for being a slow learner guys.

Mike

[Tomsunnu]

Mike, this  is a great start Before I begin let me tell you I am not a very good teacher but I will try my best to explain,
For the background or for the facial features of the subject it depends on you ,what is required and what is not.
When you open the image in gimp take the rectangle tool and crop the portion to what you think is required,after that the filter step, artistic- photocopy,when you are in the photo copy mode the image will open with four sliders, mask radius, sharpness , percent black and white.
sharpness- pushed to the right full and the other sliders are ready to play with, depending upon how much detail is required for it to match the original you will have to move the mask radius slider(till you think it is okay). I am sure to some extent you are doing what I have written.
Next step is enlarge the image to 200, 300% you will see that the details are there and cluttered  ,clean up what you do not want and at times you have to add a few lines to get the right image- each person has his own way of doing things and I am sure as you practice you will be there.
English not being my first language you will have to excuse ,overlook the fashion this is written in and I sincerely hope that my explanation has helped, above all and it makes sense
Thanks
Mahendra- I am taking a shot at Ben's photo.

[ShadowB6]

Mahendra, on the 4 sliders you speak of, it doesn't matter where I set the percent black slider bar to, it doesn't appear to ever change anything. I've experimented with it every which way, but it never seems to do anything. Am I doing something wrong? I've played a lot with the other 3 sliders and am getting a much better understanding of what they do.
but I am not.
Your English is fine. I envy you as I am uni-lingual. Most of the residents in my community are bilingual (english/french) but I'm not one of them. And too old to learn.

Mike

[Tomsunnu]

Hi Mike, like I said not a good tutor yes, you are right the black slider does sort of nothing, try , using the curves after using the sliders (which actually changes the image ), keep playing with different options and see what results you get

here is my attempt using a different background, I hope you don't mind!

I hope you like it. loaded the pdf also.
Mahendra

[Old Crow]

Hey Mahendra, You are just like a fine wine or a good cheese, you just keep getting better and better.
Don R

[Tomsunnu]

Hey Mahendra, You are just like a fine wine or a good cheese, you just keep getting better and better.
Don R

Don , that is a HUGE compliment  , thank you very much. The credit also goes to you for teaching me so thank you one more time Sir

Mahendra

[Keefie]

Mahendra, I have to agree with Don, you just keep getting better and better.

[jrpeteo]

Wow Mahendra, nice job.
Mike, just keep on practicing. Sometimes I try these pattern requests just to see how I do. I don't post the ones I failed at .
Pete

[ShadowB6]

Mahendra sir, you are a wizard. I lost focus on what you and Old Crow told me, sometimes less is better, and this is definitely one of those times. It is truly amazing what you did with this portrait. What do you mean by, " try , using the curves after using the sliders"? Is that under Filter/Distorts/Curve Bend? If not, how do I do that? Have I been missing a step?

Thanks again; Mike

[Old Crow]

Mike, The "Curves" is in GIMP under "Colors". You can quite often improve the image quality after you have done the "Photocopy" bit. The "Cartoon" filter can also be a help in some cases. I use the curves option all the time and almost never mess with the sliders in Photocopy.
Don R

[Tomsunnu]

Mahendra sir, you are a wizard. I lost focus on what you and Old Crow told me, sometimes less is better, and this is definitely one of those times. It is truly amazing what you did with this portrait. What do you mean by, " try , using the curves after using the sliders"? Is that under Filter/Distorts/Curve Bend? If not, how do I do that? Have I been missing a step?

Thanks again; Mike

Mike ,I am no wizard and believe me in no time you will come up with great patterns not to worry! please follow Don's advice, keep experimenting and you will get results but practice a lot(Dons very important tip). Once more if you call me "SIR" I will start crying 
I am happy that you liked  it- that is my reward

Keith, Pete- thank you guys for your kind words

mahendra

[George Sansom]

Great work Mahendra, your patterns are superb