A-1 In The Lead

[Randall Farhy]

Wall Stadium Speedway Sportsman division racing action. This one started out as an experiment in CS6 pencil sketch techniques and morphed into something of a texturized caricature. The basic conversion ideas are from a web based tutorial (will post link if allowed) with texture and distortion added later in the process. I would like to develop this technique further as I've always enjoyed cartoonish caricatures. Is anyone familiar with tutorials for transforming images in this style?

[Dennis Bishop]

I like what you've done. The color of the front car and lack of color in the others gives a good separation and feeling of depth. You must've had a great vantage point. I really like the cars coming right at us.

I haven't looked into any cartoon tutorials. Do you use any editing software besides Photoshop? There are some cartoon presets in a number of Photoshop plug-ins, and they're not all the same.

[Diane Miller]

Fun! I LOVE the distortion!

Topaz Simplify has some pencil sketch presets and a lot of leeway to customize the outline effect. Go to the BuzSim presets and to the first one in that set, and under Mode check Edges (to get rid of the color) and then under the Edges dropdown you can tweak line choices and parameters.

I think these is some cartoon stuff there too, but haven't used it.

[Wendy Kates]

Randall, I also like the fact that the cars are 'in your face', resulting in a very lively, dynamic image. The gritty texture is also quite effective. I agree with Diane's recommendation to check out Topaz Simplify: I think you can get a free trial for a month.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Randall, I really like this image and I hope you continue to explore using it. The Topaz Simplify is what I'm familiar with but whatever you're doing seems to work great! A perfect amount of color and distortion.

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks to everyone for checking this one out and commenting. Being a small banked oval, this track offers unique opportunities for perspective and composition that most of the larger tracks don't.

I do have the Topaz plug-in suite, but have not experimented in depth with the updated version of Simplify with BuzSim adds, which seem to offer more pre-set start points. I'll have to explore these further. What I'm finding most challenging is getting the distortion tools to do what I want without making a mess of the entire image. Twirl and wave were used on this one. Puppet Warp also looks promising as does liquify. To this point, it's been mostly a matter of matching an image to an effect-more practice may allow me to get beyond this boundary.

Edit- An earlier rendition from 2012

[Hazel Grant]

Whatever I'd say has already been said above except....looking forward to more of this as you develop the technique (and share it)

[Anita Bower]

You did a great job with this image. I especially like the distortion. The pencil sketch, with just one car having color is also excellent. I like how the front car seems to be near me as a viewer. I notice that my eye goes to the car on the far right because it is lighter--perhaps darkening it a bit? This is a fun image.

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks Hazel and Anita, I'm fairly happy with how this one progressed, in time I'm sure it will not take nearly as much time as long as I can streamline the process and learn to use keyboard shortcuts.

Anita-thanks for pointing that out, it's bugging me that the car ended up on the boarder (necessary crop at the time due to artifacts from the distortion tool which I now know how to remedy) but the brightness escaped me. When I revisit this it will be addressed.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks Hazel and Anita, I'm fairly happy with how this one progressed, in time I'm sure it will not take nearly as much time as long as I can streamline the process and learn to use keyboard shortcuts.

Anita-thanks for pointing that out, it's bugging me that the car ended up on the boarder (necessary crop at the time due to artifacts from the distortion tool which I now know how to remedy) but the brightness escaped me. When I revisit this it will be addressed.

Randall: That the car is on the border, doesn't bother me.
Re. streamlining your work, perhaps you can create some "actions" for repetitive tasks.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Love the comp, distortion, and the vintage feel on this one. Really well done.