Batgirl got a face lift

Here is a good example of what happens when you look back at your early work. You want to fix it and wish nobody saw it the way it was. This knife here many of you have seen before, it was done when I first started engraving knives and my limited skill at doing female faces, which is difficult, was not what it is now. Luckily, I had the opportunity to do some recutting and improve upon what was there. Unfortunately, in 20 yrs. I will probably view what I am doing now the same as I viewed this knife. But, I think every engraver goes through that and have to except that it was as good as you could do at the time. I suppose one should feel good that you have improved enough over time to know what could be done better earlier in your career. Oh, and I got to play around in Photoshop too, I am still mediocre, but it's fun.

I think there are some before shots of this knife in the photo gallery, I cannot bring myself to show what it looked like before

[/IMG]

Hi Brian,

This Great Work is sure to have the Great Masters taking a second look. There is Great Pride in this knife. Thank You for allowing me to have the Honor of viewing it.

Best Wishes,
JT

Brian
Have you ever tried to get into the TCAA. Your work is unreal.
Rod

Brian

I went and looked in the Gallery - there is a picture of the original version of the knife.
The changes you've made are subtle, but the effect is very noticeable. She's much more feminine now, and seems happier - the original version was a bit dour.

I'm glad you share these beauties with us because I'm pretty much limited to smiley faces myself.

Yes it only takes a few correctly placed dots here and there, to get more contrast and smoother tone transitions. The biggest mistake I made on the original was I did not shadow behind the profile of the nose on the 3/4 view, I followed the shadowing on the portrait I was working from, but I have learned you cannot always follow the picture exactly or in this case she will look hook nosed, because the profile of the nose was not well defined. The frontal view was ok on the original, but did not have as much contrast as I like to see, so I went in and darkened a few areas and defined the eyes a little more to get a little more intensity.

Rod, no I have never applied to the TCAA, I know a few of the members and even have tutored a couple on their engraving, but the TCAA is a big commitment, that I do not have time for right now. The western world had been all I ever known, until I started doing the high end engraving on the guns and knives. This opened a door to a much larger world I never knew existed, so I am going to see where this leads me.

Brian,
Once again, Expectional Work.....
Your time in photoshop is well spent, Nice photo...
Thanks for sharing,
Stephen

Brian, she looks exactly like my first wife.The one who tried to open me up with a very large unengraved butcher knife. I showed you work to Franca, her comment, "Those French women do have a temper." Bat Girl" will most likly haunt my deams tonight.