After just playing another cracking game with my eldest, she has decided she would like a custom investigator.

Does anyone know of an app or technique for making modern photos look like they are from the 1920's?

Thanks Raz

I use PhotoShop for my graphic needs ... that sounds kind of sick. But anyway, awesome program but a bit pricey.

Razrael said:

For general image editing, you can also use the GIMP, which is similar to Photoshop but free software. Both programs have a lot of features and take a lot of getting used to if you have not used something similar before.

However, if you want some realatively simple techniques, you can stick with the "Filters" menu in either program. Since the official investigator portraits are digital paintings, play with some of the Filters in either program that simulate adding paint strokes. The GIMP actually seems to include more options in this regard than Photoshop. If you can get your daughter to wear some kind of period costume for the photo, so much the better. (If not, you ccould use either of the above programs to add period elements, but this takes some practice to do well.)

Tip: depending on the app and the version, you may need to use "Select All" (Ctrl+A, or Command+A on a Mac) before applying the filter in order to get it to do anything.

Much of the artwork in SE starts with actual photos from the 1920s that I have modified to fit the theme and colourized manually. The two built-in investigators are probably the most complex examples, with Hazel being the most extensive by far. In fact, there is an Easter Egg in SE which shows the before and after for her portrait (although... um... I can't recommend duplicating this particular example exactly within a parent-child relationship).

Another route, which I have also used, would be to look for period paintings. You could try to find some period artwork with a subject that looks similar to your daughter. Or you could also (and again, this takes some practice and patience to do well) replace the subject or add a subject to a period background.

Have fun experimenting.

Cheers,
Chris

Also note that the artists of the game have a number of pictures on the internet that they never put into the game. So for example, Henning Ludvisgen has an Elfwood accout here: www.elfwood.com/art/l/u/ludvigsen/ludvigsen.html

Some of his stuff is included in various parts of the game:

And some is not:

In general, I would suggest trying to match the artistic style of the game rather than the photographic style of the period.

-Frank

Thanks for the advice.

I was aware of the photo editing suites mentioned, just wondered if anyone in the community had knocked up a small app to auto apply filters to jpgs.

The art work is cool. I sorted my daughter's portrait by a bit of tinkering in PS.

Raz