Thursday, February 07, 2013

Bringing classic sculptures to life

I remember as a kid I'd look at photos of sculptures from ancient times and wonder what they would look like in color as flesh and blood humans. I'd often imagine finding some way of tinting photos of these classic works to see them as living beings. Along came Photoshop and many years later I was able to pull it off in 2011 just for fun. Boy what a difference this made! Check out these images and you'll see what I was aiming at.

The mystery is solved for the Venus de Milo. Here she is in the form we know in plain lifeless marble followed by her color version as both a light and dark haired lady.




This is a statue of Zeus commonly known as Zeus Ostricolli. A very robust bust. Zeus was typically rendered with a magnificent mane of dark hair and a full flowing beard. Here's what the sculpture would look like in real life...



Next up is the statue of Apollo at Delphi. As god of the sun and the arts Apollo was a golden boy. Take a look at what this sculpture would be if it was a real person...



Last but certainly not least is Julius Ceasar himself. This bust is in the Vatican Museum in Rome and I'm happy to say that I laid eyes on the real deal when I was there several years ago. At this point in his life Ceasar was basking in his middle aged glory after the conquest of Gaul or modern day France and Belgium. This sculpture is considered to be a faithful rendition of what he actually looked like.



It was a great deal of fun to color these images. Hope you enjoyed viewing them as well.

2 comments:

Mynamelols said...

This was a really good idea :o

Of Gods and Heroes said...

Excellent work...