This week’s Re-Edit is cosplayed by Natashenka Cosplay, cosplaying as Motoko Kusanagi from the Ghost in the Shell franchise.
Major Motoko Kusanagi is the main protagonist in Masamune Shirow’s anime and manga series. She is a cyborg employed as the squad leader of Public Security Section 9, a fictional division of the real Japanese National Public Safety Commission, and earned her rank of major during her service in the Japan Ground Self Defense Force.
2021 EDIT PROCESS
I started with the basic changes I always do, by adjusting the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, HSL, and etc. Throughout this project of re-editing my older photos, I do not refer to the original edited photo so I can see if I would make the same steps or make alternative decisions.
Transferring the photo into Photoshop, I started with taking out the seamlines in the outfit so it would appear the outfit was made out of one piece. An added challenge was that after taking out the seams, the panels didn’t match. Using the brush tool and changing the setting to pressure mode, so that I can brush a new colour to blend in the two-panel together.
The next step I took was to remove any crease or bumps in the material’s outfit, again just to make it more of a one-piece outfit. I achieve this with a combination of Patch Tool and Clone Stamp for areas around the waist, back of the knee and shin area.
I noticed on the cosplayers wrist, she is showing her entry wristband. So using the Clone Stamp, I was able to remove the wristband.
Using the Liquify feature, I wanted to make the back of the cosplayer a true curve and not show where the bra strap.
Another step I took looking at the original images that the character is based on, I can see that the character’s eyes have been seen with blue eyes. I create a new layer, selecting the iris of the colour, I then changed the colour of her eyes to match.
As an extra step I took, I used the Patch Tool to clean the area that the cosplayer was sat on top of.
My last step was to apply the skin smoothening and contouring techniques I do in Photoshop.
COMPARING THE TWO PHOTOS
As much when I initially loved the 2017 edited photo, the improvements I made in the 2021 edit, is vastly different.
I love that I am getting better at making small alterations in the costume to improve the look of. Though I wouldn’t want to overstep the line of making total changes to an outfit/cosplay, these small changes can help improve the photo.
The photo looks a lot lighter and brighter to look at. I enjoy change cosplayers eye colours to help compliment the character they are portraying.
If there were further changes I would like to add if I had the skills or the time, I would have like to add a more cyberpunk cityscape feel to the background of the photo to give that extra dimension to the photo.
Don’t forget to use the slider below to compare the two photos but also you view them individually above.