The Mighty Archive

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Monday, October 27, 2008

Image Restoration

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The most time consuming portion of assembling Overspray was ensuring that all the paintings were in good shape and ready for print. As some pieces are nearly 40 years old, they required a bit of help in the retouching department. Dave Willardson had done an excellent job of archiving all of his work onto 4x5 transparencies which we sent to Singapore for drum scanning. But even so there were still a few that required restoration work.

This is what the original transparency looks like. Pretty severe fading, probably due to improper finishing during film processing. But this illustration is one of my favorite early pieces by Dave and I wanted to include it.

The first step was to remove the overall color cast that had been caused by the fading. I could tell the background was once white, so I reduced the red cast until it was neutral, and adjusted the shadow levels.

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About the Author

Norman Hathaway
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Norman Hathaway is a designer and writer whose primary focus is on contemporary, lesser-known design techniques and personalities. Norman's professional experience has spanned many design disciplines, from sign painting to filmmaking. His clients included The Design Museum, The Royal Academy of Arts, Paul McCartney and Peter Gabriel. He has lectured widely on design at the London College of Printing, The Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths College and other schools. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his daughter Wilma.
© 2008 PictureBox Inc. and Norman Hathaway
overspraybook@gmail.com