I love the new production of Pride & Prejudice, so I wanted to do something with a photo of Keira Knightley (as Elizabeth Bennet).

 

The original photo was already so beautiful, as is Keira—so what to do? I ended up softening the portrait (keeping the focus on her eyes) and using a warm, muted burgundy color scheme.

I always thought this was a very evocative photo of Mr. Thornton (Richard Armitage) from North & South.

Another attempt at the "oil painting" look again—adding highlights, modifying the color, softening up portions of the face.

I call this "Rasputin in Drag." The extras on the Dracula 2000 DVD included Gerard Butler's audition—he was filming Attila at the time and therefore had long hair. The eyeliner—don't know what the reason for that was.

 

Changed the color scheme (using Photoshop's Gradient Maps! Did I mention that I love the Gradient Map? Yes? Well, I do!). Painted some highlights in and enhanced other highlights on the face. And, of course, made sure that the eyes were nice and blue.