Artwork Restoration
I have extensive commercial experience in digital artwork restoration: re-drawing, digital painting and photo editing.
I have developed several techniques for advanced image restoration.
In this example, pinball cabinet artwork (1m x 2m) had to be re-created from an actual cabinet as there was no original artwork available to work with.
As it was difficult to find an appropriate large-bed scanner for the cabinet, the artwork had to be scanned in multiple segments then pieced together using Illustrator & Photoshop.
Hardware holes, damage, wear and tear all have to be re-drawn. In this case I am using Photoshop to recreate the missing artwork.
The logo, earring, sword and other details are precicely re-drawn in Illustrator to achieve crisp edges. The artwork is reconciled on technical drawings of a cabinet and a half inch of bleed is re-drawn around the entire border of the art.
This particular job was originally printed with four spot colours. Due to the nature of this image, it will be possible to separate the colors using Photoshop. The four colours are extracted into layers using a combination of tools: magic wand is used with sharpen, contrast and levels adjustments yielding accurate isolation of each colour. Trapping is also applied to the layers in Photoshop.
Finally, the separations are re-combined in Illustrator and Pantone swatches are applied which match the original inks used on the cabinet. Crop marks are applied. The artwork is printed in bulk onto a large self-adhesive vinyl stickers with a commercial screen press or UV digital press with clear coat.
This large sticker is sold as a spare part for restoration on the world-wide market. It is applied to a sanded and filled cabinet using a wet apply method similar to vehicle wrapping.
This is just one type of image restoration job. Other jobs will require a different approach. The processes I used were the result of applying creative problem solving and a strong knowledge of printed artwork. I love finding technical solutions to creative problems and vice versa.
Please drop me a line to discuss your project.