How to Cut and Paste Graphics

So I used to wonder if I could make graphics whole. How to replace missing parts to make a whole model and dress out of the parts I'm given. I wanted a big full size fashion model out of one of the background ones in this World of Fashion plate from the 1800's, but she is half missing. We need to fix her. These prints come dark and bleak so first we lighten and brighten them until we get them looking good. I'm using the GIMP.

We will be cutting out a background fashion model and fixing her missing arm and clothes to make a whole fashion lady we can use. Of course we'll start with one from the public domain archive and then we'll clean it up and cut her out. 

Select the crop tool and cut out the background model leaving enough room for us to build her dress back on. We need to also make the graphic transparent 'Layer | Transparency | Add Alpha Channel'.

Looks like this now so we can remove everything in the background and also the dress in front of our model like this with our eraser tool and fuzzy select tools.

Now we need to cut out parts of our model and flip them horizontally and rotate the arm for the other side. We will need an arm, a shoulder plus sleeve and half the dress on three separate layers so we can make her whole. We will do that by duplicating the main graphic for each cut. I used the square selection tool on the top main graphic layer and then 'Layer | Crop to Selection' to do it. Then on the main graphic layer I removed the black part of the middle dress under the ruffle and erased some of the yoke lace and sleeve areas to make them a little narrower. Then I moved her over to the center of the canvas area because I'm going to add some ruffles to the outside edges of the dress where they look chopped off.

Duplicate the main image and cut a piece of the ruffle out. Duplicate that and flip it for the other side of the skirt. Cut another piece out for the middle ruffle that's missing and drag it to the bottom layer. Now we just position the sleeve and line up the shoulder. Keep the left sleeve piece above the layer of the main graphic so it will look right. 

Then we make the right arm visible, position it under the sleeve layer and rotate it into place. You could try different placements to see what you like best. Remember you can use the resize feature with or without the lock to squeeze the sleeve into the right perspective. Erase overlapping pieces you don't need. When you get it the way you like, merge all the layers 'Image | Merge Visible layers'. 

And it seems we're done making a complete head to toe fashion model. Save your graphic in an editable format and as a .png. Now if we want to take it a step further, we can cut away her bottom part to make a vignette of just her top half. We start by duplicating the image. Turn off the top layer and cut the bottom half completely off of the under layer at the hip line. Then turn that layer off and work on the top layer to cut out near the cut line erasing everything under the cut line except the hands.

Don't forget to check your transparent areas on a colored background. I usually use black and then white to make sure all the stray pixels and debris have been removed. Turn off the background layer and save your .png with a unique name so you don't overwrite the full size one we just made. It goes from this to this in just a few hours of work. It's magic!

 

If you've gotten this far then you now have some real skills you can use to manipulate graphics and make just about whatever you want. Remember you can do this with all public domain graphics to make them uniquely your own. You could mix and match arms, skirts, tops, hats and even faces with these. Have fun!

I'm really getting the urge to play with Easter bonnets after looking at all these fashion plates! Hmmm....