Joe to the rescue

[nacho]

One of my favorite pieces of vintage Joe artwork was the "To the Rescue" poster that adorned the '83 catalog insert and was later available as a full-color mail away poster. That being said, I always wanted a high-res copy of that artwork, but the vintage posters are $$$$$. So after looking for a long time, I finally acquired a crappy copy, scanned it at hi-res, and 'shopped it until I was happy.

Why? I'm not sure. I thought I might use it for a computer wallpaper, but it's a little "busy" for that. I might desaturate and/or fade it to make it more suitable for that purpose. Who knows. I might find other good uses for it. But for some reason, it makes me very happy to have a really nice large digital version of this artwork in my possession.

There are probably a few of you that might like it too, so here's a couple of links. Maybe it'll make some of you as happy as it does me!

Full-sized (~23MB)
http://www.collectedcomics.com/toys/joe_to_the_rescue_full.jpg

1920 pixels wide (~2.5MB)
http://www.collectedcomics.com/toys/joe_to_the_rescue_1920.jpg

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Saved!

That's beautiful nacho...thanks so much for sharing...especially since its the first time I've ever seen that art

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Just looked...no idea where it saved to...hmmm

EDIT: got it!

 

[nacho]

Saved!

That's beautiful nacho...thanks so much for sharing...especially since its the first time I've ever seen that art

No way! You never had the '83 toy insert?

http://www.yojoe.com/catalogs/83/

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

I didn't get into Joe until 85 or maybe even 86 when I was riding my bike around the block and I saw a boy playing on the corner in the dirt with some figures I didn't know about...so I stopped and we eventually became best friends...he introduced me to G.I.JOE that day in the dirt and my love for Joes took off from there...so I didn't have the earlier stuff...Jason however had EVERYTHING!...so I at least played with the toys...

 

[Fled74]

Good stuff, Nacho!

I was riding my bike around the block and I saw a boy on the corner I didn't know... so I stopped and we eventually became best friends...he introduced me to JOE that day and my love for Joe took off from there... Jason had EVERYTHING!...

That's so romantic...

 

[Meddatron]

Oooh, much better picture than the scan I had. Going into my wallpaper collection.

 

[nacho]

I made one a couple of years ago by scanning the catalog and doing lots of fractal interpolation to get the resolution higher and photoshopped it to death, but it couldn't hold a candle to a scan of the big poster.

This poster I bought was really ragged, so it took a ton of work to make it look good, but I think it turned out awesome. I'm glad you guys like it.

 

[bman]

Thanks for sharing this! I wonder how upset the wife will get if I had this printed out on canvans......like a fine painting

 

[Mandingo Rex]

That's so romantic...

Times sure have changed, eh? You can't just ride your bike around the neighborhood anymore and fall in love with boys in sandboxes like the good ol' 80s!

Someone had a bunch of the old artwork scanned and retouched over at HT. There was a thread, but last I recall of it was at least a few years ago, I think.

This was in it, it may have been you who posted it. I'm not sure anymore. I downloaded quite a bit of it, because it was cool to see some of it.

Now here's a challenge... Recreate the sonofabitch in dio format!

 

[Mandingo Rex]

Here's a color-corrected one that seems to have better colors. Also, the Joe logo isn't on it. This isn't my restoration/Photoshop work, all I did was archive it. Apologies to whoever took the time to upload it, but credit goes to them.

http://x4.ofgraphicdesign.com/118th/art/83catalog01.jpg

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Wow...pretty big difference...the one you posted MR just seems brighter

 

[Monkeywrench]

I like the non bright one better. The greens hurt my eyes lol

 

[Mandingo Rex]

It's just had the yellowing (from aging or yellow lighting, I'd imagine) removed, and brightened a little bit more. A few spots are too blown out, though. It's not perfect. Also, nacho's is higher resolution, obviously.

 

[nacho]

I played around with different color corrections, but didn't find any that I thought looked better.

I do like that the one you linked took the logo out, but they pumped up the saturation too much IMO. Or at least on my monitor. Maybe our monitors are calibrated differently.

If people prefer, I can alter the brightness and saturation pretty easily. I like that the green looks more OD and less bright, but I aim to please.

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

Oh no, it looks too saturated to me too in some spots

 

[nacho]

I guess I just prefer the darker one. The clouds look more ominous. The sky isn't bright white, but the yellowish hue looks fine to me.

For a good contrast, look at the explosion right over the flag. They brightened it too far and kinda took the punch out of it. And the jetpack trooper almost vanishes.

Tomorrow I'll play with some other adjustments if I have time, see if there is a happy medium.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

I guess I just prefer the darker one. The clouds look more ominous. The sky isn't bright white, but the yellowish hue looks fine to me.

For a good contrast, look at the explosion right over the flag. They brightened it too far and kinda took the punch out of it. And the jetpack trooper almost vanishes.

Tomorrow I'll play with some other adjustments if I have time, see if there is a happy medium.

Yeah, there's not a huge need for it. I just wanted to post that in case you needed a comparison for color correction. What you did isn't bad, just a tad yellowed. You can pull the yellow channel out separately using hue adjust, if you want a simple way to just play with those levels.

It's not necessary, just wanted to throw it out there.

You got me looking through my "archive" of images I downloaded and there's a really cool Joe HQ with a flag (the box art for the original HQ) except the flag isn't the one on the toy. It's got a saying on it. I am considering recreating it, but making it look more realistic.

*EDIT*

Actually, maybe it is the right flag... The ones I found had just a U.S. flag up there, but this one says "Honour. Duty. Courage" with the British spelling. Which I found strange...

 

[nacho]

I think the HQ flag had two completely different sides, IIRC. So that's probably right.

 

[fogger1138]

I think the HQ flag had two completely different sides, IIRC. So that's probably right.

Yup. No idea why.

 

[Meddatron]

The Honor Duty is on the reverse side of the Flagg. I remember mine having it. The box art shows it too.

 

[nacho]

Ok, I tried to find something I was happy with that took out the yellow I attributed to the aging of the poster without going so far as to remove all the yellow and thereby dull the explosions and blow out all the detail in the highlights of the image or make the green too saturated. The logo itself is now stark white, while there is still some yellow in the sky/clouds/smoke, and I'm convinced that's "correct". But what do I know. The full-sized image is large and uncompressed, so anyone is free to tweak it further to suit themselves.

Here are the links to the tweaked versions, as well as a "before and after" comparison pic. Enjoy!

Full-sized (~26MB)
http://www.collectedcomics.com/toys/joe_to_the_rescue_full_colortweak.jpg

1920 version(~3MB)
http://www.collectedcomics.com/toys/joe_to_the_rescue_1920_colortweak.jpg

 

[fogger1138]

I like it.

 

[Slaymaker]

These are AWESOME! Thank you for sharing them!!!

I would love a big 24 x 30 framed poster of that...that would be sweet!

I wonder what it would look like on one of these?

http://photos.walmart.com/walmart/s...leA080112-lLinkGNAV_Photo_Photo_CanvasWallArt

And I wonder if Walmart would let me print it?

 

[nacho]

Yeah, I don't know how particular they are about trademarked stuff. Certainly if you 'shopped the logo out and the clerk wasn't a male in his 30's, you'd be golden.

 

[Slaymaker]

Yeah, I don't know how particular they are about trademarked stuff. Certainly if you 'shopped the logo out and the clerk wasn't a male in his 30's, you'd be golden.

I am tempted go ask...I work across the street from a WalMart...the artwork looks like a painting so putting it on a canvas would be pretty cool - I think.

 

[nacho]

I agree. I'd love to hear how it turns out on canvas, as I've had similar thoughts (although I have no clue where I'd put it).

 

[G.I.*EDDIE]

The updated pic looks great nacho...it's almost as if I was wearing sunglasses looking at the top one and took them off and the bottom one is the result

 

[nacho]

Glad you like it. I aim to please. To me it strikes a nice balance.

 

[Mandingo Rex]

It's like you traveled to the '82 and stole it!

 

[NSA]

I am tempted go ask...I work across the street from a WalMart...the artwork looks like a painting so putting it on a canvas would be pretty cool - I think.

Yeah let me know, I'd be down to do the same thing!

 

[nacho]

It's like you traveled to the '82 and stole it!

Ha! When I started it looked more like the poster had been wadded up in my back pocket since '82.

FYI, this is what I started with, full of rips, scratches, bends, and folds... it took a long time to clean this pig up!

 

[Mandingo Rex]

The funny thing about the scene though, is who are they rescuing? Looks like they're just wasting ammo in the middle of nowhere.

 

[NSA]

The funny thing about the scene though, is who are they rescuing? Looks like they're just wasting ammo in the middle of nowhere.

That's just Joe 101.

 

[nacho]

I always thought it was odd that there was no cobra anywhere to be found... but I cannot deny the surge of Joe-fanboy-pride that the image induces.

 

[Slaymaker]

Yeah let me know, I'd be down to do the same thing!

SO the photo manager said if I send it in between 7 and 4 M-F - she will print it for me. She doesn't see any problem with a 30 year old toy catalog image being printed.

On problem though is the canvas wraps around the sides like 1 to 1.75 in (pending which you choose) so for it to work, a plain border would need photoshopped on OR the GI JOE Logo moved down and in so it is not wrapped onto the side and back.

I don't have photoshop nor have I ever even seen the program so I cannot do either.

If anyone can update the file to work on the canvas...I am totally making one.

 

[Meddatron]

Just open the pic is MS Paint, go to the bottom right corner of the picture and grab the dot to extend the white background by an inch or so. Now hit "select all" and drag the image to the center. You now have a white border around the pic.

 

[nacho]

I'll do it for you, no problem.

- What size are you printing it?
- How much extra border do you need?
- What color would you like the border to be?

 

[Slaymaker]

Just open the pic is MS Paint, go to the bottom right corner of the picture and grab the dot to extend the white background by an inch or so. Now hit "select all" and drag the image to the center. You now have a white border around the pic.

wow - its that easy?

I'll do it for you, no problem.

- What size are you printing it?
- How much extra border do you need?
- What color would you like the border to be?

Sweet! Thank you!

- I need to look at prices to see which size i want to get (I will get back to you later tonight)
- The border needs to be 1.75" all the way around.
- I was thinking black would look cool.

 

[nacho]

Sure, just let me know what size print you pick, and that way I can scale the border pixel-wise to be 1.75" accordingly.