Old Photographs as Character Pictures

**JulieH** · 13th June 2011, 04:13 PM

[Split from [Reborn] Art Nouveau Character Sheet for Cthulhu Gaslight. ~PoC]

Would photos help? I have at least 500 actual photos of people from the 1850s through the 1930s, and while I haven't even scanned them all in yet, I could make a nice selection available for people to populate their personae with.

**JulieH** · 13th June 2011, 11:05 PM

Good point. I would however, release them under a no attribution, share alike, non-commercial creative commons (not wanting someone to come along later and gather them up my scans and try to sell a package of them...)

I was actually just thinking about making a page on my show's website, since that would be easiest for me. Include pix that are maybe 200x200 pixels (good size for a character pic?), primarily head and shoulders views.

If anyone wants to take a look at some of my previous scans (and believe me, I don't claim to be an expert at scanning), I use a lot of them as "illustrations" for my blogs on the rss page (nineteennocturne.libsyn.com) - choose the Tone Didactic category and scroll through some of those.

Of course, using these old pictures as illustrations for my shows is TOTALLY my excuse fro shopping too much on ebay...

**dce** · 13th June 2011, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by JulieH

Good point. I would however, release them under a no attribution, share alike, non-commercial creative commons (not wanting someone to come along later and gather them up my scans and try to sell a package of them...)

I was actually just thinking about making a page on my show's website, since that would be easiest for me. Include pix that are maybe 200x200 pixels (good size for a character pic?), primarily head and shoulders views.

Hi Julie ... yep, the CC license you mention is definitely the way to go: it promotes sharing for non-commercial purposes, but stops anyone totally ripping you off by later trying to sell your scans for cash. It's a similar license to what I use to release materials (including this sheet) on my blog.

One thing you should consider, however, is what your position would be about your images getting used in MULAs or other CoC publications -- those would all be commercial uses, not allowed under the CC-no$ license, but maybe something you would be happy to discuss with publishers etc (?)

Your plan about what to scan sounds good too ... I would be tempted, though, to go slightly higher resolution: maybe 400x400.

BTW: the photos you've already scanned look amazing, although I'd have to say this guys weirds me out a bit:

Dean (from Adelaide)

**JulieH** · 13th June 2011, 11:40 PM

Yeah. well, I do look for the "characters"... glad you like him.

I think I'll leave the scan quality where it is for now, since by nature character sheet pics tend to be small, so resolution will be fine.

And if anyone wants to use them in a commercial publication, we can make a direct arrangement (I have no problem with it, and a simple agreement will cover it).

**JulieH** · 14th June 2011, 04:23 AM

This should hold people for a while. Feel free to repost the link anywhere you think someone might get some use out of the pics.
http://www.19nocturneboulevard.net/xold%20photos.htm

**dce** · 14th June 2011, 04:52 AM

Originally Posted by JulieH

This should hold people for a while. Feel free to repost the link anywhere you think someone might get some use out of the pics.
http://www.19nocturneboulevard.net/xold%20photos.htm

Wow, Julie ... these are fantastic. These pix pretty much scream "Cthulhu Investigator" (or Investigatrix (?)) ... I will definitely be using some of these!

Dean (from Adelaide)

**JulieH** · 14th June 2011, 01:38 PM

Glad to help - and I love sharing my toys.

[I knew i had to put those up quickly, before my mind wandered and i forgot what I was going to do - happens all the time]

**LordKrieg** · 14th June 2011, 08:45 PM

I would love to see some of them. I am always looking for photos to use either for NPC's or Characters.

**LordKrieg** · 14th June 2011, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by dce

BTW: the photos you've already scanned look amazing, although I'd have to say this guys weirds me out a bit:

Dean (from Adelaide)

Agreed. Wow. Do we know anything about this person? I think it is always interesting to look at old photos and wonder who the people where.

I think I made my san roll. :P

**LordKrieg** · 14th June 2011, 08:52 PM

Excellent collection.

I have just the place for this gentelman....

I would like to know more about him, as I might have mentioned before...

Failed my san roll for those eyes.

**JulieH** · 14th June 2011, 09:26 PM

I don't usually get much, if any, information with these. Just lots and albums on ebay. I even have a couple of guys who are pretty badly scarred in the boxes somewhere. And don't a couple of those ladies come close to something a little Innsmouth-y around the eyes?

I haven't even scratched the surface of scanning them in. I'll probably eventually fill that page up to 50 of each gender - that seems reasonable. And anyone who wants something specific can just drop me a line.

My excuse for buying them all is that they are characters for my audio dramas (found some lovely fellows for the Lovecraft 5, Deadeye kid, Plain Jane, etc.), since they're actually "of the time".

So mostly I just make up who they are now...

**LordKrieg** · 14th June 2011, 10:34 PM

I will have to check some of the drams out. I can see where they offer a ton of information. Do you have anything from the "wild west"? Cowboys and what not? Running a campain that is for the moment pre-1890 (1883 ( I believe)) and need some good pics for the time and place, people who are not famous.

**JulieH** · 14th June 2011, 10:55 PM

Oh, lots - but a lot of my more western pics end up as illustrations for my Western series "The Deadeye Kid" (http://www.19nocturneboulevard.net/1...eyeKidmain.htm)
I'll see what I have that haven't used yet.

Do check out some of my shows - they range all over the place.