Turn a Photo into a Leaded Stained-Glass Panel

Format

Text

Inputs

Reference_photo (image) · Required

Outputs

Stained_glass_panel_photograph (image)

Use only the one photo attached. Read it first, then rebuild what it shows as a leaded stained-glass panel and photograph that panel hanging in a window.

WHAT TO READ FROM THE PHOTO
Main subject: identify the person, animal, or building the photo is about. Count the subjects. Note their pose; which way the head and body face; coat pattern or hair; clothing colours; and anything worn or carried.
Setting: identify two or three large shapes behind the subject, such as a horizon, hill, wall, water, doorway, or tree.
Light direction and time of day.

WHAT TO MAKE
Create one portrait image in a 2:3 aspect ratio. It must be a photograph of a real stained-glass panel with daylight coming through it—not a drawing of stained glass and not a photo tinted with colour.

THE PANEL
Make a flat, rectangular panel of coloured glass pieces, about the size of a book, held together by lead lines. The lead must be an opaque, dark grey band of even width running between every two pieces of glass, slightly raised, with small soldered joints where three or more lines meet. A thicker lead edge frames the whole panel. A thin copper wire and two small hooks hold it to the window frame.

THE GLASS
Every colour area must be a separate, flat piece of glass with straight or gently curved edges. Nothing is painted onto a single sheet.
Pieces glow where the sun passes through and go dull where the panel is in shade. Within each piece, the colour varies as real glass does: faint streaks, mottling, small bubbles, or a seedy grain. Some pieces are clear or frosted.
Build the subject from the photo out of large, simple pieces so it reads from across a room: the head uses one or two pieces, the body a few more, and each eye a small dark piece. Fur and fabric become shaped pieces, never texture.
Turn the setting behind the subject into three or four wide bands of glass. Omit everything small and far away.

THE PHOTOGRAPH
Make it look like a photo someone took at home from inside a room. The panel hangs against a window; the sunlit outdoors behind it is blown out and unreadable. Show the window frame and part of the wall or sill around the panel. Light passing through the glass casts faint coloured patches on the sill or the wall beside it. Use a slight camera angle, not a perfectly square-on view. Include one thin highlight across the glass surface where the room reflects.
The panel must occupy between 0.50 and 0.80 of the image height.

KEEP THE SUBJECT RECOGNISABLE
Keep the same number of subjects as in the photo, with the same species or breed, hair, clothing colours, items worn or held, pose, and facing direction. Someone who knows the photo should recognize the subject at a glance.

FAILURE CONDITIONS
Any letter, number, logo, or brand mark anywhere in the image is a failure.
Two colour areas meeting without a lead line between them is a failure.
Fewer than twenty separate pieces of glass in the panel is a failure.
Smooth, airbrushed shading inside a piece is a failure; variation inside a piece must read as streaks, mottling, or bubbles in the glass.
Photographic skin, fur, fabric, or foliage texture anywhere on the panel is a failure.
More or fewer subjects than in the photo is a failure.
A second panel or a row of panels is a failure. Show one panel only.
A panel sitting on a table with no light coming through it is a failure.