Becca Saladin always had an interest in things that happened in the past, so she decided to start as a history and anthropology major, but ended up becoming a graphic designer. However, her love for history, anthropology, and archeology has never stopped. Instead, she merged her two passions and began reimagining historical figures as modern human beings.
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I wanted to try something I’ve never tried before on this version of Shah Jahan – instead of creating this portrait purely from the profile view, I tried to kind of extrapolate his features onto a more revealing angle. This was tough – I was guessing what a slightly upward and side angle would look like for him, but I think it turned out pretty well! Let me know if you guys like this sort of thing. Prints of this work are available in my Etsy shop – please follow the link in my bio to get there. . Shah Jahan was the 5th Mughal emperor, coming after Bâbur, Humâyûn, Akbar, and Jahângîr, his father (hopefully all will be created as future subjects!). As a child, he was very intelligent and showed promise very early in life. Taking over the throne in 1628, Shah Jahan is considered to be one of the most successful Mughal emperors – reigning for 30 years. The empire thrived under his long rule. He is most famously known for constructing the Taj Mahal for his late wife Mumtaz Mahal (a previous subject – I’ve posted her image again in this post) and being a great constructor of monuments. . If you like my work and want to support me, please consider purchasing from the Etsy store or donating a few bucks so I can keep chugging along! I appreciate all of my supporters so dearly. A few ways to support: Receive exclusive perks: Patreon.com/royaltynow Paypal: www.paypal.me/royaltynow Venmo: @Becca-Saladin . Left Portrait base: Public Domain. Right Portrait base: Pexels & own photo. Created using @photoshop. . #ShahJahan #MumtazMahal #TajMahal #IndianRoyalty #Mughal #Emperor #IndianHistory #ArtHistory #Faceswapchallenge #Transformation #Art #Benin #DigitalArt #Photoshop #DigitalReconstruction #Composite #FaceSwap
A post shared by Royalty Now (@royalty_now_) on Sep 15, 2020 at 1:35pm PDT
“I saw some recreations of Roman busts that were colorized but wondered what they would look like today instead of just back then,” Saladin shared in a Q&A on her Instagram account called Royalty Now where her depictions have attracted more than 262,000 followers. Her journey began with reimagining her favorite historical character, the 16th century Queen of England Anne Boleyn.
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One of the most famous thinkers of all time, Aristotle (384-322 BC) contributed significantly to human knowledge. His reach touches logic, biology, ethics, aesthetics, and more. We don’t have any contemporary descriptions of his coloring, but luckily we have several surviving busts of his looks – of course this means estimating the hair and eye color, which is unknown. This work is in the Uffizi gallery, and is a Roman copy of the Greek original. Aristotle was taught by none other than Plato, and he spent 20 years as a student and later as a teacher at Plato’s Academy. Of his approximately 200 works only 31 survive. It is theorized that the surviving writings, because of their jumbled and dense structure, were meant to be lecture notes for his teaching rather than finished works. His writings were lost for many years after his death, and only after 300 years (in 30 BC) did Andronicus of Rhodes group and edit Aristotle’s works. Aristotle remains one of the most influential thinkers of all time, and contributed greatly to history. Check out my Tik Tok @royaltynow for the transformation timelapse! . If you like my work and want to support me, please consider purchasing from the Etsy store or donating a few bucks so I can keep chugging along! I appreciate all of my supporters so dearly. A few ways to support: Receive exclusive perks: Patreon.com/royaltynow Paypal: www.paypal.me/royaltynow Venmo: @Becca-Saladin . Left Portrait base: My own photo. Right Portrait base: iStock. Created using @photoshop. #aristotle #philosphers #statues #digitalart #photoshop #history #recreation #portrait #historicalreenactment #faceswap
A post shared by Royalty Now (@royalty_now_) on Sep 22, 2020 at 12:34pm PDT
She also explains that finding pictures that work for the background hair, skin and make sense for the person is the hardest part of this job. Sometimes her followers have different expectations, but usually, most of the reactions are positive and full of support.
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As many of you tudor-history lovers know, it was so exciting when we finally got confirmation on a portrait of Mary Boleyn. This portrait I’ve used here on the left is actually a copy of that portrait – the confirmed portrait is owned by the crown (and I don’t want a cease and desist from the Queen!), so I’ve used the copy from the public domain. Mary Boleyn was known as the beauty of the Boleyn family. She previously had an affair with Henry VIII before her younger sister Anne married him. There was surprisingly little available about her hair color – I always thought she was blonde (I’m sure from the popular Scarlett Johansson portrayal in The Other Boleyn Girl). However, the only source describing her hair color was that it was “lighter than her sisters”, which was said to be a deep shade of auburn. I also had some fun adding a few beauty marks/freckles, which I think adds to some realism in the modern day. As always, I “balanced” the proportions of the face, correcting for some of the known stylizations in portraiture from this era, like the tiny lips. . Prints of this work are available! Click the link in my bio to get to the Etsy store. . If you like my work and want to support me, please consider purchasing from the Etsy store or donating a few bucks so I can keep chugging along! I appreciate all of my supporters so dearly. A few ways to support: Etsy.com/shop/royaltynow Receive exclusive perks: Patreon.com/royaltynow Paypal: www.paypal.me/royaltynow Venmo: @Becca-Saladin . Left Portrait base: Public Domain. Right Portrait base: iStock photo. Created using @photoshop. . #MaryBoleyn #AnneBoleyn #HenryVIII #TheTudors #TudorHistory #Recreation #ArtHistory #Faceswapchallenge #Transformation #Art #Benin #DigitalArt #Photoshop #DigitalReconstruction #Composite #FaceSwap
A post shared by Royalty Now (@royalty_now_) on Sep 28, 2020 at 12:32pm PDT
Check out the gallery to see if she transformed your favorite historical figure into its modern version.
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Born into slavery in the West Indies in 1761 to a woman named Maria Belle, Dido Elizabeth Belle was the illegitimate daughter of Sir John Lindsay, a British naval officer. It can only be assumed this relationship between Lindsay and Maria Belle was not consensual, however the exact arrangement is lost to history. Lindsay returned to England with Dido after the war in 1765. Lindsay took Dido to be raised by his Aunt and Uncle, William & Elizabeth Murray, the count and countess of Mansfield. The Murray family raised Belle as an educated woman along with their niece and Dido's cousin, Lady Elizabeth Murray. The portrait I’ve worked from here in the full version shows both Elizabeth and Dido together, as relations but not quite on equal footing. The social conventions of Mansfield's household are somewhat unclear. When the Mansfields were entertaining, Belle did not eat with the guests. A 2007 exhibit at Kenwood suggests that she was treated as "a loved but poor relation", and therefore did not always dine with guests. He said Belle joined the ladies afterwards for coffee in the drawing-room. However, other historians think she was treated as an equal based on the luxuriousness of her allowance and wardrobe. The very intelligent Dido was given responsibilities such as managing parts of the household and helping her uncle with correspondence. Belle’s life is such an interesting example of how race and illegitimacy was handled in 1700s England. . Would anyone like a print of this work? Please message me if so. I haven’t listed it in the Etsy shop yet (Link in bio) but would be happy to arrange for prints if there’s a demand for Dido. . If you’re interested in supporting my work in other ways, here are a few ways to support: Patreon: Link in Bio Paypal: www.paypal.me/royaltynow Venmo: @Becca-Saladin . Left Portrait: Public Domain, Right Portrait base: iStock photo. Created using @photoshop. . #DidoElizabethBelle #Dido #England #History #EnglishHistory #BritishHistory #UK #Photomanipulation #Editing #DigitalArt #DigitalDrawing #Edits #Photoedits #Retouching #portrait #Drawing #GraphicDesign #HistoryMemes #Portrait #ArtRestoration #DigitalArt #ArtOnInstagram
A post shared by Royalty Now (@royalty_now_) on Jul 21, 2020 at 1:02pm PDT
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I must admit, I didn’t know too much about Alexander Hamilton before starting this one – I haven’t had the opportunity to see the namesake musical that has put him back into the forefront of the American consciousness in the last few years. Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father of the United States, being an integral developer of the constitution as well as the founder of our financial system. Hamilton lived a massively interesting life filled with war, satesmanship, a sex scandal, a duel, and so much more. I’ve only scratched the surface with my research – what’s your favorite fact about him? . If you would like to support my work you can do so by joining the Patreon and gaining exclusive perks like seeing posts a week before they are posted here, seeing some of my greatest failures, and watching creation videos. (www.patreon.com/royaltynow) or I have a “Tip Jar” here at www.paypalme/royaltynow. This work costs money to create, so any help is much appreciated ❤️ . Left Portrait: Public Domain, Right Portrait base: istock photo
A post shared by Royalty Now (@royalty_now_) on Mar 9, 2020 at 12:43pm PDT
