FX Studio Creates Youthful Image of Susan B. Anthony

Community Submission
07:40PM / Monday, August 23, 2010

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Diana Walczek works on the digitally created image of the young Susan B. Anthony.

ADAMS, Mass. — An image of women's rights leader Susan B. Anthony as a child was revealed at the home of her birth this past weekend.

Created by local digital artist Diana Walczak, the unveiling commemorates the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, often called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, that gave women the right to vote. The constitutional amendment was certified on Aug. 26, 1920. (Tennessee was the 37th state to ratify the amendment on Aug. 18.)

Fourteen member of the Anthony family were present when the image was revealed at the Anthony Birthplace and Museum on East Road on Friday.

The image portrays Anthony at age 6 wearing the simple clothing of a Quaker child in 1826. She is standing in front of the hearth in the kitchen. Anthony spent her earliest years in the East Road dwelling her father built until the family moved to New York State.

The high-quality, digitally produced illustration was created by Walczak, co-owner of Synthespian Studios in Williamstown. The filmographers at Synthespian specialize in 3-D design and character animation and have produced a stereoscopic film for Radio City Music Hall's "Christmas Spectacular," ride films for Busch Gardens and Universal Studios, and groundbreaking special-effects for films such as "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four."  Its offices are in Hollywood and Williamstown.

The museum provided Walczak with the historical research for reference photos, Quaker clothing and styling to create the image.

"Photography was not developed at the time Susan was a child and lived here in this home," said Carol Crossed, president of the museum.  "The image of Susan standing in front of the kitchen hearth is so endearing. It brings to life this Anthony heritage."

The civil rights activist in 1896 at age 76.

The process of creating the image is the reverse of how a composite sketch artist uses the picture of a kidnapped child and "ages" image of how they may appear 15 years later.

"We were fortunate to find two frontal images of Susan's face, one at age 28 and one at age 32," said Walczak. "Both images show that her eye and eyebrow were higher on her right side than on her left and that her right mouth corner was higher than her left as well. We incorporated these features into our interpretation of a younger version of Susan B. Anthony's facial structure."

Walczak worked with 3-D digital artist Travis Pinnsonault, who built a digital database of the little girl based on Walczak's sketches. Travis went on to texture and light the entire scene and render the one image using the same computer-graphics processes Synthespian Studios uses in film and TV production. He then passed on the image with separate layers for Walczak to complete in Photoshop. She balanced the layers and painted new elements, such as hair, facial details, and the fire that casts a warm glow on the little girl.

"I tried to give the young Susan B. Anthony an innocent, yet curious and determined look," Walczak said. "I felt highly responsible to be as accurate as possible, deeply moved as our image gradually came to life, and truly honored to have had the opportunity to create a visualization of one of the world's most important historical figures."

The image is available to the viewing public beginning this past weekend. Regular museum hours of operation are Friday through Monday, 10 to 4.

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