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True Colors Volume VI – Meet Mark Truelove

By Phil Hecken

A couple weeks ago I featured colorizer Matt Olbert who is one of several great colorizers out there (a few of whom I’ve featured on this blog). There are a couple of other fantastic artists out there as well, and the gentleman you are about to meet today, Mark Truelove, is one of them (I’d actually used one of Mark’s colorizations earlier this year in a section about football played in baseball stadia). I’d been meaning to feature Mark fully on here, and today’s the day you’ll get a taste of the man’s immense talent.

We’ll start with a quick Q&A and then let’s take a look at some of the wonderful colorizations Mark has done.

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Uni Watch: OK, standard question first — are you a Uni Watch follower (and if so, for how long?) and what first brought you to the blog?

Mark Truelove: I came across Uni Watch a few years back when I started colorizing baseball photos. It turned up in a lot of my internet research and I loved a lot of the old B/W photos that were posted there along with the insight into them.

UW: How old are you and where are you from?

MT: I am 47, originally from England but I have lived in British Columbia, Canada for the past 16 years

UW: As readers know, I’ve always loved colorizations, and featured many (including at least one by you so far — in conjunction with Ronnie Bolton) on the blog. How long have you been doing them?

MT: I have been colorizing for 5 years and I have been doing baseball photos for about 2 years

UW: Your colorizations are really sharp — I’m guessing you use Photoshop for these? If not, what other program(s) do you use?

MT: Yes, they are all done in Photoshop.

UW: What attracted you to colorizations?

MT: I have always loved history and I was investigating my own family history when I saw a colorized photo someone had done online. I had lots of B/W photos of my family and I wanted to see them in color. So, I started researching how to colorize and then did all my family photos.

UW: Your twitter handle is @BaseballInColor, so obviously you specialize in that. I know you’ve done other sports (I ran at least one football colorization you’d done). Do you also colorize non-sports photos?

MT: Most of my paid work is non-baseball related. With the 100 year anniversary of the end of WW1 coming up, I have been doing quite a few projects involving the colorization of WW1 photos with a book coming out later in the year. I also colorize lots of vintage Canadian photos covering all sorts of topics (@canadiancolour)

UW: What’s been the most difficult or challenging photo?

MT: The toughest baseball photo has been the outside shot of Shibe Park due to the number of people in the photo [We’ll see that below, in a sec — PH]. Trying to get enough color variety into the crowd was challenging.

UW: Earlier this week, Joe Pines posted a great black and white photo of the New York Giants in spring training and I challenged colorizers to tackle it. You did, and quickly! How long does something like this take? What photo has taken you the longest?

MT: The NY Giants in spring training took about 45 mins. It was a simple photo with a straightforward background. The outside shot Shibe Park took the longest to do – probably about 8 hours work in all spread over a few evenings.

UW: How long did it take you to “learn” to colorize — and is it self-taught, or did you take any classes or have teaching/tutoring?

MT: I am mainly self taught but I often scour the web for new techniques/painting tutorials. Coming from a science background I have often needed to look up various artistic concepts and techniques. You can learn the basics of colorizing in under an hour. To get better at it can take a while…after 5 years I am still learning, developing new skills, and looking at photos in a different way. That is one of the reasons I like to colorize – each photo can require a different technique and is a chance to learn something new whether it be a new way of doing something or a new bit of history. I am pleased with how my crowd colorizing has been developing recently.

UW: Where can we see more of your work? Do you have a website or blog? We can obviously follow you on twitter @BaseballInColor, but do you have any other social media presence(s)?

MT: I have a Facebook account and for my non-sports/Canadian photos twitter: @canadiancolour, Facebook or www.canadiancolour.ca

UW: Great and thanks, Mark! OK, let’s see a sampling of your work with some descriptions.

• • •

For all photos below you can click to enlarge. I’ll include the single colorized image inline, with a link to the “before/after” images so you can see the tremendous amount of work that Mark puts into each of these.

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Title: “Harvard” Eddie Grant, NY Giants, 1913
Source: Library of Congress

Eddie was one of eight MLB players to die in WW1. I’ve done a lot of WW1 photos for another project so it was nice to tie two aspects of my colourizations together.

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Walter Johnson signing a baseball for some young fans c.1940
Source: Library of Congress

What a great day this must have been for the kids to meet such a star! I thought this was a great photo that captures a wonderful moment.

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Babe Ruth unconscious after he ran into a wall at Griffith Stadium, while trying to catch a foul ball – Jul 5 1924
Source: Library of Congress

Again a great crowd shot with lots of nice details, for some reason I am really happy with how the soda bottles turned out!

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Graham McNamee of W.E.A.E broadcasting World Series, 10/5/24
Source: Library of Congress

I love photos of crowds, reporters, photographers — the people surrounding the game.

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Philadelphia Athletics dugout prior to start of Game 1 of 1914 World Series at Shibe Park, Oct 9
Source: Library of Congress

An awesome shot of the A’s lounging around in their dugout. Loved the coats and the crowd assembling in the background.

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Shibe Park – Game 1 of the 1914 World Series
Source: Library of Congress

I thought this would take way too long to color but I could just imagine the excitement of the crowd and the atmosphere there so I did this one over a few of evenings.

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Game 4 of the 1903 World Series between the Pittsburg(h) Pirates and the Boston Americans. October 6, 1903, Exposition Park
Source: Boston Public Library

Even in black and white it looks like you are right there in the crowd. The background crowds were a challenge but rewarding to do.

Click here for the before/after.

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Title: Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers, c. 1914
Source: Library of Congress

A great shot of Ty Cobb in front of the dugout with the crowd behind watching him. It would have been great to be there and to watch him play.

Click here for the before/after.

• • • • •

Wow! Thank you so much Mark. These are tremendous. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of your terrific work on Uni Watch in the future.

Well readers? What do you think?

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Kreindler’s Korner

I had the distinct pleasure of featuring the wonderful artwork of artist Graig Kriendler on two occasions over the summer and fall of 2017.

For those who don’t wish to click the links, Graig paints baseball heroes (and regular guys) from the past, and is an immense talent.

Occasionally, I will be featuring his work on Uni Watch.

Here’s today’s offering (click to enlarge):

• • •

Title: “The $20,000 Roomate”
Subject: Ernie Banks, September, 1953
Medium: Oil on linen
Size: 18″ x 24″

This classic image of Ernie has always appealed to me for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons being that great zipper-front Cubs jersey. Though the pinstriped version of the late ’50s became de rigueur, there’s something about the previous designs that have always seemed extra cool to me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Banks started his career in them? Either way, mixed with that classic Cubby blue, you can’t go wrong. Also worthy of note, Banks’ gold tooth! I don’t think he had it for too long after coming up to Chicago.

• • •

Thanks, Graig! You can (and should!) follow Graig on Twitter.

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And now a few words from Paul: Hi there. Here are a few reminders:

• In case you missed it on Friday, I had a(nother) major announcement about Uni Watch’s future.

• Our latest limited-edition Uni Watch T-shirt, designed by the great Todd Radom, is now available. It comes in a wide range of colors (including deep royal, as shown at right; click to enlarge) and is available from now through next Thursday, March 15. You can order it here. If you want a color that isn’t shown, get in touch and I can take care of you. My thanks, as always, for your consideration.

• I had two ESPN columns this past week — one with the results of the Jags redesign contest and another about notable uniforms in Big East hoops history. Enjoy.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled Phil-’er-up!

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Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Whoa — check out this DC Comic from 1992 featuring the Wizard of Oz (aka Ozzie Smith) on the cover! (from Team Brown Apparel). Looks like Tony the Tiger is out there too. … “Sinatra’s drinking team patch” read the title of the e-mail from William Yurasko. Inside it read, “Francis Albert with Lasorda in 1977. That patch on Sinatra’s jacket needs to be resurrected (responsibly).” Here’s a look at that drinking patch at full size. … Normally we love it when players go high cuffed. However, we may have to make an exception in Hunter Pence’s case, who at least is a bit self-deprecating in this regard (from Jenks McGee). Pirates fans may not want to click on this link. … Check out the beautiful sweater being worn by Pete Alexander — circa 1911, on the Phillies (from Bruce Menard). It didn’t take long for Chris Whitehouse (a/k/a ManCave Pictures) to colorize this gem. … In Astros camp, several players were wearing these shirts yesterday. They read: “Back to Back 2018: A Crush City Film” (from Eric Olson). … After his famous stint w/ Durham, helping to cultivate Nuke Laloosh, Crash Davis was released by the Bulls. He signs and ends the season w/ the @GoTourists and breaks the MiLB HR record before retiring. 6/16 the Tourists celebrate Crash w/ these throwback jerseys (from MiLB Promos). … Francisco Lindor’s jersey did not make it to Peoria, but he found a nice replacement in time for the game. He wore No. 69 (h/t Mike Chamernik and Cleveland Rocks). … This season the East Marietta National Little League celebrates the 35th Anniversary of the 1983 World Series Championship team with commemorative shoulder patch and “SOUTH” jerseys for all of this season’s teams (from Richard Musterer). … There were some gaffes at Steinbrenner Field yesterday. First the lineups shown on scoreboard were from the end of the Yankees game on Wednesday vs PHI. Then Mets 3B Coach Glenn Sherlock’s MLB logo on his pants was falling off (from @UntillTheNight). … Northwestern debuted some new white tops for their home opener yesterday (from #B1GCats Baseball). … Another MLB Pin? “Seeing the feature on Cam Miller’s work on Uni Watch (yester)day reminded me to send in a photo from a tweet of his I saw recently,” says Joanna Zweip. “It features a Reds player wearing what may be a pin on his cap. A nice intersection of 2 recent Uni Watch features–Cam Miller and MLBers wearing pins!”

NFL News: At Ocean Sun Casino in Panama City, there’s a poster advertising an NFL package while showcasing an Ohio State Nike pro-combat jersey (good spot by Colin Dilworth). … Check this out — a sideline judge (?) appears to be holding a different sort of down and distance marker: Submitter Ray Hund says, “Love the ‘Drive Started’ (with an arrow pointing to the exact spot) sideline marker.”

College Football News: “I decided to purchase a rain check t-shirt, which reminded me of some 1957 Wisconsin Badgers football tickets I found curbside while working for a municipality just outside of Green Bay (I work for the Village of Allouez Street department),” says Kurt Rozek. “The graphics on the tickets are super cool, although I think they’d be considered politically incorrect these days. I had them framed along with a 1957 Badgers program a few years ago.” … The Iowa Hawkeyes will be the first football team in the United States to wear brand new helmets designed to properly absorb impact. They are made by Riddell. … I’m just gonna leave this here (from Paul Friedmann).

Hockey News: Check this out: The FBI using last years Predators jersey & Secret Service has a Kings template for a charity hockey game (from Lee Wilds). And here are more pictures of the uniforms at last night’s FBI-Secret Service game at the Washington Capitals practice facility in Arlington, VA: FBI and Secret Service (from David Raglin). … Every minor league hockey team seems to be sporting “Don Cherry tribute” jerseys these days. The latest was the Victoria Royals, who wore those on Friday night. … “I saw the Flaming Lips last night in Asheville, NC,” writes our pal Michael Princip. “Bass player Michael Ivins was wearing a Carolina Hurricanes alt jersey.” … The WHL Moose Jaw Warriors wore special jerseys and a goalie mask for “Snowbirds Night” — Wade Heidt notes this year’s jersey pays tribute to the Moose Jaw-based Snowbirds, also known as the Royal Canadian Air Force 431 Air Demonstration Squadron. They also pay tribute to Canada’s World Junior team that won gold at the 2018 IIHF World Juniors. You can read more here. … Reader Will Scheibler saw the posting of a Winnipeg Blue Bomber sweater in yesterday’s ticker. He says, “I picked up a couple Winnipeg hand-knit sweaters in later 2017 at a local thrift store. Winnipeg Jets and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. … The Ohio State women’s team stacks the back helmet numbers. Submitter Patrick Thomas says, “I’ve never seen that done before. Also pictures are some pretty not great uniforms.”

NBA News: The great Donovan Moore from ColorWerx asks, “Not sure if already covered, but apparently the NBA has altered their Conference logos to wordmarks (to reflect the current overall branding).”

College Hoops News: Yesterday, there was a confusing uniform-scoreboard situation in Vermont vs UMBC. Vermont wearing yellow but UMBC the yellow scoreboard (from Kyle Lubitz). … Providence Coach Ed Cooley ripped his pants during the Villanova game and turned into a basketball coaching MacGyver (from Jim Vilkanova). … I don’t know much, but I’m pretty sure this isn’t the Georgia Flag emoji they’re looking for here (from Jared Law).

Soccer News: Southampton’s primary kit is white and red on the back but it was all red yesterday to avoid clashing with Newcastle’s white and black. Also red socks and shorts were worn (from @brianspeaksnow). …Timothy Weah made his debut yesterday for PSG (Paris Saint Germain), but apparently he doesn’t get a name on his shirt (from Ed Żelaski). … It was Christmas in March yesterday as the New York/New Jersey Red Bulls and Portland Timbers played a color rash green vs. red game (from ajb).

Grab Bag: Paul’s favorite non-sports piece of equipment (maybe even his most favorite device ever), the Brannock Device — soon to be featured on the uniform of (or in a promotion by) a minor league baseball team — has been spotted in the wild in the famous Atlanta Bar, Vortex! (from Kyle Caffrey). … This poster of the Leroux’s Wonderful Bicycle Monkeys is, well, wonderful. Submitter Mike Rosenberg notes, “It may only be tangentially related to sports but I just hope you all get as much enjoyment out of this poster as I do.” … Here’s a closeup of the Port Adelaide guernsey showing the ad, league and maker branding along with the team badge (from James G.). This is Port Adelaide Power in an alternate. It’s basically grey for grey’s sake since the team colors are black, teal and white. “Good show of the ads all over foreign sports league unis & what could happen to US leagues,” he adds. … The Parkland, FL, Stoneman Douglas lacrosse team’s helmets include the names and photos of the recent 17 shooting victims. Here’s more on that. … Packers (Grambling/Georgia) “G” in the TV show Batman? Holy Schnikey! Eagle Eyed Alan Kreit spotted this on a police car as the Caped Crusader looks on.

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Comments (21)

    Those color baseball photos are fantastic. I love the one of the radio crew. I would have loved to experience that era.

    Those colorizations were beautiful. The most striking thing I saw was the Babe Ruth picture. There seems to be mixing of white and black fans along the fence. I had always thought that there was segregation (official or otherwise) of the fans at Griffith Stadium, especially as far back as the 1920s. Interesting.

    Check this out — a sideline judge (?) appears to be holding a different sort of down and distance marker: Submitter Ray Hund says, “Love the ‘Drive Started’ (with an arrow pointing to the exact spot) sideline marker.”

    A more subtle version can still be seen on NFL sidelines. There are three chain gang members on each side of the field. There’s a down marker at the line of scrimmage on each side. Also, on the side with the official sticks, one member holds each end. On the other side, one person holds the unofficial first down marker, and the other holds the marker with an X on it at the spot where the drive started (officially “the drive start marker”). I have no idea if the marker was ever actually useful.

    Vermont-UMBC was the America East championship game. Vermont was the #1 seed, but wore yellow uniforms (their regular home unis?). And UMBC was the #2 seed, but wore white uniforms. Does UMBC not have dark uniforms in their set?

    Excellent colorizations from Mark – I’ve been following his work since he started with Canadian Colour several years ago – great stuff!

    Further to the Victoria Royals Don Cherry-themed uniforms. Reason we are seeing so many Don Cherry uniforms is that they are a part of the WHL Suits Up with Don Cherry program this year, promoting organ donation.

    Has been known since the start of the year that all 17 of the Canadian WHL teams will be wearing these Don Cherry suit uniforms sometime during the course of the season.

    link

    That’s the flag of Georgia alright, but not the US state. That’s the Republic of Georgia.

    I think that’s what they were trying to say when they put that in the ticker…

    Also, it’s not really their fault– twitter automatically appends an emoji after some hashtags.

    Some other Yankees spring training shenanigans from recent games:

    On Friday night, Jonathan Holder entered the game against Atlanta wearing #90 instead of his usual #65. Yankees broadcaster Suzyn Waldman thinks his jersey was not packed for that road game. No screen capture as this was a radio-only game.

    Yesterday, Abiatal Avelino came up to bat wearing a #66 jersey, Miguel Andújar’s #67 helmet, and was using what looked like one of Starlin Castro’s bats. David Robertson also made his first appearance this spring but was wearing the regular Yankees hat and not the spring training version with the white bill.

    Two links: Sinatra Jacket, and the following Full Size link, are the same picture. Is the second one supposed to be different, or larger?

    From the ticker, it’s just New York Red Bulls. I seem to recall them going simply as MetroStars, without the “NY/NJ,” at some point prior to Red Bull’s acquisition of the team.

    That is true. Found on Wikipedia it states “Starting in 1998, the team stopped referring to itself as New York/New Jersey, but it took a few years for the media and fans to catch up. The team went by just MetroStars, with no city, state or regional geographic name attached to it, a rarity in American sports.”

    Also, when the name change happened in 2006, the team was to be known as Red Bull New York, though that has evolved at some time to the team being known as New York Red Bulls.

    link

    I had originally written just NY Red Bulls, but then I though, “wait…are they NY/NJ?” so I left the latter without double checking. My bad.

    Now you can see why Paul & I both have our “soccer guys” to bring you the latest kits…

    No one mentioned this, but the Indy Fuel and Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL wore SpongeBob SquarePants jerseys. The Fuel (the home team) wore SpongeBob; the Cyclones were dressed as Patrick Star (the dumb but lovable starfish).

    link

    Thanks for the photo of LeRoux’s Monkeys. My friends, the Lareaus, are adding this as a piece of home decor! Another Uni-Watching miracle!

Comments are closed.