I'll second Elena on people only working in certain movies, time frames, or just certain photos when it comes to playbys.
Barbara Stanwyck only works for two thirds of Ball Of Fire, a part of The Lady Eve (even then the bangs are now curly there), and some photoshoots. Outside of that, some pictures from Union Pacific, Annie Oakley, Lady Of Burlesque, and a mystery film work. The problem is Barbara was 34 for Ball Of Fire and The Lady Eve, so depending on lighting and what have you she sometimes looks too old in some pictures. Annie Oakley was done when she was a more correct 28 (Melisande is 27), but next to the other pictures often looks too young. Lady Of Burlesque was done when she was 36 and outside of a few pictures here and there looks too old. Also Barbara has a different body type than Melisande, so tight fitting or revealing clothing doesn't work very well unless I chop it out.
It also means for any photo collage stuff I'd want to do with Elena's Chago, I have to grayscale him, since the vast majority of photos of Barbara from that time are in black and white, which is no problem with Photoshop. In some ways it works better that way because how many Victorian era photos can you find that are in color? I have something I'm working on there, but I'm not sure if it will be done before I leave.
Melisande looking like she does is mostly because Barbara's haunted gaze in the photo on the site and to a lesser degree on my avatar. The coloring on my avatar is pretty accurate on how I see her looking like to the point I think my jaw dropped. The amusing thing, someone colored the black and white version of the photo for it, because pictures from the actual photoshoot it's all different.
Color avatar:
http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f1/58/a2/f158a264dae40ac36e855172cf62ae67.jpgPhotoshoot:
http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/1-ball-of-fire-barbara-stanwyck-1941-everett.jpgAs Pauline:
http://i2.listal.com/image/4957086/600full-barbara-stanwyck.jpgOddly enough, I already have playbys for my kitchen boy, Tulegen and navigator Orsola Padovano. Tulegen is a bit off because he should have a slave collar. I intend on him being a runaway slave. He just turned 14. Amusingly enough, he's also Asian. I thought of him before it was decided Akito would do some chef duties along with McGinty. Trying to find an even somewhat tan Asian boy that I could use for potentially more than one picture was surprisingly difficult.
Tulegen is Yuya Yagira, a Japanese actor in the movie Nobody Knows. He played a 12 year old, but was 14 at the time. He might be changed if someone could find me a boy who's tanner that I could for more than one image.
http://www.arthouse.ru/img/films/NBDKNOWS/yuya_yagira_1-large.jpgI'm kicking it old school for Orsola. She's an Italian movie star from the silent era, Marcella Albani. Orsola is from Viteliu (Italy), her mother is from Anatolia (think Israel/Palestine/Syria/part of Turkey), and she's a secular Jew. Unlike with Melisande who I've found her depiction to be fairly touchy, or Tulegen who is pretty limited, just about every photo I've found of Marcella, I go, yeah that's her.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mamr8iaoAE1r2htqdo1_500.jpgI need to write up their bios for approval, along with the wiki entry for Viteliu, and to talk to Five about that little map project, but that will all have to wait for when I get back.
Hey, Jefferson does look a lot like Grant! There have been shows and movies of actors playing him. Though not as much as one might think because of how polarizing he is. One is Harry Bulkeley for a PBS production.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilczmsar/Grant01.jpghttp://www.imdb.com/media/rm2483064832/nm2216811You could also use Kevin Kline in Wild Wild West.
http://ilarge.listal.com/image/2356190/968full-wild-wild-west-screenshot.jpghttp://images5.fanpop.com/image/polls/956000/956979_1329707577640_full.jpghttp://focusfeaturesmedia.com/uploads/image/mediafile/1354732729-5fd800fdddb58febf7cb5b3b7facd063/x950.jpgThe images you came up with for the various npcs are pretty interesting, Tals. I'll post my thoughts on those later.