Variational image-processing models offer high-quality processing capabilities for imaging. They have been widely developed and used in the last two decades, enriching the fields of mathematics as well as information science. Mathematically, several tools are needed: energy optimization, regularization, partial differential equations, level set functions, and numerical algorithms. This special issue presents readers with nine excellent research papers covering topics from research work into variational image-processing models, algorithms and applications , including image denoising, image deblurring, image segmentation, image reconstruction, restoration of mixed noise types and three-dimensional surface restoration.