The following tutorial is my own method for achieving the doll effect I learned from fellow Flickrite Parée (
pareeerica). It is based on her tutorial, which you can find
here. Parée does some really beautiful work. You should totally add her to your list of places to go for eye candy. She is entirely self-taught with Photoshop (CS3 Extended) and also posts tutorials from time to time. :)
Parée's tutorial had images. I am far too lazy to include images, so if you need them for clarification or what have you, you should definitely go look at hers. You should probably do that anyway. I think my method is a little easier, but I did it the way I work. Your method may be better suited to Parée's. For the record, she also links to a GIMP tutorial for the same effect.
Okay, so here we go. For comparison, I started with this image:
And ended up with this one, which I also cropped from square:
This will not work for every photo. You need to start with a good, large image which is nice and clear, without a lot of background, preferably with the subject turned straight on into the camera and with very little head tilt, if any tilt at all.
1. Choose an appropriate image and open it up in Photoshop. I use CS, but this should work for all versions from 7 thru CS3. I don't know about versions prior to 7, since that was the one I learned PS with.
2. With the image you want opened, select the Rectangular Marquee tool from your tool palette. Select the top half of the head, from just above the tip of the nose up. Right click inside the selected portion and choose "Layer via Copy." Photoshop creates a new layer with just the top portion of your image in it. Click the eye icon to turn off that layer and return to the background layer.
3. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool again, select the bottom portion of the image from about the middle of the forehead (or at least just over the eyebrows) all the way down. Right click inside the selected portion and choose "Layer via Copy" again. Photoshop creates a new, 3rd layer with the bottom portion of your original image in it.
-> You now have 3 layers to your image. Starting at the bottom, you have your background layer; Layer 2, containing the bottom half of your image; and Layer 1, containing the top portion. If they're not in that order, please click Layer 1 and drag it to the top of the list so that it is your topmost layer.
4. Click the little eye icon to turn off your background layer. We keep it in case we make a mistake.
5. Click Layer 2 to make it the active layer. Go to the Edit menu at the top of the Photoshop window. (Click Edit) Choose "Transform" and then choose "Scale." Now go back to the top of the Photoshop window. Under the menu bar, you have a list of values for the current selection. The first 4 values are labeled X, Y, W and H. Between the W box and the H, there's a tiny little chain icon. Click it. (That locks the aspect ratio into place, but unless you're a graphics wiz, that doesn't mean a darn thing, so just remember you have to click the chain.) :)
6. Go to the W box immediately to the left of the little chain icon you just clicked. It says 100.0%, which means that right now, the width is set to the same scale as the height of your image, which is full size. We're going to change that, so over the 100.0, type 65. You will notice that the entire layer shrinks. Do not worry. It's supposed to do that. :) Now hit your "enter" key twice. (It's possible some versions of Photoshop don't change the size of the layer until you hit enter, so don't freak out if nothing happens until you do that.)
7. I left out this step and shrunk the body, but Parée gets rid of it, so with Layer 1 still selected, use the Rectangular Marquee tool and select the head and shoulders of your subject. Right click inside the selection and choose "Layer via Copy." This will create a new Layer 3, just above Layer 1 in your layers palette. Click the little eye icon to turn off Layer 2. (Parée says you can delete it, but I like to play it safe.)
-> At this point, you should have 4 layers. From the bottom: Background, Layer 2, Layer 3, and Layer 1. You should have the Background and Layer 2 turned off, so that all you can see are Layers 1 and 3.
8. Click Layer 1 to make it the active layer. Go to the Edit menu at the top of the Photoshop window. (Click Edit) Choose "Transform" and then choose "Perspective." A little box outline will appear around the outside of your layer. Click one of the lower corners - it does not matter which one - and drag it inside until it roughly matches the width of the smaller face in Layer 3. You can also click one of the upper corners and it to the outside, away from the image. That will lower the top of the head and make the top of the head wider. When you reach the shape you want, click the little check mark at the top tool bar to lock in your changes. (If you don't like what you've done and want to start over from scratch, instead of clicking the check mark, click the international sign for "no" icon, and the layer will revert back to the way it was.
If you choose not to drag out the upper corners of the transform box, you might find the top of the head gets a bit high. If that happens and you don't like it, choose Edit > Transform > Scale to grab the upper line of the box and drag it downward until you get the forehead shape you want. You can also drag the bottom line downward, if you want to make the forehead longer than it is.
9. Click Layer 3 to select the image layer containing the bottom portion of the face. Choose Edit > Transform > Perspective and again drag the bottom corners inward (and/or the top corners outward) until you get a shape you like, and then click the check mark to accept the changes. Remember, you can also click anywhere inside the transform box to move the layer around and match it up with Layer 1 to see what works and what doesn't.
If you need to, go back to Layer 1 and Edit > Transform > Perspective that layer again to make it wider or more narrow to match up. You might also want to Edit > Transform > Scale Layer 3 to make the faces fit together more easily. Nothing here is carved in stone. :)
10. When you have to 2 halves of the face shaped as you like and as smoothly matched up as possible, it's time to blend them together. Choose Layer 1 so that it's the active layer. At the bottom of the layers palette, there's a row of icons. Click the one that looks like a rectangle with a circle inside it. That adds a layer mask to the layer, which I just discovered, and it's completely awesome, because if you mess up, it's really easy to fix. Up in Layer 1, you will now have a tiny thumbnail of your layer image and an equally tiny white rectangle next to it. Click the rectangle once. You are now working with the mask.
Go to the tools palette and choose Paintbrush. Choose a round shape and set it for about 13% hardness. Near the bottom of your tool palette, there are two little squares, one black and one white. The black one should be on top. If it isn't, you can click the little 2-way arrow icon in the corner to switch places so that the black is on top. Now here's the cool part: in layer mask mode, black erases the layer while white puts stuff back in! So if you make a mistake and erase something you didn't mean to, you can just go click the little arrow so that white is on top of black in the tool palette and then paint over the mistake, and it's like it never happened. Nifty, huh?! So with black on top, erase all the parts of Layer 1 that don't match up with Layer 3, so that tge two layers blend nicely together. If you erase something and make a mistake, just select white and paint back over it.
-> If you did not delete Layer 2, you should still have 4 layers, two of which are visible and blended nicely together so that they look like one (oddly-shaped) image with no line going across it where the two layers meet.
11. Click the eye icon to turn the Background layer back on. Click the eye icon on Layers 1 and 3 to turn those layers OFF.
12. Go to the tool palette and choose the Lasso tool. Choose the oval Lasso icon so that you can just draw a circle around one of your subject's eyes. Right click inside the selected area and choose "Feather." In the little dialog box that pops up, type 10 (pixels). Right click again and choose "Layer via Copy." You now have a new Layer 4 just above the Background layer. Click Layer 4 and drag it to the top of your layers list. Right click on Layer 4 and choose "Duplicate Layer." You now have a new layer called Layer 4 Copy just above Layer 4.
13. Turn off the Background Layer. Turn back on Layers 1 and 3.
14. Click Layer 4 Copy to highlight it. Go to the Edit menu and choose "Transform" and then "Flip Horizontal." The image of the eye will flip over. Click the Move Tool in your tool palette and drag the eye over to the other side of the face. Position both eyes where you think they look good. (If you want them to be even bigger, click Edit > Transform > Scale and drag one of the corners out diagonally until you like how big they are. Click to accept the change.) Click Layer Mask for each layer and use a black brush to erase around the eyes so that they blend with the layer beneath them (Layer 1).
15. Now we need to merge the layers into one cohesive unit. Click the topmost visible layer in your layers palette. (in this case, Layer 4 Copy) Hold down the Alt button on your keyboard and go up to the Layers menu at the top of your Photoshop window. Choose "Merge Visible Layers" from near the bottom of the dropdown list. You will have to hold down the left button of your mouse until you've hovered over Merge Visible Layers. Let go of the Alt key and the mouse button. You now have all the layers blended together as Layer 4 Copy.
16. Go into the Filters menu at the top of the Photoshop window and choose "Liquify." Photoshop will open a new window with a new set of tools.
Now, this is where Photoshop gets fun and kinda freaky. Liquify is sort of like the Smudge tool automated and on steroids. Along the left side of the window is a tool palette with functions from moving something over to plumping it, puckering it, spiraling it, and more. I still don't know my way around all the functions of Liquify, and this isn't a Liquify tutorial. For our purposes here, all you need is step 17.
17. Use the Forward Warp tool (at the top of the palette, looks like a hand pointing a finger) and a fairly large brush size (move the slider until you get a circle about the same size as the length of the face from the tip of the nose to the tip of the chin) to push the lower part of the face in (or out) to shape it the way you like it. I personally think in looks better. For the image above, I gently moved things here and there a tiny bit in so that the chin was kind of pointy. If you make a mistake, you can Ctrl-Alt-Z or paint over the affected area with the Reconstruct tool (second one down, looks like a paintbrush). If you want to start completely over, click the Restore All button. The Reconstruct button will undo the last thing you did, but you can't put it back, so I rarely use it. Ctrl-Alt-Z is a better option. When you have it like you like it, click Okay in the upper right corner.
Remember, with Liquify, less is generally more. It's better to start small and then add a little more if you don't think you did enough. It's really easy to go overboard with Liquify and end up with something really freakish. If you return to your image and find you don't like what you just did afterall, click undo in the Edit menu.
18. When you have the bottom half of the face the way you like it, click the Pucker tool (4th down) and click the tip of the nose to shrink it a little bit at a time until you're happy. Click okay.
19. Return to Liquify and choose the Bloat tool (5th down). Place the crosshairs in the middle of your brush circle over the center of each eye and tap your mouse button. The larger your brush circle, the greater the change, both in area and bloating. Don't overdo it. One or two clicks is probably enough. Click okay.
If you want to do anything else to the face in Liquify, go for it, but aside from also plumping the lips if they're too thin, that's all I do.
20. Dolls have funky eyes, so go back to your layers palette and click the little icon next to the trash can at the bottom. The one that looks like a page with the bottom left corner turned up. That will open a new layer. Go to your tool palette and choose the paintbrush. Make sure white is the active color and that the brush is set for 100% opacity. (it should still be set to 13% hardness) Set the diameter of the brush so that it just covers the iris of each eye. Center it over the iris of each eye and click one time each. Go to your layers palette and set the mode to Overlay (the little dropdown menu just under the layers tab. it probably says "Normal"). Adjust the opacity of the layer until you like how it looks. (click where it says Opacity 100% and a slider will pop up for you to move)
21. You've tweaked the heck out of your image, so you'll need to find a background to set it against. Maybe lay a texture over it. That's not for this tutorial though, so you're on your own with the whole cutting and pasting or however you choose to do it. :)
If you liked this tutorial, please go visit Parée and tell her so. All I did was change a little bit of the process to streamline it. The nuts and bolts of this tutorial are hers, and she deserves the credit.
Labels: photoshop, spfx, tutorials
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