The steps I took to create the circus doll photo

You know how sometimes you see a photo and just have to know how it was made. I mean not in the tutorial-follow-me kind of way but more in the who the heck did you make this kinda way?

This is how I felt when I saw Richard Wakefield‘s Circus Doll photo. It had something feeling very authentic, so I knew it had to have had a real photo behind it. So… I asked!

Richard was kind enough to share the steps taken to make the photo happen:

Richard tells DIYP that it was about an hour’s work.

Step 1: Original photo

Step 2: Extreme liquifying and head placement

Step 3: Extra liquify steps to thin arms and exaggerate body curves

Step 4: Skin smoothing and using a gradient map to change skin colour

Step 5: Add in light effects

Step 6: Add in a texture (with blending modes) and a general vignette

Step 7: Overal colour work

Here is a look at the entire process followed by a direct before after view:

To see more of Richarad’s work you can visit his website and his Facebook page.

---