Happy like a broken doll
08/06/02 @095 | kss | comments (10)
Kss is has been an Elite GFXartist member since the first nominations. His unique style can be recognized instantly and although it might look like a filterfrenzy at first sight, you'll notice that each artwork has been carefully crafted. No wonder he is on the top our tutorial list and in this tutorial Kss shows the steps he has taken during the creation of "happy like a broken doll", one of his most popular works. Kss' comments are short, but you know what they say about images, they speak more than a thousand words.

I don’t always use the same techniques or style. what I repeat often is that I use filters, but not always the same ones, not always in the same way etc.. My work is more intuitive and progressive than usual artists. It is composed of a lot of tries and fails. Well here is the development of "happy like a broken doll" which was one of my most popular. For this one I started with a sketch. I don't remember exactly how I worked on all the stages, but people will be able to see that my most creative involved parts are lights and colors.

Stage One
The initial sketch, a simple draft as base.

Stage Two
More details are added to the sketch

Stage Three
This stage is typical from me. I often use some older pictures (for this one its "forgotten angel")
to add texture, to put in some raw materials. After that I worked on the black outlines and airbrushed the nun with a blank and pale color.

Stage Four
Blurred the background more than the girl to focus a little. Note that there are no real "black" colors in the background anymore, some contrast is removed. (I most likely used the contrast filter)

Stage Five
This part is about experimenting. This is more contrasted, and that was for the girl parts only (but since I only use one layer, I apply filters on the whole pic).

Stage Six
Playing with lights with the rendering light filter (used a green light)

Stage Seven
I don't remember  surely airbrush using linear lighting mode

Stage Eight
I think I copied the layer, blurred it and put the "lighten" feature on the layer. I erased some of the parts in that layer that I don't wanted to change (such as the head).

Stage Nine
I changed the background colors and contrasts (same technique: I duplicate the layer, change colors and contrasts than erase the part that I didn't want to change)

Stage Ten
Always duplicate layer, blurred, but this time with the linear dodge or dodge applied on the layer.

Stage Eleven
Changed colors

Stage Twelve
Duplicate layer, apply some deformation (maybe liquefy) and erased some parts. Layer transparency was around 10 or 20%. Dodged some parts of the dress.

Stage Thirteen
Lights and colors are ready. Now I can work on little details.

Stage Fourteen
The same thing, deformations, basic airbrushing (hard edges), and then implemented some parts on the pic. worked on the face details (I mainly work details with the smudge tool).

Stage Fifteen
Worked on background colors.

Stage Sixteen
Stretched the girls belly and dress (worked on the silhouette). added some red colours.

Stage Seventeen
Worked on the details of her head.

Stage Eighteen
Her face looked strange and I saw that her right eye was not in the right perspective. I duplicated the left one and reworked it. I reworked the lips to get them smaller.

As you can see it's not so hard to do and it is not like traditional digital painting. I know that digital painting is the most respected style, but that doesn't really fit with what I've got in mind. I don't want people only to remember my pictures with a "whoah, its nice and well drawn" (but of course if its well drawn its better). I measure the quality of my pictures on how deep they can use your imagination, on how many questions you could ask to yourself etc... The abstract parts help with that. The colors and lights play on immediate feelings (that I like to contrast with the subjects of my gfx). The illustrations sometimes represent my personal involvement, the personal messages, and sometimes they're only illustrative, just like putting crystal statues on minefields.

"Creation is an illusion........silencio"

A large collection of Kss' creations can be found in the elite gallery or by visiting his profile. Some of his older works (2000) can be found at his site. We'd like to thank Kss for putting together this tutorial.