Square

My aim with this image was to create a figure that was all square edges, each body part in the shape of a square or rectangle.

I started with this photo from the Sktchy app. This was a very small file, so I upsized it twice in BigPhoto.

I used Form/Warp to make the head square.

I continued in Form/Warp to make the torso square.

I continued in Form/Warp to make the hands, arms, and blanket edge square.

I opened the image in the Elasticam app and I made the features square.

Because stretching the eyes into squares had stretched the pixels too far, I opened the image in iColorama, and I used Brush/Paint to paint new eyes. I don't have to worry about getting it beautiful, because I will paint over everything later.

I opened the image in Sketches Pro. On a new layer, I used a pen to draw black outlines and gray fabrics folds. On another new layer I used the watercolor brush to paint in soft colors. Then I reduced the opacity of the squared photo layer to zero. I saved to my camera roll.

I opened the image in iColorama and applied the last preset under Style/Water, at medium opacity, which smears the colors a bit. I set distortion and texture to the minimum values. Then I used Adjust/Exposure to increase exposure a bit, to compensate for the darkening that happens when using some Water presets.

I used Texture/Vintage in Overlay mode at medium opacity, to apply a texture to the blanket. I used an inverted brush mask to paint in the effect only on the blanket. Then I did the same for the dress, using a different Vintage texture. Then I did the same for the face and hands, using an Organic texture.

I used Effect/Blend to blend the image with a previous version, using the Difference blending mode, and using the sliders under Set, specifically both ends of the Gray slider as well as the Lightness slider. I like the colors this produced.

Using a brush mask, I blended back the colors of the face and hands from a previous version, at low opacity. I applied Adjust/Tonelab preset 4 at low opacity for a little tonal separation.

I opened the image in Metabrush and painted in some hair. I used Brushes/Paint mode. As brush settings, I used Structure at 1.00, shadow at .57, spacing at .17, rotation dynamics at 1.00, size dynamics at 1.00, opacity dynamics at 0.00, position variance at .50, and rotation variance at .50. These settings produce those long tubular curls. I painted with one of the Gradient brushes.

I used this image as the brush image in the above Metabrush step. It was a photo of mine that I smoothed in iColorama using Style/Coherence.

I opened the image in Sketches Pro. On a new layer, I painted in some shadows in and around the hair, using a gray watercolor brush. On another new layer, I painted in some highlights in the hair with a white pen, and then I reduced the opacity of the layer so that the highlights would blend into the hair. I saved to my camera roll.

I opened the image in iColorama. I used some functions under Tone to improve the color. I used Effect/Glow preset 3 at low opacity for a bit of 3D feel.

I applied Raise 3 at low opacity, for definition.

As a final touch, I used Preset/Border preset 3, with a low radius, and I chose a pale orange color for a border to pull the colors together.

Finally, in keeping with the square theme, I opened the image in the Elasticam app and squared her head.