The Dark and Surreal ‘Big Eye’ Portraits of Kelly Robitaille

Michael Zhang

American artist Margaret Keane is famous for creating “big-eyed waifs” and drawing her subjects with big eyes. Canadian photographer Kelly Robitaille creates surreal portraits in the same vein through her “Whimsy Waifs” series.

With a background in painting and commercial beauty retouching, Robitaille uses Photoshop to retouch each portrait and give her subjects an illustrated look featuring big eyes and unnatural body proportions.

Here are some views of what her portraits look like before and after retouching:

Photoshop tools and techniques used by Robitaille for her portraits include dodge and burn, frequency separation, compositing, blend modes, liquify tool, and puppet warp. If you’re interested in learning her technique, you can buy a 21-video lesson series on it over at RGG EDU for $129.

You can also find more of Robitaille’s work on her website and Facebook.

Image credits: Photographs by Kelly Robitaille and used with permission

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