Photographer Alexander Khokhlov and makeup artist Valeriya Kutsan are known for their talented collaborations that beautifully blur the lines between 2D and 3D.
For their second photo series, playfully titled "2D or Not 2D," they shot magnificent portraits of models wearing both geometric and abstract makeup on their faces. Kutsan's careful makeup application gives the illusion that the images are of flat paintings rather than real models.
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Khokhlov told Mashable that the project's key-idea was "to turn the models' faces into the 2D images," but it was inspired by famous images.
"We worked with classical images of Roy Lichtenstein, Piet Mondrian and even Leonardo DaVinci," he said.
According to Khokhlov, the process is a long one — from pairing inspired images with the right model, to applying the makeup, which he claims takes between two and four hours. But the artist's biggest challenge is retouching the photos in post production, adding that their lead photo editor Veronica Ershova spends between two and five days editing the portraits. The team filmed a behind-the-scenes video documenting the pain-staking process.
Visit Khokhlov's website to see more of this stunning photo series.
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