Step 1: Preparing The Canvas
Step 1: Preparing The Canvas
Step 1: Preparing The Canvas
1. Open the original photo in Adobe Photoshop. (In this tutorial I use
Adobe Photoshop CS. I haven't got other versions of Adobe Photoshop, but I guess the entire steps
described in this tutorial can be applied on any version of Photoshop)
On choosing the photo to be cartoonized, choose a clear and sharp photo with the face of the person
clearly seen. Blur, out of focus, or under-exposed photo is a bad choice. The larger the resolution of
the photo is the better
2. On the 'Layers Palette', drag and drop the 'background' layer to the
'New Layer' button to duplicate it.
Rename the new layer to 'original'. (To rename a layer, right-click on the name in the Layers Palette
and select Layer Properties).
We will keep the original photo (the 'original' layer) intact in case something ''wrong' happened in our
cartooning activity and need the original picture.
3. Make sure color palette is black for the foreground and white for the background. (Press
'd' if they're not).
Turn the slider right and left, experiment with it, until
the preview displays the best outline you can get (a compromise between 'detail enough' and 'clean
enough').
Click OK when you're satisfied with the result.
Next, we will apply some shading to give depth to the picture and then colorize it.
Step 2: Removing Unwanted Areas of the Picture
Isolate the object. Clear out all unwanted parts of the photograph. Use Pen Tool for this purpose. If
you've never used this tool previously, I suggest you to take a look at Melissa Clifton tutorial first.
Take the Pen Tool, create a path around the object (Rihanna for this case), load path as selection
(ctrl + Enter), inverse the selection (ctrl + shift + i), cut (del), then deselect the selection (ctrl + D).
Note: You could use Eraser Tool, Magic Eraser Tool, or Background Eraser Tool which is simpler and
faster for this purpose, but the result won't be as professional.
1. Select the 'outline' layer. Press Ctrl-J to duplicate the layer (or drag
and drop it to the 'create a new layer' button). Rename the new layer to 'white'.
Move the 'Brightness' slider all the way to the right (+100) and the
'Contrast' slider all the way to the left (-100).
Click OK.
Now we have something like this:
7. Click the 'Create new fill or adjustment layer' at the bottom of Layers Palette. On the popup
menu, choose 'Solid Color...'. A 'Color Picker' dialog box will be displayed.
9. Choose 'Paint Bucket Tool' . Click on the canvas to fill skin's layer mask with black color.
11. Create a clipping mask between 'skin' layer and 'white' layer. Press
Ctrl + G while the 'skin' layer is still selected.
12. On the 'Layers Palette', click on the 'outline' layer while holding
(pressing) the Ctrl button. This will tell the ants to march around Rihanna. Oops, I mean, this will put
a selection mark around Rihanna.
14. Choose 'Paint Bucket' tool, click inside the selection on the canvas to fill it with white.
4. Using the result of the Cutout filter, we will create a shade and a tint.
20. Change the blending mode of 'tint' layer to 'Soft Light'. Change the opacity to 60% (experiment
with this value to get the desired result).
4. Click the 'Create new fill or adjustment layer' at the bottom of Layers Palette.
On the popup menu, choose 'Solid Color...'. A 'Color Picker' dialog box will be displayed.
5. On the 'Color Picker' dialog box, pick a dark red color.
This color will be used for the shirt. (I picked #B24747 for the shirt. You don't need to be too picky
here. We can change the color easily later whenever we want to).
Click OK
7. Click on the canvas to fill our shirt's layer mask with black color.
10. Repeat step 4 through step 9 to make layers for the color of lips, eyes, iris, and hair.
By the end of this step, our layers will be like this:
11. Now that we've done preparing the layer for each color , we can start coloring each part of the
picture.
Let's start with the hair.
From the 'Tools Palette', pick 'Pencil Tool' (or press 'B').
13. Make sure the foreground color is pure white. (Press 'X' if you have to switch foreground and
background colors).
14. Start painting the hair. Use a hard brush with the opacity set to 100%. Make sure that you zoom
in when coloring, so that it is nice and tidy. (The clipping mask help us a lot here. It won't let the
color run out of border)
15. Now let's move on with the next layer, the 'iris'. On the 'Layers Palette', select the 'iris' layer.
Repeat steps 13 through 14 to paint the iris.
Here's what we got:
16. The eyes (the white part of the eyes) and teeth (for they have the same color, which is white)...
18. shirt...
And anytime you feel the need to change a color of any layer, just double click the
layer (not the layer mask!) and choose a new color on the Color Picker. Very easy.
That's all!
We're done cartooning the photograph.