8/8/2019 Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect

1/6

"Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect" (Pages 160 and 161 from the Painters section of Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook- courtesy ofO'Reilly Media.)

Almostsynonymous with PopArt,Andy Warhol

was a painter,photographer, filmmaker, and

publisher. Inthemid-20th centuryheproduced

iconic silkscreenpaintingsofsubjects as

mundane assoup cans and asglamorous as Elvis

Presley and Marilyn Monroe. Theseremain

hugelypopular, andhavesparked countless

imitations. Creatingyourown PopArt-inspired

images with Photoshop iseasy, andgreat fun,

too.

Thesilkscreentechnique forcespaintonto

canvasthrough a high-contrastnegativestencil

attachedtothe fabric. Theresulting image

featuresstrongblacks fromthephotograph,

which canbesimulatedusing Photoshops

Threshold adjustment. In Warholshands, crude

blocksofgarish,striking color were addedto

selected areas, and images wereoftenduplicated

with alternative colorschemes.

Anyportrait canbeused for a silkscreen-style

image,butthose withstrongedges work well.

Look,too, for an image in w hichthesubject is

staringdirectly atthelens,preferably with a

slightlydistantexpression.

8/8/2019 Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect

2/6

STEP 1

Openyourportrait image,holddowntheAlt/Opt key,dragtheoriginal imagelayertothe Create a new layer icon,

callthenew layer CutAway,and click OK. Useselectiontoolssuch asthe Magic Wand and Color Rangetoroughly

select anddeletethebackgroundpixels fromthenew layer.

Silkscreen images areveryhigh-contrast, andlatersteps willremovemuch finedetail,soyoudontneedtobevery

precise. It canmake iteasierto work ifyou add a new, color -filledlayerdirectlybelow the working layermaking it a

garish color canhelpyouseethe finalresult.

8/8/2019 Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect

3/6

STEP 2

Tomakethehigh-contrast image,ensurethe CutAwaylayer is active andselect Image > Adjustment > Threshold.

Movetheslidersothatthe image containsonlyenoughshadow toshow thepicturesessentialshapes.

STEP 3

Roughlyselecteach image area thatyou wanttopaint with a single color, anduseAlt/Opt + Ctrl/Cmd + J to copythe

selection into itsownlayer. Nameeachnew layer,settheblendingmodeto Multiply, and click OK.

8/8/2019 Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect

4/6

STEP 4

Activateeach itemslayer inthe Layerspalette inturn. Foreachone, Ctrl/Cmd + click thethumbnailsothatonly its

non-transparentpixels areselected, and choose Edit > Fill. Even ifthe Filldialogs Usedrop -downshows Color,select

it again. Thistriggersthe Color Picker. Select a strong color and click OKtwice.

STEP 5

Inthe Layer Styledialogbox, changethe ColorOverlaysblendingmodeto Color. Pick a strong color and click OK.

8/8/2019 Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect

5/6

STEP 6

Onceyouhaverepeatedsteps 4 and 5 foreach colored item,youhave a completedsilkscreen-style image. Savethe

file andmake co pies in whichyouusepermutationsofthesame colors. Each colored area is in itsownlayer,so it is

easytoselect andrecolor it with a Hue/Saturation adjustmentlayer. Finally, combine alltheversions in onelarge

image.

8/8/2019 Andy Warhol Pop Art Silkscreen Effect

6/6

Combiningmultipleversionsofthesame imagelendsthe finalversion a distinctive 1960s PopArt feel.