Photoshop

Photoshop: AdvancedPop Art

Pop art images are photographs which have been stylised to look like the images produced by artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein in the sixties. There are a number of techniques which will produce a fairly good effect but this investigation will look at a technique which will include the printing effects used in the original images of celebrities like Marilyn Munroe. The technique can be used on any image, not just portraits, but it is helpful when working on portraits to begin with an image which has a plain background.

Create the background colour:

1. Open your chosen image.

2. Duplicate the layer.

3. Create a brand new layer at the top of the stack and fill it with light blue.

4. Reorder the stack so that new blue layer is between the two existing layers.

Remove the existing background:

1. Select the Paths palette and click the Create new path tool (bottom next to the bin) to create a new work path.

2. Select the Pen tool and set the path option on the top tool options bar to the centre of the three, this will create an unfilled path not a filled path.

3. Create a fairly accurate path around the model making sure that you close the path by ending where you started – don’t worry about the

stray strands of hair.

4. Convert the path to a selection using the Load path as selection tool at the bottom of the Paths palette.

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Photoshop

5. Return to the Layers palette and select the top model layer.

6. Apply a mask to the layer to hide the background.

Create a half tone shading effect:

1. Activate the image part of the same, layer not the mask

2. Click Image>Adjustments>Hue & Saturation and desaturate the image by moving the Saturation slider to -100.

3. Now click Image>Adjustments>Threshold to open the Threshold command.

4. Adjust the Threshold command to 127 – this will depend very much on the image you are working with, so you may need to experiment.

5. Click OK to confirm the Threshold command.

6. To soften the pixelated affect; click Filter<Blur>Gaussian blur and apply a blur of around 2-3 pixels – again depending on the image.

Export the layer for editing:

7. Right click on the layer and select Duplicate layer.

8. From the Duplicate layer dialogue under Destination select New to create the new layer as a second image in the Photoshop workspace.

9. Working on the new image click Image>Mode>Greyscale to convert the image from RGB to Greyscale – discard colour information if prompted.

10. Click Image>Mode>Bitmap to convert the image to a Bitmap clicking OK when prompted to flatten layers - the Bitmap dialogue appears.

11. Under Method in the Bitmap dialogue select Halftone Screen and click OK to confirm the Halftone Screen dialogue appears.

12. In the Halftone Screen dialogue set the Frequency, Angle and Shape as shown in the screen shot on the right – note that this again will depend on the image as it decides the shape and size of the dots.

13. Convert the image back to Greyscale again and when prompted make sure the Size Ration is 1.

14. Convert the image back to RGB again.

Re-import the layer into your original image:

15. Right-click on the layer and choose Duplicate layer.

16. From the Duplicate Layer dialogue select the original image from the Document Destination section.

17. Return to the original image – you should now have the image as a new layer at the top of the stack.

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Photoshop

Merge the two layers:

18. Select the top layer and click Layer>Merge Down to merge it with the layer below – your Layers palette and image should now look like this:

Colour the image:

The next stage is to add the colour layers that will give the image the simple pop art colour feel:

1. Duplicate the top model layer and then move the duplicate down one layer so it is below the model layer.

2. Hide the top layer so that you can see the new layer.

3. Open the Hue and Saturation dialogue and adjust the Lightness so that the layer appears white where the model is – this will give us a white background to the model.

4. Show the top model layer again and change the Blending mode to Multiply – this will allow the colour added on layers below to be seen through the white areas of the layer.

Add some colour:

1. Create a new layer between the top model layer and the white layer.

2. Select the new colour layer and fill it with red using the Paint bucket tool.

3. Apply an inverted mask (a mask filled with black) to the layer – Press Alt and click the Add a Mask tool at the bottom of the layers palette – the red will be hidden.

4. Hide all the other layers apart from the original ‘Background’ layer.

5. Select the Polygonal lasso tool, add a couple of pixels of feather and create a selection around the lips.

6. Show all the other layers again.

7. Select the red layer and activate the masks.

8. Paint with white onto the mask to reveal the red within the selection.

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Photoshop

9. Repeat the above with new layers for the hair, skin, eyes (over do these a little – you are allowed to overlap the normal areas of colour as this adds to the overall effect) and clothing (use your imagination). Obviously you can rearrange the layers over one another to save creating selections around things you have already coloured.

10. Use the Layer opacity if you need to adjust the strength of each of the colours a little when you have completed the colouring in.

Notes:

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