Turning Photograph Into Cartoon-Style Picture (Part 3 - Applying Some Shading)

Turning Photograph Into Cartoon-Style Picture (Part 3 - Applying Some Shading)

This is part 3 of tutorial on turning photograph into cartoon-style picture. (If you haven't done so, please readthe first part and the second part of the tutorial).

On the second part of the tutorial, we have colorized the skin. And in doing so, we also created the base structure for our color layers.
And here's what we got so far:

By the end of part 3 of the tutorial, we will have something like this:

Now begin...

Step 5: Applying Some Shading

A 'flat' picture is not too nice to look at. We have to apply some shading to the picture to give it depth.

What's more, giving some shading to the picture (especially the face area) makes the person in our cartoon photo more recognizable because the viewer will be able to see the cheek bone, jaw bone, etc which differentiate someone from the others.

We would like to have three colors for the face:

1. 1. skin base color
2. 2. shade (a darker color)
3. 3. tint (a lighter color)

We already have the skin base color (i.e. the 'skin' layer), so now we need to add the shade and the tint.

Let's go!

1. Duplicate the 'Layer 0' layer.

We will have a new layer named 'Layer 0 copy'.

Move it (drag it) to the top of 'outline' layer.

2. Blur this layer a little.

Menu: Filter :: Blur :: Gaussian Blur...

Set the radius of the blurring to 4 pixels. (Typical values are between 2 and 4. A value of 2 is usually enough).

Click OK

3. Select menu: Filter :: Artistic :: Cotout...

Set 'Edge Simplicity' to 2.

Set 'Edge Fidelity' to 1.

Experiment with 'Number of Levels' value while looking at the preview window (pay special attention to the face). Typical values are between 5 and 8. Choose a value giving the best result for the shading of the face.

Some variation for 'Number of Levels' and the corresponding result:

 

 

Let's choose 8 for 'Number of Levels' for it gives the nicest shading on the face.

Click OK on the Cutout dialog box.

4. Using the result of the Cutout filter, we will create a shade and a tint.

5. Rename the 'Layer 0 copy' layer to 'shade'.

6. Duplicate the 'shade' layer. Rename it (the duplicate) to 'tint'.

7. Now we have two new layers, tint and shade. Let's work on the shade first.

Turn visibility of the 'tint' layer off.

Select the 'shade' layer.

8. Choose menu: Image :: Adjustments :: Threshold...

Turn the slider right and left, experiment with it while looking at the preview.

Click OK when you're satisfied with the result.

9. On the 'Tools Palette', pick 'Magic Wand Tool' .

10. On the canvas, click on the white area.

11. Press Delete to cut the white area of 'shade' layer.

12. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the selection.

13. Change the blending mode of 'shade' layer to 'Soft Light'.

Change the opacity to 40% (experiment with this value to get the desired result).

We're done with the shade. Now let's continue with the tint.

Basically, the steps are the same as what we've done to create the shade.

14. Select the 'tint' layer.

15. Choose menu: Image :: Adjustments :: Threshold...

Turn the slider right and left, experiment with it while looking at the preview.

Click OK when you're satisfied with the result.

16. On the 'Tools Palette', pick 'Magic Wand Tool' .

17. On the canvas, click on the black area.

18. Press Delete to cut the black area of 'tint' layer.

19. Press Ctrl + D to deselect the selection.

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).

That's it. Now we're done with the shading step.

And here's the result so far:

Go on to the last part of the tutorial.