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In this tutorial I will be showing you how to make "pop art" using some mode changing and layer masks. This is a great tutorial for those like myself who are still learning Photoshop and its functions. I will be using CS6 but I'm pretty sure this tutorial will translate to older versions as well.


I'll be using this image for the tutorial. Portraits like this work really well with this style.

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What you want to do first is duplicate your original image and get your subject alone in the duplicate layer by any method of your choosing (lasso, quick selection, magic wand, etc.)

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Next, make the image of your subject black and white (Ctrl+Shift+U). After you do that, add a new layer and fill it with a really light blue. Place the blue layer in between your original image and the isolated subject layer. You should have something like this at this point.

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Now select your black and white layer and go to Image>Adjustments>Threshold. Play with the slider until you get all the features of the face in the photo. Don't worry about the edginess and grain. We can fix that later.

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To fix the photo up a little you'll want to take the paintbrush tool and paint over the things you don't want with white. After you've done all the cleaning you want, it will still look edgy and rough. Don't fret, we will fix this in the next step.

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Now, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and set it between .5 and 2.0 pixels. Whichever looks best to you. This should make the picture more smooth and reduce the noise.

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Now we're going to add the circles that you see in the classic comics. To do this, duplicate the blurred layer but instead of duplicating it to the same file, duplicate it to a new file.

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Now that you're on a new tab, go to Image>Mode>Grayscale. Click discard if a dialogue box comes up. Now go back to Mode but click Bitmap this time. Make sure your input is the same as your output and that you have Halftone Screen selected.

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On this next box it's really a guessing game depending on how big your image is and what you have the threshold set to. For this particular image I put 22 in the box. Make sure you have the shape set to round under the pixels per row and all that jazz. Click Ok and you should have something similar to this

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Now duplicate the layer but duplicate it to your original file. It should show up as a new layer on the original tab. Now select this layer and right click it. Click Create Clipping Mask. Now merge the layer with the circles and the original blurred layer. You should have this

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Now that you have done all this, you're finally done prepping the image and you can start coloring.

The first thing you want to do is duplicate your circle layer and then with the new layer selected, open the Levels menu (Ctrl+L). Now under Output Levels, move the left slider all the way to the right. This should give you a white silhouette. This will be where you color and it will make sure you don't color outside the lines for all you unsteady hands out there.

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Now place this layer under your circle layer. Set the blending mode for your circle layer to Multiply. Now click the eye next to all layers except for the original image layer. Using the Eyedropper tool, select the color you want to use first. Unhide all your layers and select the silhouette layer. Now click the circle at the bottom of the layers panel You must login or register to view this content. and select Solid Color. Make sure this is the color you selected and click okay. If this is done right you should have something like this

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Now select the color layer and create a clipping mask by right clicking on the layer and selecting Create Clipping Mask. Click on the White icon to the right of the chain on the color layer. Take the fill bucket and fill the layer with black. This should make the image white.

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What this is doing is saying that wherever there is black on the layer, it will show as white; but wherever there is white on the layer, it will show as the color you made the layer with originally. To start coloring, select the paintbrush tool and make the color white. Now when you use the brush tool it will show the color you selected.

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To change colors and color a different area, repeat the previous 2 steps but select a different color

Nice tutorial bro :yes:

Nice tutorial but for pop art I would recommend brighter more 'poppy' colours for the skin and hair etc. Looks a little too desaturated for pop art

tysm :yes:



Yeah I'm with you on that. Thanks for the advice :yes: