Warhol Style Self Portrait Tutorial

By the living legend Ralph Villalobos

Okay Ladies and Gents, the first thing we do here is LAUNCH PHOTOSHOP (read that in my epic voice)!!!!

After you have launched Photoshop I want you to

1. Move your cursor over the word: File.

2. Move the cursor down to the word: Open

3. Then select your portrait. Should look like this…

Granted, your picture isn’t going to look this good but you should all try to reach for the stars

am I right?

The next step is what? That’s right, DUPLICATE the LAYER!!! Always duplicate your layer to keep

the original image safe. So,

1. highlight your background layer

2. Move your cursor over to the Layer Tab and click

3. When the drop down menu appears, scroll down and select Duplicate Layer

4. A small window will appear asking what you want to title the layer, name it something and

click ok

Should look like this…

See, not so bad right? Now turn off the visibility (little eye ball) on the background layer and

create a new layer, name that layer WHITE BG. Make sure that new layer sits in between the

two photo layers. Like so…

Excellent, now select the Paint Bucket Tool fill the White BG layer with the color white. (You can

check that you did this right by turning off the visibility on your portrait layer) After that, take

the Polygon Lasso, select your background and delete it. Like so…

You could use the eraser to get rid of the background but that tends to look sloppy, be a pro and

use the polygon lasso. For the next session I want you to

1. Desaturate the image (Ctrl, Shift, U)

2. Adjust the contrast. Go to image, adjustments, brightness contrast. Make sure you RAISE the

contrast to about +35-+86, it varies from pic to pic, just make sure your picture is dramatic

in its new contrast setting.

Like so…

Congrats!!! The first part of the tutorial is done! Woo Hoo!!! Now we add filters!!!

Apply the Cutout Filter to the “photo” layer with the settings approximately as shown

below.

Filter >> Filter Gallery >> Cutout…

Adjust the Levels (Ctrl + L). You want to adjust the sliders until your photo is black, roughly 3

shades of grey, and white.

Now apply the cutout filter again. This time increasing the edge simplicity. The idea behind

this is really to abstract and simplify the photo. Of course don’t just use the numbers shown

below, trying experimenting!

Adjust the levels (brightness) again if you feel the urge. I like the look of 3 tone (white, black

and grey). Below is my image

Don’t forget to Save

Now let’s organize the canvas and create an Andy Warhol inspired portraits. So…

1. first off, duplicate your portrait layer.

2. After that I want you to move your White bg layer in between the two portrait layers,

Now highlight your top portrait layer and change its blending mode to multiply

3. Then return and highlight your white bg layer and change its color to something with

pop like a bright red or green.

4. Starting to feel familiar? Now paint this piece like you would any illustration, remember

to separate all new colors into layers

Your final product should look something like this…

Remember to use contrasting colors and layers!!! Save and upload to google drive as a

JPEG!!!!

Sincerely your hero…Ralph!