Bring your sketch to life

Throw away your paintbox and master the art of Photoshop!

01 Paint your portrait

Open portrait.jpg. Hit Cmd/Ctrl + J three times to create three layered copies. Hide the top two layers by clicking their eye icons. Select Layer 1. Go to Filters >Filter Gallery >Artistic >Cutout and set Levels 7, Simplicity 3, Fidelity 2. Hit OK. Set blend mode to Luminosity and opacity to 40%.

02 Add some style

Select Layer 1 copy and hit its eye icon to reveal it. Go to Filters> Filter Gallery> Stylize> Glowing Edge. Set Width 5, Brightness 8, Smoothness 5. Click OK, then Cmd/Ctrl+I (to invert the layer) and Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + U (to desaturate it). Set blend mode to Multiply and opacity to 70%.

03 Sketch things out

Hit Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E. Next, select the top layer and click its eye icon. Desaturate and duplicate it, then Invert the copied layer. Switch blend mode to Colour Dodge. Go to Filters> Blur> Gaussian Blur. Set the slider to 60 pixels. Click OK. Hit Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E again.

04 Mix and match

Drag the painting merged layer (Layer 2) beneath the sketched one (Layer 3). Select Layer 3 and add a layer mask. Use the brush tool (B) set to black (X toggles between black and white). Right-click to select a brush; we used Oil Medium Wet Flow set to 1000 pixels. Paint to reveal the colour.

05 Include the artist

Open hand.jpg. Select the hand, and its shadow, using the quick selection tool (W). With the Move tool (V), drag it onto the portrait. Duplicate this layer, then hit the duplicate’s eye icon to hide it. Select the original hand layer and Hit Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + U, then set Blend mode to Multiply.

06 Add some depth

Add a layer mask, select a soft round brush of around 100 pixels and paint over the edge of the hand’s shadow to soften it. Select the top layer and hit its eye icon. Add another layer mask, and with the brush tool set to black, draw around the edges of the hand so that only the hand is visible.