Make your own pop art masterpiece

Master Photoshop CC’s Filter Gallery and tools to paint your photo

Crop your image

Select Image > Adjust > Desaturate. Crop tightly so the face fills the frame. Now you need to make sure the size and resolution is right before you apply filters. Go to Image > Image Size, making sure the chainlink is clicked on to keep the proportions. Now try 500 pixels wide, and set Resolution to 72dpi. Click OK to confirm.

Create a halftone effect

Select Inverse to select your subject. Duplicate the Background layer. Make your image greyscale (Image > Mode > Greyscale). Switch the Blending Mode to Multiply. Now go to Filter > Filter Gallery, and select Sketch > Halftone Pattern. Set Pattern Type to Dot. Set Size to 1, and adjust Contrast until you are happy.

Start painting

Create a new layer and move it under the overlay layer. Click on the foreground colour to pick a colour for your background, and fill the layer. Now create another layer called Painting Layer, making sure it is again under the overlay layer. You can now paint into the portrait areas to create your pop art piece.

Select and mask

Use a selection tool such as Pencil or Lasso to make a selection around the figure. (Ignore tiny details like loose hairs.) Make sure there is no feathering on your selection and that it is a hard solid outline. Now click on the Quick Mask button to create a mask. Press Q to turn this into a selection, and fill with white.

Sharpen and overlay

Convert the image to RGB (for web) or CMYK (for print). The image will be blurred, so go to Filter > Sharpen > Smart Sharpen. Set Reduce Noise to 100%, and Remove to Gaussian Blur and 0. Adjust Amount and Radius until you are happy, This will create a sharp black-and-white overlay for you to paint under.

Step and repeat

Select your foreground colour for the skin. Using the Brush Tool, select your brush size. With Hardness at 100%, start painting into the skin areas. Next, do the same for the other areas, in different colours. Save the file as a .psd file. Now reopen and replace the background colour and Painting Layer colours to produce multiple versions. Once you have done three or four, you have now started your very own pop art collection!