Sketchy portraits
Get this creative effect with Photoshop
If you’re a fan of doodling, then this project will be perfect for you. We’ll look at how to transform a portrait into a piece of scribble art. It might look like a complicated effect, but it’s actually rather simple to pull off, all you need is Photoshop.
We’ll begin here by cutting out our subject (using automated selection tools to speed things up), then we just hide the portrait behind a mask, grab a brush and start scribbling on the picture. Scribbling is best done with a stylus and graphics tablet, as this way you can make use of pressure and tilt to vary your strokes. But if you only have access to a mouse then it is still relatively easy to create the scribbles, as we can use helpful features like Smoothing on our brush tip to combat the jagged strokes that you often end up with when using a mouse.
To add depth to our scribble effect we can build it up over several layers, using layer opacity to blend them together for the effect that we want. We can also paint a few watercolour splashes around the image to give it a more painterly feel.
Adobe offers an excellent watercolour brush set for this. To download it, go to the Brush picker, click the cog to open the flyout menu and choose Get More Brushes, then download the official Watercolour set from the Adobe website.
If you would rather watch and learn you’ll find a full walkthrough in the accompanying video. So why not open up one of your favourite portraits and transform it into a piece of scribbly art?
Cut out the portrait
Open the portrait then double-click the ‘Background’ layer to make it editable. Go to Select>subject, hit Cmd/ctrl+j to copy to a new layer. Highlight the bottom layer, click the Create Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers panel and select Solid Color. Choose a cream colour.
Adjust your brush
If using a mouse try increasing the Smoothing in the brush settings for smoother curved lines. Scribble around the edges of the face, using broad strokes for smooth areas and finer strokes for parts like the eyes that need more detail. Next, lower the layer opacity a little.
Add splashes
Keep building up the effect until the portrait looks complete. Highlight the Solid Color layer at the bottom and make an empty layer above it. Grab the Brush tool and choose a watercolour brush. Hold Alt and click to sample a colour from the image then paint watercolour splashes around the edges.
Start scribbling
Highlight the top layer, then hold Alt and click the Add Layer Mask icon to hide the layer behind it. Grab the Brush tool and hit D to set the colour to white. Go to the Brush picker and choose an erodible pencil tip for your brush. Start scribbling to reveal the portrait.
Make more layers
Duplicate the layer and build up the effect on the second layer. Right-click the mask and delete it then scribble again, or click the link between layer and mask to unlink, then highlight the mask and go to Edit> transform> warp. Reshape the layer mask to vary the effect.
Finish off
Make another layer and paint a few more splashes, then add a black mask and scribble, as with the portrait layers. Finally, add a layer at the top of the stack then sample colours and paint a few more scribbles on top of everything. Make any tonal changes you like to finish off.