How to add Cartoon Filter in Photoshop effortless

Today i'm going to share with you how to turn your portrait into Cartoon Filter an illustration with just one filter in photoshop. You heard it right no tracing with pen tool for hours none of that.

You have your magical single and handsome portrait the first step is applying the cut out filter but in phases first of all press ctrl or command j to make a copy of the background layer or the subject layer make sure the subject layer is selected.

And let's name this cut out now convert this into a smart object wise so that we can change the values of the Cartoon Filter later let's go to filter and then convert for smart Cartoon Filter hit okay besides having the advantage of going back.

And changing the values later you also have the advantage to copy Cartoon Filter from one smart object layer to the other so let's go to filter and then filter gallery but this is grayed out you know why.

Because this image is 16-bit some Cartoon Filter just work with 8-bit come on adobe what are you doing it's 20 20. to convert to 8-bit go to image mode and inside of that choose 8-bit.

Now let's try again go to Cartoon Filter and then filter gallery see it's working now so inside the artistic tab right there you will find cut out just select that the first slider controls how many levels of colors there would be.

So if we take it all the way to the left as you can see there are just two or three colors very less number of colors and if we take it to the right the levels the number of colors increase.

And therefore the details increase you can play with this value and choose what works best for you but stick with it through this example so for this example let's go all the way to the right hand side we might modify that later.

But for now let's keep it that way also you want the least fidelity so if we take this all the way to the right you will see a lot of fine lines and crevices in there we don't want any of that.

Let's take it all the way to the left the lines are now smoother now edge simplicity is the main game right there the more you have it the more simple the edges would be and that's.

What we are going for in this example so here is the trick for the first level of detail don't focus on the details of the face maybe the outside maybe the shirt that's it and choose the value.

So that you can get away with the least amount of details and still looking great slowly and gradually decrease the edge simplicity just when you begin to see enough details we'll stop.

• Smudge Edge Setup
• Cartoon Filter Painting Setup
• Cutout Layer Setup
• Square Line Fix
• Increase Smoothness
• Create Shadow in Cartoon Filter
• Add Gradient

Step 1. Smudge Edge Setup

Now let's control the number of levels now keep in mind we have to stick with this value so these are my final values number of levels seven edge simplicity seven and fidelity to the lowest hit okay.

So there we have our first level and we can name this cut out one now let's make a copy of this by pressing ctrl or command j and we can name this cut out two now in this level we will have a little more detail.

The great thing is we don't have to add the effect all over again all we have to do is to double click on the smudge Cartoon Filter right there and we can change the values right from here.

And in here the only thing which we have to worry about is the edge simplicity we will go just a level lower so the previous value is seven we are just going to six hit okay.

Now in here just create a negative mask by holding the alt key or the option key click on the mask button take the brush now you know what to do just only paint over the areas where you want more details with white.

So with the soft round brush selected white as the foreground color just start painting if you think you have painted in the wrong area no problem press x to make the foreground color black.

If the foreground and the background are black and white x just switches the foreground and the background.

Step 2. Cartoon Filter Painting Setup

Then paint it back with black now let's resume painting with white by the way if you momentarily want to check how the detailed cutout looks like you can always hold the shift key.

And click on the mask button to momentarily turn it off hold the shift key and click on the mask button again to turn it back on now let's paint i think we have covered most of the important areas.

Now time for level three so we can again copy level one by pressing ctrl or command j select that and then copy it place it at the very top i'm not copying level two to level three because it already has a mask.

And then it'll just increase steps now create a negative mask again hold the alt k the option key click on the mask and in this one decrease the value even further let's double click on the Cartoon Filter gallery the previous one was six.

And in this one we're gonna go five hit okay you can always see the preview by holding the shift key and clicking on the mask see where you need more details and then paint accordingly hold the shift key again click on the mask.

And i'm gonna take back the brush white as the foreground color make sure mask is selected and start painting so this my friend was level three if you want level four you can also do that just one last.

Now make sure to name it properly so with the cutout one selected control or command j and we're gonna take it to the very top double click on the Cartoon Filter gallery.

Let's choose the value four hit okay again create a negative mask by holding the alt k or the option key click on the mask button and start painting this completes step one for organization purposes you can always group all of these cutouts.

Step 3. Cutout Layer Setup

So with the first cutout layer selected actually that is cut out level four hold the shift key and select the last one all of them will be selected press ctrl or command g to group them and let's name this cut out effect.

The next step is an exciting step and that is painting in to correct the color now you can totally skip this step it's not necessary but if you want to make your illustration stand out with simplicity this is a must.

And it's very simple all you have to do is to create a brand new layer you can also do this over multiple layers zoom in and just simplify this so with a hard round brush selected you can just sample this color.

And then simplify it in this case i'll just make it straight similarly with this one we can go something like this so all you have to do is to continue painting to simplify the shading you don't have to do a lot just a little bit would do as well.

If you need a little more assistance you can always increase the smoothing Cartoon Filter. So i'm going to set it to 10. by the way if you're confused about how to take a sample just hold the alt key.

And the option key click to take a sample and if it's not taking a sample for you make sure you go to the eyedropper tool and make sure sample all layers or current.

And below is selected so that it not only samples from the current layer but also the layers which are beneath it.

Step 4. Square Line Fix

Let's get back to the brush and start painting this area is a little too square so let's quickly fix that not make it absolutely square one more line here and it looks bearable and here is the before here is the after just a little more smoothness.

So this step was paint correction cartoon filter let's name the layer or organization stay organized always moving on to step number three and this is an exciting one and that is painting in the highlights.

And the shadows now in your example you might just have to paint the shadows or just the highlights similarly in this example i'm just painting the highlights maybe a little bit of shadows.

But mostly highlights let's create a brand new layer and let's name this highlights now let's take a hard around pressure size brush so we want to choose a brush that is hard.

But we can change its size with pen pressure let's go ahead and choose that the advantage here is when you start painting in the highlight so let's go ahead.

And choose the color white right here you can also press d to set the background and the foreground to defaults which is black and white let's set it to white and let's start painting.

Step 5. Increase Smoothness

Now i'm going to increase the smoothness i want some assistance so let's start right there see the highlights that we are painting are looking so nice right so we can continue with that.

By the way this is where caps lock is useful when you're using a wacom tablet and you want to see where the brush exactly would be pointed you can press the caps lock key.

The whole circle thing will go away it'll change into a crosshair thus it will give you an exact position of the brush now as you can see i've painted a little bit of the highlights right there very fast brush stroke.

But there's a problem with that it just doesn't look right you know why the color might be the issue so let's create a solid color adjustment layer by clicking on the adjustment layer icon.

And then choose solid color for cartoon filter and choose any color maybe a little off-white hit ok and we want to limit it just to the highlights.

So hold the alt option key click on the line between these two layers and then you can pick a color for the highlight so double click on this and then with the eyedropper we can pick the brightest color right there.

So that it matches the best hit okay now it looks bearable i would make the line a little thinner at the top.

So with the highlights layer selected you can create a mask and then with the brush you can just make the line a little thinner right there.

Step 6. Create Shadows in Cartoon Filter

Now if you want you can also do some shadows so i'm going to create a brand new layer and in this i know what color all ready to take so i'm just going to sample this darkest color.

And just do some simple shadows with a hot round pressure size brush just a little bit of definition around the nose maybe give a little more definition here as well.

Now moving on to the final step step number four and that is just simply finishing touches if you wanted black and white we can turn it black.

And white if you want to add a dual tone effect we can add that as well or if you want to add contrast or color grading you're welcome to do that as well no pixel perfect tutorial is complete without curves.

So let's click on the adjustment icon and then choose curves i'm just going to increase the contrast right over there by taking the slider on the right to the left.

And taking the slider on the left a little bit towards the right then you can also create a curve on top of that i think the contrast is too much.

So let's decrease the opacity cartoon filter and slowly and gradually increase it to a number which looks good to you you're going to keep it at about 50 and there you have it just a little bit more contrast now on top of that.

Step 7. Add Gradient

Now you want to add a duo to an effect you can do that by adding a gradient map add a gradient from black to white to turn it black and white or you can also choose some other gradients.

So i can choose some interesting gradients like these to create a duo tone Cartoon Filter effect as well these are also very very interesting once you're satisfied with your gradient hit ok.

So you can have any version that you like full color black and white or a duo tone you can also get creative and change the background the stage is yours my friend.

So that's how to create an illustration with just one Cartoon Filter and the filter here was cut out and all you have to do is to apply that one Cartoon Filter again.

And again in different levels so for some areas like the jacket you would have less details and for the other areas like the eyes you would have more details in that Cartoon Filter.

And after that you can paint to correct the color paint in the highlights and shadows if you want and then you can just do somehcolor grading or add a duo to an effect like this or do a black and white version that's.

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