Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you how to create the look
of a vintage, 1950s, pin-up-style illustration from a photo. Open a photo you'd like to use
for this project. I downloaded this one from Shutterstock. This effect looks the best when
your subject is tightly cropped. To do this, open your Crop Tool. Delete the amounts in
the Width and Height fields. Keep them empty. For its Resolution, type in 150 pixels per inch.
Drag the bounding box to where you'd like your subject cropped.
Then, click the check-mark at the top. To fit your image onto the canvas, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0. Next, we'll
remove your subject from its background by making a selection around your subject. There
are many ways to do this and your method should depend on the characteristics of your photo.
For this example, I'll use the Quick Selection Tool. If you're using this tool as well, drag
it inside your subject to surround it with a selection.
To preview the selection, press "Q' to see it as a Quick Mask.
To revert it back into a selection, press "Q" again.
Click the Refine Edge button or go to Select and Refine Edge. I did an in-depth tutorial on
Refine Edge, so if you'd like to watch it, I provided its link in the video's description.
Check "Smart Radius" and drag the Radius a bit to the right. To adjust the size of your
tool, you can type it in here. Brush your tool over the edge of the subject's hair.
Check "Decontaminate Colors" and Output it as a "New Layer". Then, click OK.
We're going to create 2 layers below the active layer.
To do this, Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon, twice.
Click the foreground color to open the Color Picker. In the hexadecimal
field, type in FFE295. Then click OK or press Enter or Return.
We'll fill the active, empty layer with this color by pressing Alt or Option + Delete.
Make the empty layer above it active.
Open your "Elliptical Marquee Tool" and go to the upper, left corner of your document.
Drag a selection to the lower, right corner. Click the Refine Edge button or, as before,
go to Select and Refine Edge. Drag the Feather slider until your quick mask is feathered
approximately this much. The pixel amount may be different than mine depending on the
size and resolution of your document. Output it as a Selection and click OK.
Invert the selection by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + I. We'll fill the selection with black.
Make your foreground black by either clicking this icon or by pressing "D" on your keyboard.
Since black is your foreground color, press Alt or Option + Delete. To deselect it, press
Ctrl or Cmd + D. Change its Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Click off the eyeball icons next to the yellow color layer and the vignette layer to temporarily hide them.
Make your cut-out subject layer active and make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Let's name it "Surface Blur/ Smear" or Smudge. Go to Filter, Blur and Surface Blur.
Surface Blur provides a “smart” smoothing effect that protects areas of contrast.
Make the Radius: 5 pixels and the Threshold: 15 pixels. Then, click OK.
Next, we'll smear or, technically, smudge the hair to make it look more painterly.
First, zoom into the hair by pressing "z"
on your keyboard and dragging a rectangle over it. Open your Smudge Tool. We'll take
care of its size in a moment. Make the Strength: 50%. To make the size bigger or smaller, press
the right or left bracket key on your keyboard.
Brush over the hair making sure you're strokes follow the direction of the hair.
To reposition your image on the canvas, press and hold the
Spacebar as you drag your image. Continue to smooth out areas with the Smudge Tool making
sure you avoid areas of high high contrast.
To fit your image back onto your canvas, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0.
Make a copy of your active layer and change its Blend Mode to Overlay.
Go to Select and Color Range. Open the fly-out list and click "Midtones". Drag the "Fuzziness"
slider all the way to the right and click OK. Cut the image inside the selection
and copy it to its own layer. Change its Blend Mode to "Vivid Light". Make a composite snapshot
of your visible image by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E on Windows or Cmd + Shift + Option +E on a Mac.
Change its Blend Mode to Multiply. Next, we'll brighten up the dark areas. Scroll
down to the bottom-most cutout subject layer and Shift-click on it to highlight all the
layers that comprise your subject. Press Ctrl or Cmd + G to place them all into a folder.
Make another composite snapshot and go to Image, Adjustments and Shadows/Highlights.
Drag the Shadows amount all the way to the right and click OK. Next, we'll give it a
bit more painterly look. Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the Artistic folder and click "Paint Daubs".
Make the Brush Size: 3 and the Sharpness: 0. Keep the Brush Type: Simple.
Then, click OK. Make the vignette and the solid color layers visible again.
Next, we'll add a grainy texture to our illustration. Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer.
We'll fill the empty layer with 50% gray. To do this, press Shift + the F5 key at the
top of your keyboard to open the Fill window. Open the fly-out list and click "50% Grey".
Then, click OK. Change its Blend Mode to Soft Light.
Go back to Filter and Filter gallery.
Close the Artistic folder and open the Texture folder. Click "Grain".
Make the Intensity and Contrast both 100 and the Grain Type "Enlarged". Then, click OK.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!