Hey, this is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you how I created these retro pop
art images based on Andy Warhol's famous silk screen portraits of celebrities. Warhol combined
unrelated garish colors with loosely drawn outlines and high-contrast, dotted halftone
patterns of the subjects. To compose these pop art portraits, we'll use a brush inside a set of thick
heavy brushes that I provided. It does come with Photoshop, but if you can't find it, its link is
in my video's description or project files. I also provided a font called "Kevin Wild" which I think
looks really good if you want to add text to your portrait. Open a photo you'd like to use for this
project. I downloaded this one from Shutterstock. The first step is to separate the subject from
its background. There are many ways to do this, however, if you're using the most recent version
of Photoshop which in this case is CC 2023, click the lock icon which unlocks the layer.
Open the properties panel. If you don't see it, go to Window and Properties. Click "Remove
Background". Photoshop automatically isolates the subject and creates a layer mask next to it. We'll
place white under it. To do this, we'll make a new layer below the subject. Ctrl or Cmd-click
the new layer icon to create a new layer. We'll fill it with white, but before we do,
check your foreground and background colors. If they're not black and white respectively,
press "D" on your keyboard. Since white is the background color, press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.
We'll make our subject into a Smart Object so we can modify it non-destructively. To do this,
make the subject active and click the icon at the upper right. Click "Convert to Smart Object".
We'll make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Hide the copy and make the original active.
Click the adjustment layer icon and click "Levels".
It's important to note that adjustment layers affect all the layers below them in the layers
panel. If you want an adjustment layer to affect just the one layer below it, we need
to make it into a clipping mask. The quickest way of doing this is to click the clipping mask icon.
Another way is to go to Layer and "Create clipping mask". We'll make the input shadows level: 37
and the input white level: 145. We'll convert this into a Smart Object by Shift-clicking the subject
and converting them into one Smart Object. We'll apply a halftone pattern to this,
but before we do, we'll change the foreground color. So, click the foreground color box and
pick a color. I already know the color I want, so I'll type it into the hexadecimal field:
0 0 1 3 6 4. Then, I'll click ok. Now, go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the Sketch folder and click "Halftone Pattern".
Make the pattern size: 1, the contrast: 37, and the pattern type: Dot. Then, click ok.
Make the top subject visible and active and go back to Filter and Filter Gallery.
We'll close the Sketch folder and open "Stylize". Click "Glowing Edges". We'll make the Edge Width:
1, the Edge Brightness: 20, and the Smoothness: 15. Then, click ok.
Click the adjustment layer icon and click "Levels" and clip it to the Glowing Edges layer below it.
We'll make the input Shadows: 37 and the input white: 96.
Then, we'll convert it into a smart object by Shift-clicking the glowing edges layer
and converting them into one smart object. We'll change the blend mode to "Screen".
At this point, we'll add the rest of the colors. Keep in mind, since the colors
in Andy Warhol's portraits were extremely random, we can choose to apply any colors
we want. There's no right or wrong. The first color we add will be for the background behind
our subject. We'll make a new layer above the active layer by clicking the new layer icon.
Ctrl or Cmd-click either of the two subjects to make a selection of its shape. We'll make
an inverted layer mask next to the empty layer by Alt or Option-clicking the layer mask icon.
Make the empty layer active and if your brush tool isn't already active, open it
and open the Brush Picker. Open the "Thick heavy brushes 2" set I provided. You can experiment with
any of the brushes, but I recommend using the "Rough flat bristle". At the top, rotate the
arrow on the dial to approximately 45 degrees which will angle our brush 45 degrees. Now, to
enlarge or reduce the brush's size, make sure the Caps Lock key is off and press the right or left
bracket key on your keyboard. Click the foreground color and pick a color for the background. Again,
I already know the color I want so I'll type it into the hexadecimal field: 8 7 0 1 0 7. Then,
I'll click OK, or you can press Enter or Return. Loosely brush over the background and it doesn't
have to be completely accurate. You could leave some space in between some of the strokes. Warhol
used paint over it. He used a variety of mediums, but this basically will give you that effect.
If I click off the layer mask, you can see how it goes into our subject.
We'll make a new layer below the active layer by again Ctrl or Cmd-clicking the new layer icon.
We'll place it into a folder by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + G. Let's name the folder "Inside Colors".
These colors will be confined to the inside shape of our subject because the black area of our
background's layer mask is essentially restricting the colors to that shape. Make the empty layer
active. The first color I'll add will be for the hair. You can pick any area of the subject
you like. Click the foreground color and pick any color you like. Since I already know the color I
want, I'll type it into the hexadecimal field: 68 and four zeros. Then, I'll press Enter or Return.
I'll brush over a little area of the hair. Now,
if I don't like the color or want to see how the blend modes affect it, I'll open the blend
modes. The quickest way of seeing how the blend modes affect the color is to click "Normal"
and then press the Down arrow on your keyboard to toggle through all the blend modes
and the last blend mode will be "Luminosity". Now,
I already know the blend mode I want, so I'll click "Screen"
and then I'll continue to brush over the hair. I'll press the left bracket key to reduce its size
and here we go! To make the next color, I'll click Ctrl or Cmd on the new layer icon to make a new
layer below it. In this example, I will choose the collar, so again, I'll click the foreground color.
I already know the color I want, so I'll type it in: F D 9 5 1 B. I'll press Enter or Return
and make sure my Caps Lock key is off. I'll adjust its size and brush in the
color and again you want to just have fun...you know, that's the bottom line
and there's no right or wrong. It's really almost like paint-by-numbers. You don't have the number,
but you do have the paint and that's what Warhol did. He wasn't concerned about being
right or wrong. That's why Warhol's silk screen portraits were so different. Now,
just to let you know if you do go over an area and you want to get rid of it, you could use the
Eraser tool, but I prefer using layer masks. So, click the layer mask icon and make sure black is
your foreground color. Now, just brush over the areas you want to mask out and you don't
have to brush over it. I mean you could overlap colors. I mean Warhol did that as well. Continue
to make layers for the shapes of your subject and just brush in colors. Experiment with the
blend modes and bottom line... have fun! This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!