Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I'm going to show you how to create the look
of a powerful, hand-drawn ink panel of an aged graphic novel or comic book from a photo.
And then, how to quickly and easily replace the drawing.
Before we begin, you can get the most current version of Photoshop and Lightroom and 20
GB of cloud storage altogether for only $7.99 per month. Click the link in my video's description
to get the discount. Find an image that you'd like to use for this project. I downloaded
this one from Shutterstock. I provided this stained, aged paper texture that we’ll use
later in the tutorial. Its link is located in the video description below. If you want
to replace the background with a simple, but dramatic gradient, you'll need to separate
your subject from its background by making a selection around your subject. If you want
to keep the existing background of your image, you can bypass the next few steps There are
many ways to make a selection around your subject, however, for this example, I'll use
the Quick Selection Tool with a size of 10 pixels. If you're using this tool as well,
you may need to adjust this amount depending on the size and resolution of your image.
Drag your tool inside your subject to select it.
To remove areas of the selection, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag over those areas.
To check your selection, press "Q" on your keyboard 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 my description
below. Drag the Radius a bit to the right and output it as a "New Layer".
Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon to make a new layer below the active layer. We'll fill
the empty layer with a gradient. To do this, click the Gradient Tool and click
the Radial Gradient icon. Click the gradient bar to open the Gradient Editor. Click this
black & white thumbnail and click the lower left Stop. Click the color box and in the
Brightness field, type in 10. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return. Click the lower,
right Stop and the color box. In the Brightness field, type in 60. Then, click OK or press
Enter or Return twice to close both windows. Go to the top, left corner of your document
and drag the Gradient Tool to the opposite corner. Then. release. We'll convert our image
into a Smart Object, so we'll be able to edit the effects that we'll be adding to it and
allow us to replace our subject without having to redo any of the effects. To make it into
a Smart Object, click the top layer to make it active and Shift-click on the bottom layer
to make all the layers active. Click the icon at the upper right of the Layers panel and
click "Convert to Smart Object". Make a copy of the layer by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J.
Name the top layer, "Photocopy" and the layer below it, "Graphic pen". Hide the top layer.
We want your foreground and background colors black and white, respectively. If they aren't,
press "D" on your keyboard. Go to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Open the Sketch folder and click "Graphic Pen".
I'll make the "Stroke Length": 10, however, you may want to adjust
this amount depending on the size and resolution of your image. Make the "Light/Dark Balance":
100 and the Stroke Direction: "Right Diagonal". Then, click OK. The reason we made our foreground
& background colors black & white respectively, is because the Graphic Pen filter takes on those colors.
For example, if our foreground & background colors were inverted, our image would look like this.
Make the top layer visible and active. Go back to Filter and Filter Gallery.
Click Photocopy. I'll make the Detail: 5 and the Darkness 50, but again, feel free to experiment
with the amounts. Remember, you an always change it at at any time, because all the
effects that we're adding to our image are Smart Filters. Change the Blend Mode to "Multiply".
Next, we'll make the border. But first, to save space in the Layers panel, let's collapse
the Smart Filters by clicking the small black triangles on the right of the layers.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer. Name it "Border". Fill the empty layer with any
color. I'll press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete to fill it with white, which is my background color.
Reduce the Fill to 0%. This makes anything inside the layer invisible, but it'll retain
the visibility of all the effects that we'll be adding to it. Double-click the thumbnail
to open the Layer Style window. Click "Stroke". Click the color box and pick white. Then,
click OK. Make the Size: 8 pixels and the Position: Inside. If you're using version
CC, click the "plus" sign to the right of "Stroke" to add another Stroke. If you're
using a version earlier than CC, I'll show you what to do in a minute. Make the second
stroke active and click the color box. Pick black and click OK. Make the Size: 12 pixels
and click OK. If you're using a version earlier than CC, click "Inner Glow". The Blend Mode
is "Normal", the Opacity is 100% and the Color is Black.
The Choke is 100% and the Size is 12 pixels. Then, click OK.
Next, we'll add a caption. First. let's collapse the effects.
Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer. Name it "Caption" or "Text Banner".
Open your "Rectangular Marquee Tool". Go to a corner and drag out a selection approximately this size.
Fill it with white and deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D.
Double-click its thumbnail to open its Layer Style window. Click "Stroke" and the
color box. Pick black and click OK or press Enter or Return. Make the Size approximately
4 pixels and the Position is Inside. Click "Drop Shadow". Make the Blend Mode: Normal
and the Opacity is 100%. I'll make the angle of the drop shadow 45 degrees, but you can
make it whatever looks good to you. You can also type in the amount. Make the Distance
anywhere between 10 to 20 pixels and click OK.
Right now, the banner is on top of the border.
We want to place it underneath the border. I'll collapse the effects and drag
the banner layer underneath the border layer. Next, we'll add a caption on top of the banner.
Open your Horizontal Type Tool and font list. I'm using "RedStateBlueState BB Italic". If
you'd like to use it as well, its link is in my video description. I'll begin with a
size of 72 points, Sharp and Left Alignment. Click to the left of the banner and type out
your caption. To adjust its size, highlight your line of text and drag your cursor over
the "T" symbol to the left or right. If you want to make a character larger, highlight
that character and increase its point size. To reposition your caption over the banner,
open your Move Tool and just drag it. To save more space in the Layers panel, let's group
the caption and banner into a folder. To do this, Shift-click on the banner to make it
active, as well, and press Ctrl or Cmd + G. Name it "Caption" or "Text banner". Make the
top layer active. Open the aged, paper texture I provided. To place it into your document,
drag it onto the tab of the comic book and without releasing your computer mouse or pen,
press and hold Shift as you drag it onto your image. Then, release. Pressing and holding
Shift kept the paper texture centered over your document. To resize and/or rotate it,
open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctlr or Cmd + T. If the paper texture is larger
than your comic book document, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0 to see the Transform's entire bounding
box. Go to a corner and when you see a diagonal, double-arrow, press and hold Alt or Option
+ Shift as you drag it in or out. If your comic book panel is vertical and you want
to rotate the paper texture, go back to a corner and when you see a curved, double-arrow,
press and hold Shift as you rotate it 90 degrees. Once your paper texture is sized to your comic
book panel, click the checkmark at the top. Change its Blend Mode to "Multiply".
Let's name it "Paper texture". Next, I'll show you how to quickly and easily replace your image.
Double-click on any Smart Object to open its source. Go to File and "Place Embedded".
Find and click a new image and click "Place". The Place Embedded command places an image into
your document as a Smart Object. As you can see, in this example, I already removed background
from the subject. If you need to do the same for your image, just repeat the steps that
you did earlier. If you want to make the subject larger, first zoom out of your document by
pressing Ctrl or Cmd and minus key on your keyboard a few times. Before I resize it,
I'd like to flip it, so he faces the other way. To do this, I'll go to Edit, Transform
and "Flip Horizontal". Go to a corner and drag your subject out or in and reposition
it. Then, press Enter or Return. To hide the old subject under your new subject, click
off the eyeball icon next to the layer of your old subject.
Feel free to make more adjustments in its size and position.
When you're done, close the tab of the Smart Object. When you
see this window, click, "Yes" to save the changes.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching!