Cartoon tutorial

Creating a cartoon effect from a photo using Photoshop CS3
Since my interest in web and graphic design was re-ignited a few months back I have learnt a lot of really useful Photoshop techniques. Ithought this blog would be a great place for me to share some of these techniques.
This entry focuses on how to create a cartoon effect from a photo using Photoshop CS3. To illustrate the effect weare aiming to achieve here is the original image beside the ‘Cartoon Effect’ image used for this walk through.

Before/After - Cartoon Effect
This effect is quite simple to achieve. There are only afew steps required. The steps being:
1. Select a photo to apply the effect to and open it in Photoshop CS3.
2. Duplicate the background layer (The effect is applied to this layer).
3. Apply the‘Poster Edges’ filter.
4. Adjust the Brightness and Contrast of the image.
5. Apply the ‘Cutout’ filter.
So without further adieu lets crack on…
Step 1: Select a photo to apply the effect to and openit in Photoshop CS3
To start with I picked out a photo of myself and a friend that I felt would suit this effect. Images where the face is darker or covered in shade did not lend themselves well tothis effect. Here is the original image that I started with:

Original Photo
Step 2: Duplicate the background layer (The effect is applied to this layer)
Duplicating the background layer enablesus to apply filters and effects to the image. To do this from the menu select Layer > Duplicate Layer. In the dialogue box that appears rename the layer from ‘Background Copy’ to ‘Cartoon Effect’.Select OK. Photoshop will then create and select the duplicate layer.
Step 3: Apply the ‘Poster Edges’ filter
To apply the ‘Poster Edges’ filter select Filter > Artistic > Poster Edges from the menu.This will open the filter dialog box with the ‘Poster Edges’ options selected. For this image I left the settings as I found them:
• Edge Thickness : 3
• Edge Intensity: 1
• Posterization:2
TIP:...