Suppose if someone showed you how you would have looked if you were a cartoon. You would love to see it. Right? Now we cannot really turn you into a cartoon but we surely can teach you how to create a cartoon of your own photos in Adobe Photoshop.
Now keeping in mind that there are multiple ways of achieving the desired effect in Photoshop, we are going to focus on the quickest and simplest way to cartoon yourself in Photoshop.
In this article, we provide you with a step-by-step tutorial consisting using filters from filter gallery like poster edges and different photoshop brushes.
Steps to Quickly Cartoon yourself in Photoshop
1. Open the Image
Firstly, you need an image to apply the effect of photoshop cc to. So the first step is to open the desired image in photoshop cc, colorful or black and white, in the folder by going to File and then select Open. You can also do this by pressing Ctrl+O on your windows system.
2. Duplicate Image Layer
To duplicate the image layer, click on Layer and then select Duplicate Layer from the dropdown menu. Name this layer Main Layer and then click OK.
3. Adding Filter
Now keeping the Main Layer selected click on Filter and select Filter Gallery. Then open up the Artistic folder and choose Poster Edges. After that, adjust the edge thickness and other settings by following these settings below:
Edge Thickness=10
Edge Intensity=10
Posterization=2
4. Turning into Black Outlined Image
Next, we are going to turn the image into a Black Outlined Image. To do that, simply click Image. Select click on Adjustments and then select Threshold option from the drop-down menu. A new pop up window named Threshold will appear. Set the threshold level to 49 or near and click OK.
5. Applying Oil Paint Filter or Effect
After adding the threshold level, add the oil painting effect, click on Filter. Click on Stylize and then select Oil Paint filter from the down menu. A new pop up window Oil Paint will appear. After that, enter the following settings:
Stylization=5.0
Cleanliness=2.0
Leave the rest of the settings to default and click OK.
6. Duplicate Original Layer
Next, we try to duplicate the original image layer by first selecting the Background layer. Next, click on Layer and select Duplicate Layer from the dropdown. In the pop-up window, enter the name Color and click on OK.
7. Visibility off
Now turn off the visibility of the Main image layer. For this, click on the “eye icon” on the layer.
8. Applying the poster edges filter
Select the layer Color and go to Filter. Then click Filter Gallery from the drop-down and expand the Artistic Folder when a new window appears. Select Poster Edges and enter the following settings:
Edge Thickness=0
Edge Intensity=0
Posterization=2
After that, click on OK. This will reduce the colors in the image giving it the 16-bit color and poster edges filter effect.
9. Adjust Contrast
After making use of the filter gallery, next, click Image and then select Adjustments. Click on Level from the drop-down and a new pop up window will appear.
Move the output level slider slightly to the right where you feel right to lower the contrast. When you are done adjusting the contrast and with image adjustments, click OK.
10. Adjusting Hue/Saturation
Next, go to image and select Adjustments. After that, click Hue/Saturation. A new pop up window will appear named Hue/Saturation. Enter 40 for Saturation or close, whichever you think feels right.
11. Softening the Colors
We then want to soften the colors. To do that click on Filter and select Stylize. Select Oil Paint from the menu and a new pop up window will appear. Enter the settings listed below:
Cleanliness= 7.0
Stylization= 5.0
Scale= 8.0
Bristle Detail= 1.0
Leave the rest to defaults and click on OK.
12. Main Layer Visible
Now make the Main layer from the layers panel by turning the visibility on. To do so simply click on the empty box before the Main layer and it will have an eye symbol on it.
13. Changing the Blend Mode
Next up is changing the blend mode. Select the Main layer from the layers panel and select Multiply from the drop-down menu for blend mode. It should be set to Normal as default before changing to Multiply.
14. Adjusting Levels
The last step is adjusting the levels. Select the Main layer and then select the Layer Adjustmenticon. Click Levels. Move the shadow and highlights sliders towards the center of the histogram just where you feel right.
And voila! That was the last image adjustments step of our tutorial and now you have turned yourself into a cartoon in Photoshop.
Creating a Cartoon of Yourself for your Brand
No matter how old you are, you just can’t deny the beauty of cartoons. The reality is that we are attracted to the aesthetics of minimalistic designs, silhouettes, and vectors.
Using these designs for your brand or new channel can be a great way to attract attention from customers. The best of the best brands use this feature to attract customers by creating higher value images.
Look at KFC, Quaker, or Pringles for example. They have this aesthetic of vectors and cartoons in their logos hence people are attracted to them. However, maintaining the attraction and the rest is the quality of the brand but you get the point. These designs set up a great first impression.
Best Apps to turn yourself into a cartoon
Aside from Photoshop, there are various other ways to create a cartoon picture of yourself. Several software and online alternatives have a cartoon style features available, which provides you the ability to add any of the cartoon effects to your normal photos or videos by just using keyboard shortcut. All you pretty much need to do is drag and drop cartoon effects onto the photo.
Below is the list of some free alternatives that you can use online or on your Android/IOS device:
Sketch Me! Sketch & Cartoon
This great app lets you add cartoon effects such as Hatching, Pastel, and most importantly Cartoon. Moreover, every effect can be fine-tuned and you can adjust the Edge Strength or Opacity settings to highlight specific parts of the photo.
Cartoon Camera Free
If you only want Cartoon effects and Pencil Sketch effects, then this app is right for you. You can cartoon your photos stored on your phone with this app or just take new ones from the camera feature.
The biggest con to this app is that it is completely automatic and can be done with a few image adjustments which means you will not have control over how the final result of your cartoon photo looks like.
Cartoonize.net
Cartoonize is a very popular online website that provides you amazing cartoonish filters for free. All you have to do is to upload the photo from your device. And it gives tons of options to choose from. Moreover, it is very simple to use.
Cartoon Yourself with Befunky
Befunky is a popular online image-editing platform that will do the job of making your photos into cartoons very well. The way it works is by clicking on the “open” button and after that selecting the picture.
Then select the “Artsy” button to browse through the different cartoon effects. There are various effects you can choose from, and turn your photos into attractive cartoons.
This platform also allows you to share the photos directly to social media platforms.
Cartoon Photo Editor
If you are tired of seeing the same old boring photos in your camera roll and want to do something fun.
This is your app. It enables you to use front and back camera both. This app lets you view all effects in real-time, which allows you to see the results before you snap/record or save the photo or video.
This app has tons of effects namely Thermal Vision, Crosshatch, or Cartoon. It also has an autofocus feature that helps you keep the main subject of your photos or videos sharp.
Prisma Photo Editor
You probably have heard of “Prisma Fever” somewhere online a couple of years back. This app was the most popular cartoon yourself app. Although this app has lost its popularity, the quality hasn’t decreased.
New filters and effects have been added and it allows for a great final image result. The best thing is that it lets you save your final images in SD and HD.
Closing Words
These are just a few apps to name. Many other applications can help to create a cartoon version of yourself. There are even some online websites and paid apps where you just upload the photo and get the results. These apps give good results but they cannot be compared with Photoshop.
Adobe photoshop gives you many more options and features, but using it can be complicated for beginners. If that is the issue, go for these easy to use applications. So go ahead and give those boring photos in your camera roll a new look.
