Turning People Into Elves

1. Turning People Into Elves By Jeffrey J. Irwin (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

2. Today we will learn how to alter photos in Adobe Photoshop • We will take a subject picture and change it into a fantasy art picture. • The object is to learn how to alter photos to make them seem not so real, and to teach students about how to use the Photoshop tools. • Our subject matter, an old picture of me, will become an elf. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

3. Subject Matter • Now we will introduce the old picture of me. • And here I am in all of my early morning glory, not happy about having my picture taken at that moment. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

4. Let’s Get Started! • Open the picture of the person you want to alter in Photoshop. In this case, we will use my picture. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

5. Crop and Lasso Tools • Use the crop tool to get rid of any extra scenery surrounding the person you wish to edit, in order to make the picture smaller. • Select the polygonal lasso tool and click around the picture until you have just the person selected and not the background. • After having done this, select the inverse of the picture. (This can be done by choosing the select menu, and then choosing select inverse, or by pressing Shift Control I.) • Once you have selected the inverse of the picture, (the background junk), go ahead and delete it so that only the picture remains. Don't I stand out well against a white background? (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

6. Elves With Stubbly Chins Make For Scary Elves… • Have you ever met an elf with 5:00 shadow? I haven't either. Lets use the finger pointing from a hand looking smudge tool after we zoom in on that scary looking late 90's face. • (It should look like this afterward.) (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

7. Smudge Out That Stubble! • After having zoomed in on the face. select the appropriate brush size for the picture so that you don’t smudge the entire picture. Brush sizes can be found in the brush size menu. • Now go ahead and use the smudge tool to cleanup that face. • Avoid smudging the eyes, eyebrows, and lips. Watch the direction you smudge when on the nose so as to ensure that the lines go with the flow. Do me a huge favor and limit the size of that bump on my Roman shaped nose by pulling the smudge tool in on the lines. Thank you! I'm looking more elf like already. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

8. Get Some Sleep! • Make sure to smudge out those deep shadows under the eyes. If you have to pull some of the paler cheek color up where the sleep lines would be under my eyes to mix with that color. This was a picture of me after a really bad night of sleep. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

9. Brighter Eyes • Zoom in very close in on the eyes and choose a tiny brush. Select the color white in your foreground color and paint a tiny dot of white into the whites of my eyes. Carefully smudge around the whites of the eyes to make them appear brighter. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

10. Brighter Eyes Accomplished! • Tada! Now that face is much brighter and younger looking. We will make an elf of him yet! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

11. Elf Eyebrows (Before) • Ok, now is the time to add a bit to the eyebrows. Using a tiny paintbrush add several itsy bitsy black dots to my brown eyebrows. Then, using the smudge tool, smudge out my eyebrows so that they blend a bit and give the outside corners a slight upturn. Think Legolas, not Keebler. (After) (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

12. The Hat Is So Wrong For An Elf! • The hat can stay but let's change that color. I look like a paperboy and we need an elf . • Here I added some green dots to my hat by selecting an appropriate sized brush and using the paintbrush tool to dot on splotches of green paint onto the hat. Let’s try to make that hat look like a beanie cap. • Ok that's a bit more elf-like, if not a bit foppish. I added green and black and smudged all the lines to the shape of a beanie style hat. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

13. Elves Have Pointy Ears! • Elves aren't elves without pointy ears! Let's use the smudge tool in order to elongate the upper part of the ears into pointy topped ears. If you have to use the eyedropper tool to select a color from an area of ear and use the paintbrush and a small brush size to add some color to the ears if that hair is getting in the way of making them longer and more pointy. Then use the smudge tool to smudge out those ears and make them elven looking. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

14. Decaffeinated Please • Now zoom in and carefully smudge the teeth to make them look whiter. Elves don't drink coffee! Then carefully smudge the lips. Add a color in tiny dots and smudge it in if you want to change the color of the lips a bit. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

15. Elves Wear Cloaks Not Coats • That coat screams mid 90's winter jacket rather than I'm an elf in a traveling cloak. We aren't aiming for extraordinary realism here. Let's change that coat. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

16. A Cloak Fit For An Elf • Start by painting a bit of brown, or a color of your choice, in splotches along the existing lines and shape of the coat. • Use the smudge tool all over the coat to give it the effect of looking like a cloak. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

17. Camouflage Elf • Now we have an elf in in a camouflage traveling cloak. Well, I guess camo will do for now. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

18. Lose The Shirt! • That shirt has to go, for it is far too dark. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

19. Let’s Give Our Elf A Plaid Shirt! (Before) (During) (After) • First, paint a bit of green in the shirt area but not covering all of it. • Then, using the polygonal lasso tool, select the entire area of the shirt that shows, all of the black and green. • After the area is selected, click on filter, and go to brush strokes, where you will select crosshatch. Set the stroke length to 50, the sharpness to 2, and the strength to 3, then click ok. • Now our elf is wearing a plaid green shirt. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

20. No More Flyaway Hair • One last touch for our elf. That hair is too realistic looking. Lets smudge it out following its natural lines so that it matches the rest of the picture. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

21. Fantasy Background • Now we need some sort of fantasy background. But we aren’t going to create that. Find a background you like from some other picture whether it be one you have or something online. • I chose this waterfall image. My elf needs an excuse to wear such a heavy traveling cloak. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

22. Grab Your Elf! • Go ahead and use the polygonal lasso tool to select the entire image of your elf. If the outside smudges look a bit off or like they extend too far go ahead and clip inside the image with the lasso tool. Once you have the entire elf figure selected click edit, and then click copy. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

23. Adding The Elf To The Background • Now open the picture that you selected as a background. Click layer, and then click add layer. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

24. Almost there! • On the new layer, go ahead and click edit, and then paste the image of the elf onto the background picture. Tada! There I am on a waterfall! It would seem that I am too far up though. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

25. Flattening The Image • Go ahead and use the pointer tool to select the top layer, then move it down so that your elf fits comfortably in with that waterfall. • Go ahead and under the layer menu, choose layer properties, and then select flatten image. • There we go! Now we have an elf who used to be a human! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

26. Do Your Own Thing! • Play with different pictures until you get the exact effects you want and can make elves that look far better than this one. I don't make a great looking elf after just having gotten up. AND NOW! ONTO THE ELVEN WORLD TOUR! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

27. In order to celebrate becoming the worlds first known elf, I decided to travel around the world and take pictures of myself. You are lucky in that I created a slideshow out of the images of me in front of many famous places across the world. Show Those Slides! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

28. Here I am in the heart of the Amazon Jungle. It was a very hot day and bug repellant was a must! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

29. This is Reykjavik Iceland. I don’t recommend going there unless you really don’t mind cold weather. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

30. Here I am in the lovely Paris France. The camera shot here is a bit shoddy, but it was an incredibly clear and beautiful night. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

31. This is a very bad shot of me in front of the Kremlin late one night. I highly recommend seeing it! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

32. I honestly don’t remember which desert this was. I saw so many! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

33. Australia, at the opera house. There I am in the lower right corner! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

34. Japan, the most expensive portion of my trip… (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

35. Pyramids in Egypt. They make you feel very small. (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

36. Here I am at the White House. I’m pretty sure that’s Geraldo Rivera in the background. I’m going to be on the news! (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

37. Last but not least, I hit Wasco Oregon on the way home. Oddly, my black and white film left me in color for this picture… (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)

38. I hope you enjoyed the slideshow. There were some definite lessons to be learned from this presentation. • It is very easy to use Photoshop to manipulate pictures, and it is very fun. • Elves are very cheesy, and so was this presentation. The End (Altering Graphics In Photoshop)