Turning People Into Elves

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Turning People Into Elves

• By Jeffrey J. Irwin

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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.

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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.

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Lets Get Started!

• Open the picture of the person you want to alter
  in Photoshop. In this case, we will use my
  picture.

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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?

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Elves With Stubbly Chins Make For Scary Elves

• Have you ever met an elf with 500 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.)

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Smudge Out That Stubble!

• After having zoomed in on the face. select the
  appropriate brush size for the picture so that
  you dont 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.

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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.

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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.

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Brighter Eyes Accomplished!

• Tada! Now that face is much brighter and younger
  looking. We will make an elf of him yet!

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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)
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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. Lets 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.
  

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Camouflage Elf

• Now we have an elf in in a camouflage traveling
  cloak. Well, I guess camo will do for now.

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Lose The Shirt!

• That shirt has to go, for it is far too dark.

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Lets 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.

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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.

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Fantasy Background

• Now we need some sort of fantasy background. But
  we arent 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.

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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.

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Adding The Elf To The Background

• Now open the picture that you selected as a
  background. Click layer, and then click add
  layer.

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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.

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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!

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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!
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• 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!
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• Here I am in the heart of the Amazon Jungle. It
  was a very hot day and bug repellant was a must!

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• This is Reykjavik Iceland. I dont recommend
  going there unless you really dont mind cold
  weather.

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• 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.

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• This is a very bad shot of me in front of the
  Kremlin late one night. I highly recommend
  seeing it!

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• I honestly dont remember which desert this was.
  I saw so many!

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• Australia, at the opera house. There I am in the
  lower right corner!

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• Japan, the most expensive portion of my trip

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• Pyramids in Egypt. They make you feel very small.

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• Here I am at the White House. Im pretty sure
  thats Geraldo Rivera in the background. Im
  going to be on the news!

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• 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

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• 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