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CARICATURE

How to Create a PhotoCaricature in AdobePhotoshopby Kirk Nelson 26 Dec 2014

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What You'll Be Creating

Caricatures are a fun alternative to traditional portraits. The idea is to comicallyexaggerate particular features to create a humorous representation of that person.Adobe Photoshop's transform, warp, and liquify features are perfect for creatingcaricatures from a photographic portrait. This tutorial is part of a larger set ofinstructions found in the Tuts+ course, Fluid Photo Manipulation: Transform, Warp,and Liquify.

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Tutorial Assets

This tutorial requires two files. Both are available through the DownloadAttachment link found with this tutorial. The files you will need are:

A portrait photo. Feel free to use one of your own, or use the same one I used.A textured background. I created this one using the Adobe Texture Paper Proextension.

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1. Basic Photo Preparation

The essential technique for creating a caricature is to find elements that are alreadynaturally pronounced, and exaggerate them to a comical degree. In our starterphoto here, the young man's jaw line is rather large, and his smile is very prominent.The horn-rimmed glasses are noticeable and the hairline looks like it's beginning torecede. These are all aspects of his portrait we can have fun with.

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Step 1The solid white background of the portrait makes it easy to extract the figure fromthe background. Use the selection technique of your choice—I used the QuickSelection Tool (W) to craft the selection—and then go to Layer > New > Layer ViaCopy (Control-J) to create a cutout layer of the man.

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Step 2It's much easier to work with particular features if they are isolated. So use thesame technique to cut out the following individual elements. The body and clothinglayer should follow the neckline of his shirt.

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The head/neck layer should fit nicely inside the neckline of the shirt

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Keep the selection large and rough when creating the chin layer—we will make itblend in nicely later.

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Keep the mouth layer selection outside the lip area so there's room to blend it inlater.

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Likewise, keep the selection around the nose rough, with plenty of room to spare.

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Keep the selection around the glasses nice and tight, and include the eyes.

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Keep the selection tight around the outside contour of the ear, but give yourselfroom to work with on the inner side.

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Step 3Just to keep things as flexible as possible, lets transform each layer into a SmartObject. Grab each layer individually and go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convertto Smart Object.

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2. Transform and Warp

Now that the different features are all on their own layer, we can begin transformingthem into an exaggerated caricature. Use the flexibility of the Smart Objects to workwith different size combinations to get a humorous effect.

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Step 1A common caricature technique is to make the head extremely large in proportion tothe body. To accomplish this, shrink the body layer down significantly with Edit >Free Transform.

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Step 2Use Edit > Transform > Warp to begin shaping the head layer. Fit the neck into theneckline of the shirt and inflate the top of the head. The goal of this step is just toestablish the basic shape of the head, and that serves as a foundation for the otherlayers to build on.

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Step 3Distort the chin layer to elongate it and sharpen it slightly. Try to keep the topaligned so the seams are not overly visible.

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Step 4Make that big grin even larger by stretching out the mouth layer.

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Step 5Caricatures frequently make noses extremely large and exaggerated. Big noses justlook funny! Expand the nose layer to comical proportions—even if it overlaps themouth, it's OK.

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Step 6The glasses layer requires more attention than the simple scaling we used with theother features. The Edit > Transform > Warp tool can be used to help fit theexpanded frames onto his face.

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Step 7All the distortion has nearly eliminated the ear on the base head layer. Good thingwe have an ear layer to scale up so that it can support the heft of those glasses!

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Step 8Now add a Layer Mask to each layer and use a soft brush with black paint to blendthe individual elements into a cohesive whole.

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Masking the chin is the most challenging, as you have to work around the hairs ofthe beard. Just use a smaller sized brush and work carefully. Here's a shot of thechin layer next to the mask layer used to blend it.

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Step 9Add a new layer above all the cutout layers and use the Spot Healing Brush (J)set to Sample All Layers to paint over any obvious seams or trouble areas thatescaped the masking process.

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3. Fluid Faces

Next up is the true power behind the caricature process. It's the infamous Liquifyfeature. We've already done much of the warp work with the differenttransformations, but it's the Liquify feature that is really going to create a fluid,funny, exaggerated appearance. The Liquify tools are powerful and can beunpredictable, but fortunately the feature supports Smart Filtering, so there's noworries!

Step 1Select all of the cutout layers and the seam cover layer and merge them into asingle Smart Object with Layer > Smart Object > Convert to Smart Object.

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Step 2Go to Filter > Liquify. When the dialogue box comes up, check the AdvancedMode to reveal additional controls.

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Step 3Use the Forward Warp Tool with a brush size around 200 to increase the size ofhis forehead. Gently push the skin area up towards the hairline.

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Step 4Use the Bloat Tool to click a few times on the tip of his nose to make it look more

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bulbous.

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Step 5Use the Freeze Mask Tool to highlight the frames of the glasses. This will preventthe frames from distorting while we work with the eyes.

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Step 6Use the Forward Warp Tool again to exaggerate the shape of the temple area, andthe Bloat Tool to create a slightly larger shape to the eyes—just be sure to reducethe size of the brush to be similar in size to the eyeballs. When finished, click theNone button in the Mask Options to unfreeze the masked area.

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Step 7Extend the chin a bit more using the Forward Warp Tool and create a morerounded, bulbous end with the Bloat Tool.

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Step 8Finally, make his smile even bigger by using the Forward Warp Tool to push thecorners of his mouth up into the folds on his cheeks. Just be careful not to warp theshape of the teeth.

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Apply the Liquify effect and your caricature should look something like this.

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4. Artistic Background

Now that we've twisted up this poor man's face, let's make it look more like apainted image. We'll start by having a more artistic background.

Step 1Add a Layer Mask to the caricature layer and use a textured brush to fade thebottom of the layer out. I chose the Sponge Brush Projection brush preset here.

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Reduce the Brush Opacity setting to around 40% so the texture builds upgradually.

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Step 2Open the BackgroundTexture.jpg file from the tutorial assets and place it as alayer underneath the caricature layer.

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Step 3Add a new layer over the textured background. Use the same textured brush fromthe mask work to add in a white brushed border effect.

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5. Painted Effect

Now we are ready to transform the caricature itself into a painting. We want toretain some of the photographic qualities, but still give the impression of a hand-painted piece. This is easily done using a smudge painting technique.

Step 1Smaller details tend to disrupt the smudge painting process, so it's best to smooththem out first. Go to Filter > Blur > Smart Blur. Use a Radius of 2.0 a Threshold of10.0, with Quality set to High.

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Step 2The highlights in the photo appear a little bright. Correct this by clipping a CurvesAdjustment Layer to the caricature layer and using the Curves to decrease thebright areas.

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Step 3Create a new layer at the top of the layer stack. Grab the Smudge Tool with a

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Brush Size around 40 pixels. Set the Strength to 80% and check the Sample AllLayers option. Then begin smudging along the major features of the image. Followalong with the natural grain of the skin to keep the appearance very fluid.

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Step 4Reduce the brush size to about 5 pixels and begin smudging along the smallerdetails of the image like the eyebrows, individual strands of hair, his eyes, andhis teeth.

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Step 5Create a merged layer of the smudge layer, the caricature layer and the adjustmentlayer by selecting all of them and holding down the Alt key while going to Layer >Merge Layers (Control-E). Then go to Filter > Other High Pass set the Radius to5.0 Pixels. Call this layer Details.

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Step 6Change the Details layer Blending Mode to Overlay, reduce the Opacity to 78%,and then go to Layer > Layer Mask > Hide All. Use a soft, white brush on themask to reveal the details in the eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and beard.

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Step 7Add a new layer called Dodge/Burn and fill it with 50% gray through the Edit > Fill

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feature. Set the Blending Mode to Overlay and then use a soft Black brush at 30%Opacity to simulate a Burn effect. Switch to White to simulate a Dodge effect.

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Step 8Add a final color effect. First create a merged layer of all the layers by holding downAlt while going to Layer > Merge Visible. Then go to Filter > Camera Raw and setthe Contrast to +10, Clarity to +22, and the Vibrance to +48.

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Done!

And now you are finished! Behold your amazing photo caricature work. Now takethese techniques and go apply them to photos of your friends and family to createsome fun, unique, and personal portraits!

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This tutorial is just an excerpt from a larger, more detailed set of instructions foundin my Tuts+ course, Fluid Photo Manipulation: Transform, Warp, and Liquify. Alsobe sure to check out my profile of courses and tutorials here at Tuts+ and find thiscourse, and much more!

Difficulty:

Intermediate

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Related Tutorials

Intermediate

Length:

Medium

Categories:

Caricature Adobe Photoshop

Photo Effects Photo Manipulation

Portrait

Translations Available:

Tuts+ tutorials are translated by our communitymembers. If you'd like to translate this post intoanother language, let us know!

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About Kirk Nelson

I have been working as an all aroundgraphics geek or “Visual InformationSpecialist” for the past 17 years around the

Washington DC Metro area. With my careerspanning across almost every aspect of the designindustry, I have worked from web design, to 3danimation, to logo design, to photo retouching.

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20 Comments Tuts+ Hub

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• Reply •

Barnali • 3 months ago

Thank you for this tutorial! I created this one.

⛺

18△ ▽

• Reply •

Djape Kamurabi • 2 months ago> Barnali

You like you saw a ghost !! 1△ ▽

Ahmed H. Garawani • 2 months ago

This is my result, I know it's not even close to tut's result or even the original photobut I've tried hard to make it like yours, anyway it was my first try and I'm sure that I'll make a better one after a fewtimes of practicing ... :D .... YOUR OPINION ?! ... :D ...

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• Reply •

⛺

4△ ▽

• Reply •

Tu Nguyen • 2 months ago

I may have to make some practices to make a perfect one like tutorial's. Anw this is my first one. Big thanks for awetutorial!!!! <3

⛺

4△ ▽

• Reply •

Mary Winkler • 2 months agoMod > Tu Nguyen

Fantastic result! :) this will be featured in an upcoming community round-up post here on Tuts+ in February. △ ▽

• Reply •

Vijay Arora • 2 months ago

I created this one of my friend

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4△ ▽

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• Reply •

Dani Dead • 12 days ago> Vijay Arora

Your result is amazing △ ▽

• Reply •

Vijay Arora • 2 months ago

i created this one too, of me

⛺

2△ ▽

• Reply •

Ejaz Asghar • 2 months ago

Just for fun :D

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1△ ▽

• Reply •

Skazius Dimitrius • 3 months ago

Badass tutorial! Thanks!! 1△ ▽

gautam krishna • a month ago

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• Reply •

can anyone Edit one pic for me.... i'm doing since 5 days but not able to create as such..... Please do reply me @gautam2krishna@gmail.com

TIA △ ▽

• Reply •

roland martin • 2 months ago

His tutorial is soooooooooo fun!!!! SUPER EASY!!! △ ▽

• Reply •

Woody Roby • 2 months ago

Excellent !!! ! (Y) △ ▽

• Reply •

Amirouche Amiroovic • 2 months ago

J'ai essayer avec la meme photo et voila le resultat ...

⛺

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• Reply •

cortesvideo • 2 months ago

love this! △ ▽

Guest • 2 months ago

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• Reply •

Not bad. △ ▽

• Reply •

odongo • 2 months ago

Thanks a lot for sharing! △ ▽

• Reply •

joe_schmigel • 3 months ago

Looks like hard work . . . but fun. Thanks △ ▽

• Reply •

AnsMachine • 3 months ago

this is really amazing... △ ▽

• Reply •

Guest • 4 days ago> AnsMachine

Application to familiarize

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