Photoshop Andy Warhol Photo Effect Tutorial
Andy Warhol is one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century, and his art has been reproduced in every medium imaginable.
In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to apply Andy Warhol’s unique photographic style to your own digital photos. We’ve also included tips on how to improve the quality of your photo after using this photo effect filter.
Introduction
Whether you’re a diehard fan of Andy Warhol or just appreciate his unique artistic style, recreating one of his most iconic looks is a fun way to experiment with Photoshop. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to transform a regular photo into a Warhol-esque masterpiece using some basic image editing techniques.
Step 1: Adjust the Levels The first thing we must do is determine how much of the photo needs to be converted into ‘pop art.’ Begin by opening the image in Photoshop. Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels, then adjust the contrast and brightness until you’re satisfied with your Warhol-like effect.
Step 2: Apply a Layer Mask Now that our base image has a pop art feel, we can apply some filters for the remainder of the transformation. First, select the entire layer by clicking on it in the Layers panel or hitting Ctrl/Cmd+A. Next, click on the Add Layer Mask icon (circle with a white rectangle) at the bottom of your Layers palette.
This will mask out the layer, but allow us to paint through it with black and white. If you take a look at the Layers panel, you’ll see that your base image has a mask thumbnail next to it, showing that there’s an active layer mask.
Step 3: Apply the Color Halftone Filter Next we’ll apply an effect for adding halftones on our pop art. Go up to Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone and adjust the Radius value until you’re satisfied with your halftones’ appearance. I’ve chosen a radius of 80 pixels. When you’re done, click OK to apply the filter.
Step 4: Apply Some High-Contrast Blending Options We can now continue manipulating our image in pop art style. Start by applying a high-contrast black-and-white adjustment layer. To do this, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black & White and adjust the Midtone Contrast value until you get the desired effect. I’ve chosen a contrast of +40% for my image. You can see that my base image has been turned into a pop art piece! The effects are subtle at this stage, but we’ll build upon them in the next two steps.
Step 5: Desaturate the High-Contrast Black and White Layer Go up to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate if it’s not already active. This will remove all color from our high-contrast black-and-white layer  and the color saturation from our image.
Step 6: Apply a Vibrance Adjustment Layer Set your vibrance adjustment layer to -65% in the Properties panel. Now we’re starting to get somewhere! I think this is where my image has its strongest pop art feel, but it’s not quite there yet.
Step 7: Apply a High Pass Filter to Create Outlines Add a high pass filter by going to Filter > Other > High Pass and using a setting of 3 pixels or so. This will create some nice outlines for our image shapes, as you can see in the below comparison shot (click on it for full-size).
Step 8: Apply another High-Cont rast Curve Adjustment Layer Add another high contrast curve adjustment layer and increase your values to around 100-150. These layers will look much better when combined (instead of overlaying the previous one), so I like to add them in this order: Selective Color, Vibrance, High Pass, Contrast.
Step 9: Add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer Set your hue/saturation adjustment layer to -100 for all settings except saturation, for which you’ll set to +75.
Step 10: Merge all of the Layers So far we’ve had two black and white photo layers, and two grayscale curves layers over top of that. Now let’s combine ’em! Go to Image > Adjustments > Merge Visible.
Image Selection:
In order to create a successful Andy Warhol-inspired image, you’ll need to start with a good source photograph. Ideally, you’ll want to find an image that is high contrast and includes both light and dark areas. Avoid choosing an image with large areas of solid color, as these can be difficult to work with.
Creating the Warhol Paintings Style:
How to create the Warhol paintings style in Photoshop:
In this tutorial, we will show you how to create the Warhol paintings style in Photoshop. First, open your image in Photoshop. Then, go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.
Next, increase the saturation to around +60. Now, go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and increase the black level to around 15.
Finally, go to Filter > Artistic > Plastic Wrap and apply the following settings:
Edges: 10
Detail: 20
Texture: 5
Your image should now look like a Warhol painting!
Adding In the Warhol Textures and Pop Art Patterns
In this section, we’ll be adding Warhol textures and pop art patterns to our image. First, open up the ‘Layers’ menu and create a new layer. Then, click on the ‘Select’ menu and choose the ‘All’ option. Now, go to the ‘Edit’ menu and select the ‘Paste Into’ option. This will paste your image into the new layer.
Next, we need to add a few textures to our image. First, open up the ‘Filter’ menu and select the ‘Texture’ option. Then, choose the ‘Grain’ option and apply it to your image. Next, open up the ‘Patterns’ menu and select the ‘Pop Art’ pattern. Apply this to your image as well.
Finally, we need to add a few final touches to our image. First, open up the ‘Colors’ menu and select the Hue/Saturation option. Then, increase the saturation level to +50. Next, open up the ‘Brightness/Contrast’ menu and increase the contrast level to +50.
Conclusion
This tutorial showed you how to create a Photoshop Andy Warhol photo effect. The final result is an image that looks like it was taken straight out of one of Warhol’s famous prints. To achieve this look, we used the Screen Blending Mode and a bit of color correction. We hope you enjoyed following along with this tutorial and were able to create your own Warhol-inspired image at the end.