Need Help Replicating This Effect. . .

[dubya]

I'm really not sure what to call this effect -- I've been calling it a "stylized" effect for lack of better terminology. I'm trying to execute a concept and I'm stuck at this point. When I see images such as the ones posted below, for some reason it brings to mind a Flash Animation, which is also what I'm trying to replicate on this project.

What I want to do is take a photo and make it appear as the people below. I've played around using the pen tool and color fills, but either I'm not taking it far enough or it isn't quite the right direction to travel to achieve this effect. I know it can be done, because I noticed it on the back cover of Deke McClellands' Photoshop Bible at Barnes and Noble the other day. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to throw down on the book, nor the time to peruse and attempt to memorize the techniqe (which would probably be futile, given my memory).

Does anyone know of a tutorial or technique to help me achieve this effect? The quality isn't the best because they are glossy magazine scans. I tried to descreen with my scanner and also ran the Despeckle filter in PS to clean it up a bit. Any help would be greatly appreciated. . .

 

[dubya]

Here is another example. Both of these came from a Levis SilverTab ad from a magazine.

 

[kiwi]

Might be wrong but I think some hand painting has gone in there because of the large color blocks and the reduction of tones.... I would guess the technique is one of hand painting as opposed to filter work,but like I said I may be wrong there



Stu.

 

[hedsteve]

Solution to the lack of money and memory... bring a notebook and a pen with you to barnes and nobles. grab the book and some coffee (this is an essential) and copy the section of the book you need to complete this.

and then type it out and post it here so the rest of us don't need to do it.

 

[theKeeper]

Definately vector illustration... not PS.

You can get the vector look, but it'll take some tweaking & fine tuning to make it real clean.

The basic method involves the Cutout and Poster Edges filters. Reduce the photo to the level of detail you want, then go in and clean up edges, and add back in some of the lost details from the filters. Because the filters won't be able to give you a perfect result right-off.

This is a quick job using the method above. It would need further detailing at this stage.

 

[wbiss]

Yeppers! vector was my first thought too!

:} Great sample image, Mark!

I like hedsteve's suggestion to get the info!

 

[sfm]

hey cool Mark
sfm

 

[Anamacha]

yeah, I too am thinking that vector is the way to go on this one too. If you have Illustrator, you can pull the source image into one layer, and make it a Tracing layer. Basically what that does is locks the layer and reduces the opacity so that you can go over it by hand with the Pen tool ti define your blocks of colour.

The method that Mark showed was really cool too, but taht will, as you saw, procude results that are much ... smoother than what it seems you're looking for.

This is something that I imagine would be much easier done with a graphics tablet %} But FWIW, that's my advice to ya.


Anam