Week 3 - Cartoon drawings (more fun with layers)

If you go to Palm Crest Elementary, or if you've taken my class in summer school, you have probably made a cartoon drawing of yourself using Photoshop Elements.  If you have, this will be good practice.  If not, I think you'll really enjoy this fun way to learn about layers.

1. So let's start by opening a photo in Photoshop Elements.
2. The next thing we do is make a NEW layer.  Name it OUTLINE and click ok
3. Next, select the paint brush.
4. Select color black, a hard edge brush style & a size (20 is good)
5. Draw over image, outline everything in detail
6. Add a new layer.  Name it COLORS and click ok
7. Drag the COLORS layer and drop it below the OUTLINE layer
8. Deselect (click) the eye on the Background layer to make the eye disappear
9. While on the COLOR layer, use the paintbrush to paint your image.  Color the lightest parts of the image first.  
10. Use the mouse wheel to change the size and color of the brush as needed.  Zoom in & out on your image to make sure you get the fine detail.
11. Use the eraser button/icon or undo arrow if you go outside the lines.
12. SAVE your work in your folder:  When you are done for the day, save your document with the extension .psd (this is the default).  When you are totally done making changes to your image save it as a .jpg (select from the dropdown menu) 

Many Thanks to Mrs. Bentz for writing up the steps.

Here is the start screen of Photoshop Elements 4.0.  This is what your toolbars and layers should look like when you first begin.