Cartoon Effect

Firstly we are going to increase the overall contrast of the picture by burning it a bit. Go to IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > LEVELS…With this image we are going to set the INPUT LEVELS to 60 / 1.00 / 220. But this is only for this example. Choose the best settings for each photo.


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Duplicate the layer and name the new layer HALFTONE



In this step we are going apply a halftone pattern to the image to give the final old comic book printing effect. Go to FILTER > PIXELATE > COLOR HALFTONE. Set MAX RADIUS: 4 and leave the rest with the default values. Press OK and then go to the LAYERS PALETTE and set the BLENDING MODE to DARKEN.


We are going to add some unique elements that are very popular on comic books and strips Select the HALFTONE layer and set a STROKE LAYER STYLE of WIDTH: 20px, POSITION: Inside and COLOR: #F5ECE1.



Add a new layer and draw a small rectangle at the top left of the frame of the image. Give it a STROKE of 3 pixels and paint it orange. An orange to yellow gradient looks better. Draw another rectangle, a bit larger this time, on the lower left corner of the frame. Give it a STROKE of 3 pixels and paint it white. The final result should be like the one below:


To add captions to the photo you can use any font you like, but only using fonts specially designed for comic books you will be able to achieve the desired look.

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Nail Effect

Make a circular selection.



Tip: Hold down Alt/Option to draw from the center. Hold down Shift to draw a perfect circle. To move the selection while drawing, hold the spacebar

Select the gradient tool. black to white circular gradient. Make sure you check the reverse box on the top bar.

Draw the gradient starting from the center and you should have something like this.

Now how about the slot?
Make a new layer. Draw a long rectangle and fill with dark gray.To trim the slot: Ctrl/Cmd click on the layer 1 thumbnail to select it. With the top layer active hit Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+I to invert the selection. Press the delete key. Now you should have a nicely trimmed slot

To make the slot look recessed:
Add a layer style to the slot. Hit the little "f" at the bottom of the layers pallette. Use inner shadow wih the default settings except for the size, move that up a little bit for more realism.

We are done, but how often is the slot perfectly vertical? Press Ctrl/Cmd+T for free transform. Move your mouse on a corner until it turns into a curved arrow. Drag it around until you have a nice angled slot.

To finish, merge down and add a drop shadow and a bit of color if you desire.

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