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  • Hi, this is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.

  • Quite a while ago, I did a tutorial showing how to make a portrait out of text.

  • In this tutorial, I'll show you how to do it quicker and better.

  • Including how to make it in color.

  • You can mix fonts and sizes and because they're "live", they're fully editable.

  • Feel free to use any photo you'd like.

  • If you want to use this image,

  • its link is located in the video's description or project files.

  • Its size is approximately, 1300

  • by 1900 pixels

  • with the resolution of 150 pixels per inch.

  • If you're using a color photo

  • desaturate it by pressing Ctrl + Shift + "u" on a PC

  • or Cmd + Shift + 'u" on a Mac.

  • To make the darkest tones, black

  • and the lightest tones, white...

  • press Ctrll or Cmd + Shift + "L".

  • We need to make a selection around the head and shoulders.

  • For this example, I'll use the Pencil tool.

  • First, click on your quick mask button...

  • and make sure black is your foreground color.

  • If it isn't,

  • click on this small black and white box icon.

  • Open your pencil tool.

  • We'll make the Size...

  • 5 pixels and the Hardness... 100%.

  • Draw around the head and shoulders. It doesn't have to be perfect, especially

  • around the hair.

  • Open your paint bucket tool.

  • Click down inside the portrait to fill it in.

  • Press "Q" to make the quickmask into a selection.

  • Invert it...

  • by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + "i".

  • Go to Select and Save Selection.

  • Name it, "Highlights"...

  • and click, OK or press Enter or Return.

  • Delete the selection

  • by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + "d".

  • Press Ctrl or Cmd + "j" to make a copy of the original image.

  • Go to Filter...

  • and Filter Gallery.

  • Open the "Artistic" folder...

  • and click

  • "Cutout".

  • Make the number of Levels, 2...

  • the Edge Simplicity, 5...

  • and the Edge Fidelity, 1.

  • Then, click OK.

  • Go to Image...Adjustments...and Threshold.

  • The Threshold is 128.

  • Go to Select

  • and Color Range.

  • Select...

  • Shadows...

  • and click, OK.

  • We'll save the selection

  • and name it, "Shadows".

  • Then, delete the selection.

  • Click on the new layer button

  • to make a new layer.

  • We'll fill it with White...and since white is our background color,

  • press Ctrl or Cmd + Delete.

  • Go to Window... and Character.

  • In the Character panel,

  • choose a font that has at least 2 weights.

  • I'm using, "Arial".

  • For the Highlights of the portrait,

  • I'll use, Arial Regular.

  • The Size is 8 points and the "Leading" is 7 points.

  • "Leading" is the amount of space between the lines of text.

  • Press the "All Caps" icon.

  • This makes the text all caps even if the original text is upper and lower case.

  • Go to the top, left corner... click down...

  • and drag it of the bottom, right corner.

  • This "text box" or "bounding box"...

  • makes the text we place inside this area, conform to the dimensions of the

  • box.

  • If you re-size the bounding box, Photoshop adjusts the wrapped ends of the text to

  • account for the new size.

  • For this example, I'll fill it with Lincoln's

  • "Gettysburg Address".

  • I already searched for it in my browser.

  • When you find the text block you'd like to use in your portrait,

  • highlight it...

  • and press Ctrl or Cmd + "c" to copy it.

  • I'll minimize the browser's window...

  • click down inside the top, left corner of the bounding box

  • and press Ctrl or Cmd + "v"...

  • to paste the text into it.

  • Click on the thumbnail of the text to accept it.

  • Press, "z" to open your Zoom tool.

  • Zoom into your text...

  • and click on your Type tool.

  • Let's make the entire text block into one unbroken paragraph.

  • I'll click to the left of the first character...

  • and press the Backspace key to move it to the left, so it's flush with the

  • bounding box.

  • I'll click to the left of the first character of the second paragraph...

  • and press the Delete key...

  • until the text moves up to meet the first paragraph.

  • Continue until we have one unbroken paragraph.

  • Highlight it...

  • and copy it.

  • Press Ctrl or Cmd + Zero...

  • to see the entire document on your screen.

  • Click to the right of the last character and paste in the text.

  • Continue to paste the text in until all of the bounding box is filled with the

  • text.

  • To get rid of the uneven lines of text on the right,

  • go to the middle, right of the bounding box...

  • and press and hold Ctrl on a PC

  • or Cmd on a Mac.

  • When you see this white pointer,

  • drag it to the right.

  • Then, click on the thumbnail of the text layer to accept it.

  • Let's name it...

  • "Highlights"...

  • and then make a copy of it.

  • Click off the eyeball of the original text to hide it...

  • and we'll name the copy...

  • "Shadows".

  • Double-click on the thumbnail to highlight the text...

  • and change the font to the heaviest weight.

  • Make the size, 12 points...

  • and the Leading, 9 points.

  • Click on the thumbnail to accept it.

  • Open your Channels panel...

  • and Ctrl-click...

  • or Cmd-click on the Shadows thumbnail to make it into a selection.

  • Open back up to you Layers panel...

  • and click on the Layer mask button...

  • to make a layer mask next to the active layer, which is the Shadows text.

  • Make the Highlights text layer, visible...

  • and active.

  • Go back to your Channels panel...

  • and Ctrl-click or Cmd-click on the Highlights thumbnail...

  • to make it into a selection...

  • and then go to the Shadows thumbnail...

  • and press Ctrl+ Alt on a PC

  • or Cmd + Opt on a Mac...

  • to subtract the shape from the Highlights shape...

  • leaving just the highlights of the portrait.

  • Open back up your Layers panel...

  • and click on the layer mask button to make a layer mask next to the highlights

  • text.

  • As I mentioned at the beginning,

  • the text is "live" and editable...

  • so for example, if we want to increase the size of the text in the shadow areas,

  • double-click on the thumbnail of the Shadows text to highlight all the

  • text

  • and type in a higher number.

  • To accept it, click back on the thumbnail.

  • To modify the size of the text in the highlight areas,

  • make the Highlights layer active...

  • and double-click on the thumbnail to highlight all the text.

  • I'll change point size to 6...

  • and click on the thumbnail to accept it.

  • Next, I'll show you how to make your portrait into full color.

  • Make the top layer active...

  • and click on the new layer button to make a new layer.

  • We'll fill it with White...

  • and since White is our foreground color

  • press, Alt or Opt + Delete.

  • Hide the layer...

  • open your Channels panel...

  • and click on the dotted, circular icon at the bottom to select all the tonal values

  • of your image.

  • Open back up your layers panel and make the white layer visible.

  • Invert the selection...

  • by pressing Ctrl + Shift + 'i" on a PC

  • or Cmd + Shift + "i" on a Mac.

  • To hide the selection,

  • press Ctrl or Cmd + "h".

  • Let's fill the selection with gradient colors.