Make a Pop-Art Magazine Cover from an Iguana Photo

Choose File → New, and make a document 1700 × 2200 px with a White background.

Add guides by clicking on the rulers. A click on the top ruler drops a vertical guide, and a click on the left ruler drops a horizontal one. Put vertical guides at 70, 850 and 1630, and horizontal guides at 70 and 2130. That gives you a 70 px margin all round and a centre line for the masthead.

Click Layer 1 in the Layers panel and double-click its name to rename it Yellow Ground.

Set the foreground colour to #FFDD1F in the Color panel. Pick the Paint Bucket (G) and click anywhere on the page. The empty layer fills edge to edge.

Ben-Day dots in a real comic are all the same size. Here they'll grow toward one corner, which gives the flat background some movement. The Halftone filter makes dots from a layer's darkness, so start with a gradient.

Click Add Layer at the bottom of the Layers panel and name the new layer Ben-Day Dots. Pick the Gradient tool from the toolbox (it has no shortcut). In the options bar, set Type to Linear and click Advanced…. In the Gradient Editor, click the left stop and set it to black #000000, then click the right stop and set it to white #FFFFFF. Click Done.

Drag from near the bottom-right corner of the page up to near the top-left corner.

Choose Filter → Halftone… and set:

• Dot Size 30
• Density 1
• Angle 45
• Softness 0.4

Click Apply. Dark areas become big dots, and pure white prints nothing, so the dots fade out toward the top left. The gaps between dots are transparent, so the yellow shows through.

Click the effects button on the Ben-Day Dots row to open the effects drawer. Turn on Color Overlay, click its colour swatch and enter #EE2A7B. Close the drawer.

A Color Overlay keeps the dots editable. If you want a different colour later, you only change the swatch.

Drag the downloaded photo from your desktop onto the canvas. Lopsy puts it on a new layer, shrinks it to fit the page width, selects it and switches to the Move tool, so the transform handles are already showing.

The head needs to be bigger than the page. Hold Cmd and drag the bottom-right handle down and to the right until its right edge reaches about 2050 on the top ruler, with the left edge still at 0. That's about 1.2× its fitted size. Cmd keeps the proportions locked. Most of what goes off the right edge is leafy background, so it doesn't matter.

Press Cmd+D to drop the selection. With the Move tool, drag the photo down and a little to the left, until its bottom edge meets the bottom of the page and the tip of the snout sits about 200 px in from the right edge. The left edge of the photo should hang about 100 px off the page.

Rename the layer Iguana Photo.

Zoom out until you can see some grey pasteboard to the left of and below the page, because part of the path runs off the page. Pick the Pen tool (P). You'll click corner points around the head. Don't drag, because a plain click makes a sharp corner.

Start in the pasteboard below the bottom-left corner of the page and go clockwise. Go up, off the page, to the back of the neck, which meets the left edge about halfway down the photo.

Don't follow the photo's crest along the back of the neck. Its spines are ragged and blurry, and clean triangles read better in print. Draw nine spines of your own between the left edge and the brow, about 45 px apart:

• Start the first spine about 20 px in from the left edge and make it about 170 px tall.
• Make each one a little shorter than the last, down to about 40 px at the brow.
• Lean each tip slightly back toward the tail.
• Put an extra point halfway up the front edge of each spine, a few pixels out, so the edge bows a little.

Then carry on across the top of the head, round the snout, under the chin, and down the jagged spines of the dewlap. Finish along the bottom of the page and click the first point to close the path. That's about 70 clicks in all.

Open the Paths panel from the right-hand toolbar. With the new path selected, click Path to Selection, then Delete Path. You won't need the path again.

Choose Select → Inverse, press Delete, then press Cmd+D.

The cut-out doesn't need to be perfect. The colour plates and a thick outline will go on top, and they hide small wobbles.

The black "ink" is a stark black-and-white copy of the photo.

1. Choose Layer → Duplicate Layer and rename the copy Ink.
2. Choose Filter → Desaturate.
3. Choose Filter → Brightness/Contrast…, set Contrast to 35 and click Apply.
4. Choose Filter → Gaussian Blur…, set Radius to 2 and click Apply. The slight blur stops the next step from turning every speck of skin texture into a black dot.

The top of the snout is darker in the photo than the rest of the head, and it clots into solid black. Lighten it first. Pick the Rectangular Marquee (M) and drag a box over the top of the snout, from just in front of the eye to the nostril and from the top of the head down to the mouth. That's about 280 × 290 px. Choose Select → Feather…, set 30 and click Apply, so the change blends in.

Choose Filter → Brightness/Contrast… again. Set Brightness to 10 and Contrast back to 0, and click Apply. Then press Cmd+D.

Choose Filter → Threshold…, set Level to 60 and click Apply.

Everything is now pure black or pure white. The lines between the scales become a black net, and the scales themselves go white. This is the stencil that gets printed in black.

The white parts need to become transparent so the colour can show through.

Pick the Magic Wand (W). In the options bar, untick Contiguous and set Tolerance to 40. Click the big white cheek scale. With Contiguous off, every white pixel on the layer is selected, not only the ones touching the cheek.

Press Delete, then Cmd+D.

The ink still holds the photo's own spikes and bits of leaf inside the new spines. Those spines should print as flat colour.

Pick the Lasso (L) and drag a loop around the crest area. Run it along the base line of the spines, up past their tips and back round. Press Delete, then Cmd+D.

Open the effects drawer for Ink and set the blend mode to Multiply, so the black always prints over whatever is under it. Close the drawer.

Click the eye on Iguana Photo to hide it. Keep the layer: its shape is your cut-out mask for the next steps.

Click Iguana Photo so new layers land just above it. Click Add Layer and name the layer Colour Plate.

Cmd-click the Iguana Photo thumbnail. That selects the shape of the cut-out. Set the foreground colour to cyan #19B5D6, choose Edit → Fill, and press Cmd+D.

Warhol never printed iguanas green, and neither should you. Cyan sits well against the yellow and magenta.

Click Add Layer and name it Spots. Fill each of these with the Lasso (L): drag a loop, set the foreground colour, choose Edit → Fill, then press Cmd+D before the next one.

• Cheek: a slightly tilted oval over the big round cheek scale, in pink #FF4FA0.
• Eye: a smaller oval over the eye, in yellow #FFE600.
• Crest: a band covering all nine spines, with its bottom edge running along their bases, in orange #FF7A1A.

Draw loosely. Warhol painted his colour blocks by hand, and it's fine if they go outside the lines. You'll trim the overspill next.

Cmd-click the Iguana Photo thumbnail again, choose Select → Inverse, and press Delete. That clears everything outside the head. Press Cmd+D.

With Spots still active, choose Layer → Merge Down. The spots join Colour Plate, so all the colour moves as one print.

This is the step that makes it look screen printed. Pick the Move tool (V) and, with Colour Plate active, nudge it about 8 px left and 6 px down with the arrow keys.

The colour now sits about 10 px off the black, the way a hand-pulled print slips between passes. Keep it small. Much more than this, and it reads as a mistake.

Open the effects drawer for Colour Plate. Turn on Stroke, set Width to 9, set Position to outside, and set the colour to #111111. Close the drawer.

That thick line is pure Lichtenstein. It also tidies up the edges of the cut-out.

Comic printers shaded with dots too. Click Add Layer and name it Shadow Dots. It lands above Colour Plate. Cmd-click the Colour Plate thumbnail to select the head.

Pick the Gradient tool. The black-to-white stops from earlier are still set. Drag from the bottom-left corner of the page up and right to the middle of the jaw.

Choose Filter → Halftone… and set Dot Size 16, Density 1, Angle 15 and Softness 0.4. Click Apply, then press Cmd+D. The different angle from the background dots stops the two screens fighting.

In the effects drawer, turn on Color Overlay with navy #1A2A6C, and set the blend mode to Multiply. Close the drawer. Then click the 100% on the layer's row and set it to 75%.

The red of the mouth needs to sit on top of the ink, so nothing breaks it up. Click Ink, click Add Layer, and name the new layer Mouth.

Pick the Pen (P). Follow the dark lip line in the ink, from the corner of the mouth to just behind the snout tip, with about 8 corner clicks along the top edge. Come back along the bottom edge with another 8. Keep it about 8 px tall at the hinge, widen it to about 30 px just behind the snout, and bring it to a point at the tip. It should curve with the jaw. A straight wedge reads as a red stick. Click the first point to close the path.

In the Paths panel, click Path to Selection, then Delete Path. Set the foreground colour to red #E2231A, choose Edit → Fill, and press Cmd+D.

In the effects drawer, turn on Stroke with Width 3, Position outside, colour #111111. Close the drawer.

Click Mouth, then Shift-click Iguana Photo to select all five layers. Choose Layer → Group Layers and name the group Iguana.

Click the arrow on the group's row to collapse it. With the group collapsed and active, new layers go above it, not inside it, which is what you want for all the type.

With Iguana active, click Add Layer and name it Bars.

These need exact sizes, so use the marquee's dialog. Pick the Rectangular Marquee (M) and, with nothing selected, click once on the page without dragging. In the dialog that opens, enter From 70, 440 and To 1630, 520, and confirm. That's a band from margin to margin, 80 px tall. Set the foreground colour to #111111, choose Edit → Fill, and press Cmd+D.

Click once again and enter From 70, 680 and To 608, 748. That bar is 538 px wide, the same width as the headline you'll set above it. Set the foreground to red #E2231A, fill it, then press Cmd+D.

A click inside an existing text's box edits that text instead of starting a new one, and the box reaches well below the letters. So always click in an empty spot, and set any text that will sit under another one first. That's why the kicker in the red bar comes before LIZARD KINGS. Before each new text, click the Bars row, because with a text layer active, changing the font would restyle that layer.

Pick the Text tool (T). For each line, set the font, size and colour in the options bar, click on the page, type, and press Tab to finish. Set Letter spacing in the Text panel. Rename each text layer as you go (the names below are the ones in the screenshots). Then, with the Move tool, drag the text close to its spot and finish with the arrow keys: Shift+arrow moves 10 px, a plain arrow 1 px.

1. ILLUSTRATED (Illustrated): Bebas Neue, size 64, white #FFFFFF, letter spacing 40. Centre it on the middle guide and inside the black band.
2. SUMMER 1964 (Issue): Bebas Neue, size 40, yellow #FFDD1F, letter spacing 6. Put it 26 px in from the band's left end, centred top to bottom.
3. No. 64 · 35¢ (Price): the same settings. Copy the dot and cent sign from this page and paste them with Cmd+V. End it 26 px in from the band's right end.
4. OF THE CARIBBEAN · P. 22 (Kicker): Bebas Neue, size 46, white, letter spacing 4. Centre it in the red bar.
5. LIZARD KINGS (Lizard Kings): Anton, size 112, ink #111111, letter spacing 0. Put its left edge on the margin guide, with the bottom of the letters about 20 px above the red bar. Its right edge should land almost exactly on the end of the bar.

Click Bars, then set Archivo Black, size 400, white, letter spacing 0. Click in the top-left of the page, type FAUNA, press Tab, and name the layer Fauna.

Nudge it so it's centred on the middle guide, with the tops of the letters about 26 px below the top margin guide. It should run almost margin to margin.

Open the effects drawer for Fauna:

• Stroke: Width 10, Position outside, colour #111111.
• Drop Shadow: colour red #E2231A, Offset X 18, Offset Y 18, Blur 0, Spread 10, Opacity 100.

A Blur of 0 gives a hard-edged shadow, like a second colour printed slightly off. The text stays live, so you can still change the wording.

Click Fauna, click Add Layer, and name the layer Balloon.

Pick the Elliptical Marquee and drag an oval in the empty space right of the cover lines. Start it about 40 px below the black band, just right of the centre guide, and stop about 35 px short of the right margin guide. Make it roughly 320 px tall, a bit less than half as tall as it is wide.

Now add the tail. Pick the Lasso, hold Shift so the loop adds to the oval, and drag a thin, slightly curved spike. Start it inside the bottom of the oval and bring it down to a point just above the nostril, about 25 px clear of the snout.

Set the foreground to white #FFFFFF, choose Edit → Fill, and press Cmd+D. In the effects drawer, turn on Stroke (Width 8, outside, #111111) and a Drop Shadow in #111111 with Offset X and Y 8, Blur 0 and Opacity 100.

Set the lettering bottom-up again, clicking Balloon first each time:

1. GREEN?! (Green): Bangers, size 150, red #E2231A, letter spacing 2. Give it its own Stroke effect: Width 5, outside, #111111.
2. WHO YOU CALLING (Who): Bangers, size 66, ink #111111, letter spacing 2.

Centre both lines on the oval, nudging them about 6 px right of its true centre so they balance the shadow. Leave about 20 px between the two lines. Check that both clear the curve of the outline comfortably at their ends.

Click Balloon, click Add Layer, and name it Burst.

With the Pen (P), click corner points round a circle, alternating between an outer ring about 170 px from the centre and an inner ring about 132 px out. That's 36 clicks for 18 points. Vary a few of the outer points by 5 or 10 px so it looks hand cut. Centre it in the open dots right of the chin, so only one point touches the dewlap spines and there's still room for a barcode below. Close the path, then click Path to Selection and Delete Path in the Paths panel.

Set the foreground to red #E2231A, choose Edit → Fill, and press Cmd+D.

You want a black edge with a yellow ring outside it, so it pops off the magenta dots. A layer only has one Stroke, so use two layers:

1. On Burst, turn on Stroke with Width 28, outside, in yellow #FFDD1F.
2. Choose Layer → Duplicate Layer and rename the copy Burst Key. It lands exactly on top of the original.
3. On Burst Key, change the Stroke colour to #111111 and the Width to 14.

The black stroke covers the inner half of the yellow, leaving a yellow ring outside.

Click Burst Key before each text:

1. COLD-BLOODED! (Cold Blooded): Bangers, size 40, white, letter spacing 2.
2. 100% (100%): Bangers, size 112, yellow #FFDD1F, letter spacing 2, with a Stroke of Width 5, outside, #111111.

Centre both on the burst, with about 12 px between them.

Click Cold Blooded, then Shift-click Burst to select the four layers. Choose Layer → Group Layers and name the group Sticker.

With the Move tool and the group active, drag the round rotation handle outside the top-right corner anticlockwise, about 14°. That's enough for the 100% to climb at a jaunty slant without looking like it's falling over. The burst, both strokes and the live text all turn together.

Collapse Sticker, keep it active, click Add Layer, and name the layer Barcode.

With the Rectangular Marquee, click once and enter From 1412, 1968 and To 1630, 2130. That's a box flush with the right and bottom margin guides. Fill it with white #FFFFFF and press Cmd+D.

Pick the Pencil (N) with ink #111111 as the foreground. Draw each bar as a straight line: click at the top, then Shift-click at the bottom. Fill the width of the box with about two dozen bars of mixed widths, switching the Pencil Size between 3, 6 and 8, with 3–4 px gaps and a small margin at each side. Run them from just under the top of the box to about two thirds of the way down. Make the first two, middle two and last two bars about 12 px longer. Those are the guard bars, and they're what make it read as a real barcode.

Click Barcode, then set 0 41964 00064 2 in IBM Plex Mono, size 16, ink #111111, letter spacing 0, centred under the bars. Name it Barcode Digits.

Click Fauna, click Add Layer, and name it Fauna Dots. Cmd-click the Fauna thumbnail to select the letter shapes.

Pick the Gradient tool. Click Advanced… and swap the stops, white on the left and black on the right, then click Done. Drag from just inside the top of the letters straight down to about 45 px below them.

Run Filter → Halftone… with Dot Size 12, Density 1, Angle 45 and Softness 0.4, and click Apply. Press Cmd+D, and give the layer a Color Overlay in cyan #19B5D6. The masthead now picks up the same dots as the iguana.

Click the topmost layer in the panel, click Add Layer, and name it Paper Grain. Fill it with mid grey #808080 using the Paint Bucket.

Choose Filter → Add Noise…, set Amount to 18, click Mono, and click Apply. In the effects drawer, set the blend mode to Overlay, then click the 100% on its row and set it to 40%. Mid grey vanishes in Overlay, so only the speckle is left. It takes the edge off the flat colour, as if the cover had been printed on cheap stock.

Zoom in and check:

• No text should touch the edge of its band, bar, balloon or burst.
• The balloon tail should point at the snout without touching it.
• The barcode should sit flush with both margins.

Save with File → Save Project, then File → Quick Export PNG.