Sketching the Outlines

Alright, it's time to transfer our photo to the canvas. Here you can do one of two things, if you've got some free-hand skills you can pretty much skip this section. Just eyeball the lines of your photo and sketch those contours on the canvas. Otherwise, keep reading on and I'll give you a great cheat in order to transfer the photo.

Still here? Well then break out that digital projector I mentioned earlier. Didn't get one yet? Hell, get out there and borrow, hijack, steal it. Whatever you need to do. Now just hook up the projector to your computer. Projectors connections are different so read the manual if you're not sure how to hook it up.

Next, setup your canvas (or whatever other material you are going to paint) on either an easel, table or shelf. Nail it to a wall if you have to. All good? Then open your photo in Photoshop and project it onto the canvas. Make sure your canvas is completely covered by the projection. If the projection overlaps don't worry about it, those areas will just be cropped. I inverted the colors on the Johnny Depp photo so it's a little more visible.

You may be thinking,"Why didn't I just use the photo, project it and sketch it?". Sure you can go that way if you've got a good eye for contours and just want to plagiarize the photo. With the cutouts the lines are easier to see and isn't it better to make this your own.

If you want, you can smooth this monster out instead of having those crunchy lines generated by the cutout filter. Even if you can't draw it's still pretty easy. It doesn't have to be exact, you can tell everyone that's what you felt at that moment. Hell it's a painting not a photo right? I sketched out a few lines on the Monica photo to give you sense of what I'm talking about.

Once you have all your lines it's time to finish this puppy up and start painting.