How to Make a Generic Profile Silhouette in Photoshop

Draw your own silhouette profile in Adobe Photoshop.

Each time an Alfred Hitchcock movie came to a close, audience members were treated to a little something extra along with the chills and spooks of the film --- his rotund silhouette profile creeping onto the screen. Making silhouettes is a simple process with Adobe Photoshop, and you don't even have to create one so obviously male like Hitchcock's. Use Photoshop's painting tools to create a generic silhouette profile, similar to the old-time looks and making a major statement in black and white.

Instructions

1. Start Adobe Photoshop. Click the "File" menu. Click "New." Type "GenericSil" into the "Name" box. Enter dimensions in the "Width" and "Height" box for the silhouette canvas, such as "6" and "9" respectively. Click "inches" from the drop-down menus. Click "White" from the "Background Contents" menu and select "OK."

2. Click the "Image" menu. Click "Adjustments." Choose "Invert" from the fly-out menu, turning your canvas to black. This is optional; you can make a black-painted silhouette on a white canvas if you prefer.

3. Double-click the "Color Picker" on the bottom of the tools bar. Click white. If you left the canvas as white, click black. Click "OK."

4. Click the paintbrush icon on the tools bar. Click the small second-from-left drop-down menu on the paintbrush toolbar that just opened at the top of the work area. Click the solid dot brush head and slide the "Size" bar to "30."

5. Hover the cursor over the canvas and determine whether the cursor size is appropriate for your silhouette. If not, adjust the Size bar.

6. Click near the top right of the canvas. Draw a slight slope down to make the curve of the person's forehead. Curve in and then back out again, which creates an "S" look, for the eye socket. You will draw in the eyeball and lashes later. Draw a left-pointing triangle for the person's nose, then draw down toward the bottom of the canvas.

7. Curve the cursor out slightly for the person's upper lip. For a fuller lip, curve out more. Curve back in and then out again for the bottom lip. Draw down, then make the point of the chin.

8. Draw the upward slope of the chin and the neck, then draw the cursor back up with a slight outward curve to make the back of the head. Do not draw hair. Join the cursor to the starting point.

9. Reduce the "Size" slider to "10" or your appropriate size. Position the cursor in the eye socket and draw a convex curve, a "C" for the eyeball. Draw eyelashes if desired. Although both men and women may have long eyelashes, longer eyelashes may make your silhouette appear more feminine.

10. Draw hair if desired, such as bangs or a bowl cut, with shorter styles more likely to keep the generic feel to the silhouette rather than a more feminine long style or a short buzz cut male style.

11. Click the "File" menu, select "Save As," choose a place to save the silhouette and click the "Save" button.

References

• Bowling Green State University: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Tutorial
• University of Washington Information Technology: Painting