How to Make an iTunes Silhouette

Apple's advertisements for the iPod and iTunes feature a distinctive look, with a black silhouette of a person listening to an iPod with white earphones on a brightly colored background. Although the process is fairly time consuming, you can easily create your own personalized silhouette in a graphics editing program using a photo of yourself or a loved one as a base.

Things You'll Need

• Graphics editing program such as Paint, Photoshop or GIMP

Instructions

1. Launch your graphics editing program and open the image you want to turn into a silhouette. Save the image as a different filename.

2. Select black as your foreground color and a bright color, such as yellow, orange or light blue, as your background color.

3. Select part of the background using the free-form selection tool. Be as precise as possible, zooming in to deal with small details.

4. Press "Delete" to erase the selected part of the background and replace it with your chosen background color.

5. Repeat this process until all of the background has been replaced.

6. Change the background color to black.

7. Select part of the person's body using the free-form selection tool and press "Delete" to replace it with a solid black color. Repeat this process until all of the person's body has been replaced. Be as precise as possible, zooming in to deal with small details.

8. Zoom in to until you can see the image's pixels clearly.

9. Change the background color from black to your chosen one and select a tool that allows you to paint on the image using a variety of brush sizes. Depending on the program, this tool might be called the Brush tool or the Pencil tool.

10. Work your way through the entire image, fixing any pixels that are still their original color and adjusting uneven outlines, zooming out periodically to check the effect your changes have on the silhouette. Switch between black and your chosen background color based on what makes the silhouette looks better.

11. Return to the 100 percent zoom level once you're done.

12. Crop the image to remove any unnecessary background.

13. Draw a white rectangle with no outline on the silhouette in the location where you want the iPod to be. Depending on your graphics program, you may be able to do this using a rectangle shape tool.

14. Draw a smaller rectangle with a medium gray outline and no fill inside the first white rectangle to signify the iPod's screen.

15. Draw a circle with a medium gray outline and no fill inside the large white rectangle, then draw a smaller circle with a gray fill and no outline inside the first one. These two circles signify the iPod's clickwheel. Depending on your graphics program, you may be able to do this using an oval shape tool.

16. Set the foreground color to white and switch to the Pencil or Brush tool, depending on your graphics program. Using the smallest size available, draw the earphones and the cable that connects them to the iPod.