Introduction: Abraham Lincoln. . . Transformed

I remember a decade ago when I modified dollar bills and made them look evil. It just so happens that the five dollar bill was a favorite target of mine. Andrew Jackson on the twenty dollar bill just looked too worried-- it was hard to make him look evil without the use of external photos. In this tutorial, I choose to transform Abe Lincoln, but any old fashioned photo will suffice.

Tool Used: Adobe Photoshop

Step 1: Prepare Face

First, smooth out the target's skin if it has very prominent bumps or bulges. To do this use the blur tool, patch tool, and, if necessary, the smudge tool.

Darken image with the burn tool where desired, e.g. on the eyes, mouth and perhaps clothing.

Step 2: Eyes

Now, select an almond shape roughly around an eye of your picture using the dot to dot selection tool.

When this is selected copy the selection and paste it on a new layer. Move the new layer to the selection's original position if it has moved.

Apply a Filter => Blur => Gaussian Blur to the new layer. The new layer should look like a blurry, gray almond. To make it black, apply FX => Color Overlay to the new layer and set the overlay to black. Reduce the opacity of the new layer if desired.

Now, on the layer that we copied the eye from, use the burn tool to darken and fade the image into the new layer. This setup gives you a lot of choices. I decided to make the new "eyes" of Abe slightly lower than his original ones.

Now do the same for the other eye. Bend the eyebrows to your desired shape using the smudge tool with a 50 - 90 % intensity.

Step 3: Creepify the Eye

To add a creepy effect, add new layers that consist of a paintbrush spot that is the same color as the eye. Maneuver these spots into the eye. Now smudge them down to the desired height and intensity.

Step 4: The Place That Is Most Feared

Load the mouth image provided or any other mouth. Now select its layer and click Image => Adjustments => Black and White.

Now scale it to desired width and height. Erase the edges of the new mouth image until no edges are visible. With the mouth arranged in the perfect place, select its layer and click Image => Adjustments => Hue/Saturation. Change the brightness until the mouth's skin matches your photo.

Now if the mouth is too dark for you, brighten it by Image => Adjustments => Brightness/Contrast (lowering contrast, not changing brightness). Also use Image => Adjustments => Replace Color to replace black with gray.

If the face looks out of balance, consider flipping the mouth with Edit => Purge => Flip Horizontal. Otherwise, just play around with the smudge tool to balance out the nose.

Step 5: FX & Finished Mouth

For extra effects,

1.Dye image red : Click on the black and white semi-circle in the lower layer panel. A combobox should be displayed. Click Photo Filter and check Preserve Luminosity. Now select your color. A new effect layer will be added: place this at the top of your layers.

2.Invert image :  Click on the black and white semi-circle in the lower layer panel. A combobox should be displayed. Click Invert. A new effect layer will be added: place this at the top of your layers.

Halloween Photo Editing Contest with Pixlr

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Halloween Photo Editing Contest with Pixlr