Shadowing Practice: BEST Cartoon Effect in Photoshop - Learn English Speaking with Video

Making a cartoon effect in Photoshop is fun and creative at the same time.

I will show you a step -by -step process on how to do it, and also how you can use Photoshop Actions to achieve this effect in seconds.

Hey, I'm Christy, and before we jump in, I just want to remind you about this amazing platform called Envato Elements, where you can get unlimited downloads for stock photos,

videos, music, sound effects, 3D elements, Photoshop Actions, and more.

You basically have millions of creative digital assets you can use, with a simple commercial licensing that you can cancel anytime.

Subscribe now with the link in the description.

So this is the image that I'm working with today.

I'm going to resize it right from the start.

I go to Image, Image Size, make sure this chain is active to resize proportionally, change the width to 2500 pixels and press OK.

It's time to cut out the subject from the background.

I'm going to use Photoshop's Machine Learning for this.

I right -click on this icon and choose the Quick Selection tool tool.

The select subject will be up here, so click on it, and in just a few seconds, the selection should be ready.

OK, as we can see, it needs some improvements.

I still have the quick selection tool active, I make sure the hardness is set to 100, and I will add both earrings to the selection very quickly.

There are some areas on her blouse that need a bit of improvement on both sides, so let's fix those too, just by using this brush.

And next, I grab the Lasso tool and I will add to the selection in this area, for example, holding Shift and then in this area,

I will take away from the selection by holding Alt.

And I just want to say that you don't need to be perfect here because we are creating a cartoon effect, right?

But if you want, you can use the Pen tool as well.

Alright, I will enter the Select and Mask now

and make sure the View mode is set to Overlay because I want to work on the hair selection.

I choose the Refine Edge brush, it's the second one from here.

I will adjust my brush so it's not too big or too small, but I make sure it's very soft.

Now I can brush on the margins of the hair where I see lighter areas.

Just to let Photoshop know that, hey, take a look in that area and make sure you remove the background.

When I'm done with this, I come down here, enter minus 10 to shift the edges and contract the selection.

From Output, I choose Layer Mask and press OK.

And just like that, we just cut out our subject from the background.

Let's add a solid color adjustment layer and then choose a nice blue, which is very similar to the one from the original image.

Look, I know this is weird

and you may be wondering why I extracted the subject from the background

and now I'm creating a new background with almost the same color.

That's because I will make some big changes to our subject in the next steps

and I don't want to affect the background as well.

Also, this light blue acts like a complementary color to the orange from her blouse but also the skin tones.

Let's rename this layer to Subject and the next step is to have some fun and make her look more cartoonish.

In fact, I want to make her head much bigger than now.

For this, I'm going to need to put the head on a separate layer.

I will click once on this layer mask holding CTRL to load up the selection, zoom in closely in this area and choose the Polygonal Lasso tool.

Let's start deselecting from here holding down ALT, following the chin line step by step in small segments just like this.

When I reach the other side, I will zoom out with CTRL - a few times to see the whole document

and then finish with a rough selection around the body.

Here we go, we have a selection for the head only.

I press CTRL -J to make a duplicate of the head on a new layer and name it Head.

Then I select the Move tool and make her head much bigger.

And yes, I know it looks funny, but this is the effect we're looking for.

Let's select both layers and move them lower because now part of the head is outside the document.

That looks much better.

Also, if I zoom in, I can see parts of the image below this one, so all I gotta do is to select the layer mask of the subject layer, and with a black brush,

I just paint over those areas and hide them.

Great, now I have a custom background, the subject's body, and the big head on separate layers.

The next step is to select all three, right -click, and convert them to a smart object because this will allow me to add different smart filters.

And by the way, I found this photo for today's tutorial on Envato Elements

while searching for images that could be a good fit for the cartoon effect.

One thing that I really like and I want to mention is that when you find your photo and click on it, other similar photos will appear at the bottom of the screen.

They could be from the same photo shoot or with the same model, which is awesome, or could be very similar photos that the algorithm of the platform decided to showcase.

You can have access to millions of high quality stock photos just like these ones

if you subscribe with the link in the description.

Now, let's continue by adding the smart filters that will create the cartoon effect in Photoshop.

The first effect that I'm going to apply is the liquify effect from the filter menu.

I will increase the eye size for left and right to the maximum, which is 100.

I'm going to do the same for the eye height and for the eye width.

For the eye distance, I will bring the slider to minus 20.

I choose 100 for the nose height, minus 10 for the forehead, and 25 for the chin height.

You can use this preview checkbox to see a before and after, and then press OK.

Let's duplicate the smart object once, but for now, I will disable the duplicate because we need to add filters to the first one.

I start by going to Filter, Sharpen, Smart Sharpen, where I enter 300 for the amount, 3 for the radius, and 0 for noise.

I like to use the Gaussian blur from here, and then press OK.

OK.

Now let's go to Filter again, Stylize and Oil Paint.

I choose 4 for stylization and cleanliness, 0 .1 for scale, 0 for bristle detail and I leave the lighting box unchecked.

Let's see a before and after by using the preview and then press OK.

Now I choose Filter and Filter Gallery.

From here I click on Poster Edges.

I will keep Edge Thickness and Intensity on 0, enter 2 for the posterization and click OK.

It really starts to look like a cartoon, right?

But there is more to do here, so next, let's add a Surface Blur from Filter, Blur.

I set the Radius to 12 pixels and the Threshold to 15 pixels.

This effect makes the skin parts look much smoother and cleaner.

Then I press OK.

Let's add some sharpness and increase some highlights by going to Filter, Sharpen, Unsharp mask.

I set the amount to 130, the radius to 7 and the threshold to 20.

Here is the before and this is the after.

It's time to unhide the second smart object and the first thing

that I need to do is to select another blending mode for this layer and that is overlay.

Then I lower the opacity of the layer to 55.

I go to filter, filter gallery and choose poster edges again.

This time entering 4, 3 and 4.

This will emphasize some of the details in the portrait.

I then press OK and from filter, stylize, I will choose the oil paint filter.

I enter 10, 4, 0 .1, 0 and press OK.

And by the way, if you want to keep the layers panel cleaner, you can just collapse the smart filters by pressing on this small arrow here.

Let's duplicate the second layer now with CTRL plus J, put it on pin light blending mode and set the opacity to 40.

Double click the filter gallery and set the values to 5, 7 and 6.

Press OK and then double click the oil paint filter changing the values to 5, 3, 0 .1 and 0.

By adding these effects we created some more defined edges for our subject.

I know there are a lot of filters that we added

but the most important part is that you need to experiment with your own image

100

and feel free to use what values you want.

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Because who knows, maybe you can obtain a much better effect than this one.

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And now let me show you how you can level up this cartoon effect even more.

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Make sure the top layer is selected and press Ctrl -Shift -Alt -E to create a stamped visible layer, which I will convert into a smart object.

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From Filter, I choose the Camera Raw Filter.

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And from the Basic Panel, I increase the texture to 40.

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Next, I want to move down to detail and increase the sharpening to 40, the radius to 2, and the detail to 80.

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Let's open up the effects as well and add some grain

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because this creates a very artistic effect and blends in all the effects much better.

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And also a minus 15 vignette works really well in my opinion, and then I click OK.

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You can now see how we started

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and how we achieved this cartoon effect with small

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but important steps i mentioned in the beginning

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that you can also use photoshop actions to create different cartoon effects

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so let me show you some examples envato elements has lots of cartoon effect actions

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and you can have access to all of them of course

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if you sign up with the link in the description as

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an example i really liked this one a four in one pack

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that combines effects like cartoon painting vector art cartoon

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and even a color halftone cartoon effect you save the action

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to any folder you like in your computer open up the

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actions panel in photoshop load the actions file from the folder

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and all you gotta do is to select the action you want to apply

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and press this play button you wait for the action to do its job

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and you enjoy some final results like these ones

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and of course different photos will generate very different results these look

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so cool right also tell me in the comments if you tried creating a Photoshop cartoon effect before.

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I'm Christy.

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Thank you so much.

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If you already pressed the like on this tutorial, make sure you watch another video from the screen and see you next time.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 129 sentences and 1872 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:49. The speaker talks fast, about 191 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
filter noun	/ˈfɪltɚ/	A device which separates a suspended, dissolved, or particulate matter from a fluid, solution, or other substance; any device that separates one substance from…
layer noun	/ˈleɪ̯ɚ/	A single thickness of some material covering a surface.
cartoon noun	/kɑɹˈtun/	A humorous drawing, often with a caption, or a strip of such drawings.
select verb	/sɪˈlɛkt/	To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
photoshop verb	/ˈfoʊ.toʊ.ʃɑp/	To digitally edit or alter (a picture or photograph).
mask noun	/mæsk/	A cover, or partial cover, for the face, used for disguise or protection.
brush noun	/bɹʌʃ/	An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including…
element noun	/ˈɛləmənt/	One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based.
minus	/ˈmaɪ.nəs/	Made less or reduced by (followed by an expression of number or quantity).
radius noun	/ˈɹeɪ.di.əs/	The long bone in the forearm, on the side of the thumb.
duplicate verb	/ˈd(j)uː.plɪˌkeɪt/	To make a copy of.
blend verb	/blɛnd/	To mingle; to mix; to unite intimately; to pass or shade insensibly into each other.
zoom verb	/zuːm/	To move fast with a humming noise.
pixel noun	/ˈpɪk.səl/	One of the tiny dots that make up the representation of an image in a computer's memory.
blur verb	/blɝ/	To make indistinct or hazy, to obscure or dim.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
cut out verb	To refrain from (doing something, using something etc.), to stop or cease (doing something).
open up verb	To open.
come down verb	To descend, fall down, collapse.
hold down verb	To restrain; to check.
take away from verb	To subtract a quality from; make something seem not so good or interesting.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is set · is selected
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	blue, which is · model, which is · maximum, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 15 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, gotta. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/, width /ˈwɪtθ/, smooth /smuːð/, algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: photoshop /ˈfoʊ.toʊ.ʃɑp/, brush /bɹʌʃ/, threshold /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/, showcase /ˈʃoʊˌkeɪs/, proportionally /pɹəˈpɔɹʃənəli/
Long words — get the stress right: experiment /ɪkˈspɛɹ.ə.mənt/, unlimited /ʌnˈlɪm.ɪ.tɪd/, complementary /ˌkɑmplɪˈmɛnt(ə)ɹi/, opacity /oʊˈpæsɪti/, proportionally /pɹəˈpɔɹʃənəli/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like filter, layer, cartoon.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: BEST Cartoon Effect in Photoshop - Learn English Speaking with Video

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