There are many reasons that a designer would want to turn a photograph in to a graphic. A photograph offers a realistic representation of an object or subject and so can be a good starting place to create digital art and images. These images can then be used in web design, advertising, packaging and social media. Below, you will see two different ways to turn a photograph in to a graphic. 

Photoshop - This is a quick and simple way to create an organic (hand drawn) style graphic. The benefit is that this is quick to do but a limitation is that you will generate a specific sized image that cannot be made larger for different purposes.

Illustrator - This will help you to create geometric (measurable) shapes. This way can be more complex if you do not have any Illustrator experience but is a simple activity for those with experience. This way of designing means that you can create a vector graphic, which is an image that can be used and printed and any size without causing pixilation.

Watch the video instructions here. 

Access images here.

1. File>New> Create a Photoshop canvas that is 1000x1000 pixels and 300 Pixels/Inch. 

2. Open your can image in Photoshop and then Ctrl+A to select all, Ctrl+C to copy it and Ctrl+V to paste in to your 1000x1000 canvas. Label this layer 'template.'

3. Ctrl+Shift+N to create a new layer. Label this layer 'outline.' Use the paint brush tool and adjust the size of the brush to around 10pts. Make sure your brush is set to black on the colour picker at the bottom square of the toolbar. On your outline layer, use your brush tool to hand draw an outline of the object. Include lines to represent texture.

4. Once you have completed your outline, Ctrl+Shift+N to create a new layer and call this 'C1' or  'Colour 1.' Drag this layer (using the layers panel on the right bottom) to below the outline layer. Use the polygonal lasso (3rd option from the top of the toolbar on the left) to select each shape you want to fill with colour. You will use your mouse to select each point and the polygonal lasso will create a line between each point until you have completed a selection. Make sure you complete your selection before clicking on anything else.

5. Use your paint bucket tool or gradient to fill the space you selected. When using the gradient tool, you can adjust the colours used to create the gradient in the top left toolbar. You can adjust which part of the gradient goes where through the order that you stretch out the line that your cursor makes available after choosing gradient.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for as many colours as you would like to make. Label them 'Colour 2, Colour 3 etc..' 

7. Use the dodge and burn tools on each layer to create shadows or highlights. This tool is 8th from the bottom of the left toolbar. Dodge looks like a lollipop and burn looks like a hand. You can right click to switch between these options. In the top bar, select whether you are trying to dodge (make lighter) or burn (make darker) shadows, midtones or highlights. You can also set the exposure (severity) at which you will dodge or burn.

8. If you would like to add a logo, open one from online in Photoshop. To change the colour of it, create a new layer (Ctrl+shift+N). Use the magic wand tool on the original layer (with contiguous deselected) to select the logo. Then click on to your empty layer and use the brush tool to colour it in. You can now Ctrl+A select this layer, Ctrl+C copy it and navigate to your can image to Ctrl+V paste. Paste it above the other coloured layers but below the outline.

9. You can then edit the logo to suit the crumpled can but selecting Filter>Liquify in the top bar of the page. When you open the liquify panel, you may select 'show backdrop' from the options on the right so that you can see what shape the can has made and play with the settings to warp the logo to match this shape.

10. File>Save As>Save As Photoshop document. Save a Photoshop file version of your image in your documents in case you wish to continue editing it.

11. File>Export >Export As>PNG. Save. We are using a PNG file as this saves our image with a clear background so we can insert it in to other designs.

Watch the video instructions in the embedded YouTube video below (for this task I highly recommend the video as it is more comprehensive than the written instructions).

Access images here.

1. File>New> Create an Illustrator canvas that is 1000x1000 pixels and 300 Pixels/Inch (this is slightly different than the size canvas in the video but it will be fine). 

2. Go to windows in the top bar and hover over workspace, set your workspace to 'painting.'

3. Use the Layer options panel in the bottom right corner. Create a new layer and name it 'template.' Drag your image of a can in to this layer. Centre it and then use the layer panel options to tick template.

4. Use the same panel to create a new layer and call it 'outline.'

5. Using the colour panel on the right, click on the little coloured boxes. Set the fill colour to transparent and the stroke (line) to black and set to 8pts thickness. In the Stroke panel, you can also select 'round' for caps and corners.

6. You can use the ellipse tool and the pen tool to create the outline of your can. If you would like, you can design just  one side of the can and then use the 'reflect' tool to create the other half (13 options from the top on the left toolbar - you may need to right click to toggle through from the rotate tool).

7. Use the pathfinder panel and select all of your elements, then click merge (this looks like two white squares that overlap).

8. Use the shape builder tool (17 options from the top on the left toolbar - looks like a small circle overlapping a bigger circle). This allows you to delete unnecessary lines. Complete the shapes required. Use the pen tool to create areas where you would like to delete lines.

9. Where lines are broken, you can use Shift+W to adjust the width of lines and have them end more pointy rather than uniform. 

10. Create a new layer in the layer panel and name it 'colour.' Make sure the outline is the top layer. Select all the closed shapes (shapes where there are no space in between lines e.g. a circle or a square are a closed shaped because the line ends where it began). Go to the layer panel and Option+click and drag the little coloured square from the outline layer to the colour layer. This will create a duplicate of the shape on the new layer.

11. Select the shapes on the colour layer and use the Colour panel (top right) to remove the strokes and add colours.

12. Use the pen tool to trace areas where there are not closed shapes and fill them with colours.

13. You can also use the pen tool to create shapes for shadows and highlights of colour.

14. To add your logo, you can drag a logo image in from your folder or select File>Place and find it in your folder and click insert.

15. You can then use Image Trace (you may need to locate this in the Windows bar at the top of the screen) to create a vector version of your logo (I clicked ignore background when I did this so it didn't have a white box around it). You should then be able to colour your various logo shapes.

16. Click and drag the logo over your can image and adjust the size to match.

17. File>Save As>Save As Illustrator document. Save an Illustrator file version of your image in your documents in case you wish to continue editing it.

18. File>Export >Export As>PNG. Save. We are using a PNG file as this saves our image with a clear background so we can insert it in to other designs.