Bottled Sky

If you have hundreds of vacation photos sitting in your hard drive and want to make better use of them, try turning them into cartoon postcards! It’s quite simple to do if you have some basic drawing and Photoshop skills.

In my aunt’s case, she had a niece with a lot of free time. Below are three of eight postcards that I made for her a few years ago (she needed them for a personal project). Click on the thumbnails for a bigger view.

I used photos from her trip to China, choosing those of her standing in front of different tourists spots with very few other people in the background. Those are the best types of photos for this kind of project.

Here’s a rundown of how you can make unique postcards out of your travel photos. One caveat: This is definitely not a tutorial. It’s more of a detailed idea for you to play around with

Step 1: Draw and Color Cartoon Versions of Yourself

There are three main ways to do this. Choose what’s easiest for you!

• You can draw them directly on Photoshop.
• If you’re like me (”like me” here means “shitty with the Pen Tool”), you can draw them on paper and color them digitally.
• Or you can just draw and color everything on paper and scan them afterwards.

Step 2: “Cartoonify” the Background Photos

For this you can use the following Artistic Filters, as described in Photoshop Help:

• Cutout - makes an image appear as though it were constructed from roughly cut pieces of colored paper.
• Poster Edges - reduces the number of colors in an image and finds the edges and draws black lines on them.

I’m sure there are many other ways to achieve a more accurate cartoon effect, but the point is to exert as little time and effort as possible.

Step 3: Put Them Together

With your drawings ready and your background photos prepped, all that’s left to do is to paste the drawings on top of the real you in the edited photos.

There you are, personalized cartoon postcards that you can print and mail to your friends.

Variations

Not too crazy about postcards? Here are a few more ideas for you:

• Print them on iron-on transfer paper and make one-of-a-kind tees. Definitely beats those “I went to China and all I got is this stupid t-shirt” souvenir shirts, don’t you think?
• Use them for your next blog layout.
• Frame and hang them around your home.
• Order cute coffee mugs from your local print shop. Panoramic photos are ideal, as they can wrap around a mug.
• iPhoto Books, anyone?
• If you’re really crafty and have a lot of time on your hands, you can even print them on fabric, cut them into squares, then stitch them all together to make a quirky quilt. If only I knew how to sew…