Cutouts

I have become pretty good at doing them in Quark (mostly because I had to), but now I'm at a job that put Photoshop right on my computer. Is it easier to do cutouts in Photoshop than Quark, do they turn out better, and what tool(s) do I use in photoshop? I learned all of this in college, but that was almost three years ago, and I'm a little rusty.

 

It's much easier to do them in Photoshop. I use the pen tool; others may use the polyagonal lasso.

 

Passing this on from a handout given by our design editor for cutouts in Photoshop . . .


DOING A CUTOUT
Cutouts get a whole lot easier the more often you do them. They occasionally look good as main art, but they look best when you use them as a piece of accent art.
STEP 1: Once you have your photo to cut out,
it’s helpful to delete the background. This
won’t erase your picture, it’ll just make it
so that there’s no white underneath it.
To do this, select Layers from the Window
drop-down menu. The layer menu will look
like this.
STEP 2: Double-click the part of the Layers
window that says “Background.” When the
“New Layer” window pops up, click OK.
NOTE: Deleting the background isn’t completely
necessary, but it makes it easier if
you have to define a path (see the How To
on the Source on doing cutouts for info on
paths).
STEP 3: Using the Lasso tool, start trimming
away sections of the photo. If you hold
down the Alt key, you can click multiple
points on a photo. It’s best to keep the
sections small, though, in case you mess
up and click a point in the wrong place.
STEP 4: Once you’re finished with the
cutout, check for any jagged edges. You
can get rid of these using the Blur tool. Set
the strength to around 20 or 25 percent,
and go around the jagged edge.

Bringing it to Quark depends on your company's computer set-up.

 

At my last job, I began to really like doing cutouts.

Remember that you also need to unlock the background and delete it, if you want clipping paths, etc., to take effect in Quark.

 

Please, for the love of God, don't use them with live gamers. k thx.

 

RSC: I'll have to try that. I've always gotten by with the eraser and the magic wand (then again, I don't understand paths and have only a vague knowledge of layers). As for step 4, wouldn't it be just easier to feather it?