How to create incredible self portrait sketches

This tutorial by Sébastien Del Grosso on 500px Blog guides you through creating self-portrait sketches that blend photography with drawing for a unique artistic effect.

Using a Canon 7D and natural light, Sébastien captures his self-portraits, then prints them with a 90% white opacity layer. He sketches over these prints using a simple pencil, aiming for fast, nervous strokes to emulate construction. Post-processing in Photoshop involves meticulous layer work, selective corrections, and dodge & burn techniques to integrate sketches seamlessly with the photos.

The final result is a balanced composition that blurs the line between photography and drawing, offering a glimpse into Sébastien's creative process and future aspirations in art.

Read tutorial

Get tutorials & freebies delivered to you.

Subscribe to the Photoshop Roadmap newsletter, a weekly roundup of new tutorials, insights and quality downloads, trusted by 6500+ readers.

How to Remove Skin Blemishes and Fix Skin Tones in Camera Raw

Two recent additions to Camera Raw make skin retouching significantly faster: an automatic blemish removal tool with separate controls for moles and freckles, and a vectorscope-based skin tone indicator for correcting off-color skin. Both features work non-destructively inside a smart object workflow, so no pixel data is...

Portrait Retouching in Photoshop: Smooth Skin While Keeping Natural Texture

Smooth skin and natural texture are not opposites — achieving both at once is the mark of a professional retouch. This workflow covers blemish removal, flyaway hair cleanup, dark under-eye correction, and eye brightening, all while keeping the skin looking like skin. Watch the Video Practical Tips These key points...

How to Use Camera Raw's Blemish Removal Tool in Photoshop

Camera Raw 18.5 introduced an automatic blemish removal tool that does something previous solutions rarely managed: it removes skin imperfections while preserving the underlying skin texture. It also distinguishes between temporary marks and permanent ones like moles, giving you separate controls for each. Watch the Video Practical Tips These...

Portrait Slice Effect in Photoshop Using Step and Repeat

The portrait slice effect splits a single image into offset vertical bars, creating the illusion of a displaced or fragmented face. The entire technique relies on layer masks and a lesser-known Photoshop shortcut called step and repeat — no filters, no AI, no destructive edits required. Watch the Video Practical...

How to Remove Blemishes in Photoshop: Camera Raw vs. Generative AI

Photoshop now offers two distinct approaches to removing skin blemishes automatically. The Camera Raw Filter includes a dedicated Blemishes option that analyzes and cleans skin with a single checkbox, while Generative AI fills a face selection with clean, texture-consistent results using a simple text prompt. Each method has clear...

Common Photoshop Compositing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Most compositing errors come down to a handful of repeatable problems: mismatched lighting direction, inconsistent white points, misaligned perspective, and atmosphere applied in the wrong layer order. Catching these issues early — ideally before you shoot — saves significant time in post. Watch the Video Practical Tips These corrections apply to nearly...