1. Open the original photo.

2. Adjust the brightness and the contrast to achieve a well-contrasted image.

If the photo lacks of edge detail, use the Unsharpen Mask filter.

You can also usethe Hue/saturation control to obtain vivid colors.

3. If the original resolution is not large enough, resize the image to the desired dimension. In this case, the starting width (500 pixels) was stretched up to 1024 pixels.

4. Apply the Smart Blur filter (Filter > Blur > Smart Blur) with the following settings:

- Radius: 6 pixels
- Threshold: 100

5. Duplicate this layer, reset the swatches by pressing 'D' and apply the Stamp filter (Filter > Sketch > Stamp )

Try the following settings:

- Light/Dark Balance: 1
- Smoothness: 3

You can use different settings to obtain thicker edges or black shadow areas

6. Select the white areas with the Magic Wand Tool (and the Contiguous option unchecked) anc delete them

7. Change the layer style by applying an Outer Glow effect to obtain smoother edges (see picture for the settings used in this example).

8. Set the layer blending mode to Multiply and make sure it is placed above the original layer.

Now you can hide it temporary to work on the other layer

8. Go back to the colored layer and apply the Cutout filter (Filter > Artistic > Cutout)

Settings:

- Number of levels: 8
- Edge Semplicity: 4
- Edge Fidelity: 3

7. The Cutout filter has the disadvantage of creating straight and sharp color transitions.

To avoid this, apply the filter Paint Daubs (Brush Size 1, Sharpness 0, Brush Type: Wide Blurry) and then apply the Cutout filter again with the same settings as above.

The result is visible in the image on the right.

10. Now make the above layer visible and you're done with it.

11. If you need a single raster layer, select the layer containing the edges and merge it with the other by pressing Ctrl+'E'

Click here to see the high-res final image.

Here are some sample results of the "Clip Art Maker" action.