Creating a Full-Color Hedcut Effect

Deke adds some customized (Lab produced) color to his hedcut technique.

Creating a Faux Hedcut in Photoshop

Deke attempts to recreate the signature WSJ hedcut-style portrait from inside Photoshop.

Deke uses layers of black or white set to the Soft Light blend mode in Illustrator in order to simulate a Photoshop Levels adjustment layer.

Deke uses his contour map skills to make a portrait effect suitable for use on American currency

Deke riffs on last week's project with an extra displacement map.

Deke uses a displacement map to contour a stripe pattern to his model's face.

Deke reveals his secret for remembering how he arrived at creative brilliance: the Note tool in Photoshop

Deke puts the final demolition touches on his Marvel-esque superhero disintegration effect

Deke attempts to recreate the Marvel disintegration effect using displacement maps in Photoshop.

Coming soon: A Deke's Techniques that explains how the finale of Avengers: Infinity War might have truly played out.

Deke uses the power of smart objects (in Illustrator) to bring half his Photoshop file back to life.

Deke grows some colorful cellular matter in Adobe Illustrator, using gradients and a hex pattern.