How to Create a Decapitation Effect

Create a decapitation effect in an image manipulation program by using the program's tool for selecting the head, and its cloning tool for filling the void left by the missing head. For more extreme effects, use your program's painting tools to paint bloody tissue atop the torso where the head once sat. If your program has animation functions, you can create a movie showing the head being removed from the body. To increase the realism of the decapitation effect, use your program's feathering tool if it has one. This tool blends the edges of selection region with unselected regions, which hides the otherwise abrupt outlines of your image edits.

Instructions

1. Paint.NET

   • 1
     Click the "File" menu's "Open" command, then navigate to and double click a picture to which you'd like to apply the decapitation effect. Paint.NET will load the picture.
   • 2
     Click the toolbar icon shaped like a small circle with a curve at its bottom to run the "Lasso" selection tool.
   • 3
     Drag over the picture's head to trace around it, and then release the mouse to complete the selection. Press "Control" and "X" simultaneously to cut out the head, which will leave a gap in the picture.
   • 4
     Click the toolbar icon shaped like a hand stamp to run the "Clone stamp" tool, then press and hold "Control."
   • 5
     Click a picture region close to the gap left by the cutout head to sample the color of this region. Release "Control," then drag the mouse over the hole to fill with color similar to the original one. When the hole is filled, the canvas will show a body missing a head.

   GIMP

   • 1
     Click the "File" menu, then click the "Open" command. Use the dialog's controls to navigate to and double click a picture with a head you'd like to remove. GIMP will load the picture.
   • 2
     Click the "Tools" panel icon shaped like a lasso to run the "Lasso" selection tool, and then click a point on the head's outline. Drag around the head to trace it, then press "Delete" to delete the head.
   • 3
     Click the "Tools" panel icon shaped like a hand stamp to run "Clone stamp," then press and hold the "Control" key. Click a point near the missing head, then release "Control."
   • 4
     Drag on the space left by the missing head to fill the space with the imagery you just sampled with "Clone stamp."
   • 5
     Press "Control" and "S" simultaneously to save the decapitation effect to disk.

   Photoshop

   • 1
     Click the "File" menu's "Open" item, and then navigate to a photo or other picture to which you'd like to apply the decapitation effect. Double-click the photo to load it.
   • 2
     Click the "Tools" panel icon shaped like a lasso to run the "Lasso" tool, and then click on the head's outline. Drag around the head to trace it, and then release the mouse to complete the selection.
   • 3
     Press "Delete" to delete the head, and then click the icon on the "Tools" panel that's shaped like a hand stamp. This action runs the "Clone" tool.
   • 4
     Press and hold the "Alt" key, then click an area near the deleted head area to load imagery to paint with.
   • 5
     Release "Alt," then drag over the void left by the head to fill the void.