A flat-color you, walking through your own photo.

Snap a candid – someone walking, mid-step, side angle. Drop it into Picsart. The same photo comes back – same wall, same crosswalk, same sidewalk – but the person is now a flat solid silhouette in bright yellow, brick red, electric blue. Everything around them stays photographic. Just the body is a block of color.

That’s the color cutout effect. Creator @moonsol.design – posted the Picsart tutorial on Instagram. The format is built for Stories. Vertical, bold, instantly readable.

One photo, one cut, one bold silhouette walking through a real-world scene.

What is the color cutout effect?

A real photo where the subject becomes a flat solid color. The wall, the street, the cars in the background, the sky – all of it stays as it was in the original shot. Just the person becomes a colored silhouette dropped inside the real scene.

That’s the whole trick. The brain expects to see the subject photographically – instead, the body reads as a single block of color while everything around them stays real. The contrast is the punch.

Three things make or break it: clean edges (no halo around the silhouette), one solid color (not a gradient), and a color that pops against the photographic background.

Why it owns the Stories feed

  • Story-native – vertical 9:16 frame is exactly what the trend calls for, no cropping fight
  • Scroll-stopping – a block of solid color in a photo-heavy feed is impossible to swipe past
  • Photo-dump friendly – one trip, one location, six photos, six different colors, posted as a Stories series
  • Brand-flexible – swap the silhouette color for your brand color and the same template becomes a launch graphic
  • One photo, multiple looks – same shot, different colors per slide, gives you a full content set from a single source
  • No model needed – candid passersby, friends, your own shadow, anything walking through the frame

How to make it with Picsart

Step 1: Pick the photo

Candid walking shots work best. Side angle, full body, mid-stride. Phone shot, screenshot, anything where the subject is clearly separated from the background.

Step 2: Open Picsart Photo Editor and upload

Crop to 9:16 if you want a Story-ready frame. Square works for posts.

Step 3: Tap Remove BG

The AI picks out the subject in two seconds. Same engine as the Picsart Background Remover – you do not have to trace anything by hand.

Step 4: Open the Eraser, tap Invert

Tap “Eraser.” Then tap “Invert.” This flips what gets cut – now the subject is the hole and the photographic background stays.

Step 5: Tap Apply

Locks in the inverted cut. The silhouette of the subject is now an empty space inside the photo.

Step 6: Choose your color

Tap “Color” and pick a flat shade. Bright yellow, brick red, electric blue, lime green, hot pink. The color fills the silhouette. Export.

Tips: High-contrast colors against the photographic background work best. Avoid colors that already appear in the scene – a yellow silhouette on a yellow wall disappears. Same photo, three colors, posted as three back-to-back Stories.

Photos that work for the cutout

Some shots just hit when you punch a colored silhouette through them. Strong subject separation, a recognizable pose, and a busy-but-readable background do most of the work.

  • Walking shots – side profile, mid-stride, the original example pose
  • Sitting candids – café tables, park benches, stairs
  • Skater, runner, biker – motion silhouettes read instantly
  • Group shots – one person colored in, the rest left photographic
  • Travel pics – silhouette in front of a landmark
  • Street style – outfit details disappear, the silhouette flattens everything
  • Concert and crowd shots – one figure colored against a sea of people
  • Self-portrait shadows – your actual cast shadow becomes the silhouette
  • Pet photos – dog mid-zoom, cat mid-stretch, silhouette pets are gold
  • Architectural frames – a doorway, a passerby, a window, all in one shot

Variations worth trying

  • Color set – same photo, six different colors, posted as a Stories series
  • Brand drop – silhouette filled with your brand color, dropped into a campaign Story
  • Couple cutouts – two people in the photo, each filled with a different color
  • Photo + cutout pair – real photo on slide 1, color cutout on slide 2, posted as a carousel
  • Outfit color match – silhouette color matches what the person was actually wearing
  • Half cut – cut only the legs or only the upper half, leave the rest photographic
  • City color palette – one walk, one street, six pedestrians, six colors, the same block
  • Story sticker pack – cut six silhouettes from six photos, save each as a transparent PNG, drop into Stories as stickers
  • Animated reveal – real photo, color cutout, real photo, looped as a Reel
  • Magazine cover – silhouette + bold sans-serif headline + small caption, instant editorial.

One photo, one tap, one bold silhouette.

Real photo. Flat-color body. The story tells itself.

Pick a photo. Pick a color. Punch the silhouette through. Post it.

Try it in Picsart Photo Editor.