🐒 A Step-by-Step Guide to Cutting Out a Furry Monkey in PS! Even Beginners Can Do It!

There are three ways to cut out a monkey's fur, and this tutorial lines them up side by side: the plugin route is convenient but limited, the channel route suits experienced hands, and the Extract filter is the most dependable. It closes with a two-pass approach — white hairs first, then black — and that same thinking can break down any complicated fur in Online PS.

🧪 Method 1: quick cutout with a "plugin" (Knockout 2.0)

✅ Pros: fast, simple, beginner-friendly
❌ Cons: detail is easily lost!

Steps:

1. Double-click the layer to unlock it (otherwise it can't be edited)
2. Open the plugin → select the monkey → draw the inner and outer rings → click "OK"
3. Export the image

⚠️ Result: a failure!
Most of the fur came out, but in two places (circled in red) the fur was "eaten" — not precise enough.

🧪 Method 2: cut out with "channels" (a pro favorite)

✅ Pros: precise, good for complex edges
❌ Cons: easily leaves a "grayish" background!

Steps:

1. Open the "Channels" panel (next to the Layers panel)
2. Look at the red, green and blue channels → you'll find:
   • Red channel: good for pulling out the white hairs
   • Blue channel: good for pulling out the black hairs
3. Cut out the two parts separately → merge the layers

⚠️ Result: still a failure!
The fur came out, but the background turned into a gray haze, and I'm not sure why… (the original author never worked it out either 😅)

🎯 Method 3: the ultimate answer — the "Extract filter" in separate passes (recommended!)

✅ Pros: the finest result, ideal for mixed black and white fur
❌ Cons: a few more steps, but worth it!

✅ Step 1: pull out the white hairs first

1. Duplicate the background layer (Ctrl+J)
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+X to open the "Extract" command
3. Paint over the whole monkey with the highlight brush → tick "Force Foreground" → set the color to "white"
4. Click "OK" to get the white-hair layer

✅ Step 2: add a dark green background to check the result

→ The strands are crisp. Perfect.

✅ Step 3: pull out the black hairs

1. Duplicate the background layer once more
2. Press Ctrl+Alt+X again → "Extract" as before
3. This time change the "Force Foreground" color to "black"
4. Click "OK" to get the black-hair layer

✅ Step 4: merge the two layers + clean the edges

1. Put the dark green background at the bottom → both the black and white hairs look razor sharp
2. Turn off the original background layer → confirm there is no gray haze left
3. Merge the "white hair layer" and the "black hair layer"
4. Use the "History Brush" to restore the monkey's body (so the subject reads as solid)

✅ Final step: swap in a new background!

Drag the cut-out monkey onto a new background → done!

✅ Now you know what to do at every step!
👉 Follow along with the images, and even a complete beginner can handle "fur cutouts" with ease.