convert photo to line drawing

[Rick Wise]

I’m surprised no one has come forth with a solution to my question. This is the first time I’ve posted here on this particular cow forum. Maybe it’s a sleepy place. Anyway, after days and days of interent searching plus my own trial and errors, I found what seems to work for me:

–open photo
–ctrl j — to dupe layer
–image -adjust – shadows/highlights: bring up shadows a lot
–press d — makes sure default colors, with block and top and white on bottom
–filter – sketch – photocopy : details 9-12, darkenss max at 50
–set layer to multiply
–filter – blur gausian – 2
–image – adjust – levels: input 115/1/140
–at this point you have a partially colored image; for my purposes, it needs to be all b&w to I deselect the bottom layers
–foliage may be too dark; with lasso isolate an area; image – adjust – gradient map; click on the sort of bar image to open up a fuller menu; play with slider to improve the area; save it under some name, such as “foliage”; then load foliage, press OK.
–clean up unwanted black dots with a pencil, reversing b/w bloxes so now white is on top; this cleanup can take quite a while — zoom in to areas to clean as needed
–add some white to too-dark splotches by picking a scattering brush head

Rick Wise
director of photography
and custom lighting design
Oakland, CA
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.recessionvideo.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[Matt Sepeta]

I wish more people did post on here, I use PS wayyy more than FCP at my work.

Do you have an example of the finished product, I would love to see what you did!

Good Day

[Rick Wise]

Here’s a sample:

Rick Wise
director of photography
and custom lighting design
Oakland, CA
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.recessionvideo.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[Ronaldo Montalvo]

hey rick, your technique works pretty darn well, ends up being a slightly thick dark line that looks good at small repro sizes but is bit chunky/rough viewed at actual size. i think i prefer the result i get just using the “stylize/find edges” filter and then removing color and adjusting levels from there, doing a bit of hand work as needed. might not be better for your jobs but as with most pshop things there are always several ways to do anything. thanks for sharing your approach. if you have it, maybe take a look at illustrator trace sometime for a vector approach to this look.

[Rick Wise]

Thanks. Unfortunately, I do not have Illustrator. I did download a free version called Inscape but couldn’t find a way to make it work.

Rick Wise
director of photography
and custom lighting design
Oakland, CA
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.recessionvideo.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[Rick Wise]

Improved and revised method to achieve a b&w sketch of a house in the style that Realtors use in the newspaper; this method avoids unnecessary steps, and results in finer lines:

1. 1. crtl J to make a copy or original
2. image – adjust – shadow/highlights; bring up shadows to taste – note foliage
3. press “d” to make sure colors = B on top, W on bottom
4. filter – sketch – photocopy; details, 2-12; darkness = max 50 – set detail just high enough to retain shape information
5. filter – blur – gausian – 2 – helps remove some of the black noise
6. then run again: filter – sketch – photocopy; this time, detail = 0
7. reverse colors of black-white so now white is on top
8. with pencil, clean up image – takes about 15-20 minutes

This version ignores the color below, because we have zero need for it. The double filter-sketch-photocopy produces a finer-line drawing than the original posted above.

Rick Wise
director of photography
and custom lighting design
Oakland, CA
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.recessionvideo.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[Mike Smith]

Painter (once of Fractal Design, now I think owned by Corel) has some great tools to draw over photos, allowing and aiding various line and brush stroke styles.

It’s quite pricy, but from time to time they offer older versions free , I guess to promote the brand and in anticipation of a proportion of subsequent upgrades.

This link looks like it could be one of those offers – but I haven’t checked it out, and any free download invites care and attention.
https://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Development/LexarPE4BundlePromo&lc=en

https://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/gb/en/Product/1166553885783#tabview=tab0

[Rick Wise]

Mike,

Thanks for that tip. I went to the first link and downloaded — a free for 180 days Corel Painter Essentials 4. It’s auto paint mode is quite amazing and fun to watch. However, I could find no settings that produced the fine, clear-line drawing I am looking for. I suspect one of these vector-based systems will eventually work better than photoshop, but I sure have not yet found the way. For now, my process, outlined above (the second one) is the best.

Rick Wise
director of photography
and custom lighting design
Oakland, CA
https://www.RickWiseDP.com
https://www.recessionvideo.net
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rwise
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com

[Sarah Grace]

i tried your method (which is brilliant and i joined creativecow.net just to tell you its better than any other non-filter method i came across)

i do agree with ronaldo that it doesn’t not hold up too well on larger images. (i’m trying to do screen for printing)

i remember there being an andromeda filter i used to own way back in PS4 and while looking for that i found this guy and his filters-

https://powerretouche.com/Edgeline_plugin_tutorial.html

this filter is a must buy for me! just frakking incredible! (and its only $32) using just the preset i got this:
https://img.skitch.com/20090616-cmdmnbq6cg1192b4mtaeycekcm.jpg
$32 dollars is worth all the time saved for me.

some other great sketch draw plugins to demo if you are interested in thsi kind of thing-
alien skin’s snapart. its a little more loose but it comes with all sorts of options like oilpaint and stuff and allows you to create effects along the lines paint essentials without having to launch a separate program. this is the result with pencil sketch filter:

https://img.skitch.com/20090616-k8uciet3m38p5s1crxawwt5ues.jpg

re: photo to vector you cannot beat vectormagic.com
https://img.skitch.com/20090616-f59atipd9sxtxq123755scej5y.jpg

this one i did using a stock photo from sxc.
original: https://www.sxc.hu/photo/1193187
vector: https://img.skitch.com/20090616-rwjifemkr4mh3ykrb5f7iypmu2.jpg

(and its cheap)

cheers
bunny grace
AKA madbadcat
madbadcat.org
digitalapplejuice.com

PS- mr. wise, would you mind if i created a tutorial out of your steps for digitalapplejuice.com? most definitely will give credit where credit is due…

[Sarah Grace]

i helps if you run the high pass filter over the image before running either your method or the power retouch edgeline filter.