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View Full Version : Make a Photo Look Like a Sketch


Karen Bowers
09-01-2005, 04:09 PM
a few people have asked how i created this effect. (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=33725&cat=500&page=1) i created a tutorial going through the steps i took, so here is my first tutorial thread! if this isn't clear enough, feel free to ask questions.


Fierce! Tutorial

Make your photo black and white.

Put a layer on top, fill with white.

Lower the opacity of the white layer until you can see the photo underneath, somewhere around 50%.

Look through your eraser brushes until you find one that looks like cross hatch marks (#14 in assorted brushes in PSE looks like a good option; I used my Wacom Brush # 50). Set your eraser brush opacity to 30%. You will now gently erase along what you want to make look sketched. If you reveal something you want hidden (like I wanted to hide my hallway walls), then you just undo. Therefore, short strokes are a good way to because you can undo those easily. Keep on revealing until you’re happy. I often turned the white layer’s opacity back up to 100% while I was working to see how the effect was coming along.

Then create your text. Either use a grungey text to start with, or erase with a sponge very lightly to create that grungey feel.

Lastly choose a soft gradient. I wanted to give the feeling of an old book or an artist’s sketchpad, so my gradient has soft browns, oranges and yellows. And You’ll have to play to get the opacity level right; it needs to be pretty low opacity. I then put it on a few more times, oh so lightly, all 3 coming from the top down, just with different starting places on the top of the layout.

Stacey Jewell Stahl
09-01-2005, 05:31 PM
I'll be doing this, smoky Karen! I've loved your layout and have gone back several times just to ooh and ahh over it. :)

Pam
09-01-2005, 06:25 PM
Awesome effect and steps that should be very similar in PSP -- will have a go at this, thanks!

premier
09-01-2005, 09:23 PM
Thanks so much for this tutorial.

jtaubman
09-02-2005, 05:08 AM
Thanks Karen, thats excellent, I just had to give it a go.

Love does not . . . (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50967&cat=500&page=1)

MaureenH
09-02-2005, 06:33 AM
I love to learn techniques like this from others, thanks so much for sharing. Now that you've written it up, have you thought about submitting it for the tutorial section here at DSP?

jtaubman
09-03-2005, 04:09 AM
I came up with a slight variation on this method using a layer mask, and painting on that rather than using the eraser on the top layer.

Using PSE you have to use a slight trick to attach a layer mask to a layer as PSE does not support them on image layers officially.

Before you create the white layer create a levels layer, don't use it to adjust the levels.

Create your white layer and make sure its selected.
Now hold down the alt key and hover on the join between the levels layer and the white layer, the point turns to two small circles. Left click.

The layers are now joined, the white layer should be indented like this.
http://www.rjt.org.uk/filestore/files/scrapbooking/linkedlayers.jpg


Click on the mask for the layer and use the paint brush to paint (use the same settings as Karen suggested for the eraser.

Painting in black will show the layer below and painting in white will show the top layer.

I am not sure its any easier than Karens orginal method, but it is quick to undo mistakes as you don't need to swap tools, just press x to swap between black and white.