Why It Works: Photo to Sketch

Welcome to Why It Works, April 2023 edition! This series is meant to offer design tips you can use on your scrapbook pages. Are you ready to learn with me? Let's go!

This month we'll be focusing on the photo to sketch technique because I haven't used it for a very long time and wanted a refresher. I don't know about you, but I am always drawn to pages where the photo is a sketch. It's like seeing the photo from a whole new light!

This page by @garrynkim caught my eye back in January when the gallery was a flurry during MOC:

The photo sketch really works on this page because Kimberly has used a colorful, patterned background paper and the light, colorless sketch adds the perfect amount of contrast to draw attention to it. The sketch also allows her face in the photo to take the full focus because her shirt and hair are darker than the other parts of the sketch.

This page by @katell combines a b&w photo to sketch technique with a colorful extraction over it:

The photo sketch really works on this page because the architectural lines stand out so well. Sometimes photos of people don't look right with the sketch technique so having the people be an extraction over the sketch is the perfect solution.

This page by @weaselwatchr combines a color photo to sketch technique with part of the photo framed over the sketch:

The photo sketch really works on this page because it shows off the beautiful landscape and architecture while still allowing the statue to steal the show.


Do you want to try your hand at making a photo into a sketch? Below is a link and a couple tutorials that might help:

I first learned this technique during MOC with Farrah. Steps 1-5 create the sketch; Steps 6-9 are for adding more color. She includes links for non-PS users at the bottom AND the thread is full of inspiration pages from community members!
https://the-lilypad.com/forum/threa...-artistic-sketch-photography-challenge.47004/

From Cheryl @gonewiththewind:
"I did this technique YEARS ago in 2012 but instead of just the sketch, part of the photo remained underneath."
Cheryl's page:

Cheryl's instructions:

1. Open a new file of 3600 x 3600 px at 300 dpi. Choose a white paper and place it on the canvas.
2. Drag your photo onto your canvas. Make a copy of it and hide visibility (click on the eye in the layer panel to turn visibility on and off).
3. Select the first photo layer that is visible. Go to Filter > Stylize > Find Edges. Type Ctrl + Alt + U and change the Saturation to -100.
4. Type Ctrl + M and change the curve until you get some sort of outlined B&W drawing. (Try these settings: Channel: RGB > Output: 186 > Input: 136 > Show Amount of: Light)
5. Change the layer setting to Darken instead of Normal (the white will disappear and only the black lines will stay visible).
6. Type Alt and click on the layer mask button at the bottom. The drawing won't be visible now.
7. Choose a brush with watercolor effect.
8. Start painting back the drawing (make sure you selected the mask and not the drawing miniature on the right side) but don’t make hard lines at the border of the photo.
9. If you painted too much, you can change between black and white to delete parts again or draw back.
10. Make the photo layer visible again and type Alt + click on the layer mask button at the bottom. The photo isn’t visible anymore now.
11. Select a brush with watercolor effect. Start painting back the drawing (make sure you selected the mask and not the photo miniature on the right side) but keep it all a bit smaller than the drawing layer. If you painted too much, you can change between black and white to delete parts again or draw back.

From Jenn @jk703:
Jenn's photo:

Jenn's instructions:

• First, make a duplicate of your photo, right click to duplicate or Command + J. This way the original is still available and not written over with layers and other changes.
• Next, choose your duplicate layer in the Layers Palette. Then click on Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. This will cause your image to turn to a black and white version.(For PSE Users – It has been said to use Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue & Saturation. Move the saturation slider all the way to the left.)
• Duplicate the desaturated layer.
• Choose the top layer in the Layers Palette. Next, change it’s Blend Mode to Color Dodge.
• Your image will have an almost too white black and white image.
• The top layer is still selected at this point. Next, click Image > Adjustments > Invert. (For PSE it’s Filter>Adjustment>Invert.)
• Your image will turn ALL white right after inverting it. It’s normal. Ok. Next, click on Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.
  
• You will move the slider to a lower number, probably between 20-60, depending on your photo.
  
• The image will lose a lot of it’s detail from when we added the blur. We will get some back. Create an Adjustment Layer for Levels. I used the half white/half black circle on the bottom of the Layers Palette to do this step.
  
• Now, choose the middle triangle under the chart. Slide it to the right. It will change the image, so watch and slide at the same time. It will bring some of the detail back.
  
• Sometimes, the surrounding area takes away from the penciled part, so to add focus to the image - Select the layer just under the Levels Adjustment. Press D to change your foreground and background colors to the default setting
  
• Now, choose the Brush Tool, and use a Soft Round Brush, and you will paint with the foreground color, black. Mine is at a size of 715, and I originally had the opacity at 20%. As I worked with the brush, I lowered it to 5%. Play with this and your image. If you have erased too much, just switch up your brush color to white, and you can fix where you erased too much of the image. (For PSE Users, Krista said that for some reason she had to use the white to erase the background. When she used black it made the background black).

Now it's your turn! Do you have a certain tip or trick related to the photo to sketch technique? Have you made a page using this technique? Share it in this thread! I know there are apps that can magically do this work for us, but I always think it's fun to learn how to do it in our scrapbooking software too. If you decide to give this technique a try, feel free to post your photo or page here so we can learn leave each other some love.

Happy scrapping!

 

I can’t wait to see what you come up with Kimberly!

 

I love this technique too! I’m glad Cheryl and Jenn would share their expertise.

 

I hope you have fun with it Jan!

 

I love that you used this technique for a challenge this month! Thanks for sharing your page!

 

Thanks for sharing your process Marijke! The more ways to try the better!

 

I agree Jennifer! I’m always amazed by the different looks a photo to sketch technique can create.

 

I found this photo to sketch page by @*sylvia* in the gallery recently. She used the technique for this month's photography challenge which focuses on architecture.

 

Here is a photo I played with using this technique. I think the side by side is a fun comparison. I like how the flowers look distorted in the b&w version. I also like how the polka dot pants look in the colored sketch.