posted
Well, this all started when I happen to catch a re-run on the tube the other week. Going into a commercial break, the last scene morphed into a black and white pencil sketch. The exact opposite returning from the commercial break; pencil sketch morphed into the opening color scene. Cool stuff. So the quest began; how can I DO THAT!?
I posted my results in the Portfolio section. (Click here for the thread) This post is an attempt to answer some of the questions. I thought it might be a bit easier to include some visuals to illustrate how this was done.
Let me state that I’m not a Photoshop guru. (And for those that are, this should become clear very soon.) This is how I solved the task at hand. I’m POSITIVE there are many other ways of achieving the same thing. For those that do know the software, please make corrections as needed to improve the quality, reduce the steps, or better represent the software. I’m looking at this post as a learning experience and it doesn’t have to end here. Feel free to pick up the ball and run.
The picture below is of a recently completed job. I chose this job for my “educational” experience.
This file was opened in Photoshop 6.01, RGB mode. My first step was to copy the entire layer to the clipboard. If you wish for the entire image to look like a pencil sketch, this step is not necessary. Next, create a New Duplicate Layer. Convert the image to Grayscale. It’s important when prompted, to select Don’t Flatten. Picture below reflects the changes so far.
Now, Invert the layer.
After Inversion, the Layer Styles dialog was brought up. From here I selected Color Dodge as my Blend Mode with the Opacity set to 98. [I]Advanced Blending Fill Opacity[I] was set at 95%. Screen capture below reflects those settings.
For a few short steps and minimal effort this looked acceptable. However I pressed forward by applying two filters. (Continued in post below due to image limit)
-------------------- Bob Gilliland InKnowVative Communications Harrisburg PA, USA
"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." Benjamin Franklin Posts: 642 | From: Harrisburg, PA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Again, the joy of this program is all the experimentation that can be done with these variables. What I have selected to this point, and the selections that are remaining, are user definable. Take the time to see the differences between 25, 50, 75, and 100%. 33% may produce the result you want this time, but leave you with an unacceptable piece next time. A given filter may be the ticket this time around, but nowhere close the next. One size doesn’t always fit all. Experiment!
The first filter was Add Noise.
Gaussian Blur filter was next up.
After applying Layer Styles and Filter effects, the project look like this.
It could be considered done at this point. The remaining steps are to give that mixed pencil/color look. Change back to RGB mode. Create a New Layer. Paste the contents of the clipboard onto this layer. Select a portion of this layer to be deleted. Pictured below is the progress so far.
At this point I wanted to get rid of the “hard” line between the pencil sketch and the color photo. Selecting the Airbrush tool with a wide, feathered edge brush allowed for the soft transition between the two. This is what I was left with.
An additional step that was done in the original posting (but not here) was to reduce the Opacity level of the color photo layer. The lower the setting, the more washed out or “color penciled” in appearance.
So there it is. In a few short minutes you have learned what I spent a few hours experimenting with. My lessons aren’t over yet so there may be more to share in the future. Anybody else what to share?
-------------------- Bob Gilliland InKnowVative Communications Harrisburg PA, USA
"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." Benjamin Franklin Posts: 642 | From: Harrisburg, PA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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For the little bit of Photoshop I know, it’s much less for PhotoPaint. The following is from a very novice PhotoPaint user and presented with little to no “fluff”. This will get you to the “pencil sketch” point. (PhotoPaint v9.397, default accelerator keys.)
Open image; [CTRL+O]
Copy; [CTRL+C]
Paste; [CTRL+V]
Image, Mode, Grayscale 8-Bit Merging dialog = No
Image, Transform, Invert
From the Object Docker, double left click on the Object (Object 2)?
From Object Properties dialog box; Merge = Color Dodge; Opacity = 95, Blend Settings: Active Objects 13/203, Composite Underlying 22/232, then OK to accept
There it is; down and dirty from a non-user. Good luck and have fun!
-------------------- Bob Gilliland InKnowVative Communications Harrisburg PA, USA
"The U.S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself." Benjamin Franklin Posts: 642 | From: Harrisburg, PA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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