Pencil drawing

[snospmiS]

I haven't been posting here for a loooong time, mainly because I just don't have as much spare time as I had when I was fifteen.

Anyway, every now and then I create something with Paint.NET, because messing around with graphics is still fun. Inspired by this website I wanted to make something similar with pdn, but I'm not quite happy with the result:

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/396326_324092480958198_100000723467114_1075643_730491834_n.jpg

I made use oft the PencilSketch-Tool and a few other Plugins, but the "drawing" still doesen't look very drawingish in my opinion.

Any suggestions how to create a better drawing-like image with pdn?

Edited January 7, 2012 by Ego Eram Reputo
Replaced overlarge image with link (Rule #29).

[BoltBait]

Try the Ink Sketch effect and turn the color slider all the way down.

[delpart]

You may also wish to consider using something akin to edge detect with some slight, very so slight dents in a couple of different size passes etc to rid it of the perfectly symmetry to mimic the imperfections of hand drawing ...

The other thing is to possibly do more pre-processing to rid the cutout of the background that may or may not show up using various tools. At least in my mind, I wouldn't expect a simple line drawing approach to include that sort of shading.

(Just $.02 for the sake of sharing what came to mind when I read this topic.)

[HELEN]

I tried it on a photo and I found that turning it to black and white first, then running the Pencil sketch effect, and after using Curves might do the trick. The Ink Sketch worked, too. And also, you can try turning the image black and white and after, Go To-->Stylize-->Outline. And then running the Pencil sketch or Ink Sketch from there.

[pdnnoob]

I think a large part of your problem is the paper and not the drawing. Here's a few things to change to increase the believability of the paper:

1. Glowing edges. I wish [my]paper[/i] was cool enough to have them, but sadly, Walmart doesn't sell anything that cool

2. No texture. It does need some form of texture. There's a few plugins that come to mind, but I would recommend using clouds and a very, very small and dim random maze. The texture doesn't have to be especially visible to take effect, so keep the opacity low.

3. 2D (no folds). Add some folds or ripples to the paper to make it more integrated with its surroundings.

If you fix those three things, I think it would look much more realistic. The drawing itself may still look like an ink sketch, but it should be much more believable.

[Lance McKnight]

I haven't been posting here for a loooong time, mainly because I just don't have as much spare time as I had when I was fifteen.

Anyway, every now and then I create something with Paint.NET, because messing around with graphics is still fun. Inspired by this website I wanted to make something similar with pdn, but I'm not quite happy with the result:

http://a4.sphotos.ak...730491834_n.jpg

I made use oft the PencilSketch-Tool and a few other Plugins, but the "drawing" still doesen't look very drawingish in my opinion.

Any suggestions how to create a better drawing-like image with pdn?

Here's what I do -

1. Duplicate original image.
2. Make it black and white and duplicate it.
3. Invert the duplicate b&w layer and set blending mode to color dodge (warning: it will make it completely white! Don't fret). Run Gaussian blur on this layer. Higher than 20 pixels gives the sketch look.
4. Duplicate the white layer (the one you changed in previous step) and run Gaussian blur.
5. Optional - copy original image and move it to the very top layer and change blending mode to Overlay.

This mini-tutorial was actually adapted from a Photoshoop tutorial. Super easy to do.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Lance McKnight

[HELEN]

Ditto to what Lance said. I did that for my illustrations when I made a few coloring pages for an author. That might be even better. Please post your results soon.

Edited January 7, 2012 by HELEN

[minners71]

@Lance I just end up with a white screen followed the steps 3 times and each time the same.

[Lance McKnight]

@Lance I just end up with a white screen followed the steps 3 times and each time the same.

Sorry about that! I just tested my method, and it seem duplicating the white layer was an extra step not needed. I edited the steps. Thanks for catching it!