I have Photoshop Elements, and am trying to make one of those fun images where you take a picture of an anime character (preferably with a distinctive profile) and make a little silhouette with an iPod.

Tiny problem, I cant find where elements would allow me to draw the nice curves I want for the string. I tried drawing in w/ pencil, and various blurring methods. Blurring improved it, but it still wasn't that good.

Also, though I didnt use this for the image below, I do own GIMP, so if thats what I need feel free to say so.

Here it is :grin:

If Elements is like Photoshop (which I have), "freehand drawing" of this nature is not a strong suit.

Have you tried using Gimp for this purpose?

Use the Pen Tool to draw curves. It's a bit difficult to learn.

There is no pen tool in Elements...
Not that it is completely impossible to use vectors drawings: in his book 'The hidden power of photoshop Elements 4', chapter 9, Creating and Using Vectors, Richard Lynch shows how to do this with his tools.
- Making vectors
- Making custom shapes
- Creating Scalable Vector Art
- Applying a clipping path

He also has an add-on, Hidden power paths, on his site:
hiddenelements.com
See this thread:
http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/hidden-power-support/20352-hidden-power-paths.html

thank you, I will defidently try these

Hate to doouble post, but here it is

There is a little artifacts around the border from the compression, but I think it turned out quite well. ^_^