Tutorial: Colored chalk (Lisa Peters inspired)

[DannyRaphael]

The thread Lisa Peters (aka: OhThatGirl2001) started way back in about March 2002 describing a pencil sketch method she discovered at About.com was probably the one that resulted in the creation of the Photo-based Art forum, something for which many (including myself) will always be grateful.

This is a summary of the steps Lisa shared:

- - - - - - - - - - -

1. Background: Duplicate image ("A. Desaturated")
2. "A": Desaturate
3. "A": Duplicate image ("B. Color Dodge")
4. "B": Set blend mode to Color Dodge and Invert (CTRL + I). Don't panic. Screen will go almost (or completely) white.
4a. Optional step: Some methods suggest setting the opacity to 95%. Your call.
5. "B": Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur - blur to taste.
6. Create a new Levels adjustment layer ("C. Levels")
7. "C": Adjust the contrast by moving the Left slider toward the right. Might have to move the R slider towards the left a bit. Experiment. (Note: Some people prefer to use a Brightness / Contrast adjustment layer here instead.)

- - - - - - - - - - -

Optonal steps to add kind of a pastel-like look:

8. If/when you like what you see, create a new layer "D. Base".

9. Cool Trick. "D.": ALT + CTRL + SHIFT + E (this merges all visible layers into layer D without collapsing the individual layers in case you need them again later.

10. Create a Brightness / Contrast adjustment layer above layer D. Make no adjustments at this time. Name it "E. B/C"

11. Click the Background layer and duplicate it.

12. ALT +CTRL + SHIFT + ] (Right bracket) - to move the duplicated Background layer to the top of the layer stack.

13. New layer name: "F. Color"

14. "F": Set blend mode to Color.

15. "E": Open the Brightness / Contrast adjustment layer; start by moving the Contrast slider to the left. See the soft color appear? Tweak the Brightness / Contrast sliders to suit.

VARIATIONS
---------------
* Adjust opacity of layer F
* Turn off layer E

[DannyRaphael]

Layers A, B, C, D...

[DannyRaphael]

The pastel look...

Granted this look may not be optimal for "people," but try it on flowers or scenery.

[DannyRaphael]

Base image

[DannyRaphael]

Steps 1-7...

[DannyRaphael]

The remaining steps... plus I added a Hue/Saturation adjustment later at the top of the layer stack and boosted the saturation to + 65.

- - - - - - -
Have fun!

~DannyR~

[Janet Petty]

Using the technique described above, I found that setting the gaussian blur all the way to the right, usually makes a more detailed, pencil like sketch.

Janet

[raniday]

Hi, Ms. Janet. It's getting cooler here in the hills, isn't it?
Very interesting results, and I'm glad you bumped this thread back up. I had never seen it, and thanks, Danny for sharing this technique. I tried it on a lotus blossom. Looks sorta like a chalk drawing.

[Janet Petty]

Hey, Ms. Cat. Not only cooler, but we FINALLY got some of that rain we need so badly.

I can see you added back some of the color. I really like the soft, almost romantic feel in the way it turned out. GGoing.

Janet

[lkroll]

eScrappers Pencil Sketch. I did sharpen the eyes a bit.

For the colored version, I placed the sketch above as the base layer with duplicate copies of the original color photo. Set the Top layer to Hue and the Middle layer to Saturation. I did whiten certain areas (i.e., teeth and eye whites) a bit.

[Alcar]

Here's one of Kate using my old pencil portrait method.
Alan

[dkcoats]

Had to give this a try. This is "Lisa's pencil sketch", basically, but with angled strokes run on the desaturated layer and 2 duplicates of the original on top, one in color mode, one in linear burn. I think.

dc

[MiningArt]

Followed most of the steps, but painted out a few lines and softened others.

[gholmes1936]

You people have inspired me to try this one also. I did it last night and was tired so can't recall what I used to arrive at it. Darn it, means I can't dupe it myself if I wanted to.

It's a sort of sketch I think.

However I do have OnOne Photo Tools 2, Filter Forge, and Topaz, and as couple of other tools to play with.

[Peter S]

It may not meet the original criteria but this is how I see it.

Peter

[ghealy]

I'd recently discovered a tutorial by Swampy that explained how to create line art. With a few embellishments, I've been sort of going overboard lately creating these type of images.

Using the Sunflower image, I created these two.

For the B&W line art, in Swampy's tutorial after applying the Minimum filter I than apply Gaussian blur at a value between 5 to 15. This really gives a nice clean yet darker line.

The Coloured Sunflower was done from the B&W version. I then added several layers. One that I filled with a light green setting the blend mode to Color. The second layer (top) was a duplicate of the merged layers that created the B&W version.

On this top layer, using a small-ish brush I painted the center of the sunflower brown and the petals a pale yellow. I then set this layer's blend mode to Color as well.

Thanks for looking.

[Kraellin]

there are many techniques for making sketches. i have quite a few filter forge filters devoted to this. i also know several paint shop pro methods. at its heart, a digital sketch is a a find edges. that doesnt mean that using find edges is the only way to make one, but that is pretty much what sketches boil down to. you are trying to bring out the important lines of an image.

following that idea, i tried a different method to make a sketch. this one starts with 'find all edges' and moves on to simplifying by contrast.

[Photoartomation]

portrait drawing