Tutorial: Sketch, John Buchmann method

[johnb41]

The tutorial for this image can be found a few posts below. Just scroll down a little.

~DannyR~
Moderator


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Hi guys! This is my first post in this web site. I see lots of posts recently of "sketches". So i thought i'd chime in. Here's one of my 4 month old daughter. Feedback is welcome, of course!

http://www.informatik.com/john/lexi.jpg

[jeaniesa]

Welcome to RetouchPRO John!! So glad you found us.

What a beautiful daughter you have! And a wonderful sketch too!! Care to share your technique? I can already tell we have a lot to learn from you.

Jeanie

[DannyRaphael]

John:

It's always a pleasure to welcome talented folks like you to RetouchPRO in general and the Photo-Art forum in particular.

I'm sure there will be great interest in your technique, so if and when you're ready to share it, there WILL be interest.

When you get time it would be nice if you lept over to the Salon forum, where you can share a little about yourself in the new member thread (here's a link ).

Also, if you missed it during registration, below my signature is a link to a site map that will accelerate the "lay of the land" exercise!

Lastly, if you haven't discovered it yet, I'd recommend you consider posting a couple of your favorites in the general membership gallery ("Gallery" on the menu), which gets broader exposure than this forum. I'm sure others will enjoy seeing some of your works.

Welcome again. Look forward to seeing more of your creations.

~Danny~

Oh yeah...one more thing: Need a favor.

On future posts if you would upload the image (use the Attach File/Browse function below the message text window) vs. posting a URL, that will ensure folks 2-3-4 years down the line will be able to enjoy your images. (Longevity of this site is the webmasters' intention. So far, so good.)

Unfortunately after an entry is posted w/o an attachment, there's no way to edit and attach after the fact. Feel free to add another post to this thread with an uploaded version of this pic. It's outstanding.

[T Paul]

What a beautiful sketch and of course what a beautiful baby! I love how sharp the eyes are and how soft the overall image is. You must share your technique. I have been playing around with various sketch techniques on a photo of my niece, but I am just not happy with any of them yet.

P.S. Welcome to RetouchPro, we hope you enjoy your stay!!


~T

[lglogan]

Welcome, John. You are going to love it here.

Your sketch is great. So much detail. And yes, please share your technique.

[jerry]

John
Very nice sketch and baby..Welcome to RP from another "Nittany Lion" fan..I hope you are one..Please share your technique, there is a lot of sketching interest right now..There are numerous good tutorials in this forum on sketching..Most are really new..

Thanks
Jerry

[Toad]

Hey John - nice to see you made your way over. Great sketch technique, and lovely photo.

Toad

[gland]

John that's a beautiful sketch. If only I could draw.

[johnb41]

Thanks for all the great comments, everyone! I'm already feeling at home here. You guys (and girls) are great!

Danny... i'll repost the photo tomorrow as i don't have the file here at home.

Everyone else who asked for details on the technique... i'll post again here soon with the details. It's actually quite easy with not too many steps.

John

[johnb41]

Note: This works best with a nicely exposed photo... not too dark or too light. I have only been successful with close up portraits of people, not with outdoor landscapes. I have a modified technique that worked for a landscape, which i may post at a later time.

1) Open your photo. For this tutorial, you can download my source file and play along. Here is the file: http://www.informatik.com/john/sketching-baby.jpg. You will get the exact same effect as me if you follow exactly. There is absolutely no artistic brushing involved. (Although you could, as an option, which i will explain later.)

2) First, Duplicate the BG (Background) layer. Name it "Grayscale"

3) Desaturate the "Grayscale" layer. (Image > Adjustments > Desaturate)

4) Duplicate "Grayscale" layer. Call it "Lite FX"

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OPTIONAL STEPS: I used it to give a slightly more textured look...

5) Go to your Channels tab, and create a new channel.

6) Fill channel with White

7) Add Noise (Filter > Noise > Add Noise) For this image, use amount of 30%, Uniform, and Monochromatic.

8) Run the Crosshatch filter (Filter > Brush Strokes > Crosshatch) For this image, i used the values of 50/6/1.

9) Rename this channel "Crosshatch"

Now we want to create a new channel with a mix of either R, G, or B (they are all the same), and the Crosshatch channel. We do this with Image > Calculations.

10) Run the Image > Calculations command. Use these values:

Source1: <current document>
Layer: Merged
Channel: Crosshatch

Source2: <current document>
Layer: Merged
Channel: Red, Green, or Blue

Blending: Linear Burn
Opacity: 20%
Result: New Channel

You could use a different blending method. Multiply looks like it would work, but didn't try it. I tried to use a blending mode that kept the look of Red, Green, or Blue channels with just a "hint" of the crosshatch blended in. Be very careful not to use a too high Opacity. 20% works with this file. You may need to redo this step multiple times until you get the effect you want.

11) Rename your new channel "Linear Burn".

(This optional section is over)
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12) Download Trimoon's Pencil2 Lighting Effects setting file and install it. Click here for the download and instructions.

13) Click on the "Lite FX" layer, and run the Pencil2 Lighting Effect (Filter > Render > Lighting Effects) In the Lighting Effects window, select Pencil2 from the list.

If you did the "optional steps" in this tutorial, then in the "Texture Channel" section, select "Linear Burn". Otherwise, leave it at the default settings.

14) Still in the "Lite FX" layer, make the layer mode "Overlay".

15) Adjust the opacity. I used 77% in this image. You may need to readjust this later.

Next step is to create a white layer on top of all layers, and then mask out sections, to reveal the image underneath.

16) Create a new layer. Call it "Layer Mask". Fill it with white. Don't create the mask yet. The mask will be automatically created in the next step using grayscale information from the "grayscale" layer.

17) Click on the "Grayscale" layer. Select All, and Copy to Clipboard

18) In the Channels tab, Create a new channel.

19) In the new channel, Paste the clipboard contents (Edit > Paste).

20) You now want this channel to be a selection. Go to Select > Load Selection... Leave at the default settings and click OK.

21) Click on your "Layer Mask" layer, and go to: Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal Selection. The underlying image is now masked with a grayscale version of the image.

NOTE: You could mask manually, by skipping steps 17-21. You create a layer mask with the mask set to hide everything. Then with a paint brush and a low opacity setting, brush in the underlying image. My technique is just much much faster and seems to give a good result in this image.

The image is now complete. But I went a little further with it:

You can add contrast to either your Layer mask, or the "Grayscale" layer. I chose to do it to the Grayscale layer because Photoshop allows me to use an Adjustment Layer. You cannot do adjustment layers to layer masks.

22) I added an Adjustment Layer (Curves) to the "Grayscale" layer. I pulled the top right point to the left until it looked good.

------------------------------

That's it. It's a lot of steps, but if you really think about it, it's really pretty simple. It only gets a little hairy if you do the optional steps of 5-11. But you can skip those steps and will still get a pleasing image.

John

[T Paul]

WOW! Exceptional tutorial! It worked perfectly. Thanks so much for the detailed description. Between your tutorial and Trimoon's, I think I can create a nice sketch of my niece. Great job! You need to copy your tutorial and post it over to the Tutorial forum as it's a keeper and I’m sure many people will want a copy of it.

THANKS,

~T

[T Paul]

Here are my results to proove how great your tutorial is.

[johnb41]

Great job, T Paul! Looks like i didn't make any mistakes with the tutorial. I hope you get similar results with your niece!

John

[summertimerules]

Another great tutorial!! I love it!
it worked pretty well for me too.

And beautiful baby...thanks for sharing with us!

BTW...I also tried this tutorial on the red tailed hawk and it worked beautifully as well!

this is all so exciting!

[m0bster]

Mine came out decent, but not like yours and it printed GREEN! WTF is up with that? LOL

[johnb41]

Green?... haha! Did you work with my sample image, or one of your own?

If one of your own, you'll find that not every photo will work with this technique. It seems to be a crap shoot. But that is probably how it goes with all the painting/drawing techniques in this site.

You'll probably have to try different "spins" on this technique... a little change here and there, in order for it to work with your photo. I'm working on a photo right now that didn't come out as i expected. But i'm trying it at a different angle, and it's coming out good.

For example... In the beginning, instead of duplicating the Background layer and desaturating it, try using the Black channel instead! You would make duplicate of your file, convert to CMYK color mode, select the Black channel, select All, Copy to clipboard, and then Paste it as a new layer. This can also be used as your layer mask instead of using the desaturated image. It's working great with my file right now. So in summary, you may have to experiment... but that is half the fun

John

[creativo]

he is very nice and interesting, thanks for the explanation to detail

excuse my english
creativo

[johnb41]

I've been experimenting with this technique for a while tonight, and i have come to a few conclusions...

Obviously, resolution is a big issue. In my images, I find that if you're doing something like a face, you don't want to go much higher than 700 pixels from ear to ear. My baby sketch was at about 600 pixels wide (ear to ear) and it works fine. But if you resized it up way larger and tried the technique again, you'd see that your result looks more like a nice grayscale photo than a sketch. Same thing goes for too low a resolution. I was successful at about 400 pixels from ear to ear with a different photo. The effect was "really sketchy looking"... nice effect. I'd suspect that if you went below 300 pixels from ear to ear, then you'd start getting something other than a "sketch" effect.

Another thing: You may find that duplicating the background layer and making it grayscale may not make the best sketch. It all depends on the photo. If you're not getting a good sketch effect, instead of desaturating the background layer, try copying the black channel (of a CMYK version of the file), and paste it into a new layer. Then duplicate that and apply the lighting effects to that.

You can also use this Black channel as your layer mask. Or you may find that your Black channel is too contrasty, and that you don't even need to create a layer mask. That happened to me tonight. I was very surprised that i didn't need a layer mask at all... in fact any layer mask took away from the sketching effect.

Note: Not all Black channels will work with this effect. If you're doing portraits, make sure the Black channel (of a CMYK version of your file) has nice grayscale info in the flesh tones. Pretend that it's a contrasty grayscale photo. If the flesh tones are not nice shades of gray, you can fix this by going to your composite channel, then going to Curves, and then pulling the mid point of the curve up (or down, which ever darkens the photo). This will effectively add some black into the mid-tones of the photo, exactly where the flesh tones are. Once you get a nice Black channel, you can select All, copy and paste into a new layer on your original RGB file. Phew, I hope this makes sense!

So, in conclusion, experiment, experiment, experiment!!! Each photo is unique, so be prepared to stray from my instructions Have fun!

John

[DannyRaphael]

Another winning tutorial, tutorial John. Sure glad you're finding time to create / write and tinker with them. The follow-up advice is very helpful, too.

KEEP 'EM COMING!

~Danny~

[gland]

Thanks John. I'm off to try your tutorial.

[cendres]

Hi John,

First let me say thank you for sharing such a nice and really in-depth tutorial.

Your results were exellent. I used your sample and really came up with almost identical results.

A good friend of ours daughter just had a baby and I wanted to do something similar as a little suprise for her. My hope was that I could give her a 5 x 7. After trying it on my own photo, I did not have quite as good results. I am sure it has to do with the size (resolution) of the original image I am using, based on your followup remarks.

My question is, do you have any recommendations as to what settings I might try to change if in fact I want to work with an image that would be big enough to make into a 5 x 7.

If you have any suggestions as to what steps / settings would be best to change to account for higher resolution images, I would appreciate it.

Thanks again for putting together such a nice tutorial

Carl

[johnb41]

Carl:

Wow, you must have a very high resolution digital camera! (or are you scanning film?) My sample photo was done with a 5 megapixel camera, which i thought was alot! LOL

So your results looked too much like a grayscale photo, instead of a sketch? If so, then you're probably right about having too high resolution. I think the only thing that needs to be changed for higher res images would be the Lighting Effects filter. But i don't know what exactly to change to accomodate higher res images.

What you could try is resizing the photo down. My photo had a resolution of about 600 pixels from ear to ear. Maybe resize it so you get a similar size. Then try the tutorial again. If you get pleasing results, then you'll know that it was a resolution issue. Because you're going for a "sketchy" look, i don't think resizing it up alot (to print at 4x6) would affect quality too much. After all, a sketch is supposed to be a little grainy.

If trying it at a smaller size didn't help at all, then you should try the alternatives that i mentioned, like using the Black channel. (explained in a few messages above this.)

If you like, you could email me your photo, and i can give it a try! john@informatik.com

John

[cendres]

Hi John,

Well shame on me for not taking a closer look at the actual size of your posted image.

The photo I took, and attempted to use for this project also came from a 5 mp camera. I think I will try to crop it similar to what you must have done, and try it again. I also think your correct in suggesting I could use a smaller resolution image and then increase and probably wouldn't lose to much.

It may also be the picture itself, just doesn't meet the best contrast or exposure requirements. More likely though it is something I screwed up in the process.

In any case, I think I'll try to redue on my own this weekend and see if I can get a more pleasing result. I'll also try some of your other recommendations in terms of changing that setting you mentioned.

Your offer to take a stab at trying it certainly is very generous. If I have no luck than I may take you up on it. Let me know if you have a cable or DSL modem. I don't want to burden you with a file that approaches 2 mg. unless you have a fast connection.

Thanks again for following up with me - Carl

[johnb41]

Carl,

You say the photo isn't exposed well? If it's underexposed, then you might have luck using the black channel technique. I got excellent results from a photo that was underexposed when i used that technique. It just didn't look right when i used the first method.

Yes, i have a cable modem, so you can send me files of 2mb no problem!

John

[Trimoon]

Beautiful daughter and a Beautiful Technique

[Keith]

I really do hate to ask such an obvious question but:

How do you install the Pencil2 Lighting Effects file??

[johnb41]

Trimoon,

thanks for the compliment, and that means alot coming from you! Your stuff is simply awesome, and i couldn't have come up with it without you.

Keith,

Follow this link to get install instructions. It's near the top of the page...

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...5&pagenumber=2

John

[Tabizan]

I love the results of that sketch , going to give it a go but the link for the original image seems to have been lost , can someone post it up again so I can see the dimensions ?
Thanks !

[johnb41]

Sorry Tabizan, i must have deleted it by mistake. I just fixed it, so you'll be able to download it if you try again...

John

[Tabizan]

Thanks !