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]

Welcome aboard, John!

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]

Here's the tutorial...

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.

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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