How to turn a photo into a drawing in Photoshop

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How to turn a photo into a drawing in Photoshop





You can easily turn a photo into a drawing on Photoshop: use the pencil and the Gaussian blur filter، or the high pass filter.

Ways to Turn a Photo into a Pencil Drawing Using Photoshop

Gaussian blur for a black and white drawing


Open the image to be transformed in Photoshop and place it on a new layer, using copy-paste or keyboard shortcuts: ctrl+e
on PC or cmd+e on Mac.
Create a "Hue/Saturation" adjustment layer and lower the saturation to -100, which turns the photo into black and white.

Select the layer below and choose the blending mode "Lighten" - "Color Density". Switch the layer to negative, using the
keyboard shortcuts “ctrl+i” on PC, “cmd+i” on Mac. The image turns white.

Select the “Gaussian Blur” (“Filter” > “Attenuation”) to bring out the edges. Play with the settings to highlight
the details which, depending on their aspect, will help you make a drawing appear.

Finishes

Create a "Levels" adjustment layer and move the sliders to force the density of the strokes.

Parts may need to be cleaned. Again, two methods. Either you use a new layer to place above using the shortcuts
"ctrl+shift+alt+e" on PC, "cmd+shift+alt+e" on Mac. The areas to be cleaned can be painted white with the spray,
which keeps your bottom layer intact. Otherwise, even simpler, you select your layer and apply the negative
to repaint in white. Pass a white brush with a gradient edge to make the outlines disappear, the grain of
the image and/or reduce the area density.


High pass method: a drawing in colored pencils


Open your photo, preferably with a simplified or cropped background, in Photoshop. Duplicate your layer.

Work on the high pass filter on the second layer (in "Filter" > "Miscellaneous") to adjust the sharpness
of the image. For a solid line effect, neither too soft nor too strong, choose the value 8.7. Duplicate it.

Display the negative of the third layer, by selecting it and using the shortcuts: "ctrl+i" on PC or "cmd+i" on Mac.

Select the "Division" mode on layer 3, which should reveal a pencil effect. Merge layers 2 and 3 by selecting
them and using the following shortcuts: "ctrl+e" on PC and "cmd+e" on Mac. The colors and lines should intensify.


The next step to turn a photo into a drawing in Photoshop


Change the levels to intensify the details. Select the merged layer (4) and use the shortcuts ctrl+l on PC or cmd+l on Mac.
To bring out the dark tones in your drawing, use the left slider and move it to the first values of the histogram.
Also move the Midtones slider to the right.

Duplicate the original layer and put it in the first position. To soften the details and gain visibility,
we use the “Surface Blur” filter (“Filter”>“Blur”). Vary the values there, depending on the image,
with a radius around 15 and a threshold around 35.

To recover the colors of layer 4, we will perform a new merge. Choose a "Hard Light" or "Linear Light"
depending on the desired effect.