How to Convert a Digital Photo into a Sketch

Adobe Photoshop makes it relatively easy for you to take your favorite digital photos and convert them into good-quality images that look like pencil sketches. All you have to do is follow these simple steps to reproduce your image in a different medium.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. 
   Original color photo

   Open your photograph in Photoshop and crop or resize it as necessary. Each time that you try sketch versions of this photograph, you should make a copy of the photo and rename it. For example, you might rename the photo each time by numbers: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3 and so on.

2. 
   First sketch conversion

   Open one version of your photo in Photoshop. Go to the toolbar and select “Filter.” In the drop-down, choose, “Sketch.” Select “Graphic Pen.” Once your selection is made, your photo will turn into a sketch.

3. 
   Longer pen strokes

   Edit the sketch as necessary by going back to the “Graphic Pen” dialog box and alter your pen strokes and light-to-dark balance. For example, in this version, the pen strokes are set at 5 and the balance to 45.

4. 
   Further refined

   Add another step to refine your sketch, if necessary. Go to "Image, Adjust," and choose "Brightness/Contrast." In the dialog box, adjust the sliders for brightness and contrast until you see exactly what you want in the preview photo. Press "OK." In the photo example, the brightness is reset to 7 and the Contrast to 35.

Tips & Warnings

• If you get stuck at any point, go to Photoshop's Help pages to get some tips and advice.
• Advanced options in Photoshop permit you to create “layers” of the same photo, and then blend the layers together for even more professional looking results.

Resources

• Adobe
• Tutorial Wiz