How to Make a Drawing From a Photograph

Turn your photo into a piece of art.

Producing a drawing from a photograph can in many cases make the image more appealing. In a digitized world, most people would convert the photograph to a drawing on their computers. However a digitized drawing lacks tiny imperfections that add character to the drawing. Creating the drawing by hand might take a little time, but it adds the human touch. Gives us time to relax away from the digitized world for a bit. Don't worry if you are not precise because that is what will add character to your drawing.

Things You'll Need

• Double-sided tape
• Clear tape
• Tracing paper
• Pencil and eraser
• Scanner or digital camera

Instructions

1. Place a small piece of double-sided tape on each of the back corners of your photograph. Stick the photograph onto a clean table or surface.

2. Place the sheet of tracing paper over the photograph. Use the clear tape to tape down the top two corners of the tracing paper to hold it in place. Smooth out the paper with one hand while taping down the bottom two corners. Make sure the tracing paper is smooth and tight against the photograph so that it won't move.

3. Using very little pressure with the pencil, trace over the objects on the photograph. Just trace the outlines of the hair, face, ears, eyes, etc. The finished picture will look like the pictures in coloring books. Keep the lines light and use the eraser to clear the line if you make a mistake.

4. Remove the tape from the tracing paper once you are satisfied it looks good. Gently lift up the photograph and remove the double-sided tape.

5. Carefully trace over the lines you made to make the lines darker. The paper is thin so don't have your pencil too sharp or it can cut into the page.

6. Scan the drawing onto your computer if you have a scanner. If you don't have a scanner you can take a digital picture of the drawing and upload it to the computer.

7. Open the picture in a graphics program. There you can resize the image to make it larger or smaller. Print it out and color it or paint it as you like. You can use the paint or brush tools within the graphics program to color the picture and then print the finished drawing out, also.

Tips & Warnings

• Use good lighting to see the photograph under the tracing paper.

• Do not outline too much detail. You can add that in later with colors or pencil strokes.

• Make sure the page is tight and wrinkle free. If it moves the traced picture will be distorted.

References

• All About Drawings: Learn To Draw by Tracing

Resources

• Layers Magazine: Pixel Perfect Tracing in Adobe