Make a Color Image Look Like a Sketch in Photoshop

A fun way to bring a new look to some of your old photographs is by using Photoshop to make them look like they were sketched out in pencil. It's a cool effect, and it just takes a few steps to make it happen. Learn how to use filters, the Dodge and Blur tools, or the Find Edges tool to create sketches from your images, as well as instructions on properly saving the finished file.

Steps

  1. Find a photo. If you want to turn one of your old printed photos into a sketch, you'll need to scan it. For best results, make sure you scan it at a high resolution. 300 DPI is suitable for printing, and gives you enough flexibility when editing.
    • If your photo is from a digital camera, load it onto your computer.
    • For the best sketch image, high contrast images are preferable. If needed, you can adjust the image's contrast by going to Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast, and adjust the sliders to taste.
  2. Launch Photoshop. From the File menu, select Open..., and open the image that you wish to edit.

Use Filters

  1. Press the D key. This will reset your palette so that your foreground color is black, and your background color is white. This will give you a "black pencil on white paper" effect. You can, of course, use other colors than black and white if you desire.
  2. Open the Filter Gallery. From the Filter menu, choose Filter Gallery... This contains a wide assortment of artistic brushes and styles that you can use to stylize your images. You can even combine them to get truly unique effects.
  3. Adjust the view. If your photograph is large, you may only see a portion of it in the preview window. If that is the case, click on the view size menu at the bottom left, and select Fit on Screen.
  4. Click on the Sketch filters. The list will expand, with a series of filters that will turn your drawing black and white (or whatever two colors you've chosen for foreground and background). Select a filter (in this case, we've chosen Charcoal), and adjust the filter-specific sliders until you fine a setting you like.
    • Graphic Pen provides a more comic-book / graphic-novel effect. Experiment with a variety of filters and settings (ex. detail, thickness, anal, stroke length) for the desired effect.
  5. Admire your work! You've just transformed your color photo into a lovely sketch.

Dodge and Blur

  1. Turn your image black and white. Click on the Black & White adjustment. This will add an adjustment layer that turns your image black and white. You can adjust the various color sliders to tune up your image for "sketching." Remember, more contrast is better.
  2. Merge layers. Create a new layer with the black and white image. Press Shift-Command-Option on a Mac, or Shift-Control-Alt on a PC to do this. Alternately, you can choose Merge Down, Merge Visible, or Flatten Layers from the Layer menu, though this does not retain the original image or adjustments.
  3. Duplicate the merged image. Make sure the merged layer is selected, then press Command-J (Control-J on a PC) to duplicate the layer.
    • Alternately, you can drag the merged layer to the small page icon at the bottom of the Layers window to duplicate the layer, or choose Duplicate Layer from the Layer menu.
  4. Invert the duplicated layer. Select the duplicated layer, then from the Image menu, select Adjustments > Invert. Your black and white image is now white and black!
    • Alternately, you can press Command-I (Control-I on a PC) to accomplish the same thing.
    • If you want to use the Divide blend mode as an alternative, do not invert the layer.
  5. Change the blending mode. In the Layers window, change the blending mode for the inverted layer to Color Dodge; change the blending mode for the normal/un-inverted layer to Divide. The image will turn all white (possibly with few black spots on it).
  6. Add blur. From the Filter menu, choose Gaussian Blur. The discrepancy that this creates between the formerly identical—but inverted—layers will give the appearance of a sketch. Setting the radius between 4.0 and 9.0 will create the most traditional appearance, though you can play around with this until you get the effect you desire.
  7. Behold your new sketch!

Find Edges

  1. Turn your image black and white. Click on the Black & White adjustment. This will add an adjustment layer that turns your image black and white. You can adjust the various color sliders to tune up your image for "sketching." Remember, more contrast is better.
  2. Adjust the contrast. From the Adjustments window, click the Brightness and Contrast button. This will add a new layer.
    • Click on the Auto button in the Brightness and Contrast adjustment window to get the optimum range between light and dark. You can also adjust the sliders if you want a more pronounced effect.
  3. Merge layers. Create a new layer with the black and white image. Press Shift-Command-Option on a Mac, or Shift-Control-Alt on a PC to do this. You can choose Merge Down, Merge Visible, or Flatten Layers from the Layer menu, though it's not the best approach for this method—if the final step does not give you the result you want, making adjustments to the Black and White layer and the Brightness and Contrast layer will be the only way to change the final outcome.
  4. Make it sketchy. From the Filter menu, select Stylize > Find Edges. This will quickly turn your photo into a sketch, though there are no adjustments available to fine-tune your image.
    • To fine-tune this method, modify the settings on the adjustment layers to maximize contrast.
  5. Enjoy your finished sketch!

Saving Your Image

  1. Choose Save As... from the File menu. From the Format menu, you can choose to save it as a Photoshop file with all the layers you've created, or choose another format that will flatten the file so that you can upload it to Flickr, Facebook, or other sharing sites.
    • What many do is save a Photoshop version for later editing, and a flattened version for social media and sharing sites.



Tips

  • Check out the different filters and blur methods. They can make a huge difference, and there might be some surprising results that you'll want to keep.
  • Keep as many layers as you can, and merge to a new layer instead of merging by flattening. This lets you back up and make adjustments at any point.

Warnings

  • Never save over an original image. Always choose Save As when saving modified images to keep your original file intact.

Related Articles

  • Animate with Paintbrush and Iaza (Macs)
  • Convert an Image Into a Line Drawing Using Photoshop
  • Make Your Photograph Look Like a Watercolor Painting in Photoshop
  • Make a Photograph Look Like a Sketch with the Minimum Filter
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