gimpusers.com logo
German version English version

Last online

Not logged in

Sign up! | Lost password?

Latest discussion

  1. gimp-docs | yesterday 10:55 PM
    a new user perspective
  2. gimp-developer | yesterday 08:04 PM
    scanner support should be File->Acquire
  3. gegl-developer | yesterday 06:24 PM
    babl docs
  4. gimp-docs | yesterday 12:46 PM
    GIMP Manual
  5. gimp-user | yesterday 09:42 AM
    Bug

External news

Poll

How good are you at programming?

OMG, that is nothing for me at all!

I've been coding a little bit but I'm not very fit at it

I'm pretty good at programming and would maybe be able to write a Plug-In for GIMP

I'm very good at programming and I would theoretically be able to hack for the GIMP core

See results

Stats

gimpusers.com RSS feed

RSS feed Retweet this!

04 Jul 2008 05:46 PM, by devvv (Bernhard Stockmann), translated to English by redforce (Richard H.)

Making a pencil drawing from a photo

Comic artists have it easy - they can scan their pencil drawings and then edit them. But how to make a realistically looking pencil drawing from a photo? In this tutorial you will learn how to convert almost any image into a good-looking pencil drawing, and yon even won't need edge detection filters. All you need are a few different layer modes.

This article has been written using GIMP 2.4. It's divided into 7 steps and takes about 20 min to complete for an average user. 106525 times read so far. Category: Photos / wallpapers, required skill: 1 of 5

36 comments have been posted so far.

Available in other languages:

Files you need if you try this tutorial:

Relevant links:

  1. 1
    Open any photo you like. If you want to do the tutorial exactly as shown here, feel free to use the photo of Angelina Jolie (download link on the right side below the tutorial details).
    Screenshot of step 1
    Click to enlarge
  2. 2
    Duplicate the background layer. Then remove the colors by using Colors / Colorize / Saturation. Set the saturation to -100:
    Screenshot of step 2
    Click to enlarge
  3. 3
    Duplicate this color-less layer again. Now you have 3 layers.
    Screenshot of step 3
    Click to enlarge
  4. 4
    Now choose Filters / Blur / Selective Gaussian Blur, value: 4. Then use Colors / Invert. Then change the opacity of the layer to 50% to get a grey layer that shows the photo's edges very weak.
    Screenshot of step 4
    Click to enlarge
  5. 5
    Merge the layer with the layer down: right-click the layer in the Layers window and choose "Merge down".
    Screenshot of step 5
    Click to enlarge
  6. 6
    Duplicate the now merged layer and change the new layer's mode to "Dodge".

    Now the pencil drawing is finished!
    Screenshot of step 6
    Click to enlarge
  7. 7
    If you want to point out the grey lines some more, you can do so as follows:

    Merge the two grey layers so that you can find the line drawing on a single layer. Duplicate the layer again and change its mode to "Multiply".

    Repeat this step as often as you like (until the width of the lines is OK).

    On my image I have applied a layer mask over the line drawing so there is a transition between photo and line drawing.

    Have fun!
    Screenshot of step 7
    Click to enlarge

This article is licensed under the following license: Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Austria

Links (pingbacks)

Comments

Post your own comments, questions or hints here. The author and other users will see your posting and can reply to it. Of course, you can also ask in the chat.

Comments are chronologically arranged.

5 rating(s) with 4.6 of 5 stars in average

  1. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Jul 4 18:13:21 2008 Beaniebaby2468, 04 Jul 2008 06:13 PM

    Cool effect. :) Would you be able to make a tutorial on blending two images together?

  2. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Wed Aug 27 00:41:39 2008 jonesrachael, 27 Aug 2008 12:41 AM

    how do i make this for my self?

  3. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Wed Aug 27 01:01:15 2008 devvv, 27 Aug 2008 01:01 AM

    take a picture of yourself. use a bright / white background and apply the steps shown in the tutorial!

  4. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Oct 3 22:31:56 2008 tyler, 03 Oct 2008 10:31 PM

    how so you change the layers mode..i dont know how to do that..

  5. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Oct 3 22:42:08 2008 devvv, 03 Oct 2008 10:42 PM

    in the layers dialog look above the opacity/transparency ruler. there is a dropdown called "mode"

  6. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Oct 5 01:32:44 2008 blackrain, 05 Oct 2008 01:32 AM

    can this tut work in gimp 2.6.0? cause, i've tried it and it dosen't work...

  7. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Oct 5 07:43:05 2008 devvv, 05 Oct 2008 07:43 AM

    it should work definately. the technique is using only very basic things such as layer modes. i dont think 2.6 has changed something here

  8. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Oct 10 12:52:07 2008 Guillermo Maldonado, 10 Oct 2008 12:52 PM

    Have you tried edge detection, I think it works a bit cleaner and the traces are better.

    Good tutorial though.

    Regards.

  9. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sat Oct 11 00:47:10 2008 GameCreator, 11 Oct 2008 12:47 AM

    It would be good effect if used with some trick to flatten colours. Then it would look like coloured sketch or watercolour ;)

  10. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Wed Oct 15 11:32:39 2008 joshuam, 15 Oct 2008 11:32 AM

    im new o gimp and dont know how to change the layer opacity. Can someone tell me please

  11. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Nov 9 15:00:57 2008 Anders, 09 Nov 2008 03:00 PM

    Hi. Have get the plugin pencil-drow..for gimp.How do i install it i the program?

  12. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Wed Nov 12 22:39:57 2008 Victor Ramirez, 12 Nov 2008 10:39 PM

    Hi, good tutorial, congratulations. I've experimented a bit and increased yellow in color balance, previous to desaturate(don't know if makes difference), and substituted selective gaussian blur by "focus blur" value of 8. The results are pretty good and the lines are more thick.
    Can this proccess be automated as a script fu?

  13. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Mon Nov 24 08:41:05 2008 isthur, 24 Nov 2008 08:41 AM

    trim's tutorial gimp nya

  14. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Dec 28 19:48:21 2008 ño, 28 Dec 2008 07:48 PM

    excellent tutorial! thank you ^^

  15. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Jan 25 23:14:59 2009 sandyroyale, 25 Jan 2009 11:14 PM

    Thank you, that was exactly that i searched !

  16. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Feb 1 03:15:37 2009 nick, 01 Feb 2009 03:15 AM

    how to do you change the opacity to 50%?

  17. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun Feb 1 03:19:04 2009 nick, 01 Feb 2009 03:19 AM

    the toolbar that has the copies on it it doesnt show up! why?

  18. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sat Mar 7 16:55:41 2009 josh, 07 Mar 2009 04:55 PM

    I can't figure out how you change the opacity to 50% on gimp 2.6

  19. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Tue Mar 17 11:18:31 2009 Adrian, 17 Mar 2009 11:18 AM

    Excellent tutorial - thanks! And thanks to devv for pointing out where to find "dodge" - sich things not always obvious to the newbie!!

  20. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Thu Apr 2 10:50:49 2009 ShockwaveLover, 02 Apr 2009 10:50 AM

    This is an awesome tutorial. For those asking, Opacity can be changed via a slider in the Layers, Channels and Paths Toolbar (the one with the gradients and colours on it)

  21. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Thu Apr 9 15:35:53 2009 Moku, 09 Apr 2009 03:35 PM

    I have the same problem as blackrain. Though I have experienced that following your steps sometimes results in something different (XD) and I have to alter the steps sometimes - but in the end, it would always work.

    By the way, blackrain option two you will find under hue something, but not colorize in 2.6.

    So, my problem is step four. I tried to trick this effect with a bumb map and some other stuff. It still wouldn't work. I feel stupid, for not getting that one right, because it's one of the easiest I've read so far. ~.~

    Thanks
    Moku

  22. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Apr 17 19:44:07 2009 kdroxx, 17 Apr 2009 07:44 PM

    My image turned our very good.
    But can someone tell how to keep half of it in colour ??

  23. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Apr 17 19:46:55 2009 kdroxx, 17 Apr 2009 07:46 PM

    My image turned our very good.
    But can someone tell how to keep half of it in colour ??


    Click to enlarge

  24. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun May 17 08:45:12 2009 claudegals, 17 May 2009 08:45 AM

    Great tutorial... Keep up the good work...

  25. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sun May 17 21:52:56 2009 Mark, 17 May 2009 09:52 PM

    No comment. Just thanks for the great tutorial.

  26. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Mon Jun 29 12:24:46 2009 Karen, 29 Jun 2009 12:24 PM

    How do I change the opacity to 50% on gimp2.6

  27. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sat Aug 8 17:17:36 2009 matteob8, 08 Aug 2009 05:17 PM

    Very nice tutorial. I'm using Gimp 2.6.3 and there's some minor differences in the dialogs, e.g. in the "Selective Gaussian Blur" there 2 parameters "Blur radius" and "Max Delta". I made some experimentation to find a good result.

    Bye

  28. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Thu Dec 3 00:52:30 2009 Anon, 03 Dec 2009 12:52 AM

    If you go to Wondows/dockableDialogs/Layers the second thing from the top is Opacity and you can just slide it to 50%... you can also use the box to change the mode and create a duplicate layer

    Thanks for the tut

  29. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Mon Dec 14 10:06:20 2009 Raymond, 14 Dec 2009 10:06 AM

    I like What Ive learned so far and I have Archived a lot by using gimp please notify me when new things are out on gimp THANXX!

  30. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Fri Jan 8 03:08:26 2010 Ibnu Zain, 08 Jan 2010 03:08 AM

    Great! Awesome! Thanks for the tutorial. I never guess that effect will be as easy like that :D thanks for sharing.

  31. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Mon Feb 15 21:50:03 2010 Sandra, 15 Feb 2010 09:50 PM

    I am an absolute beginner but desperately need to be able to do this exact thing for an important project. I've downloaded the progam and followed each step, but each time I try, at Step 4 it all goes to pot. How do I set value 4 to the selective gaussian blur? I've tried dozens of times - I can even get all the way to setting the duplicated merged layer to 'dodge' but what I end up with looks nothing like a pencil drawing! It's getting close to 'banging head on the desk' time so can someone PLEASE tell me what I'm doing wrong?

  32. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Sat Apr 10 12:29:04 2010 rejith, 10 Apr 2010 12:29 PM

    how to change image to pencil drawing in photoshop7?

  33. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Thu Apr 15 22:28:05 2010 Jabba, 15 Apr 2010 10:28 PM

    "On my image I have applied a layer mask over the line drawing so there is a transition between photo and line drawing."

    How did you do that? Could you explain that part step by step? The end result with the half pencil image is pretty cool.

  34. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Thu Apr 15 22:49:47 2010 devvv, 15 Apr 2010 10:49 PM

    in the layers dialogue right click on the layer that has the line drawing: "Add layer mask" (select white in the popup dialog). there will now be a new layer right beside the layer now in the layers dialogue. it will be fully white. click it to activate it. this is the so called mask -> you can only draw black and white and gray tones. then take the gradient tool, set FG and BG color to black and white and drag a gradient from (i.e.) left to right. then the part that is black on the layer mask becomes (semi)transparent.

    hope that helps ;)

  35. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Tue Jun 1 15:04:15 2010 superdit, 01 Jun 2010 03:04 PM

    hey thanks for the tut, it very easy to implement

  36. http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/making-a-pencil-drawing-from-a-photo.html Thu Jul 29 10:45:12 2010 Anonymous, 29 Jul 2010 10:45 AM

    That was really good. My lines turned out too light, so I increased the contrast. It turned out sort of grainy, though.

Registered users can log in (top right of the page) to use their profile name to post comments, request email notification on new comments and attach images (e.g. their versions of the effect) to their postings.

Are you human?

Adobe® Photoshop® is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd. | Clock times are shown as CET / CEST | Imprint / Privacy policy | powered by bitfire it services | sponsored by Hirners Hotel Guide