Use all-new filters to create eye-catching sketch effects in Photoshop Elements 11
Turn photos into sketches at the click of a button (or two!)
Adobe introduced three new filters: Graphic Novel, Comic and Pen and Ink in its version 11 of Photoshop Elements. Comic adds a pleasingly colourful treatment to images where the detail is still intact, while Pen and Ink strips the main colouring away, making room instead for a crisp white background, fine pen lines and simple shading. Both these effects are very simply applied and give you results show in the main image above. Graphic Novel is restricted to shades of grey, and black and white. But you can manually adjust the overall amount of white area, the amount of detail, the level of contrast as well as the thickness of the strokes giving an interesting effect.
Start by choosing a high-contrast image; this penguin for example is a great starting point for this effect as he’s naturally high contrast! In Elements 11, open your image and hit Filter>Sketch>Graphic Novel. As always, the settings depend on the image itself. For this we set the Darkness to 3.67 to emphasize the black fur, Clean Look to 0.27, Contrast to 1.41 and Thickness to 1.5.
The way in which the Elements interface has been massively adapted makes it incredibly quick and easy to try out too. Try out the filter on a monochromatic image to start with, like this penguin! The filter will pick up the strong contrasts between black and white beautifully and you’ll end up with a strong effect.
Photoshop CS users should try out the Graphic Pen filter for a reliable sketch effect, or Conté Crayon for a beautifully shaded version.
Learn all about how to use filters in Photoshop Creative Issue 96, on sale now!
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