Create a new layer ( Ctrl + Shift + Alt + N) and draw over the existing lines (chin, ears, lips and maybe shoulder). Change the opacity to 30% and choose black as foreground color. Select the chalk brush and lower the size to 2px. This step is easier if you have a drawing tablet (Wacom, Genius, etc) but it’s perfectly doable with a mouse. The results are pretty decent but let’s further improve the drawing effect.

Adjustment Layers usually come already equipped with layer masks but if you want to add a layer mask to your layer go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All. Black hides and white reveals in a layer mask.

Layer masks allow us to partially or totally hide portions of the layer. This will reduce the lighten effect in the face area. Click on the layer mask and use a round soft black brush at 50% opacity to paint over the face in the layer mask. Aside from that you should also convert any layer that you intend to resize frequently into a Smart Object (right click on a layer and from the drop down menu choose “ Convert to a Smart Object”) in order to preserve the pixel information of that layer.Īs you can see the Curves Adjustment Layer has a layer mask attached to it by default. Drag the curve up as shown below in order to lighten our image.Īdjustment Layers are a non-destructive way of performing changes and applying effects to your pictures so you should use them frequently.

Create a Curves Adjustment Layer ( Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves ). The hair is a little too black for our purposes so let’s lighten it up a bit. As you can see the filter discarded most of the pixel information and noise and kept the lines – exactly what we need for our drawing effect. Now apply a Find Edges Filter ( Filter > Stylize > Find Edges). Choose Image > Adjustments > Desaturate and you will see that the photo converts into a black and white version.ĭuplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl + J. The first step in converting a photo into a drawing is to desaturate it.

Photoshop sketch