Drawing techniques: Pencil Sketch

Prepare image

• Download and open woman.jpg in Photoshop (the cropped one if you have it).
• Crop the image so that only the head and hair are included.
• Save as a psd file with a different name.

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Try it

Fill Layer

• Click Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color. Click OK.
• Choose a light gray (#eeeeee) in the color picker
• Click "Create new fill or adjustment layer" button at bottom of layers palette (the dark/light circle)
  • Choose Pattern on the popup menu
  • Click Pattern Swatch on left side of dialog box
  • Click down arrow to open selection popup
  • Click the right arrow on selection popup and choose to append Grayscale Paper
  • Scroll down on the list of patterns and click on Fibers 1
  • Change Scale to 340%
  • Click OK
  • Set adjustment layer to Soft Lightf
  • Set layer opacity to 35%

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Glowing Edges layer

• Right-click background layer and create a duplicate layer called Glowing Edges. Drag to top of stack
• Apply Filter>Stylize>Glowing Edges filter to layer
  • Edge width=3
  • Edge Brightness = 11
  • Smoothness = 10
• Invert the Glowing Edges layer: Image>adjustments>invert.
• Desaturate the color: Image>Adjustments>Desaturate
• Set blending mode of Glowing Edges layer to Multiply & opacity to 15%

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Sketch layer

• Duplicate the background layer again, name it SKETCH, and drag it to the top of the stack.
  • Desaturate the color: Image>Adjustments>Desaturate
  • Increase the contrast: Image>Adjustments>Brightness and Contrast. Set contrast to between 20-25; leave brightness 0
  • Layer blending mode = darken
  • Opacity = 100%
  • Apply Filter>Noise>Add Noise Filter
    • Amount=12%
    • Gaussian distribution
    • check monochromatic

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Layer Mask

• Add Layer>Layer Mask>Hide All layer mask to layer to draw on with a brush
• click the Brush Tool & click Brush Picker
• Click the right arrow and append the dry media brushes
  • Choose Pastel on Charcoal Paper brush
  • Change brush size to between 20-25
  • Be sure foreground color is white
  • Paint with brush along edges of face and hair.
  • Turn the glowing edges layer OFF to see what result will be
  • Save for web

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Example

More complex sketch with background omitted

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