Photoshop Sketch Effect
I was recently asked how I turned a Poser render into a black and white image that appeared to have been sketched by hand.
Here are the steps that I took to do so:
1) Take the base image from Poser and loaded it into Photoshop. (I recommend saving images as .tif or .psd. Poser's .jpg compression utility is horrible!)
2) In Photoshop, make a copy of the layer and made the background layer invisible. (I *always* make a back-up of the base layer in case I make a mistake.)
3) Rename the copy of the background layer to Outline. (Layer: Layer Properties.)
4) Desaturate the Outline layer. (Image: Adjustments: Desaturate.)
5) Duplicate the Outline layer. (Layer: Duplicate.)
6) Name the layer Outline-Invert. (Layer: Layer Properties.)
7) Invert the Outline-Invert layer. (Image: Adjustments: Invert.)
8) Change the layer properties of the Outline-Invert layer to Color Dodge.
9) Apply a Gaussian blur to it. Since this is the Outline, try a setting of about 2.
10) Merge the Outline-Invert layer into the Outline layer. This should leave you with the Background and Outline layers.
11) Duplicate the Background layer then hide the Background layer again.
12) Rename the copy of the Background layer to Shadow and move it so it is the top layer.
13) Hide the Outline layer. (The next part should look familiar.)
14) Desaturate the Shadow layer. (Image: Adjustments: Desaturate.)
15) Duplicate the Shadow layer. (Layer: Duplicate.)
16) Name the layer Shadow-Invert. (Layer: Layer Properties.)
17) Invert the Shadow-Invert layer. (Image: Adjustments: Invert.)
18) Change the layer properties of the Shadow-Invert layer to Color Dodge.
19) Apply a Gaussian blur to it. Since this is the Shadow portion, try a setting of about 50.
20) Merge the Shadow-Invert layer into the Shadow layer.
21) Set the Shadow layer to Multiply. (It's another option besides Color Dodge.)
22) Unhide the Outline layer.
Note: If the Outline and Shadow layers look identical, it means that you didn't use different Gausian blur settings for step 19.
23) Merge the Shadow layer into the Outline layer and you're done! (You might need to do a little touch up afterwards. I had to use the Smudge tool on the sky as it was a little pixelated in one area.)
Tips:
Depending on the image, you might want to adjust the levels of the desaturated image for better contrast.
You can do Steps 1 - 11 then set the Outline layer to Overlay and merge it with the copy of the Background for a nice, bright color render. (You may want to play with the Opacity of the Outline layer in that case so the color isn't blown away.)