Chalk/Blueprint effect in Photoshop

talk design
1

My boss and I have been trying to figure out how to make a chalk/blueprint effect in Photoshop in a few steps so almost anyone could do it.
IE: http://webs.ashlandctc.org/csimmons/sites/misc/help.jpg

Basically what the designer of this has done has pulled the background color from these images and found their edges. Or so it seems…
I don’t know. I’ve been fooling around with this for about a week now. If anyone can take a normal pic:

and figure out how to apply that effect in an easy and consistent way, I’d be super appreciative.

Thanks in advance.

2

Ok, i did

  1. Filter > Stylize > Find Edges

  2. Desaturate (CTRL-Shift-U / Command-shift-U)

  3. Invert ( CTRL- I / Command - I)

  4. New Layer > fill with blue [** put below image layer **]

  5. Set layer blending mode of the image (not blue fill) to Screen

  6. Fiddle with levels on the image layer to remove unnecessary lines

3

It’s terrifying you did the EXACT same thing I just did before I checked this…

Edit: …who are you anyway? Ô_o

4

Owww, my brain

5

Bah I was lying anyway, I used Color Range to get the edges, but screened it the same way.
Looked about the same.
Anyway, its not the exact effect I’m looking for.
It doesn’t have that notebook xray look. More like a glowing edge look…

I’m trying to do something like this:
http://webs.ashlandctc.org/csimmons/sites/misc/sketch.jpg
http://webs.ashlandctc.org/csimmons/sites/misc/sketchblack.jpg

Brightness +50, Black and White, Invert
But those actions don’t work at all with real pictures, only sketches.
Any suggestions on how to get a real picture to look a lot like a notebook sketch (refer to sketch.jpg)?

6

no combination of filters will turn a regular picture into an illustrated sketch (a believable sketch)

the most you can do is fiddle with the Sketch filters

7

[quote=fasterthanlight™;2335833]no combination of filters will turn a regular picture into an illustrated sketch (a believable sketch)

the most you can do is fiddle with the Sketch filters[/quote]

Ah crap…
Thanks for the help. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and hopefully make a script for this effect.

8

Well, i mean, there is a difference between an image that has been illustrated solely for this kind of effect, and taking a picture and molesting it into the effect… and since you want to be able to do this to a wide variety of images, quickly, the end result will be vague

9

Yeah, it just seems that the microscope in http://webs.ashlandctc.org/csimmons/sites/misc/help.jpg
might be a picture and not a sketch.

10

Yea for sure, it was probably traced to get all the contours, and then photoshopped to create the effect

the tracing is the key to a believable blueprint type of effect, because simply finding the edges isn’t the same as finding the contour lines…

now… if only there was a photoshop plugin that did that :stuck_out_tongue:

11

[QUOTE=fasterthanlight™;2335833]no combination of filters will turn a regular picture into an illustrated sketch (a believable sketch)

the most you can do is fiddle with the Sketch filters[/QUOTE]:sure: lies :whistle: I knows hows to dos it :blush:

you just have to think outside of the box w/ the filters and what you’re “used” to seeing them do.

12

I disagree, a photo isn’t a blue print, a blue print is the skeleton of a photo…

these have to be manually designed to get the proper effect, otherwise, like i said, you’re just molesting something into something it is not supposed to be, which could turn out to be sloppy

Lets see your method simp, is it able to be batch applied to a group of images?

13

[QUOTE=fasterthanlight™;2337532]I disagree, a photo isn’t a blue print, a blue print is the skeleton of a photo…

these have to be manually designed to get the proper effect, otherwise, like i said, you’re just molesting something into something it is not supposed to be, which could turn out to be sloppy

Lets see your method simp, is it able to be batch applied to a group of images?[/QUOTE]

I have no method, I just figured I’d say the most vague thing I could think of and see what people would say :lol:

14

BAHAhahahaahahahah, it all makes so much sense now

15

I agree with both of you…unless it’s a suitable picture in the first place, then no amount of messing with Photoshop’s filters will produce an ideal result. However, as Simplistik says, if you think outside the box it’s possible to produce a reasonable result from any picture - mostly by manually using the pen tool to apply the trace effects rather than using Photoshop’s edge-finding filter.

Like everything else in life (including drawing an original blueprint) it takes time and effort to produce a decent result.

16

Yea what he said ^ :stuck_out_tongue:

17

[quote=glosrfc;2337605]I agree with both of you…unless it’s a suitable picture in the first place, then no amount of messing with Photoshop’s filters will produce an ideal result. However, as Simplistik says, if you think outside the box it’s possible to produce a reasonable result from any picture - mostly by manually using the pen tool to apply the trace effects rather than using Photoshop’s edge-finding filter.

Like everything else in life (including drawing an original blueprint) it takes time and effort to produce a decent result.[/quote]
I tried tracing an image and applying a chalky-ish brush, but it looks pretty silly. I really think the only way to do this is to use a REAL sketch.
Which will suck…
Because then I’ll need a lightbox…

…Of course… I could make one. :open_mouth:

18

Which will suck…
Because then I’ll need a lightbox…

…Of course… I could make one. :open_mouth:

just use photoshop filters to make the lightbox lol

19

And flatten my flat-screen monitor?
THAT’S JUST CRAZY ENOUGH TO WORK!!!

Edit: Just tried it. Thanks for tricking me into scratching my monitor all to hell! You should’ve specified not to use knives to trace with. Jeez… You owe me.