by Ms. Marie

Created on: January 07, 2011

Drawing line art from a photo is a great way to be creative, and have some fun.  Using software such as Paint Shop Pro X2 to create a line drawing from a photograph is easier than you may think.  Once you draw the line art you can print it out, color or paint it and give it a cartoon effect, but the possibilities are endless. Here is one easy way to create a line drawing from a photograph.

Open the photo you want to create a line drawing from, the first thing you should do is make a duplicate of the original to work on.  To make a duplicate go to menus and click "Window" then "Duplicate," and then close the original file.  In the layer palette, right click on the "Background" layer and select "duplicate" from the pop up menu.  Now, click on the b.g. layer's eye icon to hide its view.  You with me so far, great.

Next, right click on the top layer, named "copy of background" and select "New Vector Layer" from the menu; click okay if a pop up box appears you don't need to make any changes for this tutorial.  From your tools menu select the "Pen Tool" or press the "V" key on your keyboard to active it.  The tools option menu for the pen tool will appear, apply the following settings:

Click the Draw Freehand icon; Tracking = 15; Connect Segments = Un-checked; Show Nodes  = Un-checked; Create on Vector = Checked; Width = 2 and Anti Alias = Checked.  Leave other settings at defaults.  Now, in the "Materials Palette" click the circle with a line in it under the "B.G./Fill color," which by default is the white square.

Activate the "copy of background" layer by left clicking it, then lower the opacity just enough so that you can see what you will be tracing.  Then, left click the "Vector 1" layer to activate it. 

You are ready to begin creating your line drawing from the photograph, by tracing over the picture.  Simply left click and hold as you drag and move the mouse to draw.  Go over all the lines you need to, while you are working you can check to see how things are coming along.  Here's how, left click on the "copy of background" layer and then click its eye icon to hide its view; you should see only the lines you have drawn so far!

Remember, to click the eye icon in the "copy of background" layer to make it visible again, and before you begin tracing again be sure to re-active the "Vector 1" layer by left clicking it.  If you don't re-activate the Vector layer you will be tracing onto the copy of background layer.

Mistakes happen, so if you get excited and begin tracing while you still have the copy of the background layer activated just use Ctrl+Z to undo the lines and then activate the Vector 1 layer and continue on. 

Now, when you have made all your lines, you can check the "Show Nodes" box in the tool options menu and adjust the lines by using the paths control arms.  If you are unfamiliar with working with curves, nodes and control arms then it would be helpful to practice drawing your lines as neatly as possible; zoom in as needed.  Unfortunately, learning  about paths, curves, nodes and control arms is not covered here.  This my friend is, however, how to create a  line drawing from a photograph in a few easy steps. 

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