Turn your Image into a Pencil Sketch

This is a pencil sketch tutorial for Photoshop. There are various techniques to turn your photo into a pencil sketch and this is one of the simplest techniques you can learn.

Before


After



1. Open your image in Photoshop. This effect will look better with large-sized image. Duplicate your image once. Choose the duplicate layer then go to Image > Adjustment > Desaturate.



2. Duplicate the desaturated layer twice, so that now you have 3 black and white layer. Here's what your layer palette should look like:



3. Next, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Set the master saturation to -100.



Here's your layer palette now:



4. Then, select the Background copy layer in your layer palette.



Go to Filter > Artistic > Colored Pencil. Adjust the setting on the right until you get something like this:



Here's the settings I used. Yours can be different depending on the image.



5. Next, select Background copy 2 in your layer palette. Then, go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Dark Strokes. Adjust the setting on the right until you get something like this:



Here's the settings I used. Yours can be different depending on the image.



6. Then, select Background copy 3 in your layer palette. Go to Filter > Stylize > Find Edges. After that, go to Filter > Brush Strokes > Dark Strokes. Adjust the setting on the right until you get something like this:



Here's the settings I used. Again, your setting can be different depending on your image.



7. Now, we're gonna adjust the property settings of our layers. Here's my recommended settings:
Background copy 1 is set to Lighten with 40% opacity
Background copy 2 is set to Lighten or Hard Light (whichever looks better) with 50% opacity
Background copy 3 is set to Multiply with 25% opacity

Here's how you change the layer setting -- click on the layer in the layer palette then adjust the property and opacity as shown in the image below:



8. And here's the final outcome of this tutorial. A nice pencil sketch effect on your photo.