We’re creating panels for a graphic novel using photographic backgrounds and hand drawn characters. Being comic-bookish, straight photographic backgrounds don’t cut it. There’s an easy way to make your photographs look like drawings that only takes a few seconds to do. We’re doing the panels using Pixelmator on a Mac, but you can do it with the same steps in Photoshop or GIMP.
Here’s the original image:
First, make a duplicate layer.
Second, in the Blending drop down menu in the Layers panel select Color Dodge.
Third, press command i to invert the image.
Fourth, from the effects panel, select Gaussian Blur and adjust the image to your preference.
Here’s the final image, which took less than 30 seconds to create.
This, along with half-toning is a decent effect to use for graphic novels or comics.
StefanStudios 