How to Turn Your Photo into a Line Drawing

Let’s make a line drawing using Adobe Photoshop!

Turning a photo into a painted or illustrated look is a technique many Photoshop users come back to, especially when experimenting with stylized effects. If you don’t want to use Adobe Illustrator, here’s a technique that can help turn your photos into line drawings.

One approach that continues to be popular is combining the Oil Paint filter with Poster Edges to create a bold, graphic, almost hand-rendered result.

How to Create this Effect in Photoshop:

• Step 1: Prepare your image

  • Start with a high-contrast photo. Duplicate your background layer so you always have the original to fall back on.

• Step 2: Remove the background

  • Use Select Subject or Remove Background to mask your image, then clean up any rough edges on the mask. Once it looks good, convert that masked layer into a Smart Object.

• Step 3: Apply the Oil Paint filter

  • Go to Filter > Stylize > Oil Paint. Adjust the Stylization and Cleanliness sliders to smooth out the details and get that painterly texture.

• Step 4: Merge visible layers

  • Create a new empty layer at the top of your stack. Then press Command + Option + Shift + E (or Ctrl + Alt + Shift + E), which stamps all your visible layers into that new layer, so you have a flattened version to work with while keeping everything underneath intact.

• Step 5: Add Poster Edges

  • Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Poster Edges. Increase Edge Thickness and Edge Intensity until you see strong, illustrated outlines coming through.

• Step 6: Add a Gradient Map

  • Go to Image > Adjustments > Gradient Map, or add it as an adjustment layer. Pull the black and white sliders close together to create those crisp outlines.

• Step 7: Add the finishing outline

  •  Create a clipping mask and create another smart object, combining everything. Then Add a stroke layer. This will outline the whole image. Adjust the stroke thickness as needed.

• Step 8: Change the Blending Mode

  • Open Blending Options and set the mode to Multiply. This removes everything except the black outlines, so you can drop in any background you want.

Using AI for this Effect:

Some community members are starting to experiment with AI assisted approaches to enhance this process. These include improving edge detection, refining line quality, or generating variations in different artistic styles. 

It’s a nice example of how classic Photoshop techniques and AI can actually work side by side.

Join the Conversation:

How are you approaching this today, with regular tools, AI assisted, or a mix of both?