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darkening lines of a hand drawing?

Forum|Forum|13 years ago
September 22, 2012
4 replies
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I have some hand drawings scanned into a computer that I want to clean up in Photoshop.I'm going to use the eraser tool to erase the smudges, though I want to darken the lines of the drawing without having to trace back over it with a pencil, pen, or paint brush. I played a bit by darkening the levels. Can anyone recomend anything else?

Thanks.

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Correct answer Noel Carboni

You're going to have some hand work as you have anticipated to get rid of the smudges and unwanted sketch lines.

Just some things to experiment with after that to find a scheme you like:

Working at a higher resolution.
Image - Adjust - Threshold
Oil Paint with the Shine function set to 0
Filter - Other - Minimum
Filter - Noise - Median

Have fun!

-Noel

the_wine_snob

Inspiring

Not sure if you have, or have access to Adobe Illustrator, but I think that this would be a good candidate for AI's Live Trace, with a Threshold of about 200. Experiment with the Threshold, until completely satisfied.

Hunt

G

Gernot_Hoffmann

Participating Frequently

Bill,

your graphic in #8 is quite convincing, but perhaps we should clarify

media-cat's objective.

For instance these scenarios:

a) a B/W scan of a page with images or hand drawings. Increase the

contrast and remove dust&dirt. This can be done by Brightness/Contrast,

followed by Spot Healing Brush.

Contrast is adjusted until black parts are black and Brightness is reduced

until plain paper appears (marginally) with just R=G=B=255 or L=100.

b) a drawing should be converted into a B/W vector graphic.

Your (Bill's) result is quite good, but the method doesn't work at all if

we expect as a result something like a technical drawing.

Noel, sorry for the somewhat harsh reply. I thought it had been clear

that the OP did want to preserve the appearance of a hand drawing.

Meanwhile I'm not sure about.

Just for entertainment, I would like to present an advanced example of

Illustrators Tracing function (based on distinct Munsell palettes):

http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/casamunsell24062012.pdf

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

the_wine_snob

Inspiring

As the AI Vector file will not attach, I just Placed the AI file into PS, and did a Save_As PNG.

Just keep the AI, and all should be as desired, unless I am missing something.

You seem to be indicating that the OP wants a particular workflow, where perhaps a better one exists. Now, the biggest stumbling block that I see is the access to AI. If one does not have that, then it would take a lot of such scans to justify its purchase. That is why I did not "champion" the AI route, but only mentioned it.

Sorry that I did not focus on the stated, desired workflow, but others had covered that in good detail. I merely suggested a different workflow, based on the end-result that I had interpreted.

Thanks,

Hunt

Noel CarboniCorrect answer

Legend

You're going to have some hand work as you have anticipated to get rid of the smudges and unwanted sketch lines.

Just some things to experiment with after that to find a scheme you like:

Working at a higher resolution.
Image - Adjust - Threshold
Oil Paint with the Shine function set to 0
Filter - Other - Minimum
Filter - Noise - Median

Have fun!

-Noel

G

Gernot_Hoffmann

Participating Frequently

Noel, not helpful IMHO - I regret.

The OP is talking about how to clean up a hand drawing.

Image > Adjustment > Brightness/Contrast

Spot Healing Brush here and there

Why the heck an adjustment layer, as mentioned previously?

http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/storni13052011.pdf

p.3

http://www.fho-emden.de/~hoffmann/reydethule06102011.pdf

p.1

Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann

Noel Carboni

Legend

Gernot Hoffmann wrote:

Noel, not helpful IMHO - I regret.

Thank you for your honest opinion, Gernot.

I'll admit to having done some reading between the lines to anticipate media kat's needs, and I'll be interested to hear whether media kat agrees with your assessment.