Tutorial: AKVIS Sketch

Pencil Sketch of a Pet

This brief tutorial by David Kelly explains how AKVIS Sketch was used in conjunction with Paint Shop Pro 9 to create a realistic looking colour sketch from an existing photograph.

Source image	Result

The author writes:

"Although this example was created with AKVIS Sketch plug-in used in conjunction with Corel Paint Shop Pro 9, similar results can be obtained with other compatible image editing software packages. Download the unrestricted AKVIS Sketch ten-day free trial and try Sketch out for yourself. You will not be disappointed."

Note from the AKVIS team:
Moreover, the current version of AKVIS Sketch allows achieving such a result without using of a photo editor. With the Background tab you can blur some parts of the image and imitate a blend of the original photo and the drawing. Now you can work with the standalone edition as well as with the plugin version.

Let's follow the steps David described:

• Step 1. I opened the original photo in PSP9.

  Original photograph

• Step 2. Then I used PSP9's freehand "point-to-point" selection tool to select the dog.
• Step 3. Saved the selection to an Alpha channel; Selections - Load/Save Selection - Save Selection to Alpha Channel - name then save. Saving a selection makes it easy to recall without having to redraw the selection if a mistake is made.
• Step 4. Named and saved image as a Paint Shop Pro image file.
• Step 5. Inverted the selection, Ctrl+SHIFT+I. This transferred the selection from the dog to the background area enabling it to be edited separately from the foreground image, i.e. the dog. Next a radial blur effect was applied to the background.

  Background selected

• Step 6. Selected Adjust - Blur - Radial Blur, then entered these settings:

  - Blur type = Spin.

  - Blur strength (%) = 21, plus Elliptical selected.

  - Center: Horizontal offset (%) = 0, Vertical offset (%) = 0, Protect center (%) = 19.

  Named and saved the radial blur settings as a preset then clicked OK to apply the radial blur effect to the image's background and to return to PSP9's workspace.

• Step 7. Removed the selection, Ctrl+D.

  Selection removed

• Step 8. Called AKVIS Sketch from within PSP9 - Effects - Plugins - AKVIS - Sketch.
• Step 9. Left clicked Sketch's Run button to initially apply its default settings.
• Step 10. Adjusted each of Sketch's Effects and Strokes field's slider controls individually.

  These adjustments produced the final parameter values seen below:

  - Watercolor = 10,

  - Charcoal = 2,

  - Coloration = 100,

  - Angle = 45,

  - Size = 6,

  - Min Length/Max Length = 3/10,

  - Midtones Intensity = 1,

  - Midtones Hatching = 4,

  - Sharpen = 14.

• Step 11. Once satisfied with the final result left clicked Sketch's Apply the result to the image button . This closed Sketch to reveal PSP9's workspace containing the finished colour sketch image, which can be seen below.

  The completed colour sketch

• Step 12. Named and saved the completed colour sketch as a Tiff image file.

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