Tutorial: AKVIS Sketch

Pastel drawing technique

Pastel crayon is a kind of chalk. One usually draws with chalk or pastel on textured paper, but unlike chalk, pastel forms velvety strokes with soft porous edges and looks more intense in color.

In this example we will show you how to make a pastel simulation out of a digital photo.

• Step 1. Open the photo in Adobe Photoshop.
  
• Step 2. Make a copy of the background layer. To do this in the Layers palette drag the backround layer to Add a New Layer button at the bottom of the palette.
  
• Step 3. Being in the background layer copy call AKVIS Sketch and set parameters of the plug-in. Press the button , to convert the photo into a drawing with chosen settings.
  
• Step 4. Apply the result by pressing the button . The plug-in window will be closed and back in Photoshop window we'll have an image with two layers: background layer - the original photo and background copy - a color pencil drawing.
  
• Step 5. Lets change the pencil drawing layer blending mode: in the Layers palette choose Luminosity blending mode.
  

  In this mode the resulted color will retain Luminosity of the active layer pixels but hue and saturation will be taken from the underlayer. As a result the characteristic strokes of the drawing will retain and the colors will become more saturated.

  Below, in the left image you see the original photo, and in the right one - the drawing after changing the layer blending mode.

  
• Step 6. In Adobe Photoshop there is a Rough Pastels filter. It can create an effect of drawing on textured paper that is characteristic of drawing in pastel.

  Call this filter and apply it with the following settings:

  
• Step 7. Lets decrease the filter effect. To do it choose in Edit menu Fade and in the dialogue box set Opacity to 50.

  Just a few simple steps and we have our pastel ready. In the small picture the paper texture is not well seen, that's why we recommend to click the image below to open a larger copy of it in a new window.

  Click the image to open a larger copy of it in a new window