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Grid Drawing Tips: How to Draw from a Photo

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BeFunky Blog | Photo Editing & Graphic Design Inspiration

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Remember when you were in school and you'd doodle a sketch inside your notebook to pass the time during a boring lecture (a lecture that, looking back, you probably should have paid attention to)? BeFunky's Sketcher effect simulates those types of sketches by letting you get creative with any photo. Sketches created with this effect look incredibly real and you won't believe that it all started with a regular photograph. And you also won't believe that you didn't have to put pen to paper to create it.

Choosing what photo to sketch

So how do you choose the right photo to pencil sketch? While you really can choose any photo you want, something with as little clutter as possible is the smartest choice. A clutter-free photo without too many lines will help the eye focus and ensure that your photo sketch doesn't make your audience dizzy.

Making a sketch out of your photos

The first thing you're going to want to do is upload the photo to sketch to BeFunky. Bring your mouse over the Upload button located on the tab at the top right. Choose one of the options to get your photos from, including social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Flickr and more. We heard that sketches make interesting profile pictures.

If you are a registered member and you've uploaded a photo in the past, you'll also find that photo saved in the Previous Uploads menu. You can choose the existing file, or you can upload a brand new one from your desktop. You can even snap a photo with your webcam and upload it to BeFunky.

Once your photo appears on screen, click Sketcher on the left sidebar to start turning your photo into sketch art. Six separate presets will drop down. Selecting a preset will instantly change your photo into a sketch artist's masterpiece.

You can choose from a classic black and white sketch to something with a slight pattern to it, to an eye-popping, two-color work of art.

If you don't quite love your photo sketch yet, don't worry. You'll see a settings panel when you bring your mouse near the left corner of your screen. Click on the wrench icon near the effect name to open it, if you don't see the settings panel. Play around with things like Sketch Detail, Color Values, Halftone Size, Sketch Brightness and more. If you think that your sketch needs some clutter cleaning, just increase the Clutter Cleaner value.

If you've done something you don't quite like, again, don't worry. BeFunky has a built-in Undo button that'll take your photo pencil stack back to where you were a few moments ago.

The key to having fun with the Sketcher effect is to play around and let loose. Think you've created the perfect masterpiece? Keep playing. We're willing to bet there's an even funkier work of art just a click or two away.

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Remember when you were in school and you'd doodle a sketch inside your notebook to pass the time during a boring lecture (a lecture that, looking back, you probably should have paid attention to)? BeFunky's Sketcher effect simulates those types of sketches by letting you get creative with any photo.

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BeFunky Blog | Photo Editing & Graphic Design Inspiration

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Charcoal artists. You'll find them perched along sidewalks on downtown streets, at amusement parks and major tourist attractions. Even if you've never actually shelled out money to have a charcoal drawing created right before your eyes, you have to admit, they look pretty freakin' cool.

Now you can create that look yourself at home with BeFunky's Charcoal effect. It turns any photograph into an incredibly realistic charcoal drawing, and you don't have to get your hands dirty.

Choosing The Right Photo

First, you'll need to decide on a photo to turn into a charcoal drawing. We suggest a photograph without too much clutter. With the charcoal drawing, you can vary the detail level of the charcoal sketch. But even a very thinly detailed charcoal drawing tends to have a bit of thickness to it, so if you choose a cluttered photo, things can start to look a bit messy. It's a good idea to pose in front of an empty wall, if you want a perfect drawing effect.

Creating Your Own Charcoal Drawing

To get started, you'll need to upload a photo to BeFunky. Open the Upload menu at the upper right corner to select one of the options. You can choose an existing photo that you've uploaded before (registered users only) or you can upload a brand new one from your Mac or PC's desktop. Other options include webcam and social networks like Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Bebo and more.

Once you've decided on a photo to go crazy with, it will show up in the center of the screen. Before you start to play with your charcoal drawing effect, consider cropping your photo. You'll find the Crop button on the Tools menu, at the right side of the screen.

To start playing around, click the Charcoal button that's located on the left sidebar. Clicking any one of the presets will turn your photo into a charcoal drawing in literally just a few seconds.While the presets create some cool charcoal drawing effects for you, settling is no fun. You can play around with things like the colors or the detail level of the charcoal sketch, using the effect settings panel, which pops out right after you click on any effect preset.

When you're done playing, go ahead and save your charcoal drawing. You can save it to your desktop, to your BeFunky library or both. When you're happy with how everything looks, you can share it to Facebook, Flickr, MySpace and more, directly from BeFunky.

Or, if you want to get really creative, print them out on paper, park yourself next to a charcoal drawing artist and give that starving artist some real competition.

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Charcoal artists. You'll find them perched along sidewalks on downtown streets, at amusement parks and major tourist attractions. Even if you've never actually shelled out money to have a charcoal drawing created right before your eyes, you have to admit, they look pretty freakin' cool.

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Convert a photo to a drawing

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Convert a Photo into a drawing

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Photoshop Tutorial: How to Transform PHOTOS into Gorgeous, Pencil DRAWINGS

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Photoshop CS6 tutorial showing how to transform photos into subtle, gorgeous pencil drawings.