As I stated in a previous article, I have been all over the web trying to find a way in which a no-talent-hack, such as myself, could possibly create any semblance of what one could call 'art.' As a firm believer in Open Source Software, I wanted to find a way (preferably a good way), to create the comic book/graphic novel look I wanted with my photos. I wanted to find a fast and easy method of reproducing the same overall end effect. This is yet another simple formula I use. (see also ver. 1 and ver. 2)
- Download GIMP (Windows .exe, and source available on site. Also available through your Linux package manager.)
- Install GIMP (via Windows .exe, per install instructions in the source archive, or via your Linux package manager.)
- Choose the photograph you are wanting to use. It is best to use a high resolution photograph (at least 1024x768, at least 300dpi). The photograph used in this example (of a Sikh pilgrim at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, India) was 3,008 × 2,000, however it has been scaled down for display purposes.
- Auto adjusting the color levels will usually help the overall quality of the end result. (Colors->Levels->Auto->OK)
(See previous for illustration of this step) - Duplicate the current layer. (Layer->Duplicate Layer)
(See previous for illustration of this step) - Apply 'Edge' filter to the 'Background copy' layer. (Filters->Edge Detect->Edge)
Filters->Edge-Detect->Edge
You can keep the default settings, as is, in the 'Edge' settings dialog window. You will get the following result.
Edge Detection Settings
Edge-Detect Result
- We want the outlines created by the previous process to be dark as opposed to its current light state. To accomplish this we will invert the colors. (Colors->Invert)
Colors->Invert
After the color inversion, you will get the following result.
Colors->Invert Result
- At this point in the process the bulk of the preparation is complete. Although the resulting images are all quite similar, selecting each of the different Layer Modes will produce a varied outcome. A few examples are shown below.
Layers Mode = Normal
Layers Mode = Multiply Result
Layers Mode = Overlay Result
Layers Mode = Burn Result
Layers Mode = Soft Light Result
Layers Mode = Grain Merge Result
Layers Mode = Darken Only Result
Layers Mode = Value Result
Please leave comments and suggestions for future topics!
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[…] I have been all over the web trying to find a way in which a no-talent-hack, such as myself, could possibly create any semblance of what one could call ‘art.’ I found this article, which gave me hope. (I highly recommend you read it as it will show all kinds of different methods of achieving various forms of comic art.) However, they all reference the popular (and rightly so) Adobe Photoshop tool. As a firm believer in Open Source Software, I primarily use Ubuntu Linux as my OS. Not Windows, Not Mac. This creates a bit of a dilemma in trying to follow a step-by-step Photoshop tutorial, when you can’t natively run Photoshop. Sure there are great options out there, like using PlayOnLinux to run Photoshop in the Wine environment, or even using GIMPshop. But being the purist that I am, I wanted to find a way (preferably a good way), to create the comic book/graphic novel look I wanted with my photos. I wanted to find a fast and easy method of reproducing the same overall end effect. This is the first simple formula I used. (see also ver. 2 and ver. 3) […]
Hi. I like the way you write. Will you post some more articles?
Thanks a lot! … and sure I’ll write more articles…what would you like to read about? Drop some suggestions for topics and I’ll do my best to cover them
Thanks again for your interest!
matt
Cool post, just subscribed.
Loved your latest post, by the way.
Pretty good post. I just found your blog and wanted to say that I have really liked browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
Thanks for your kind words, and feel free to suggest topics for future discussion or tutorials that you’d like to see added.
Thanks again!
matt
Read all three articles, which are great btw, and after experimenting for a bit, you can get really sharp looking ‘drawings’ by duplicating the layer, setting the layers mode to Color and posterize the bottom layer.
As an example,
original– http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:STS-125_Atlantis_Liftoff_02.jpg
comicize– http://yfrog.com/4vsts125atlantisliftoff02p
You can also do a laplace edge detection then threshold that then color to alpha to get some ‘inking’ (I did in the above pic) but its not entirely need.
Anyway, so long and thanks for all the fish!
Thanks for taking the time to read them and post other ideas with examples!
~matt