What's new
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Problem with the drawn lines


Bazzelito

Member
Messages
5
Likes
2
I need some help with a drawing i have scanned into my computer for a lantern im gonna make. Im gonna try to explain as good as i can. I could probably solve it somehow myself but i figured there is someone here that could probably share a much more efficient way to do it way faster. Anyway now to mu question.
What is the easiest and fastest way to get straight fine lines? I have tried various ways but the edges around all the objects doesnt fill without getting uneven and "pixelish". I assume i get this problem because i drew the picture with a pencil. Later on the objects is gonna be filled with black except some areas that is gonna be see through and printed on a vinyl papper and then im gonna stick it on a painted glas jar to make a lantern.

I hope i explained myself good enough for you to understand my problem?
Lanterndrawing.png
 

polarwoc

Guru
Messages
1,576
Likes
1,421
By "Straight fine lines", I assume you mean lines that make the drawing need to be crisp regardless of whether they are straight or curved.

If that is so, after you have traced with the pen tool, you have to stroke the path using hard brush. Also, Illustrator is probably a better option over PS to do this project.

Nice art!
 

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,995
Likes
2,762
Hi @Bazzelito
I agree with @polarwoc that its nice art and with the suggestions given.

One of the issues is that you scan is also at too low a resolution along with the residual (erased?) lines. The contrast is not high enough to differentiate.
I point the red arrow at a line that I assume you no longer want yet the green arrow points at one I assume you want to keep. They are basically the same shade of gray so the computer does not differentiate between them. Part of that is the scanned line you want to keep is only two pixels wide. With higher resolution, the "keeper" lines might stand out more.
Just some quick suggestions
John Wheeler

Low-contrast.jpg
 

Bazzelito

Member
Messages
5
Likes
2
By "Straight fine lines", I assume you mean lines that make the drawing need to be crisp regardless of whether they are straight or curved.

If that is so, after you have traced with the pen tool, you have to stroke the path using hard brush. Also, Illustrator is probably a better option over PS to do this project.

Nice art!
Yea since my native language is Swedish its sometimes hard to formulate what i mean in english but i think you get my point. Ive tried to fill in the objects with black but lines just get uneven in thickness and not smooth. like in this example. Maybe ill have to check up on Illustrator then.
Thank for your input and im happy you actually liked the art. To be honest im not good at all at drawing. One of my first serious drawings ever.

Lantern.png
 

Bazzelito

Member
Messages
5
Likes
2
Hi @Bazzelito
I agree with @polarwoc that its nice art and with the suggestions given.

One of the issues is that you scan is also at too low a resolution along with the residual (erased?) lines. The contrast is not high enough to differentiate.
I point the red arrow at a line that I assume you no longer want yet the green arrow points at one I assume you want to keep. They are basically the same shade of gray so the computer does not differentiate between them. Part of that is the scanned line you want to keep is only two pixels wide. With higher resolution, the "keeper" lines might stand out more.
Just some quick suggestions
John Wheeler

View attachment 120896
Thats right but the lines is also getting uneven in thickness and not smooth like i want them. Those erased drawing lines is pretty easy to get rid of in photoshop (That you pointed out with a red arrow). Really trying my best to get my point thru as good as i can. Thank you, i apprechiate that you like my art even tho its one of my first serious attempts drawing something.
 

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,771
Likes
13,270
For me the easiest and most practical solution would be to just use the scanned image as a template and redraw the artwork using shape Tools in Ps.
Here's what I did in just a few minutes with the Pen Tool. This affords you the opportunity to place the many components on individual layers with their own editable paths. This is an extremely common practice!

Screen Shot 2021-05-09 at 12.49.45 PM.png
Screen Shot 2021-05-09 at 3.09.10 PM.png
 

JeffK

Guru
Messages
2,498
Likes
2,898
The insights and solutions above are the best advice. The sketch really has to be redrawn to get really crisp lines.
I tried to work some magic
- Increased the pixel depth
- Added several contrast adjustment layers with the contrast slider pushed all the way
- Added a levels layer to push the black
- Then masked the drawing and pulled the mask inwards to try and compress the lines
- Saved it as a png (below) and also ran it thru as an svg vector file (attached)
At the very least, the svg can also provide a template in Illustrator for a redraw....so could probably the png...
Not perfect but I tried all the tricks I had in my toolbox...
- Jeff
pencil sketch retouched.png

 

Bazzelito

Member
Messages
5
Likes
2
Wow i am suprised and overwhelmed by all the help and feedback you have given me. I will make an own attempt to redraw the lines.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
 

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,995
Likes
2,762
HI @Bazzelito
One more input on this thread.
There is a "Image Trace" command in Adobe Illustrator that I learned under the advanced option has a stroke mode that can be chosen without the fill mode.
It did a pretty good job of creating lines of a constant width. The only issue is that you need a decent high contrast drawing to begin with or you end up with some of the lines not being traced properly. So with a starting image that was much cleaner an relatively consistent line tone in the drawing I bet it would do a pretty good job getting the trace you wanted.
The following is a GIF animation alternating between you original image of the vector stroked drawing.
John Wheeler

Lanterndrawing.gif
 

JeffK

Guru
Messages
2,498
Likes
2,898
@thebestcpu - John - I'm always going back to my work and, as above, I've also seen you constantly digging in and posting additional solutions.
For whatever reason, that old 60s film, The Agony and the Ecstasy came to mind. Especially the scene where Da Vinci (Charlton Heston!) Is working on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for years. Pope Julius (Rex Harrison!) almost daily keeps yelling up to Da Vinci on the scaffolding, "When will you make an end?" And Da Vinci looks down on him and says "When I'm finished!".
I'm done....for now... :cheesygrin:
 

thebestcpu

Guru
Messages
2,995
Likes
2,762
@thebestcpu - John - I'm always going back to my work and, as above, I've also seen you constantly digging in and posting additional solutions.
For whatever reason, that old 60s film, The Agony and the Ecstasy came to mind. Especially the scene where Da Vinci (Charlton Heston!) Is working on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for years. Pope Julius (Rex Harrison!) almost daily keeps yelling up to Da Vinci on the scaffolding, "When will you make an end?" And Da Vinci looks down on him and says "When I'm finished!".
I'm done....for now... :cheesygrin:

That made me smile @JeffK
I am in the slow process of learning Illustrator and just figured there must be some automated way of converting pixel line images with varying widths into single stroke vectors (or something very close to that). So I was just poking around to see what existing tool might do that in Illustrator or elsewhere (even in PS). My wife will attest that I don't let go of things very easily so sometimes yells up the scaffolding to me too :joy:
 

Top