The Sketch Effect in GIMP

The GIMP is a very good, free, and advanced photo editor. It's essentially a free version of Adobe Photoshop, just a little harder to navigate sometimes. In this tutorial, though, I'll show you how to create the nice "sketch effect" that makes a photo look (maybe only a little bit) like a drawn black and white sketch.

First, start off with opening the image you want (first image). Then, duplicate the image (layers>right click>duplicate layer) and desaturate it (click on the image>colors>desaturate...>choose average and click ok) then you should get an image like the second one (black and white). Next, you want to duplicate the black and white image (the same way), and invert it (the invert command is right below the desaturate option). This gives you something like the third image. Now, with the inverted layer (image 3) selected, click on the layers dock and select "Dodge" instead of "Normal." If all you get is a white picture with black dots, like in image 4, then you're doing it right. Finally, on the image, click filters>blur>gaussian blur, and set it to about 5 (anywhere from 3 to 10 may work, depending on how you want it, and what photo you use.) Once you do that you're done! Enjoy using this, and have some fun with it!

Thanks to user HarleyJane at jeff-flowers.com for coming up with this idea, albeit in Photoshop. I just wanted to explain how to do this in GIMP, as I can't afford PS and doing it in GIMP is slightly different (took me a while to figure out where the commands had been moved). Of course, an experienced GIMP user probably knows where all those commands are anyway, but for you gimp n00bs out there (myself included) hope this helps.