Turn any old image into a 19th century woodcut.

January 22, 2005 9:09 PM

Fantastic Photoshop Engraving Technique! A bit of work, with astonishing results.
posted by Colloquial Collision (21 comments total)

That's neat but the problem is that when I log into Adobe Forums it shows the technique deleted. I'd really like to see the process.
posted by Hands of Manos at 9:21 PM on January 22, 2005

Read more than just the first page of the thread, it's explained in detail. Time consuming but not difficult.
posted by glider at 9:23 PM on January 22, 2005

Meh. Not so kewl.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:41 PM on January 22, 2005

Meh^2
posted by Jairus at 9:46 PM on January 22, 2005

That looks pretty cool. I always wondered how anyone did that.
posted by mathowie at 9:49 PM on January 22, 2005

cool > MCD or Jairus' "meh"
posted by Hands of Manos at 10:07 PM on January 22, 2005

This'll make those Fark photoshop "contests" that much more sucky!!
posted by Balisong at 10:14 PM on January 22, 2005

I guess this is cool. But I've never really understood the desire to mimic hand-made techniques with photoshop. Those images are kind of cool, but they're nothing like etchings. (As a printmaker, I would say that the best part about woodcuts, etchings, and other forms of printmaking is the mistakes, the uneven quality, and the humanness of it.)

Maybe I'm just old fashioned, though. (Or maybe I'm just a big ol' art snob.)
posted by paultron at 10:22 PM on January 22, 2005

The 'artist' says he based the technique on these tutorials.
Would be fun but I'd need to install photoshop to use it and I'm a PSP'er.
posted by page404 at 10:24 PM on January 22, 2005

The effect is surprisingly modern for an age old art.
posted by lightweight at 10:36 PM on January 22, 2005

odinsdream: She could probably tell you. Read more about "hedcuts" here.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 10:52 PM on January 22, 2005

Done by hand! Probably outsourced to Asia soon!
posted by mecran01 at 10:57 PM on January 22, 2005

Whoa, I dig that splash image on Noli Novak's site.
posted by DyRE at 11:30 PM on January 22, 2005

I've never really been a fan of applying filters on photographs to create the illusion of artistic hand renderings. So I would have to agree with Paultron on this.

I do sometimes use the technique in my own illustrations, but it is a lot easier in a vector application such as Illustrator or Expression. Expression even has a special tool for this kind of effect. (See Dazzling Effect Lines)
personally, I prefer to use the lesser known Xara for this type of drawings and it pretty much involves the use of blending calligraphic styled lines together.

Though you could simulate wood engravings using this technique, I prefer to go for mathematical perfection since they basically are digital illustrations and I don't see the point in pretending that they where created by any other means.

The other important benefit is that since your illustration is in a vector format, it is always scalable.
posted by Timeless at 4:30 AM on January 23, 2005

Does anyone know how the Wall Street Journal does their little woodcut-style portraits of article authors and subjects?

I've always wondered about that too, and with a little google-fu, it turns out it's all analog.

There's also Andromeda's Cutline Filter which attempts to do the same thing digitally.
posted by jeremias at 7:19 AM on January 23, 2005

I have a non-sexual crush on photoshop, and this just makes it worse.
posted by the theory of revolution at 7:20 AM on January 23, 2005

Very impressive. I'm continually astounded at what people can contort Photoshop into doing.
posted by gwint at 7:35 AM on January 23, 2005

odinsdream: She could probably tell you.

Or he. I don't think the quality of his drawing - often dependent, especially in his portraiture, on subtle distortion - can be found in a box. Although, like many others, he may have adapted his methods to digital means.
posted by TimTypeZed at 8:06 AM on January 23, 2005

neato. I've always liked those woodcut images of authors at the B&N. The only complaint I have is that, at least on my screen, when I scroll the linked page with the images on it, they flicker. Probably the fault of my video card or screen or even my browser, but still.
posted by crunchland at 9:38 AM on January 23, 2005

You're talking about this without mentioning Drew Friedman? Sorry, these links just give a hint of the stipple faces he's known for.
posted by Termite at 1:51 PM on January 23, 2005

Odinsdream – I'm not sure if it's the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, but Mark Summers does the portraits for one those papers along with Barnes and Noble. He's represented by Richard Solomon. Some of his work can be seen here and it's all done by hand (not mouse).

http://www.richardsolomon.com/
posted by disgruntled at 2:35 PM on January 23, 2005