I'm trying to create coloring book pages and stickers from photos

[gweddy]

I am not a graphic artist, but I've come up with an idea for some products I'd like to market that is themed coloring books and stickers. It seems like it would be an easy thing to do to create thick outlines of items in a photograph, but I am struggling with the software. I have Photoshop 5.0 LE, Photo Deluxe 2, CorelDraw 9 which includes Corel Paint 9, and so far, I've not found a quick and easy way to do this. Photo Deluxe has a 'coloring book' function, but it requires a lot of clean up work. Photoshop seems to be easier than the Corel products. How can I make coloring book pages with Photoshop?

My other question is - How can I take a photograph and make it appear as a vector graphic? Everything I'm finding tells me how to do the opposite, but I would like to take a photo and make it into a flat colored, almost cartoon like image. Thanks for any help I can get!!
Lisa [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[gweddy]

I am not a graphic artist, but I've come up with an idea for some products I'd like to market that is themed coloring books and stickers. It seems like it would be an easy thing to do to create thick outlines of items in a photograph, but I am struggling with the software. I have Photoshop 5.0 LE, Photo Deluxe 2, CorelDraw 9 which includes Corel Paint 9, and so far, I've not found a quick and easy way to do this. Photo Deluxe has a 'coloring book' function, but it requires a lot of clean up work. Photoshop seems to be easier than the Corel products. How can I make coloring book pages with Photoshop?

My other question is - How can I take a photograph and make it appear as a vector graphic? Everything I'm finding tells me how to do the opposite, but I would like to take a photo and make it into a flat colored, almost cartoon like image. Thanks for any help I can get!!
Lisa [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

[Erik Heyninck]

A bitmap has to be traced. You can do this with CorelTRACE, included in your CorelDRAW9 suite, oreven better wit XaraX. Get a free trial from www.xara.com.

[Beth]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> an easy thing to do to create thick outlines of items in a photograph...How can I make coloring book pages with Photoshop? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, the outline thing might be a little difficult in Photoshop. It just depends on the photo. A filter like 'find edges' or 'poster edges' will help. But you may have to fix it up a bit. Using posterize (under image/adjust) will help to achieve a vector look. You may want to play around with contrast a bit before you apply this.

Tracing the bitmaps in a vector program will probably give you the best look though. The line thickness will consistent and will naturally give you a flatter more cartoony look. I prefer manual tracing over some of the automatic programs. At least in my opinion. You always end up with way to many objects and nodes with the auto trace methods. I find it quicker to use the bezier tool and manually trace. But maybe I am too much of a control freak. CorelDRAW and Xara (especially Xara) are really good at node editing. I would play with contrast and posterize in photoshop first. It will help make it easier to trace later.