Digital Photo Etching

[WildRice]

I am using Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 and a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Tablet to etch over old photos. Then I delete the photo leaving an old-time woodcut-style white-on-black image. Here are some examples. Just one color (white) for all the lines (thousands in the case of Teddy Roosevelt).


Theodore Roosevelt


John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club


Coo Coo Ca Choo, I am the Walrus

[WildRice]

Tried a quick tint of the jpg files with Adobe

[gwpriester]

It's actually more of a scratch board look, but I quibble. Great images.

[wizard509]

I agree with Gary, but they are wonderfully done. Thanks for sharing.

[WildRice]

You are right in that this technique started as a scratch board. This is how my style evolved over just 5 days.
I bought a $40 Boogie Board LCD 8.5" scratch tablet to draw doodles. It is a black surface that you scratch on
with a suppplied stylus. Slow and firm strokes create a thick line, and quick flicks creat a thin line. Pointillism
works the same way, hard press = big dot, light press = small dot. The only control is an electronic erase button
that turns the surface black again. Good for about 50,000 erases.


Day 1 Abe Lincoln and Fish doodles on the Boogie Board. Note: white lines on black background


Day 2 Copied a woodcut of John Muir (hint you can print an image on paper, put the paper on the
Boogie Board and trace the outline to get you started). Drew a Walrus (note thick vs thin lines)


Day 3 Bought a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Tablet and redrew John Muir with Xara P&GD9.
Redrew the Walrus with P&GD9 too.


Day 4 Uploaded an old photo of John Muir onto Xara and digital photo etched it with the Wacom tablet


Day 5 Uploaded a more challanging photo of Teddy Roosevelt and digital photo etched it

It all started with the inexpensive and easy to use Boogie Board LCD. I highly recommend it as an artistic tool.
The pressure sensitive lines are better than a real pencil or paint brush. The lack of undo makes you commit
and loosen up. The erase button makes sure you don't covet your work too long. You cannot download a
Boogie Board image on the basic model, but you can take a photo of it.

[wizard509]

Sorry I can't resist, but Abe looks like he walked into an offensive odor.

[WildRice]

And then got a black eye.

[gray]

I like the look it produces, WR. Very cool looking work.

[Boy]

I like what you are doing, WildRice.

[WildRice]

I am new to the Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Tablet and had only drawn previously with Xara using a mouse.
The first Teddy drawing is actually just practice with the Wacom. I think it is a bit overdrawn and took too much time,
so I just redrew it starting completely over. Although it looks nearly identical, this latest sketch has only about
half the number of lines and took me just half the time. When you lay down thousands of lines Xara P&GD9 gets
a little bogged down and inputs lag. To make Xara more responsive again, I select all of the lines on the drawing layer,
convert lines to shapes, and then add shapes making them one object. Then I start another layer of lines and repeat as
needed. Only down side is that it is harder to correct once shapes are combined. This technique is not difficult at all and
certainly not very original, but is a good way to learn about light. When you draw with a dark pen or pencil, you are drawing
shadow. With this method you are drawing light, which makes it interesting to sketch, and you learn about how light reflects
off of textures. The major pitfall is to avoid overdrawing in white, as pure white has no textural information.


Started over but this time it took half the time.