Originally posted by masque:
Mano
Many graphic tablets will allow you to place a photograph on the surface and trace around them that way, but that would give you a drawing on screen which I don't think is what you want.
Extracting an area from a photograph in a bitmap editor depends on the photograph. If the object you want is on a plain background you can use a magic wand type tool to automatically detect the outline of the object and allow you to mask it that way and so extract it. If the background is more complex then there is little choice than to mask it manually, which brings you back to more or less the same process as in Xara where you have to draw around the object and cut it out from the backdrop.
I use Xara for this in preference to Photoshop or the like as that is ok for my requirements most of the time. It can be labourious but you get faster as you become familiar with the process.
I use a mouse for most of my drawing as dragging a stylus across glass or plastic to me doesn't feel right.
The hands were from a photograph (my own left hand, twice) which was traced around very quickly to be placed into the drawing with the flowers.
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