• In graphics programs like Adobe Photoshop, photographs can be converted into ink sketches using a filter tool that highlights the lines in the photos. There are a number of different filter tools, like Charcoal, Chrome and Crayon, which can be used to change the look of photos. However, ink-sketch effects are popular for making a photo look like it came out of a graphic novel, comic book or newspaper, assuming that is the effect you are going for.
  
  

Black and White

• The initial ink-sketch effect will highlight the heavier borders of images, creating thicker black lines and making the image look as if it were professionally drawn by a comic book artist on a piece of paper. This is a stark, simple version of the original photo--sometimes exactly what a photograph needs to convey a different message. This ink-sketch layer is easy to apply in the Photoshop program, by either selecting the filter and having it applied to the whole image or by selecting a specific area of the image in which to apply the filter with the lasso tool. Try using the Graphic Pen filter as well, so give the sketch a slightly different look.
  
  

Sharpening the Sketch

• Detail can be added to the original ink sketch effect, by selecting the image to be sharpened. This may require the image to first be "dodged and burned" so more of the detail of the image can be picked up by the overlay. This effect will give a more detailed, less stark version of the ink-sketched image, which may have more appeal in a narrative sense, like one of many images in a storytelling series. A reticulation filter can also be used to lighten or darken the background of these photos turned to sketches.
  
  

Color Sketches

• Color can be brought out through the ink-sketch tool as well, giving more life and expression to the altered photos. Copy the original photograph or image and layer it over the ink-sketch effect and sharpened image. In the spaces around the thicker ink sketched lines, color will now be present, giving the impression that the sketched was colored after the fact or the image was pulled and copied from a color newspaper. This is a very cool effect for the cover of graphic novel, book or illustrated story. Experiment with the Crayon filter in Adobe Photoshop as well, and a look you never imagined may jump out at you.