Create the Classic Look of an Engraving in Photoshop

Aug 22nd in Drawing by Omara Kurzdorfer

Give your illustrations the traditional look of an engraving without actually drawing all those pesky little lines! The technique is simple, but requires some experience with the Displace Filter and knowledge of basic shading techniques. The result will have people thinking you spent hours and hours on your design... which you probably will, but at least you don't have to actually engrave anything!

Author: Omara Kurzdorfer

I'm a comic artist and graphic designer living and working in San Diego, CA. I've always loved drawing, so Photoshop and my trusty Wacom tablet are my favorite tools of the trade. I am always searching for new and exciting ways to create beautiful artwork.

Final Image Preview

Before we get started, let's take a look at the image we'll be creating. As always, the layered Photoshop file is available via our PSDTUTS Plus membership.

Step 1

The printing technique known as engraving, is a process by which an intaglio matrix (or metal plate) is incised with a design, then is used for printing images on paper. By using Displacement Maps in a creative way, I was able to recreate that look. I began with an illustration. For this tutorial, I sketched a picture of Alice from the famous Lewis Carroll story, and inserted it on a layer named "Line Art."

Step 2

In an engraving, the lines follow the contour of the form, giving it a three-dimensional quality. The same thing can be done with the help of the Displace Filter. The filter uses a grayscale Displacement Map to calculate the amount of distortion it will apply to the texture. In general, darker values make the texture appear to recede, bending the texture downward, while lighter values appear closer, bending upwards.

Creating a Displacement Map is simple.

Create a layer named "Flat." On this layer, fill the illustration with a flat, medium-gray color (#646464 will do nicely). It is best to do this with the Pencil Tool (B) or Lasso (L) rather than the Brush, so the outlines are nice and crisp.
Select the contents of the "Flat" layer.
On a separate layer named "D. Map," shade within the selection area using a large brush with a low Flow percentage. I used pure white, then pure black, passing multiple times over areas, until the appropriate values were reached.
Adjust the opacity of the "D.Map" layer until it has a less harsh range of tones (if necessary).
Duplicate the "Flat" layer, merge it with "D. Map," and apply a Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to smooth out the brush strokes.
In order to produce perfect values, adjustments can be made to the Displacement Map in the Brightness/Contrast menu (Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast).
Finally, hide the "Line Art" and original "Flat" layer, leaving only the "Background" and newly merged "D. Map" layer. Duplicate the image (Image > Duplicate). Name the new image, "d-map," check the box marked, Duplicate Merged Layers Only, then save the new image.

Yes, I know Alice looks deranged in the second frame, but she has the Mad Hatter and March Hare to deal with, so she's bound to have her moments.

Step 3

Before I could use the Displace Filter, I needed to make a set of engraving textures that could be wrapped around my illustration. I made one horizontal, one vertical, and one angled texture, giving each its own layer named "Horiz.," "Vert.," and "Angle," respectively. These were placed in a group named, "Textures." They were each large enough to cover the entire drawing.

In order to keep the textures within the boundaries of my illustration, I selected the contents of the "Flat" layer and used it as a Layer Mask for the entire "Textures" group.

Step 4

Finally, I was able to put the Displace Filter to work. I began by filtering the horizontal engraving texture. While putting the "Horiz." layer in focus, I selected the Displace Filter from the menu (Filter > Distort > Displace). Keep in mind that the size of the image you work with will determine which values are placed in the Horizontal Scale and Vertical Scale options.

Since I was working with a large image and a texture containing horizontal lines, I gave Vertical Scale a value of 50, and nothing for Horizontal Scale. The remaining options for the Displace Filter were unimportant for this application, so I clicked OK.

Keep in mind, the result of the filtering process does NOT have to be 100% perfect. There will always be a few rebellious pixels here and there. When a good 75-80% of the lines meet your satisfaction, then proceed.

Step 5

These were my results so far!

I repeated the same procedure (using the Displace Filter) for the "Vert." layer, this time choosing a Horizontal Scale value of 25, while leaving Vertical Scale set to 0. I did not displace the "Angle" texture, for this particular illustration.

If you are unhappy with the results of the filtering process, you can alter your Displacement Map and/or the Vertical Scale value of the Displace Filter until the texture wraps around the form properly. Without a Preview option on the filter, you will have to gain experience with the way the filter behaves before you can predict its output. This may be challenging at first, but things will eventually become clear.

Step 6

After using the Displace Filter on all of my engraving textures, it was time to selectively remove parts of each texture. I used the textures to define the following areas of light and shadow:

Absence of texture represents areas of direct light.
Horizontal texture is a light shadow.
Vertical texture is a medium shadow.
Angled texture is a dark shadow.

I began to define these areas by duplicating the "Flat" layer. I renamed this layer "Shadow," and created the four areas of light and shadow listed above. I kept each area perfectly flat, using the Lasso Tool (L) and Paint Bucket (G).

As you can see, I relocated the core shadow from its normal position (near the direct light), to the opposite side of the form (closer to where the reflected light would normally appear). I found that this produced the best results due to the fact that there was no blending between areas of shading. I also broke the rules of light and shadow wherever I felt an area needed emphasis.

Step 7

I began to selectively remove parts of the textures. It was really exciting seeing the image come together!

With the Magic Wand Tool, I selected the areas of direct light (the whitest parts) on the "Shadow" layer. I inverted the selection (Select > Inverse) then went to the "Horiz." layer and created a Layer Mask from that selection. This revealed the texture on all parts of the form other than the whitest value.

Next, on the "Shadow" layer, I selected both the areas of direct light, and the areas of lightest shadow (the two lightest values). I inverted the selection, chose the "Vert." layer, and I masked that layer.

Finally, while on the "Shadow" layer, I selected the very darkest value. I moved focus to the "Angle" layer, and created a Layer Mask from that selection.

At this point, I adjusted each layer's opacity until the values were well-balanced. Also, I readjusted the "Shadow" layer.

Step 8

To complete the illustration, I created a background using the three engraving textures. I selected the "Flat" layer, then masked this background with the selection. Underneath these layers, I used the Brush Tool (B) with a low Flow percentage and the Mode set to "Dissolve." I sprayed some random gray and maroon tones over a flat gray background.

Conclusion

Finally, my illustration was finished! This tutorial shows how the look of engraving can be reproduced in Photoshop. By using different patterns, you could mimic the look of a woodcut, crosshatch, stipple, or almost any other classic technique. Your imagination is the only limit!

Let's take a look at the final image. It looks pretty darned good, if I do say so, myself!

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User Comments

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Kzida August 22nd

wow that is awesome.
nice shadows
aids August 22nd

penaw
RUGRLN August 22nd

‘I was hoping you would show to make the brass plate with the proper engraving style….
larusso August 22nd

One of the best tuts I’ve ever seen. Well don that man!
larusso August 22nd

* done *
Sacha August 22nd

wow.

This beats the crap out of all the “fireball exploding in space” tutorials (which are fun to do, I’ll give you that). This is a great technique and probably the nicest use of displacement maps I’ve seen.
Constantin Potorac August 22nd

Great technique.
Skulluks August 22nd

I really like this; it’s a great idea, with a good execution and a thorough explanation.
If I find the time, I will absolutely try this one. Keep it up!
macias August 22nd

wow.. holy smoke… something really new
Coiote August 22nd

Amazing effect and tutorial (as always)…..

but I have one question:

what’s the best way to create the lines textures ?

I could only create it using actions (which I learned to use in a previous tutorial from here)…. but I’m sure there’s a better way….

thanks…. and congrats for the tutorial
kaleesh August 22nd

i can imagine the madhatter saying something very silly lol. Very nice picture style to start with if you want to do vintage-grunge…
William Rodriguez August 22nd

Great tut! Very original concept to produce in photoshop.
BogDinamita August 22nd

wtf
Adlyn August 22nd

Wow that’s amazing! I would love to try that, and I will. Thanks to this tutorial I’m inspired! Thanks you so much. I’m so glad I found this tutorial site. Keep up the great work!
insic August 22nd

nice tutorial!

off topic. nettuts is down
crazyhunk August 22nd

good tut… and really something different from the regular stuff here at psdtuts…..

thanx a lot m8….
Dan August 22nd

Wow, this is really great, something really fresh and great use of some unexplored tools thus far on psdtuts. Great stuff, thanks.
insic August 22nd

not only nettuts, also audiotuts vectortuts. are guys are being attacked?
Shane August 22nd

@insic - just saw nettuts.com down before I came here…

Very charming result - thanks for posting.
Russ August 22nd

scary girl
w1sh August 22nd

Awesome tutorial. Original, useful, nice techniques. <3
Peter Akuratny August 22nd

Excellent idea and smart usage of patterns and displacement! Congratulations!
NaldzGraphics August 23rd

great tutorial.look like a texture of a money:)
MONSTER August 23rd

Very nice outcome.
Segatto August 23rd

Great tut man, this is a nice aproach to that issue of making “hand” made lines and patterns, but I would have done some complementary steps, stuff like making 3 sizes of pattern for each of the 3 orientations (vertical, horizontal and angled) and a pattern exclusively for the background, preferably with thicker lines to pull the lighter foreground in evidence.
I would have picked a less “wonder” subject too…..just kidding….lol
Darrin August 23rd

Holy Shit
Jamie Lottering August 23rd

Awesome. I’ve been wondering how to do this for a while
loswl August 23rd

This tutorial is wicked!!…I was trying to get this effect with a plugin, but it totally was useless (ok, maybe I did not try hard enough) :o)….but this I will try…very nice results :o)
Alex Cue August 23rd

IMO one of the best tutorials on this site. Very nice way to harness the power of displacement maps!!
Omara Kurzdorfer August 23rd

Hey! Thanks, everyone for the great feedback! To answer Coiote’s question, for this tutorial, I created a grid of vector lines, duplicated them, then stretched them to fit. This way, I could rotate them to whatever angle I wanted without loosing quality. There are a number of ways this part of the process could be done though
antpaw August 23rd

IMO one of the best tutorials on this site. Very nice way to harness the power of displacement maps!!

#2
P-one August 23rd

Excellent Tutorial
Addison Kowalski August 23rd

This reminds me of illustrations in a version of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ I’ve read. I will be using this technique shortly!
Seraphim Collective August 23rd

Impressive!
K.Brown August 23rd

Great effect. I’ve been wondering how to do this!
wildwise August 23rd

step 6’s image is scary
viktor August 23rd

amaazingggggggggggggggggg all the tutorials
EXCELLENTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
Max | Design Shard August 23rd

I have to try this !
Michael Konjevic August 23rd

OUTSTANDING !!!!!!!
Asuigeneris1 August 23rd

Awesome job “O”…you never stop amazing me in this lifetime.
web design company August 23rd

Awesome engraving effect using displacement maps and simple masking
JD August 23rd

Fabulous tute. Great image. Thanks a lot!
Omara Kurzdorfer August 24th

I’m happy that so many of you found this tutorial useful
yusuf1 August 24th

very nice!
Braden Keith August 24th

Oh wow, that’s deep.
Joshua Michie August 24th

This is SICK! thank you so much, I’m working on a project that was looking for just this kind of aesthetic!

If I’m ever in your neighborhood, I owe you a beer.

cheers!
the mind is an art August 24th

See, this is what you call “dusting off the old classic art styles”. It is good to see a different from of art than
all the swirl and electric glow stuff that has perverted the graphic industry. Those element are cool and all, but when you see it on every site and ad work, it gets old boring

Great stuff..skill and creativity. Minimal, but yet expressive and CLEAN
Mark Abucayon August 24th

awesome great tut.
Joefrey Mahusay August 24th

Fantastic Tut. ^_^
kailoon August 25th

This is something special
Omara Kurzdorfer August 25th

Thank you, everyone for your nice commens and feedback! If anyone has a question about this technique, I will be glad to answer.
Sr. Landy August 25th

always incredible!1

congratulations

http://www.landylandia.blogspot.com
Nillerus August 25th

Reproducing an age-old printing technique with only bits and bytes, and no wood or steel involved whatsoever… kudos, I salute you Sir!

To add a further bit of depth to the image (merely nitpicking you understand), stipled lines of slightly varying width are the way to go I believe, to get that hand-made feel.

Thank you for this most inspirational tutorial ^^
kha August 25th

Really Great . I like very much this tech:. Here is my illustration
http://artofkha.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/racing-in-golden-land/
Jonno August 25th

Very clever technique!

Reminds me of when I had to do a banknote design back in college. This would’ve helped me big time. Instead I tried to hack it with crosshatching an A3 illustration by hand and reducing it to the right size. Didn’t come out great though, because I never had the patience or discipline to pull off something like that
Tom August 25th

Awesome tuts for a great effect !
This girl reminds me Kiyoko in Akira (one of the three childs).
jason August 26th

“but at least you don’t have to actually engrave anything!”

it’s a nice tutorial but it’s kind of a let down that the author would talk about engraving in a negative tone. yes, traditional engraving and print making is a lengthy process involving many steps and hazardous materials. however there’s nothing more rewarding than actually doing it. so many young people nowadays are looking for the easy way out without actually knowing anything about what it really is that they’re doing. it’s like being a 3D animator and modeler without ever knowing the fundamentals of sculpture and design.

sometimes getting your hands dirty pays off…but this IS a site about photoshop so take my comments with a grain of salt.
Tom Ross August 26th

Nice tutorial. I hadn’t seen these techniques before, and it’s always rare to see something totally new.
Naldo August 26th

Awesome! really beauty technique !
Omara Kurzdorfer August 26th

@Jason, I definitely do respect craftspersons who work with traditional media. It was only meant as a joke
Shah August 26th

Cool
Jessica August 29th

hey I did a project similar to this recently and used this method too! but you took it a step further with dividing it into light and shadow! awesome job!
anwar October 3rd

Good Job..!!!!
Can you help me How to change a colorful photo to engraved picture? Thanks.