PicSketch
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Daily iPhone App: PicSketch turns your photos into sketches
PicSketch is a US$1.99 universal app that takes any photo on your iOS device and turns it into an image that looks like it was sketched. Using the app is a two-click operation. One click lets you select the style of sketch; another click lets you select a color or mono background. You can explore several of the options, and when satisfied either save the photo or share it. The app gives you 22 pencil sketch styles, five sketch effects like B&W and color and 18 different retro-looking sketch backgrounds. The app works as advertised, but I never felt the photo itself had the true look of a sketch. Instead, it looks like a photograph that's surrounded by brush strokes. Meanwhile, significantly more expensive applications like Photoshop and third-party plug-ins can achieve the effect more successfully. PicSketch produces nice results without looking like a true sketch. PicSketch does have some handy editing tools, like a crop feature and control of brightness and contrast. You can get some nice effects from PicSketch, but I think it falls short of emulating a true pencil or charcoal sketch, something that has been achieved by other software. My Sketch HD, for example, sells for the same price and I think gets a look closer to a pencil drawing. PicSketch requires iOS 6.0 or later, and is optimized for the iPhone 5 series.
Mac App of the Week: PicSketch turns a photograph into a sketch in just a few seconds
Recently, a friend asked me if there is any way to easily turn a photograph into a sketch, kind of like they do with journalists' pictures in The Wall Street Journal articles. At the time I told him no, but recently I've found a nice little OS X app that does that very thing. PicSketch allows anyone to turn a photograph into a sketch in just a few seconds. And while they don't have a WSJ filter like my friend wanted, the app does offer a lot of customization options that allow you to tweak your sketches as you see fit. To use PicSketch, simply drop one of your digital photos into the software. You have two sets of tools to begin your work on converting the pic to a sketch. The easiest set of tools are the "preset" ones. Here, you simply select a sketch style and paper background and the app does the rest. The "classic" tools give you a bit more control, allowing you to not only select the paper background, but also the pen size and color, the moisture and the brightness and contrast. PicSketch isn't something you'd need if you're a Photoshop expert, but for those of you who like fun little photo apps, PicSketch is a good deal. The app costs US$4.99 in the Mac App Store.
