Digitize a hand drawing

A drawing on paper always has two layers: the line and the ground. That ground is rarely pure white, it has texture, shadows and a colour cast. The three tonal sliders remove exactly this ground without touching the line.

Then you decide how much character survives. A gentle value for smooth edges takes the staircase out of the scan, a high value turns a nervous pencil line into a calm curve. Both are right, depending on what the drawing is supposed to say.

Suitable source material

• Scans at 300 dpi or more with the lid closed
• Photos in even daylight without a hard cast shadow
• Fineliner, ink and soft pencils with visible pressure
• Paper without rules or squares, otherwise the grid comes along

The route is the same for every source. Only the slider values differ.

1. Load the image and start in the result viewDrag your PNG, JPG or WEBP into the drop area. The result view shows right away what the source turns into.
2. Split black from whiteSet black level, contrast and brightness until every line you want is there and the rest disappears.
3. Remove leftovers with the lassoCircle whatever has to go. Hold Alt and the lasso flips around, so only the selection stays.
4. Check the contour in the vector viewInspect counters, gaps and the thinnest parts. Outlines shows the same shape as a bare line.
5. Smooth and simplify with restraintRaise both shape sliders in small steps until the pixel staircase is gone and the shape still holds.
6. Export the format you needDownload the result as PDF, SVG, EPS, DXF or a cleaned PNG. The download starts immediately.

For further drawing in a vector program take SVG. If the drawing only has to print or travel cleanly, PDF is more convenient. The cleaned PNG is the quick route when the line gets placed over a coloured background in an image editor.