How it Works

When an artist creates a sketch, they render shading with different degrees of pressure on strokes, and varying the direction of the stroke, most commonly in crossways directions in areas of shade. The Sketcher plugin achieves the same thing by applying up to seven separate layers (levels) of pencil strokes. Each level applies an external image of strokes (termed a Stroke Map) with settings determining how the strokes are applied. Consider this small image...

The settings file 'NiceSketch.sms' renders this sketch...

The six layers of strokes applied to create this sketch are these...
 

Level 1

 

Level 2

 

Level 3

 

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

As an example, the stroke map used in level 1 looks like this...

 

By changing the Stroke Map used for a level, the settings for intensity at which a level is applied, and contrast within the layer, different looks are achieved. As well as settings for each stroke level, there are similar settings defining the media (paper) on which the sketch is 'drawn' which affects the overall image contrast and balance.