Sketch Generation with Drawing Process Guided by Vector Flow and Grayscale

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel image-to-pencil translation framework that produces high-quality sketches with an interpretable drawing process guided by vector flow and grayscale, outperforming existing texture-based methods.

Contribution

The method uniquely imitates pencil strokes and guides the drawing process through three interpretable branches, enabling stroke-by-stroke sketch generation.

Findings

Produces high-quality, style-consistent sketches

Outperforms existing algorithms in texture and style

Offers an interpretable, stroke-by-stroke drawing process

Abstract

We propose a novel image-to-pencil translation method that could not only generate high-quality pencil sketches but also offer the drawing process. Existing pencil sketch algorithms are based on texture rendering rather than the direct imitation of strokes, making them unable to show the drawing process but only a final result. To address this challenge, we first establish a pencil stroke imitation mechanism. Next, we develop a framework with three branches to guide stroke drawing: the first branch guides the direction of the strokes, the second branch determines the shade of the strokes, and the third branch enhances the details further. Under this framework's guidance, we can produce a pencil sketch by drawing one stroke every time. Our method is fully interpretable. Comparison with existing pencil drawing algorithms shows that our method is superior to others in terms of texture quality, style, and user evaluation.