Hi everybody I've never used Inkscape before but have recently bought a laser cutter engraver and want to make this:

I want to be able to get a photo of someone or something wnd make it into a single line sketch.

A bit like a cartoon, colouring book style.

I've had a play around with the trace function and it sort of works! sometimes my pc freezes and leaves me in limbo.

Is there anything I should do to a photo before I trace it to improve the tracing?

I've just bought a drawing tablet so was also going to see if I could just trace by hand the images.

I did try some of the " turn photo into a cartoon" apps and some worked quite good but I'd still after vectorize them afterwards, most were a monthly fee to save the images afterwards

any ideas or tips? thanks

Can you probably link to a final result you want to achieve?

Hi something like this

https://georgeislove.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/the-official-beatles-coloring-book/amp/

No way this will be a one-click-bliss moment for you; every stroke is hand drawn with some expertise I might add. Didn´t has to be as a vector drawing and might be easier with a paint software and a tablet. Doing this in vector will take a while.

A simpe Bitmap trace with the default settings will look like a photocopy. I f that´s enough is up to you:

Hi thanks for your reply, I have a tablet on order so may have a go free hand tracing. I suppose it would be easier to free hand trace over the inkscape traces result?

Why would a paint software make it easier to use?

I want the finished piece in a vector so it can be kssee engraved onto plywood.

I did try some of the apps where you import a photo and you pick the style and voila you have a simple sketch. Then I would have to vectorize it afterwards

DvddvdWhy would a paint software make it easier to use?

I did try some of the apps where you import a photo and you pick the style and voila you have a simple sketch. Then I would have to vectorize it afterwards

1. because of stroke dynamics. I never get this enabled in Inkscape.

2. If the result is suitable. I don´t know of any apps coming close to that style you have linked to.

thanks I tried " colourcinch" which had one of the effects which brought a little like the above photo.

I thought I could use it and trace over it in inkscape and make a simplified version

Yes  why not? Worth a trial.

thanks a lot of the photos of people are not full body shots.

So if I got a suitable head photo and vectorize it and maybe part of a body could I easily draw the missing parts and piece them all together in Inkscape?

Depends - Handling different shots in Inkscape might not be the easiest way to do - I´d use a raster image editor (like GIMP) for that.

Pretty sure this can be done in Gimp as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxRH8M8OQEA