Ink Drawing effect

Find Edges taken all the way to a drawing: coherent contours, form-following hatching, two flat inks.

Made with the Edge Ink filterWorks in

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a person with goggles looking up, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Blueprint preset)

BeforeAfter

Edge Ink turns a photo into an inked drawing. Long contour lines carry the shapes, hatching follows the form into the shadows, and the darkest areas flood solid the way a manga inker would. Pick the nib and two inks.

4presets
14settings
3apps

Same effect, different presets.

8 photos, each with its own preset. Try it on yours

Ink drawing effect on a wide-angle portrait of a woman looking up at the camera, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Acid Helmet preset) — Acid Helmet

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a laughing woman with pink curly hair, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Find Edges, Fixed preset) — Find Edges, Fixed

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a woman in headphones holding a CD, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Kakeami preset) — Kakeami

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a woman in a red jacket on a blue background, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Kakeami preset) — Kakeami

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a woman with silver hair and blue sunglasses by the sea, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Acid Helmet preset) — Acid Helmet

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a woman with copper red hair, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Find Edges, Fixed preset) — Find Edges, Fixed

Ink drawing effect on a portrait of a woman with black hair, hands on her head, made with the Edge Ink filter in Filter Archive (Blueprint preset) — Blueprint

Use the ink drawing effect in Photoshop, Affinity or Figma.

One licence covers all three: $9.99 a month or $59.99 once. See pricing

Photoshop

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu, pick Edge Ink and press Apply. The result lands on a new layer above your original.

Mac & Windows · Photoshop 2024+

Affinity

Choose Filters, Plugins, Filter Archive on a pixel layer, pick Edge Ink and apply it to that layer.

Mac & Windows · Affinity 3

Figma

Select an image, frame or shape, run Filter Archive and apply Edge Ink as a new layer or in place.

Figma Community

Settings worth touching.

ContourLine: How much of the drawing is carried by long outlines. At zero it is all hatching.
SolidsTone: How much of the darkest and lightest areas goes flat, with no marks at all.
NibLine: What the pen is: line width, how hard the edge lands, how much it shows the hand.

Plus 11 more in the panel, all editable after you pick a preset.

Ink Drawing Effect questions.

What is an ink drawing effect?

An ink drawing effect converts a photo into something that looks drawn with a pen: outlines around shapes, hatched lines for shadow and flat areas of ink.

How do I make an ink drawing effect in Photoshop?

Open Filter Archive from the Plugins menu and choose Edge Ink. Start from a preset such as Acid Helmet or Find Edges, Fixed, adjust the settings while the preview updates, then press Apply. The result goes on a new layer and your original stays untouched.

Can I use it in Affinity or Figma?

Yes. The same Edge Ink filter runs in Affinity 3 on Mac and Windows, from Filters, then Plugins, then Filter Archive on a pixel layer, and in Figma on an image, frame or shape. One licence covers Photoshop, Affinity and Figma.

Which presets come with Edge Ink?

4 presets: Acid Helmet, Find Edges, Fixed, Kakeami and Blueprint. Every setting stays editable after you pick one, and you can save a stack of filters to use again.