Ways to turn a pencil sketch into a transparent png

[HelenaJole]

I need to figure out a good way to get rid of the white background on a pencil sketch. Any suggestions?

[HelenaJole]

I can turn it into a brush, which works pretty well. I just want to make sure I'm not missing some less round-about method. (I'm using CS2)

[dynalady2000]

I haven't done it on a pencil sketch, but could you just select all the white and clear it?

[Diamante]

I think turning it into a brush sounds like a great idea. Then just restamp it on a transparent layer and save as a png. :D

[Atomic Cupcake]

Helena, if I remember correctly, you already know how to use masks? (If I am thinking of someone else - let me know, and I'll explain this better.) Just make a solid black layer, paste the pencil sketch into it's mask, and invert the mask. :)

[HelenaJole]

Thanks BriAnna! I was thinking about masking but hadn't thought it through that far. :D

[mamakimberly]

Richard Rosenman makes an "eliminate white" filter for photoshop. It is great, and I use it CONSTANTLY. It is free, you can blingo or google it! :)

[Mar1anneC]

I've had good luck with the magic eraser tool in Photoshop/PSE.

[Atomic Cupcake]

Yeah, masking is great because you can adjust the levels and thus the edges nicely in there.

Plus you can blur it slightly and then adjust the levels (like the level adjustment in this mini-tut http://forum.atomiccupcake.com/viewtopic.php?t=22) to change the width of your lines (make a thicker or thinner version of your sketch.)

[Rachel Solenberg]

have you tried using the select>color range? just set it to white and you can select everything that is white! you might try upping the contrast on your image a bit before you do it.

[Christine Borgfeld]

You can also use the mask to recolor it. Go to load selection (under the select menu) and choose the mask for that layer. Now you have the dark areas selected and you can fill them with a different color. (I might have that backwards, masks always get me turned around)