GIMP

[JustKate]

I went back and forth like that for a long time, too. If you haven't stumbled-upon the post from Johan Potgieter (Leerwerker), where he shared a little tutorial of a (relatively) simple technique for creating clean vector-based line art from a photograph, you might want to have a look at it. This might be a good starting point for someone wanting to learn one good technique that is useful for a lot of things:

Line Drawings

The process he describes is more of a "manual" process, and can be a bit tedious for more complex elements, but there is also now an automatic trace function that both Inkscape and Illustrator have, that can automatically generate clean vector lines from images. It doesn't work perfectly in every case, but when it does, it's sweet! When it doesn't work, you can always fall back on the method Johan describes in his tutorial.

[Cyberthrasher]

The process he describes is more of a "manual" process, and can be a bit tedious for more complex elements, but there is also now an automatic trace function that both Inkscape and Illustrator have, that can automatically generate clean vector lines from images. It doesn't work perfectly in every case, but when it does, it's sweet! When it doesn't work, you can always fall back on the method Johan describes in his tutorial.

I looked at that one before and it did seem pretty tedious for what I'm looking for, but if there's a good automatic function that will help me to get comfortable a little sooner - I'm in!

Maybe vector work would be a good topic for one of the newsletters

[JustKate]

Hmmm, maybe.