Need help w/pattern

[overfifty]

This was my apprentice. He got engaged and I'd like to surprise him and his fianc?e with a scrolled portrait. I pulled this selfie of them off facebook. I've  been wrestling with a pattern for the better part of a day. I'm not sure if my heads just not in it or it's the photo, but I can't make a decent pattern. I've used [curves], [brightness/contrast], and [threshold]. It's seems to be going o.k. until I get to the final step [photocopy] and it produces images that are quite bright. Suggestions? Thank you, Barry.

[tdpainter]

Hey Barry Here's My Try At A Pattern For You.

Travis.

[Tomsunnu]

Hi , here is my attempt.
Mahendra

[frankorona]

Wonderful patterns, thanks for your help.

[Tomsunnu]

another attempt

[overfifty]

Thank you all. It's decision  time. I appreciate you taking the time. Cheers, Barry.

[Joleet]

Barry....Will this work for you?   Nice patterns guys.

[EIEIO]

Barry - the GIMP Photocopy Filter dialog has a setting for Mask Radius. I think it defaults to 8, but in some images I've gone as high as 40 to get some definition if it looks too washed out. Have you tried playing with that setting?

[overfifty]

Thank you for the pattern Joleet. Ray, it seemed to go south when I applied the [photocopy] filter in that the image was "bright" (not washed out) to start with. I'm thinking if I went in a bit on the darker side in the initial step it wouldn't look so bright. I'll give it a try. Thank you, Barry.

[EIEIO]

One other thing you might try after Mode Grayscale and before the Photocopy filter is the Cartoon filter. Cartoon is an edge detector, so it will highlight edges that photocopy will then pick up. There are other edge detectors in GIMP, but Cartoon usually works when there is too little contrast in the original.

[overfifty]

Hi Ray. My usual sequence is [greyscale], either [curves] or [brightness/contrast], [cartoon], then [photocopy]. I'm starting to develop a feel for what combo will provide the most detail without defeating the purpose. I think I err on the side of too much detail. Once I've got an acceptable picture I work backwards and delete extraneous features I think the portrait can do without. Cheers, Barry.

[EIEIO]

Sounds about right.