A novel method of converting photograph into Chinese ink painting

Chinese ink painting is a traditional art form that is highly regarded throughout the world for its theory, expression, technicality, and artistry. In this paper, we present a method to convert a photograph into a Chinese ink painting. First, the structure description map (SDM) for a photo is estimated to build the object appearance depiction. To make the converted Chinese painting's color be consistent with traditional color requirement of Chinese ink painting, a color transform algorithm is proposed to put color on the SDM. A qualitative evaluation approach is also proposed to carry out a comparative study with other simulation methods. Conversion results demonstrate that, using the proposed method, one can produce very beautiful Chinese ink painting from a photo with less user interaction and much faster conversion speed compared to other approaches.