Contour-driven Sumi-e rendering of real photos

► This article: ► Develops methods for converting interactively real images into Sumi-e paintings. ► Proposes an extension for automating the process. The distinct feature of our approach is the ways strokes are generated: ► Instead of using the medial axis as the brush trajectory, we automatically estimate the optimal trajectory, and the optimal size and orientation of each footprint, given the contour of the shape to paint. ► We formulate the problem as the minimization of an energy function. ► It can handle a larger variety of oriental ink painting styles, including up-right and oblique brush strokes, which cannot be generated by previous methods. ► This formulation is particularly well suited for interactive as well as automatic conversion of real images into Sumi-e paintings.