Image Conversion Programs

[willythecat]

Are there any artists out there?
I am trying to find the best program, that produces the best results, in converting a colour photo image into a line art/pencil drawing image.
I'm currently trying out Adobe Fireworks CS4 which seems a tad complicated, but produces quite good results. However it is one *censored* of large program! (it sort of involves applying filters, inverting the image, and converting to alpha) to leave a black and white line drawing of the original image.
Has anyone out there any suggestions of other user friendly programs that may do the same thing?
Thanks

[patio]

For what you want to do i'm afraid the apps will all be heavy-handed with a big learning curve such as CS4...

You could however take IrfanView around the block which will run most Adobe filters.....FREE.

PS. Willy you sure are gettin into alot of fun stuff lately....

[pit_viper_53]

Have you tried GIMP?

[soybean]

Another one that might be worth a try is http://photofiltre.free.fr/frames_en.htm.  I don't know whether it will do what you want.  I've used it a little but never tried what you're doing.

[Avooc]

You may try photoscape. It has a number of other functions other then what you are looking for as well. Below is a link to the software.
-http://www.photoscape.org/ps/main/index.php

[Jazzgirl]

I second the Gimp. It is free and has a significant number of features like Photoshop. You might want to give it a look.

[kpac]

For vector art, try Inkscape which is also free.