Create a transparent version of a drawing in Photoshop

I find my line work is a lot cleaner when I’m using a pencil and paper, so I work this way quite often. Place a loose piece of paper under your drawing hand to prevent smudging the page.

Once the drawing is finished, you can either import it with a scanner or take a photograph. The latter option generally produces less-satisfactory results, although I’m aware that not everyone has access to a scanner.

Open the Channels window, hold Ctrl and click the RGB layer. This will highlight all of the white space. Inverting the selection will highlight the drawing.

Create a new layer above and fill the highlighted area (Shift+Backspace). You now have a transparent version of drawing, with all of the white space removed