In this paper, we present an algorithm for automatically generating pencil-sketch like drawings from personal photos. On top of the core step of gradient computation, some proper transformations are introduced to achieve the best visual effects. It is found that the popular Sobel operator and Laplacian operator are both not desirable for this task, and thus we propose a computationally simple algorithm for gradient estimation. Experimental results show that the proposed method can generate visually appealing pencil-sketch like images from personal photos.