Convert photo to B&W logo

[Bud Brown]

I'm trying to create a logo for a sailboat named "Sedona Leona."

In my mind I see a very simple line drawing that consists of (1) the outline of a prominent tourist attraction in Sedona, AZ (like Bell Rock or Coffee Pot) and a sailboat.

I have a couple of landscape photos that I'd start with. I've converted them to B&W pencil sketches, see attached as an example.

I'm not sure the best way to move forward. I would like to eliminate all the sketch detail so I end up with only the outline. I'e experimented a Curves layer and dragging the controls around, but am not proficient in this tool.

Am I down to erasing pixels and regions? Or is there a better way to do this?

[h_d]

Maybe use the Pen tool, draw a closed curve to trace over the area that you want to use as a logo, then delete/hide the background image:

 

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