Sharper/Cleaner Lines?

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:09 pm

I admit that my comics have a shaggy appearance in clean art lines. How can I clean up those lines in simpleness. AKA, MSPaint/ GIF mode?

It may be hopeless, but I'd like tips.

Godoftarot · Post by **Godoftarot** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:18 pm

Uh...practice, practice, practice. Usually that's the best thing you can do.

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:25 pm

Oh the lines are clear on paper, not a problem, the problem is transfer from paper to scanner to image program. Maybe it's time to ditch GIF and go BMP or Jpeg, hm?

Godoftarot · Post by **Godoftarot** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:31 pm

Oog. That's always a problem. I can't really help you there. You might try a different file format, but...well, the scanner screws with my colors, too. If you look at the title page for chapter three of my comic (now on a handy dandy storyline dropdown) the coloring job looks kinda like water colors but it's colored pencil.

Ruxen · Post by **Ruxen** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:44 pm

Kris X wrote:Oh the lines are clear on paper, not a problem, the problem is transfer from paper to scanner to image program. Maybe it's time to ditch GIF and go BMP or Jpeg, hm?

Jpeg will mess up your image quality since your stuff is mainly black and white with some colour, and bmp usually comes in large to huge file sizes. I say ditch MSpaint, maybe you could try putting it in photoshop to see how it goes? You can use a trial version and see if it makes a difference.

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:06 pm

ruxen wrote: I say ditch MSpaint, maybe you could try putting it in photoshop to see how it goes? You can use a trial version and see if it makes a difference.

I think I've said this a million times. Some of us have limited computers and money wages. Photoshop cost $150 and takes up more room on my computer than I have. I'll pass.

Skylark King · Post by **Skylark King** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:37 pm

Kris X wrote:
ruxen wrote: I say ditch MSpaint, maybe you could try putting it in photoshop to see how it goes? You can use a trial version and see if it makes a difference.
I think I've said this a million times. Some of us have limited computers and money wages. Photoshop cost $150 and takes up more room on my computer than I have. I'll pass.

Then grab a gimp

Godoftarot · Post by **Godoftarot** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:42 pm

I use the program that came with my scanner. PhotoStudio 2000. Since I really only used it for clean up and text, I don't need more than that. Plus, I've learned how to manipulate it. Heh

Ian the Scribe · Post by **Ian the Scribe** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 1:47 pm

How much are you scaling down your scanned images, and what sort of anti-aliasing/dithering are you using when you scale them? I'm using a shareware program called Graphic Converter, and originally had it set to run quicktime dithering; when I discovered it had a "smooth" setting, it made all the difference -- in fact, I had to start sharpening the image after that. You can see the change between these strips:
BEFORE:
http://stuffoflegends.keenspace.com/d/20031206.html
AFTER:
http://stuffoflegends.keenspace.com/d/20031208.html

Graphic Converter runs on a mac, but I don't know what other platforms it supports. If you can find it, it might be worth playing around with.

As far as image format goes, try PNG?

-Ian

Ruxen · Post by **Ruxen** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:33 pm

Kris X wrote:
I think I've said this a million times. Some of us have limited computers and money wages. Photoshop cost $150 and takes up more room on my computer than I have. I'll pass.

How old is your computer? I thought mine was pretty freaking old at 5 years and running, also Skylark_King's got the right idea go grab a gimp or there's a $20.00 program that works almost like photoshop called Micrografx Picture Publisher I used to use that a while ago on my older Pentium I.

Van Douchebag · Post by **Van Douchebag** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:36 pm

I keep bringing this up but...

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 2:48 pm

ruxen wrote:How old is your computer? I thought mine was pretty freaking old at 5 years and running, also Skylark_King's got the right idea go grab a gimp or there's a $20.00 program that works almost like photoshop called Micrografx Picture Publisher I used to use that a while ago on my older Pentium I.

5 years? Meh. Maybe more like 4-5 for me. Getting a new PC in January. Just didn't want IftP to suck in sharp imaging till then.

Zanzarra · Post by **Zanzarra** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 3:52 pm

i use micrografx picture publisher too, came with the printer, after some time i learned it has nearly all the features of photoshop - at least all i need....

Resolve · Post by **Resolve** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:46 pm

maybe if you scan at the highest setting yout pc can handle and then shrink it? Also your scanner suite should have filters prepacked make mess around with them.

Esoterik · Post by **Esoterik** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 9:10 pm

Van Douchebag wrote:I keep bringing this up but...
*image*

I struggled for a long long time with my art, trying to make the scanned image look good.

I have to go with Van on this one. I've recently discovered digital inking and I don't think I'll ever go back. If you can afford it, it's a good route to take. As long as you can see your pencil line art, you can ink over top of it. Makes it a lot less stressful in my experience.

Jackhass · Post by **Jackhass** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:20 am

Same problem with me...

...it's frustrating...you have a nice looking sharp page, but your finished work comes out looking slightly blurry.

Hopefully the only solution isn't digital inking, because I'm not bothering with that shit. Nothing I hate more than drawing with a mouse...

CapitanG · Post by **CapitanG** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 10:08 am

mmm...yes...

I do all my inking by hand (diginking w/ mouse = no), but then I put it in Flash and use the bitmap to vector trace. It gives me solid, smooth black lines to work with, and makes it much easier to color.

BRP · Post by **BRP** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 12:39 pm

I do my comic in pencil, and I get it to look sharp enough for my tastes with this handy little method (it works for ink, too. Just in case you do it by hand)

To keep my comic from looking too pencilly (and to get rid of the paper texture from the scan, as well as my bad erasing job), I do use the Layer -> Colors -> Levels dialog in the GIMP. I believe Ctrl-L gets you the same thing in Photoshop. It also helps it compress better.... All I do is move the white marker to the left of the spike on the right, and move the black marker to the right of the hump on the left. Program does the rest, I guess.

It turns this:

into this:

Then I shrink it down, which hides even more of my crappiness. Yay.

...wait, did I already post that? Ah well. Looks like your comic already does that. But shrinking it does make it look a little cleaner.

War · Post by **War** » Thu Jul 15, 2004 2:11 pm

Your problem is that fact you're using MS Paint. You cannot get any kind of line quality with MS Paint. Why? Because there's no AA in MS Paint, it's all aliased. You'll need something better.

William G · Post by **William G** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 12:23 am

Lazy people wrote:computer inking makes your inked line look smoother and cleaner...

And it also makes it look like Gabe and Tycho are moonlighting on your strip. So it's either the people using Flash type programs to ink are bereft of artistic originality, or their programs of choice are forcing everything to look the same.

Being someone who always gives the artistic benefit of the doubt, I'm going to blame it on the programs.

Kris X: I can understand your frustration over the jaggies, but are you completely without computer geek buddies who are willing to burn a copy of Photoshop for you? I've never paid for it.

Of course, you say you wont get a better computer for a few months. There's nothing that can be done about that, except be patient. If your audience is reading your comics with the jaggies, they'll stick with you until you upgrade your hardware.