Comic Genesis Forums

i have drawn these couple of frames for a "script" i wrote a couple of years ago. ive always wanted to cisualise this story and i want to draw it, however my drawing skills arent quite up to it and to top it all, im not getting very good blacks out of the scanner. is it because i have a crappy scanner or is it normal and ill have to play with it in an editor (sigh)

I use a permanent marker for colouring at the moment, trying to save money for an engagement ring for my girlfriend so i cannot afford to buy proper kit right now.

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/ ... _bubzy.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs21/f/2007/ ... _bubzy.jpg

When working just in pure black and white, you could crank the DPI up (600-1200DPI) and scan in B&W mode. For greyscale/color images, generally you will have to play around with the levels/curves on an image, as well as make some spot cleanups, to get the best results. More so if the ink isn't fully opaque (cheap markers fade easily).

Also, once you scan it in, I recommend using some image editor to play with contrast. I know with photoshop, I use a level adjustment to clean things up and make the blacks blacker, with the whites whiter.

It's not the scanner's job to give you very good blacks. I recommend scanning in grayscale at 300 dpi and then cleaning it up in photoshop/some other program.

I never, ever ink large areas of black by hand. Waste of time and ink. Just draw the outlines of the black areas and then fill them on the computer.

It's odd, I know, but paper that LOOKS white and pen that LOOKS black are actually both shades of gray. When they become digital, the computer is more true to those subtle differences than you'd expect. So, you will, indeed, need to adjust them on screen.

I'm not certain what program you're editing in. Here's a step-by-step in Adobe Photoshop Elements. I know it's the same in other versions of photoshop, and other programs like GIMP have something equivalent.

Thank you all for your help and many thanks to That Guy for the practical tutorial. just gonna knucle down now and learn to draw some more.
One more thing though, is it common to use a typed font or use a personalised "handwriting" font? as you can see, my writing, although legible, isnt perfect and i would like to have a consistent look to the writing rather than *Times New Roman* or the like.

Fonts are generally much easier. Times New Roman or Comic Sans will technically work, but not well. There's a whole discussion about comic-sans around here somewhere. Some people use it and like it, others HATE it and say it makes comics look amateur. A good bet would be seeing what you like on Blambot or 1001FreeFonts - they both have loads of free fonts - although some of Blambots are pay-fonts. My suggestion, to ensure the font fits the comic and looks nice, is to find one that's similar to your own text-style, legible, and easy on the eyes.

If your writing is legible, it's fine to use your writing. Mine isn't, so I don't. :P

If you are going to write by hand, one thing which really helped me when I was trying to do it that way is to basically draw out your writing before you ink it. Get a ruler and draw straight lines marking the tops and bottoms of where the letters should go. Write the text in pencil, check your spelling, and then ink it. Erase the guidelines and you're good.

If you decide that handwriting takes too long/looks too messy, the custom is to use a sans-serif font. Times New Roman is a serif font not a sans-serif font, i.e. a no-no. (Other fonts to avoid include Courier and ComicSans.) There are a lot of good sans-serif fonts out there if you want.

NakedElf wrote:If you are going to write by hand, one thing which really helped me when I was trying to do it that way is to basically draw out your writing before you ink it. Get a ruler and draw straight lines marking the tops and bottoms of where the letters should go. Write the text in pencil, check your spelling, and then ink it. Erase the guidelines and you're good.

You can also use an Ames lettering guide. One only costs a couple of bucks and most art stores carry them.

Just turn the dial to the desired height of your letters, place it against your ruler or T-square, stick the end of your pencil through the hole and line away.

Best thing about the Ames is, unlike using a ruler to do lines, is that it creates gutters between the lines where your text goes.