Artsy stuff

[Grantg00dm0rr0w]

Say, Katherine...what's the process you use for doing a comic? Do you just scan in the drawings, or do you do some weird clean-up in Photoshop/Free Hand/MS Paint before posting?

A guy I'm trying to work with on a comic insists that his inked comics wouldn't translate at all to the web, but I think it will, as my crappy "pencilled-stick-figures-on-notebook-paper" storyboards always scan in well.

Suggestions/opinions? Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!

[CorruptDictatorNumber2]

Well, my process of course differs slightly from page to page, depending on which medium I am using. But for my inked pages...

I ink straight onto my original pencils. I should mention that many people think this is a bad idea, but I find scanning my pencils, making them blue, blah blah blah to be way too much trouble. After I ink, I erase all the pencil marks. If you make only wide, dark lines when you ink, erasing probably isn't necessary. But if you, like me, sometimes use really tiny lines for details and the like, you will find that once you've adjusted the picture so that the pencil doesn't show, the skinny lines won't show very well either.

I scan in 300 dpi, greyscale. Once I have the scan trimmed down (I try not to draw too close to the edges of the paper), I reduce the resolution to 72 dpi and the size to 650 pixels wide.

In my opinion, adjustments to the picture can be made before or after you reduce the size.... rarely do I ever see it making a difference. I suppose, however, that it's better to do everything before you reduce... but that can be really slow if your computer's like mine. Anyhow, I clean up little errors with the eraser (I prefer to correct on the computer than to use white-out, which I'm bad at controlling and which usually shows up in the scan and has to be erased anyway). Then I make adjustments to the white really white and the black really black. Every image manipulation program has a brightness/contrast setting somewhere, so you can use that. What I prefer to use, however, is the "levels" tool--I dunno if it's called something else in other programs, but that's what it's called in GIMP. I move the far right slider toward the middle just a smidge (to get rid of any lingering smudges or pencil lines that didn't erase), then move the middle slider about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way to the right, to make the darks really dark.

And that's all I do. Sorry that ended up being such a long answer.... but I figured you probably were looking for details...

Even though I haven't seen your friend's artwork, or heard his argument, I think he's totally wrong. There should be no problem.

~K.A.

[Grantg00dm0rr0w]

So the purple-coloured drawing you did a couple updates ago (where Sandra's just writing in her diary)...was that coloured AFTER you scanned it in and adjusted levels, etc.? Or do you just have a dope purple pencil to doodle with?

As for the black and white thing, that's always been a problem for me. Very rarely is the paper that I scan in perfect white, so when I go to erase something, the erased part becomes oh-so-much whiter than the background. At that point, frustration sets in and I slink away.

All in all, there's lots of work involved, yes? How long does a typical non-colour comic take? Or a colour one, for that matter? Curiousity is getting the best of me.

[Zoing]

As for the black and white thing, that's always been a problem for me. Very rarely is the paper that I scan in perfect white, so when I go to erase something, the erased part becomes oh-so-much whiter than the background. At that point, frustration sets in and I slink away.

Hi grantg00dm0rr0w,

After every scan you have to do at first a devinition about the Black/White Regulation. In Photoshop is a Tool in the Menue, that make it automatic,
if you click on it. You can regulate that also manual with the Mouse.
After this you have no problems more with the eraser.
btw. i never use the eraser, i allways make it with the brush.
English is not my first Language, so i am limited with my help.
Maby you google for Scanadvices or Image editing.

[Grantg00dm0rr0w]

I just noticed the "square peg trying to fit in a round hole" on the latest comic. Crikeys I'm dense sometimes. Nice subtlety, your corruptness.

[Zoing]

I just noticed the "square peg trying to fit in a round hole" on the latest comic. Crikeys I'm dense sometimes. Nice subtlety, your corruptness.

Thats not corruptness, thats brilliant visualising of a complicated Theme.
There a more sweet candys...

Katherine is GREAT !

[CorruptDictatorNumber2]

So the purple-coloured drawing you did a couple updates ago (where Sandra's just writing in her diary)...was that coloured AFTER you scanned it in and adjusted levels, etc.? Or do you just have a dope purple pencil to doodle with?

I have a purple pencil. I'm not even sure what kind.
I found it three years ago in my physics classroom.
God only knows what I will do when it's gone. lol

Definitely get some better paper, yo. You don't even have to get high-quality art paper. (In fact, the higher quality paper of the sort I prefer to use has quite a tooth to it and thus scans horribly.) Zoing is right that you can do something about it with your image manipulation program, but I am unfamiliar with this "Black/White Regulation" thing because I don't have Photoshop. Anyway, if you actually use dark ink when you're inking, you can fix the levels so that lighter spots on the paper don't show up. In GIMP, there's a spectrum going from light to dark with three markers on it--the default is one in the middle and two on the very ends. If you bump the white marker up a little, you'll notice that your lightest grey values will become white instead. I slide the middle marker up, too--quite a bit--to get my lines looking dark and crisp. I don't really mess with the black slider, but now that I think about it, maybe I should.

All in all, there's lots of work involved, yes?

Hence the hiatus. Le sigh...

How long does a typical non-colour comic take? Or a colour one, for that matter? Curiousity is getting the best of me.

I used to remember, but I think I have since forgotten. Well... for a while, each page was taking me about 8-10 hours. I'd been cutting back recently, but... well, that caused the drop in quality and thus my taking a break for a while. I did time myself once... I remember that the big splash panel from 1.23 took me four and a half hours to color. Add to that the time it took to color the other panels, not to mention the time it took to plan it all, pencil it, ink it, scan it, fix it, and print it for coloring.... MAAAAN! Those were the DAYS!

[Toxic]

I love you...

[CorruptDictatorNumber2]

Well thanks. You're quite awesome yourself.

[Zoing]

Hi Katherine,

what happens?
Still alive ???
Married and bussy???


Please, give me a short News, if you will continou the Sandra Story or not.
8)

Hope, you are well and have happy Days.
Still drawing - something else?


Happy Regards

Zoing

[Zoing]

WHeeeeerree youuuu alll gonnnneeeeee ?

[Zoing]

WHeeeeerree youuuu alll gonnnneeeeee ?