I've got a question for the computer savvy/artistic people here. I love drawing comics, and I'd like to make them look more pro. I recently downloaded paint.net, which is a pretty big step up from paint. I'm figuring out a few tricks -
(original frenzy cover) (edited frenzy cover)
- but I'm obviously just figuring it out (all I really know is magic wand and basic gradient stuff). I'm wondering - does anyone here do picture/cartoon editing, and if so, can you give me some tips to make cartoons colourful and somewhat realistic?
And yes, I've checked at webcomic forums, but they're a bit too advanced for my brain. If any of you can help me, it will be greatly appreciated (and if my question's too vague, just ask me to narrow it down and I will gladly oblige).
Not familiar with paint.net, so this may not work for you, but...
Use layers for the coloring, with your line art (the first example in your post) on its own layer. You can either cut out the white portions in the line art layer so the coloring layer shows through, or use one of the layer effects (multiply, lighten, &c.) to let the coloring layer show through.
For more complex scenes, you can use the magic wand selection tool to select the desired white area in the line art, then expand the selection by a pixel or two, switch to your coloring layer and that selected area will constrain your coloring, keeping you from going outside the lines.
Cartoonmonkey does a great deal of cartoon coloring/shading -- I'll see if he'd be willing to swing by the boards and offer some advice, as he's the real pro in our relationship!
However, on the occasions when I've done this sort of thing, here's the technique I've used:
1. Draw a sketch on the 'puter (I have drawing stylus -- so it's easier to rough things out on the computer... if all you've got is a mouse, then do your sketching on pencil and paper instead.)
2. Do your inking with your pen of choice. (I favor a refillable brush pen)
3. Scan your b/w inks into the 'puter
3.5 -- Obviously, if you want to do all the heavy lifting on the computer, you can skip the hand-sketching and inking stuff! Do think about getting yourself a Wacom tablet if you're going to do a lot of on the computer drawing-- I think they're practically giving them away on ebay these days.
4. Avail yourself of a painting program that has layer capability. I'm not familiar with the one you've got there, but anything with layers will work. Photoshop works nicely, actually. I use painter.
5. Put your scanned image on two separate layers, and put a blank, transparent layer between them. (Like a sandwich!) On the topmost scanned layer, convert the white portions of the paper to be transparent. (In photoshop there's a way to do this using the magic wand and the "masking" feature.)
6. Now lock your scanned drawing layers, and use a nice soft brush to start painting on your middle layer. With this setup, you can paint away without botching your original drawing, and the "sandwich" technique means you don't have to be too precise about coloring "inside the lines."
Hope that helps!
EDIT: RG's beat me to it -- and phrased it in a much simpler way! Yes, layers is the way to go! ( ;
Corel Whore! Never would've thought it in a million years.
Yeah, graphics tablet is the way to go, as is using masks in combination with layers.
But wrapping your head around the masks concept is a little more complex than a first date situation like this might be able to handle. That's like jumping to third base before saying hello.
I agree with Rabid. Using the layer effects (multiply is probably the easiest) is probably the way to go. You can use the magic wand to select areas to colour, then select a new layer to colour onto. Expand the selection by a couple of points, just so it exceeds the line art a little, and colour away. This way you can work a bit messier, and it won't need as much clean up to fit within the lines.
Yeah, masks seem a bit confusing right now. I've tried the sandwich technique, and it's working alright for me. I think I'll draw up a comic now, work on it for a bit, and post it when I'm finished.
I noticed that you ran into the problem with the undefined area in your sample in your initial post, so you closed it with a black line, which changed the original illustration. Cheap Trick: Use the color you're going to fill with to close the area, not black.
Spud wrote:I noticed that you ran into the problem with the undefined area in your sample in your initial post, so you closed it with a black line, which changed the original illustration. Cheap Trick: Use the color you're going to fill with to close the area, not black.
SPUD
Hmm. That could be very helpful. Thanks!
I'm working on a full page comic right now, and hoping that the drunkduck forum people will aid me in my quest for decent picture quality. I'll keep you guys posted on that.
I like to select the fill area with the magic wand or magnetic lasso, and then enlarging my selection by a couple pixels before filling it. This helps to tighten up the coloring next to antialiased lines.
I also like to work at a much higher resolution than the final product, which makes the end result look smoother when it's downsampled.
fluffy wrote:I like to select the fill area with the magic wand or magnetic lasso, and then enlarging my selection by a couple pixels before filling it. This helps to tighten up the coloring next to antialiased lines.
I also like to work at a much higher resolution than the final product, which makes the end result look smoother when it's downsampled.
Hmmm. Those ideas sound really practical. I'll try 'em out on my next attempt.
I'm almost finished the on my current one. I'm struggling to make it look cohesive and readable, but I think it could be fine.
(original frenzy cover) 
(edited frenzy cover)
Never would've thought it in a million years.
