Computer colouring
unci narynin
fur.artwork.artists seems to be mostly empty, so I'm posting
here as well.
I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
have not much clue what to do with them, except changing
pictures in size and format, adding some text, erasing dirt and
adjusting brightness/contrast. So colour pencils are still my
favourite for colouring, even though they don't always come out
nicely when scanned.
Would some kind soul who understands how to use those programs
perhaps show me how they do it?
First of all, what sort of picture do you start with? Is a
pencil sketch ok, or is a clean inked picture required for
computer colouring? Is there a method of pre-shading with pencil
and adding colour by computer?
What about the edges if you want to place a character in front
of a different background? Does it need sharp ink lines to be
selected properly?
Then, which functions of the programs do you use? Is it really
just a combination of flood fill and airbrush, or are there
more sophisticated techniques? Is there a way of simulating fur
texture?
As my past attempts at computer colouring were sobering enough
that I went back to hand-colouring, I would like to hear all
your tips - don't worry, I don't blindly pick up styles. :)
Huggles
unci
unci narynin
Roz Gibson
>I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
>have not much clue what to do with them,
>Would some kind soul who understands how to use those programs
>perhaps show me how they do it?
I suggest to take a class, or get a friend who knows it to sit down with you
for a weekend and show you the basics. I did both, and it worked. Theres also
lots of pictures on Yerf to show you how *not* to use Photoshop. Too many
artists use tricks like gradients and filters to try and hide bad drawing.
Many artists also over-render in PS, figuring if they put enough lens flares
and filters it'll look good. Less is more.
Roz G., who works in Photoshop every day at work.
--
Furry Code
FFD2a A++++$ C++ D- H- M- P R++ T++ W+ Z++++ SF#
RLA A+ Cn++ D- E++ F+ H+++ I+ P++ SF#
Roz Gibson in real life, and nobody in furry muck.
S. arsenault
>
> >I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
> >have not much clue what to do with them,
>
> >Would some kind soul who understands how to use those programs
> >perhaps show me how they do it?
>
> I suggest to take a class, or get a friend who knows it to sit down with you
> for a weekend and show you the basics. I did both, and it worked. Theres also
> lots of pictures on Yerf to show you how *not* to use Photoshop. Too many
> artists use tricks like gradients and filters to try and hide bad drawing.
> Many artists also over-render in PS, figuring if they put enough lens flares
> and filters it'll look good. Less is more.
>
> Roz G., who works in Photoshop every day at work.
yeh, i gotta agree with you there..
it's just too easy to make a bad picture these days.
there's a couple great books on Phothoshop out there..
they have tutorials, and stuff to practice on. Each new
thing you learn lends itself to everything you've
already learned.
Use filters sparingly.. especially L__s Fl____s.
a couple things i suggest is (this is just for
Photoshop....)
1) turn off anti aliasing! if you scan in an image at a
high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
the lines sharp.
2) scan in any B&W art in line art mode. this is mostly
for inked pics. i usually work with 300 dpi pics.
3)Work with TIFs or PSDs. JPGs really warp colors.. it
makes selecting areas difficult. (hey.. i din't know
this when i started out.. :)
4) There is no number four
5) Experiment with Quick masks, and channels and
layers!!! they help so much!
6) Learn the shortcuts, too!
good luck
S. arsenault
Yerf
Adam D. Moss
and tips generally translate very well to The GIMP also. =)
--Adam @gimp.org
t...@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de
wrote in alt.fan.furry:
>> I suggest to take a class, or get a friend who knows it to sit down with you
>> for a weekend and show you the basics.
hmm.. let's see if i have someone here who has more experience..
i don't think there's an unexpensive photoshop class anywhere i
know
> 1) turn off anti aliasing! if you scan in an image at a
> high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
> aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
> text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
> the lines sharp.
depends if you want the final result to look good on a screen,
or actually print it :)
> 2) scan in any B&W art in line art mode. this is mostly
> for inked pics. i usually work with 300 dpi pics.
yes, or highly increase contrast after scan to remove paper colour..
> 3)Work with TIFs or PSDs. JPGs really warp colors.. it
> makes selecting areas difficult. (hey.. i din't know
> this when i started out.. :)
yes, i try not to use jpg except for the distribution version..
(or the one that i keep in the end, disk space is not infinite)
> 5) Experiment with Quick masks, and channels and
> layers!!! they help so much!
there you lost me. what's a quick mask? what's a channel?
at least i understood what a layer is.. more or less.
> 6) Learn the shortcuts, too!
*blynk?* there are shortcuts? where?
fuzzles
unci
tobias benjamin koehler * * * * ,-/o"O`--.._ * _/(_ *
* * * * * * _,-o'.|o 0 'O o O`o--'. e\
dresden, europe * (`o-..___..--''o:,-' )o /._" O "o 0 o : ._>
* * ``--o___o..o.'' * :'.O\_ ```--.\o .' `--
un...@tigerden.com * * * `-`.,) * \`.o`._ *
t...@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de * * * fL `-`-.,)
S. arsenault
>
> On Sat, 25 Jul 1998 17:08:31 -0400, S. arsenault <su...@yerf.com>
> wrote in alt.fan.furry:
>
> > high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
> > aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
> > text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
> > the lines sharp.
>
> depends if you want the final result to look good on a screen,
> or actually print it :)
>
'zactly..
> > 5) Experiment with Quick masks, and channels and
> > layers!!! they help so much!
>
> there you lost me. what's a quick mask? what's a channel?
> at least i understood what a layer is.. more or less.
quick mask (shortcut Q) lays a mask over the image that
you can apply the tools to, to create a mask. (kinda
hard to descibe..) so rather than using the magic wand,
or marquee tool, you can turn on quick mask, and draw
out a mask with a pencil, or airbrush, or gradient,
etc.. and when you remove the quick mask (hit Q again)
there's your selection.
you can see this clearer if you make a selection, and
hit 'q' you'll see that all around that area is covered
with a mask. painting with black will add more to the
mask, and white will take away from the mask.
The fill tool (k) also works, with the mask. but
remember to have an area seperated to fill, or it'll
fill the whole mask!
Channels are saved selections (...selections are areas
of the image that you click on with the magic wand, for
instance.. it seperates it from the rest of the
picture, so you don't go marking up parts you don't
want to..) anything you can pick out.. colors, shapes,
patterns, you can save at a channel, and bring them up
whenever you want. they're 'specially handy in
combination with Quick Masks.. lets you make a gradient
mask in a certain area only.. if you have an area you
think you'll want to experiment with, save it as a
channel.
layers.. imagine your image is on cels or something
transparent. if you drew something on another piece,
and layed it on top, you'd have yerself a layer.
Photoshop lets you move layers around, and adjust
transparencies, and all kindsa stuff. it comes in handy
for making word balloons, and moving them around to
just the right spot before 'flattening' the layers.
(but that's only one use out of tons.. :)
>
> > 6) Learn the shortcuts, too!
>
> *blynk?* there are shortcuts? where?
hold the cursor over the tools in the toolbar, and the
shortcut oughta pop up there.
you can also find them from the menu items.
one real handy thing i found out recently, is if you
got the magic wand selected, and you want to change the
tolerence, hit return, and you can type your number in,
and hit return again to enter it.
with the airbrush, to adjust the pressure, you can just
type the number in. you hit '5', and it goes to 50, or
'7' for 70.. hit 23 quickly, and it goes to 23, hit '0'
for 100% etc.. (i think if you hit return, it should
highlight the fade level, but it doesn't.. ;p )
and don't forget the handiest thing of all.. Actions!
:)
S. arsenault
Yerf
Gordon McVey
> 3)Work with TIFs or PSDs. JPGs really warp colors.. it
> makes selecting areas difficult. (hey.. i din't know
> this when i started out.. :)
Hehe. JPEG is lossy, so use a lossless format such as TIFF or PNG (My
preferred choice) for the working image. Only use JPEG for the version you
distrobute on the 'net
> 4) There is no number four
Are you sure you just din't lose it?
> 5) Experiment with Quick masks, and channels and
> layers!!! they help so much!
All hail to the mighty god of the Alpha Channel! We're not worthy! We're
not worthy!
--
/|_ | * * * Check out my homepage for commission information * * * |
/ O\__ | http://www.zen.co.uk/home/page/g.mcvey/ Fenn online |
\ ___/ | http://rat.org/pub/furry/mcveygor/ g.m...@zen.co.uk |
/ | ftp://furry.isc-br.com/pub/Images/Gordon-McVey/ 2:250/355.23 |
ilr
> I suggest to take a class, or get a friend who knows it to sit down with you
> lots of pictures on Yerf to show you how *not* to use Photoshop. Too many
> artists use tricks like gradients and filters to try and hide bad drawing.
> Many artists also over-render in PS, figuring if they put enough lens flares
> and filters it'll look good. Less is more.
>
I should know. Lens Flares?, that's just stupid.
Anyway, here's a good quick way for clean coloring:
1>> Scan in 300dpi or more in GRAYSCALE.
2>> Resize
3>> Use the Sponge tool too clean up the
lines(works with pencil as well as inked drawings)
4>> Change to RGB mode
5>> Use the Paintbucket on MULTIPLY mode with a
tolerance greater than 32.
[There should be none of those nappy gray edges
on your lines if you did step #3 & #5 correctly]
6>> <Optional> but much appreciated,
a> change to "Indexed Color mode"
b> Palette: Adaptive
c> Colors: Between 128 and 16 if possible.
d> save as a CompuserveGif.
I hate when I DL a not-so-good 200k .jpg that should only
be a 25k .gif. Especially Grayscale one's which can usually
get by on only 8 colors.
Some good ways to color and shade/color and general tips:
-Shade with an eraser instead of a paintbrush
-Use Airbrush on "Multiply" to color the white-space
in RL pencil-shaded areas.
-Use Airbrush on "Softlight" to color the pencil-
shaded areas themselves.
-Don't use the Pencil tool at 100%
-Don't use the Pencil tool unless you've got a tablet.
-Don't Superimpose on RL photo backgrounds
-Save often and use the Revert command instead
of undo every 3 seconds. It improves your artistic
flow to paint away freely and then do it all over again.
I've got a bunch of more advanced tricks,
but I'm gonna be a competitive jerk and bogart 'em.
-ilr
BR
>
> Roz Gibson wrote:
> >
> > >I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
> > >have not much clue what to do with them,
> >
> > >Would some kind soul who understands how to use those programs
> > >perhaps show me how they do it?
> >
> > for a weekend and show you the basics. I did both, and it worked. Theres also
> > lots of pictures on Yerf to show you how *not* to use Photoshop. Too many
> > artists use tricks like gradients and filters to try and hide bad drawing.
> > Many artists also over-render in PS, figuring if they put enough lens flares
> > and filters it'll look good. Less is more.
> >
>
> yeh, i gotta agree with you there..
> it's just too easy to make a bad picture these days.
> there's a couple great books on Phothoshop out there..
> they have tutorials, and stuff to practice on. Each new
> thing you learn lends itself to everything you've
> already learned.
> Use filters sparingly.. especially L__s Fl____s.
>
> a couple things i suggest is (this is just for
> Photoshop....)
> high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
> aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
> text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
> the lines sharp.
> for inked pics. i usually work with 300 dpi pics.
> makes selecting areas difficult. (hey.. i din't know
> this when i started out.. :)
> layers!!! they help so much!
>
>
> S. arsenault
> Yerf
as well. Try the gimp site for additional plug-ins as well.]
--
==================================================
Linux renders ships, NT is rendering ships useless
--------------------------------------------------
Rob{rri...@tesser.com}
==================================================
Avendale
>> I suggest to take a class, or get a friend who knows it to sit >>down with
you
>> for a weekend and show you the basics. I did both, and it >>worked. Theres
also
>> lots of pictures on Yerf to show you how *not* to use >>Photoshop. Too many
>> artists use tricks like gradients and filters to try and hide bad >>drawing.
>> Many artists also over-render in PS, figuring if they put enough >>lens
flares
>> and filters it'll look good. Less is more.
>>
BAH! I look forward to the day when I can put enough texture fills, clouds,
lens flares and gradients into an image it induces seziures:) The challnage is
keeping it from looking ugly...:P
Still, it can be over done if one's new at it, something I'm still careful
about.
>For beginners, photoshop does more bad than good,
>I should know. Lens Flares?, that's just stupid.
BLASHPHEMER!! :) And if you want a P.S. plug-n that'll REALLY make you sick,
try Genesis VFX. It's express purpose is creating lens flares, nebulas, fire
and electraical dischagres. The pinnical of eye-candy evolution:)
Besides, they've a million household uses. Suns, metal glints, muzzle flash,
headlights, evil eyes, Babylon 5 opening sequences....
(SNIPAGE)
>Some good ways to color and shade/color and general tips:
>-Shade with an eraser instead of a paintbrush
>-Use Airbrush on "Multiply" to color the white-space
>in RL pencil-shaded areas.
>-Use Airbrush on "Softlight" to color the pencil-
>shaded areas themselves.
>-Don't use the Pencil tool at 100%
>-Don't use the Pencil tool unless you've got a tablet.
>-Don't Superimpose on RL photo backgrounds
>-Save often and use the Revert command instead
>of undo every 3 seconds. It improves your artistic
>flow to paint away freely and then do it all over again.
Silly! You never menitoned dodge and burn! As long as you keep the slider away
from 100% you can get great shaows and highlights. Really great for working on
metal (in the company of lens flares, of course;)They can even be warm or cool,
depending on which option you select...good stuff...
'Corse, every now and then you get some hideious color staright out of a
Lovecraft novel...thank god for undo:p
> I've got a bunch of more advanced tricks,
>but I'm gonna be a competitive jerk and bogart 'em.
Give 'em enough to learn from the teacher, but not surpass hmm? >:)
Shane Fisher
Abraxes on Furrymuck
FunkyMonkey on EMuck
"HOO BOY! Now I get to punch his head to the MOON!!!" -the TICK
Nate Patrin
> Roz Gibson wrote:
> > Many artists also over-render in PS, figuring if they put enough lens
flares
> > and filters it'll look good. Less is more.
>
> yeh, i gotta agree with you there..
> Use filters sparingly.. especially L__s Fl____s.
http://www.yerf.com/patrnate/lfapocal.jpg
Hee hee hee.... >:o)>
--
-Nate Patrin
======================================================
"Will I be drawing these damn rabbits forever?" -Matt Groening, 1990
n8r...@pioneerplanet.infi.net
ilr
> lens flares and gradients into an image it induces seziures:)
Well, as long as it induces some kind of uncontrollable spasmodic
convulsions, I'm all for it!
> Besides, they've a million household uses. Suns, metal glints, muzzle flash,
> headlights, evil eyes, Babylon 5 opening sequences....
And makes cappuccino in 5 seconds, but can it cut thru
this tin can? Just look at them tomatoes! But seriously,
speaking of tomatoes, will it help me make better breasts?
Ummh, err, BreastPlates, I meant BreastPlates!
> Silly!
Don't wear it out
> You never menitoned dodge and burn!
Wha? I thought everyone knew about that.
I was just sorta hoping to dodge the whole issue.
> > I've got a bunch of more advanced tricks,
> >but I'm gonna be a competitive jerk and bogart 'em.
>
> Give 'em enough to learn from the teacher, but not surpass hmm? >:)
No, I just like Saying the word Bogart. BOGART! And I'll Bogart
everyone one of 'em because I don't want anyone to know that I
don't have 'em! ;)
> Shane Fisher
> Abraxes on Furrymuck
> FunkyMonkey on EMuck
SHANE?!! Yo, I'm just goin to say it right now,
I was going to wait till some kind of 'Favorite Artist
Thread' to start or somethin, but I'll just say it now.
Shane Fisher is the WORLDS Best Furry Artist!
Forget what I said unci, listen to him.
"SPOOOON!"
t...@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de
thing or player on a MUCK to a MUF program, right?)
I also found Wookiee's page
http://www.furnation.com/nakira/how/
that's of great help. Now if only I had time to try out all the
tricks ....
Amy 'Amara' Pronovost
Scan in your art at a resolution your memory can handle.. If you have
16 Megs of ram, i wouldn't reccomend anything higher than about 300
dp, and even that can be slow. I have 64 megs of ram and even I have
trouble from time to time.
When your image is in photoshop..
1) do /NoT/ resizee the image, leave it at full size to avoid having
to work around the dithering. You can resize after you've coloured
2) Turn Antialias OFF on all your tools.
3) plug any gaps in your linework.
4) And Bob's your uncle.
Now colouring. Either select an area with magic wand (antialias off)
or just floodfill it with a colour. For shading I either use the
Pencil (looks chunky here, but it smooths out when printed or when
reduced in size) or a SOFT paintbrush or airbrush. Just experiment.
To place a character in front of a background, select the area around
the character (probably white space), invert the selection and go to
the channels menu. Save this selection as a channel.
Open a new layer, make a funky background and load that selection.
Hit delete.. and whammo! :)
Hope this helps.
Amy
Avendale
>Well, as long as it induces some kind of uncontrollable spasmodic
>convulsions, I'm all for it!
Or least some cerebreal hemmoraging. but not so much that it leaves 'em
vegitative....they still have to by the artwork:)
>And makes cappuccino in 5 seconds, but can it cut thru
>this tin can? Just look at them tomatoes! But seriously,
>speaking of tomatoes, will it help me make better breasts?
>Ummh, err, BreastPlates, I meant BreastPlates!
Uhhh, okay. I can definatly see that as one place lens flares SHOULDN"T be
used....ug:P Unless it was an image book or 'sumtin...
>> You never menitoned dodge and burn!
Well, I've known a lot of people that didn't use it. Some adamantly refused
cause it didn't feel right, which is understandable. Others just did't know
aobut it. Hell, I've been using Photoshop for three years and I'm still finding
new tricks.
>Wha? I thought everyone knew about that.
>I was just sorta hoping to dodge the whole issue.
heeehhh *massages his temples*
Don't start with me you...
>No, I just like Saying the word Bogart. BOGART! And I'll Bogart
>everyone one of 'em because I don't want anyone to know that I
>don't have 'em! ;)
Well I like saying the word "swashbuckeling". but I don't think I can find a
way to use the two together....
*pictures Bogart in green tights, dancing around with a wobbily french foil,
and feels ill*
>SHANE?!! Yo, I'm just goin to say it right now,
>I was going to wait till some kind of 'Favorite Artist
>Thread' to start or somethin, but I'll just say it now.
>Shane Fisher is the WORLDS Best Furry Artist!
>Forget what I said unci, listen to him.
Gawww,shucks...thanks. Shane happy.:)
*scratchs a line in the wall...next to the other two...* three down, 5.8
billion to go....
Listen to me? Cool!! Well, I REALLY could use a new computer so if some kind
hearted soul.....;)
okay, that's a bit much, I'll settle for a wuppet and 63cents.
Back to the batcave....
Shane Fisher
Abraxes on Furrymuck
FunkyMonkey on EMuck
"HOO BOY! Now I get to punch his head to the MOON!!!" -the TICK
BR
>
> On Sat, 25 Jul 1998 17:08:31 -0400, S. arsenault <su...@yerf.com>
> wrote in alt.fan.furry:
>
> >> for a weekend and show you the basics.
>
> i don't think there's an unexpensive photoshop class anywhere i
> know
>
> > high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
> > aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
> > text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
> > the lines sharp.
>
> or actually print it :)
>
> > for inked pics. i usually work with 300 dpi pics.
>
>
> > makes selecting areas difficult. (hey.. i din't know
> > this when i started out.. :)
>
> (or the one that i keep in the end, disk space is not infinite)
>
> > layers!!! they help so much!
>
> at least i understood what a layer is.. more or less.
>
>
>
>
> unci
>
> tobias benjamin koehler * * * * ,-/o"O`--.._ * _/(_ *
> * * * * * * _,-o'.|o 0 'O o O`o--'. e\
> dresden, europe * (`o-..___..--''o:,-' )o /._" O "o 0 o : ._>
> * * ``--o___o..o.'' * :'.O\_ ```--.\o .' `--
> un...@tigerden.com * * * `-`.,) * \`.o`._ *
> t...@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de * * * fL `-`-.,)
[Places to
===================Photoshop===========================
start:http://gcc.bradley.edu/com/faculty/goldbaum/com213/tutorials/
http://www.photoshopuser.com/
http://www.ruku.com/schools.html
http://www.ruku.com/newhowto.html
http://www.ruku.com/pluginsgalore.html
http://www.pixelfoundry.com//Techniques/
http://www.pixelfoundry.com//Tips/
http://www.infomedia.net/scan/The-Scan-FAQ.html
====================Gimp===============================
http://www.rru.com/~meo/gimp/Tutorial/intro.html
http://imagic.weizmann.ac.il/dov/gimp/scheme-tut.html
http://www.gimp.org/tut-basic.html
http://abattoir.cc.ndsu.nodak.edu/~nem/gimp/tuts/patterns.html
============paintshop pro-------------------------
http://www.fxmm.co.uk/banners/tuthtml/links.htm
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/7824/
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9871/general.html
http://www.bv.net/~jmac/tutor/
==========Scanning---------------------------------
http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cc/pub/multimed/web/scanner.html
{http://www.logicnet.com/ted.warnell/zinen/library/at970626.htm}
http://www.dtp-aus.com/flatbed1.htm
http://bliss.berkeley.edu/impact/students/karen/karen_final.html
==============================================================
Taura
> I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
GIMP is good, but could have been better. During the early development
(while still in beta) I offered to work on some
airbrushing functions. I specialize in photorealistic art
and know the proper equations, but they declined.
Photoshop and paintshop pro don't do much 'painting'.
I have never been able to do much with either of them.
I suggest trying picture publisher, http://www.micrografx.com/
For examples:
ftp://furry.ao.net/pub/Artists/LearFox/furry/1998.07
ftp://furry.ao.net/pub/Artists/LearFox/furry/1998.05/splash.jpg
They're all done in picture publisher, it's a really good program. :)
> First of all, what sort of picture do you start with? Is a
> pencil sketch ok, or is a clean inked picture required for
> computer colouring? Is there a method of pre-shading with pencil
> and adding colour by computer?
I just start painting with a mousie.
> Then, which functions of the programs do you use? Is it really
> just a combination of flood fill and airbrush, or are there
> more sophisticated techniques? Is there a way of simulating fur
> texture?
Picture publisher has object layering, it's good for animations
and doing scanned stuff as you mentioned. :)
Sincerely,
-Taura
Adam D. Moss
>
> Hi Unci! :)
>
> > I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
>
> GIMP is good, but could have been better.
Is better every day. Don't use past tense. :)
> During the early development
> (while still in beta) I offered to work on some
> airbrushing functions. I specialize in photorealistic art
> and know the proper equations, but they declined.
I just don't remember this at all.
Patches welcome - I don't think we've ever declined a useful
patch. :)
--Adam @gimp.org
BR
>
> Hi Unci! :)
>
> > I have GIMP, Photoshop and Paintshop Pro on my computer - but I
>
> (while still in beta) I offered to work on some
> airbrushing functions. I specialize in photorealistic art
> and know the proper equations, but they declined.
>
> I have never been able to do much with either of them.
>
> I suggest trying picture publisher, http://www.micrografx.com/
>
> For examples:
> ftp://furry.ao.net/pub/Artists/LearFox/furry/1998.07
>
> ftp://furry.ao.net/pub/Artists/LearFox/furry/1998.05/splash.jpg
>
> They're all done in picture publisher, it's a really good program. :)
>
> > First of all, what sort of picture do you start with? Is a
> > pencil sketch ok, or is a clean inked picture required for
> > computer colouring? Is there a method of pre-shading with pencil
> > and adding colour by computer?
>
> I just start painting with a mousie.
>
> > Then, which functions of the programs do you use? Is it really
> > just a combination of flood fill and airbrush, or are there
> > more sophisticated techniques? Is there a way of simulating fur
> > texture?
>
> Picture publisher has object layering, it's good for animations
> and doing scanned stuff as you mentioned. :)
>
> Sincerely,
> -Taura
[Have you considered writing those airbrushes as a plug-in?]
Amy 'Amara' Pronovost
around by rabid Ewoks for posting this drivel!
>On Sat, 25 Jul 1998 17:08:31 -0400, S. arsenault <su...@yerf.com>
>wrote in alt.fan.furry:
>
>> 1) turn off anti aliasing! if you scan in an image at a
>> high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
>> aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
>> text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
>> the lines sharp.
>
>depends if you want the final result to look good on a screen,
>or actually print it :)
Actually, it doesn't matter.
ALWAYS wor in lineart and without antialiasing. They put the
'resample image' option in the program for a reason. :)
Scan, colour and then resample for screen comsumption.
Yum!
Amy
Robert Alley
>
> Dear fuzzies,
>
> First of all, what sort of picture do you start with? Is a
> pencil sketch ok, or is a clean inked picture required for
> computer colouring? Is there a method of pre-shading with pencil
> and adding colour by computer?
I pencil & ink up a picture & then scan it into Photoshop without erasing
pencil lines. Convert the scanned image to CMYK format & go into the layers
palette & click on "Channels". If you've drawn with blue (or other non-black)
pencil you can select the black channel & copy it (Select All, Copy to
Clipboard, & Paste) to the other 3 channels. This'll wipe out all your pencil
& any blue printed lines on the original image.
> What about the edges if you want to place a character in front
> of a different background? Does it need sharp ink lines to be
> selected properly?
I never ink up the background; sometimes I actually go into a program like
Bryce & construct a 3-D "set" for complicated backgrounds (like a detailed
city skyline) & render a large hi-res file to disk. I then put this
background "behind" the hand-drawn foreground image. To get the background to
show properly, use the magic wand to select all the white surrounding the
character(s), speech balloons, etc. & erase the white. If you've drawn the
foreground elements "neatly"--that is, with no gaps in the lines, you'll get
good results. Otherwise, you'll also erase the "interior" of the foreground
elements. I generally repair this by using the pencil tool (set to "darken")
to scratch a white line in the gaps & the paint bucket to fill in the
foreground object again. The results of this look a little like the old cel
animation, with an obviously drawn character standing in front of a
realistically painted background. There's the problem of coloring the
character itself, but you could use the paint bucket to get quick results here
with the appropriate colors. You won't get any rendering or shading, but
depending on what you want to achieve, this might be fine.
You don't need "sharp black lines" as such; just a good contrast between what
you want to select & what you don't want selected will do.
>
> Then, which functions of the programs do you use? Is it really
> just a combination of flood fill and airbrush, or are there
> more sophisticated techniques? Is there a way of simulating fur
> texture?
As you can tell, I tend to use flood fill almost exclusively, though
sometimes I do gradient fills for embellishing speed lines & the like. To
simulate texture, you could use a plug-in like Kai's Power Tools (I think the
Texture Explorer is in there) on a selected area. A specifically "fur"
texture might have to be concocted, though a combination of a dark background
with light elements atop that have had motion blur applied might do the trick.
There are Photoshop forums around that might help.
>
> As my past attempts at computer colouring were sobering enough
> that I went back to hand-colouring, I would like to hear all
> your tips - don't worry, I don't blindly pick up styles. :)
One thing to remember; this stuff is pretty time-consuming. I put up with
doing backgrounds like this because I don't have enough confidence in my own
drawing abilities to handle some tricky perspective work, & also I don't want
to be bogged down in details. (I also "cartoonize" the backgrounds into
outlined objects & a pretty good simulation of Zip toning in order to improve
reproducability.) Almost always, pencil & paper is at least as fast, & if
you're capable in technical terms, the old pencil is probably your best
choice. If you're trying to prep drawings for Web display, you might want to
just do flood fills, since you have to keep the colors simple anyway.
Pelzig
>pictures in size and format, adding some text, erasing dirt and
Myself, I use Photoshop v3.0 for the Macintosh. In the past, I've
fiddled about with early graphic programs such as Studio 32 and even the
painting sub-routine of ClarisWorks 2.1. While all well and good...they
didn't offer the range of options that Photoshop has. After using
Photoshop LE v3.0 for a bit, I got ahold of the full v3.0 version. I'm
still working with it to be able to use it to full effect.
>Would some kind soul who understands how to use those programs
>perhaps show me how they do it?
Aside from reading the books which come with the software, there are
numerous third party books and manuals with tips, tricks, and guides to
use Photoshop and I'm sure Corel.
>First of all, what sort of picture do you start with? Is a
>pencil sketch ok, or is a clean inked picture required for
>computer colouring? Is there a method of pre-shading with pencil
>and adding colour by computer?
I use a Microtek ScanMaker E3 as my scanner. When I wish to color a
piece, I scan in the image as Line Art at 325dpi. As my art is 12" X
16", I scan the piece in two halves and use Photoshop to join them
together. One has to be sure the paper doesn't shift at all when
scanning the halves as any slip will cause the two to not join up
correctly.
I don't scan pencils to color. Aside from losing image, it would
probably make for alot more clean-up to have good lines. Myself, I
always scan inked pieces. Sometimes, I may have to adjust the threshold
( anywhere between 128 to 148 ) to be sure I don't lose any image after
the scan.
As my Macintosh isn't equipped with a art tablet, I took to using a
method whereby I use a thin ink pen to put in all my shade lines for the
piece.
Once the piece is scanned and assembled in Photoshop, I'll go ahead and
clean up any bits and also, at this time, adjust the picture in size. As
the piece is a full 12" X 16", it makes for a rather large file. I'll
reduce the image, while a bitmap, down to about letter size ( 8" X 11"
or so ). You see, I found that if you reduce the size of the image
_after_ doing all your coloring, you lose quality.
After I have the piece in the position and size I want, I'll convert it
to a RGB color format and begin coloring. Mostly, I use the fill ( the
paint bucket ), filling in all the areas with color. I may adjust the
tone of the color via the Picker or Swatch. Likewise, I fill the shade
areas as well. Once the color has been spread around, I'll begin erasing
the shade lines I inked on the original piece. To speed things, I sample
the color of the shaded area, use the Pencil tool to seperate the
beginning and the end of the shade line from the main inked line. Once
it is isolated, I use the bucket again to remove the line. Sometimes,
however, the shade color you use may be so close that it wants to fill
everything, including whats not supposed to be shaded. At this point,
you will have to use the pen tool to go in and make the color change.
Once I'm finished with the piece, I usually convert it to an Indexed
Color file to conserve file size, leaving it as a PSD file for purposes
of making prints of it.
At times, I'll use the airbrush tool to make highlights...but generally,
I'll make the highlights on the original piece. Sometimes, when needed,
I'll use the filter selections to make some effects.
Here are two samples of my work using this technique:
http://velar.ctrl-c.liu.se/vcl/Artists/Knechtschaft/che_hits.gif
http://velar.ctrl-c.liu.se/vcl/Artists/Knechtschaft/pelzmech.gif
>What about the edges if you want to place a character in front
>of a different background? Does it need sharp ink lines to be
>selected properly?
To do this...Photoshop has the Layer tool in which you can, in the
nutshell, cut and paste one image into another. I use the Channel tool
to manually go in "snip" out the image. Its a bit tedious...but exact.
A word of warning though, and this one comes from experience. In a
commission a year or so ago...I wanted to paste the image of a black
furred feline femme onto a dungeon background which I generated in
Virtus' 3D Website Builder. The feline was scanned in at 325dpi and I
went ahead and made a layer. The dungeon backdrop was a 70dpi image.
When I placed the layer of the feline into the backdrop, it dropped the
325dpi to 70dpi, totally hosing the piece. While it looked fine as an
image...printing it was out...way too many jaggies.
>Then, which functions of the programs do you use? Is it really
>just a combination of flood fill and airbrush, or are there
>more sophisticated techniques? Is there a way of simulating fur
>texture?
I'm sure the more experienced users can give you better ideas. There are
many third party vendors who make add-ons and plugins for Photoshop (
Kai's PowerTools the more notable ) which can give you all sorts of
effects. Again, its a matter of searching about for FAQs, books, etc. to
learn what you can do. Personally, I've only touched the surface of
Photoshop and I have a ways to go.
One site directed to me may be of help...at least with a different
approach to techniques using Photoshop v4.0:
http://www.tt.rim.or.jp/~aoao/howto.htm
Hope this helps you out some. :)
TCASF,
Ed "Pelzig" Dyer
Knechtschaft Studio
Chris Johnson
t...@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Jul 1998 17:08:31 -0400, S. arsenault <su...@yerf.com>
> wrote in alt.fan.furry:
> > 1) turn off anti aliasing! if you scan in an image at a
> > high enough res, you can't see any jagged lines. anti
> > aliasing is good for webpage graphics.. specially for
> > text stuff, but if you're printing something you want
> > the lines sharp.
>
> depends if you want the final result to look good on a screen,
> or actually print it :)
Also, if I am not mistaken, distorting filters use the interpolation
settings to, well, interpolate :) I won't just say 'no, use antialiasing
at all times, remembering that nearest-neighbor is fast and jaggy,
bilinear is quick but blurrier, and bicubic is the slowest but clearest,
antialiasing but not blurring overly'... I won't even just mention that
for various distort filters you might want to have different
interpolations... no, I'll give a killer Kai Krause-tip all about this
blurriness with an output of pure B/W! :)
Take a rough scan. (this works best on stuff that's supposed to be
_real_ smooth but you can do milder versions of it for scratchier stuff)
Blur or antialias it (antialiasing will only happen if you resize it,
like double the size and then half the size of the result). If you want to
really play, blur it noticably until the edges of the lines are fuzzy.
Then go to 'Levels' and start dragging the triangles representing the
black and white points inward. If you put them at the same point, you have
a pure Threshold filter. You can print the result, and you can play with
the sliding triangles until the lines are as heavy or as light as you
like. You can also separate the triangles, sneaking in touches of
antialiasing, to pick whatever level of sharpness you want, whether it's
very smooth or very stark. And if you kept the original image as a spare
layer, you can fade it in, perhaps on top of the cleaned version using
'darken only', to add a touch of the original scratchiness while still
keeping the strong lines as clean as you made them :)
Jinx_tigr, Photoshop lover :)
(aka Chris Johnson)
Chris Johnson
> quick mask (shortcut Q) lays a mask over the image that
> you can apply the tools to, to create a mask. (kinda
> hard to descibe..) so rather than using the magic wand,
> or marquee tool, you can turn on quick mask, and draw
> out a mask with a pencil, or airbrush, or gradient,
> etc.. and when you remove the quick mask (hit Q again)
> there's your selection.
> you can see this clearer if you make a selection, and
> hit 'q' you'll see that all around that area is covered
> with a mask. painting with black will add more to the
> mask, and white will take away from the mask.
> The fill tool (k) also works, with the mask. but
> remember to have an area seperated to fill, or it'll
> fill the whole mask!
The filters work too >;) in quick mask, filters work ON THE MASK and
not on the image. Do a mask, big simple 'framing' type mask, and then hit
it with some Distort filters. wheeee! :) then go back to marching ants
selection mode, and cut away the edges (inverting selection if necessary)
against a contrasting background. Woo hoo! :)
Jinx_tigr
(aka Chris Johnson)
Stan Koper
If you have OS/2, Colorworks V2 is a good program. Though it isn't very
advanced, it does allow you to color the picture rather easily, and add
some very nice backgrounds and/or effects. It also has the option of
fine-tuning colors to get the perfect one for a furry. Most of the
programs I have on Win95 don't do jack $#!^ so I prefur to scan y pics in
OS/2.
Just my bit. As I said, mostly off-topic.
TLonefox~~Drawdrawdrawdrawdrawdrawdrawdrawdrawdrawdraw...
t...@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de
wrote in alt.fan.furry:
> I never ink up the background; sometimes I actually go into a program like
> Bryce & construct a 3-D "set" for complicated backgrounds (like a detailed
> city skyline) & render a large hi-res file to disk.
I wonder how you manage to combine a hand-drawn character with a
computer-drawn background then? If they are walking on stairs or
so, it looks like this can be difficult, especially if you want
to create accurate shadows.
Robert Alley
>
> On Sun, 26 Jul 1998 17:24:29 -0500, Robert Alley <rober...@earthlink.net>
> wrote in alt.fan.furry:
>
> > I never ink up the background; sometimes I actually go into a program like
> > Bryce & construct a 3-D "set" for complicated backgrounds (like a detailed
> > city skyline) & render a large hi-res file to disk.
>
> I wonder how you manage to combine a hand-drawn character with a
> computer-drawn background then? If they are walking on stairs or
> so, it looks like this can be difficult, especially if you want
> to create accurate shadows.
>
slight differences between what you first drew & what you end up rendering
aren't all that horrible.
There are several different ways to correct mismatched foreground/background
setups. If the problem is a simple offset--the background is too far to the
left or right or up or down from the foreground--you can adjust the foreground
element, moving it to a more appropriate spot. If this is not possible, or if
the adjustment is too drastic, you'll have to rerender the background.
If the problem is more perspective--the foreground character is drawn from
looking above & the background is at eye level--there's no choice but to
rerender the back. Scaling is a bit more easier to manage--rendered stair
risers too small to fit the placement of the charater's feet can be fixed by
scaling up the background, though "jaggies" can get to be a problem if too
much expansion is done. You can also shrink a too-big background, though if
you make it smaller than the panel or drawing its intended for you could end
up with rather silly looking results & be forced to rerender it from a wider perspective.
If I were to do a fully rendered & detailed interior that my drawn characters
were to interact with constantly (say, the interior of a spaceship, with duty
stations, controls, etc.) I'd first do a rough drawing of the whole cartoon to
get an idea of what each scene looks like. Then I'd construct the 3-D model
of my spaceship interior that I'd be using. Then I'd render a background as
it would be used, one render for each different perspective or view. I'd then
run off a rough print of it to use as a layout. I could print in black & draw
my foreground on a piece of tracing paper above it, or print a greyscale
version in a light color (I think you can fiddle around with color balance to
substitute, say, light blue for the grey/black) & draw & ink directly onto
this print.
Scan the drawing in, separate the black inked foreground from the colored
layout background, & simply drop it on top of the more completely rendered
background image. Your panel is done, save for whatever further coloring work
& adjustments you want to do.
Notice that all this work simply made one panel or picture. If you want to
do a full 60-pp comic with a realistic background, you're going to be in for a
lot of work. It's true that animation firms use an analogous method
(animators draw their figures on paper laid over layout drawings or copies of
the relevant backgrounds), but it still took animation houses in the 1930's
with staffs of over 100 people up to 6 months to complete a film due to all
this sort of work. Doing the 3-D model is most of the work in itself. If
time is of the essence for you, it's probably better to do it by hand.