Tutorial: Cleaning Up Line Art for Digital Painting in Photoshop (Pt1)
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Table of contents for Photoshop Linework Tutorial
- Tutorial: Cleaning Up Line Art for Digital Painting in Photoshop (Pt1)
- Tutorial: Cleaning Up Line Art for Digital Painting in Photoshop (Pt2)
From Roughs to Inks
INTRODUCTION
I get questions from time to time about what techniques I use to create my artwork and online manga. Currently, I use Flash to ink my scanned artwork. But I know that on top of Photoshop, not everyone has Flash… or a tablet to work in Flash. I wrote this tutorial back when that was the case for me and decided to do some updating to it here in my blog.
The process I use has many steps, but is by no means overly complex or difficult. I try to keep everything I do simple and the least time-consuming as possible while still getting good quality results. I do all of my work in Photoshop so that’s what these instructions are going to revolve around.
STEP 1
| I call this stage my rough pencils (or simply “roughs”)… because that’s exactly what it is. All I try to do here is get a defined feel and shape for what the finished piece will be. The sample artwork I’ve got here is actually a good deal cleaner than my normal pencils would be! ^^; |
STEP 2
| I scan the rough in and open up Photoshop.The first thing I want to do is take my pencil lines and turn them into what I call blue line pencil. There’s a reason for this… but you won’t see till later.
If you’re curious “why blue?”, do some net research on the techniques that comic book artists use using photosensitive blue.To turn change the pencil lines to a completely blue color: |
| You should now have the Hue/Saturation Box on your screen.Put a check in the box next to Colorize. This will change your whole picture to one color.Now, use the sliders in the box to change your picture to a light blue color. I use something along the lines of
Hue: 200, Saturation: 100, Lightness: +70. It doesn’t have to be this exact combination — it’s honestly whatever works best for your printer. You may need to experiment with it some. But this is generally a pretty good setting for me. |
| Select “OK” and there you go. Your pencil lines are now completely blue!! |
STEP 3
| Now, I take the blue line piece and print it out. I just use normal printing paper for my work.Then, I take the print-out and start inking right on over it. The kind of pen you choose to ink with is completely up to you. The brand of pens I use are called ZIG Millennum. I have a variety of point sizes on hand (005, 01, 03, 05, and 08… as well as a brush pen) though I tend to use my 05 point the most.
I’ve heard some artists swear by their Sakura Micron brand pens, as well. But I haven’t really seen much of a difference between the two brands in usability. I buy the ZIGs because they’re far cheaper at the art supply store near my house.If you don’t have any art pens and want to give some a try, a good idea is to pick up the set of pens that come in 5 different point sizes and experiment with them. You’re looking at spending between $8-10 for a set, but it’s well worth it. Now adays, I just pick up the individual pens that I need as I run the points down… and I tend to go through mine fast. |
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Continued in Part 2… so stay tuned or
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4 Comments on Tutorial: Cleaning Up Line Art for Digital Painting in Photoshop (Pt1)
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I don’t have anything more profound to say then — wow, you’re super talented.
StanHayes’s last blog post..Keeper Question, From Me to You
Thank you very much, Stan!! That means a lot coming from you.
Wayfarer Wings » Tutorial: Cleaning Up Line Art for Digital Painting in Photoshop (Pt2) sez:
[...] you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!From Roughs to Inks Just tuning in? Check out Part 1 of this tutorial! STEP [...]