Photoshop line art question

operationremie · July 14, 2010, 06:17:11 PM

So I've been reading a bunch of webcomics lately and was wondering how people get their line art to be nice and smooth. When I do mine, it looks blurry at 100% viewing. Any hints or tips that I could use?

Rob · July 14, 2010, 06:42:49 PM

Scan in at 600 DPI and then drop the DPI down to 300 for coloring. It will make your lines look good. Then when you save for web it will automatically drop your DPI down to 72. Then everything will look very smooth.

I'm sure there are other methods but I've heard this one tossed around a few times. ;)

Pixel · July 14, 2010, 08:32:04 PM

I do my comics in Photoshop too and this just reminded me I should get around to working in a higher resolution as well. Thanks!

Mari · July 15, 2010, 01:15:20 AM

it all depends on your input I guess. Are you drawing them by hand or are you using a tablet?

If the former, then do as Rob suggested.

If the latter, well, you can mess around with the settings (brush hardness, try different tools, increase dpi of your canvas before beginning, etc.) and just practice more... or you could be like me and just undo each stroke again and again obsessively until your comic is late updating every week and your hand does "cntrl+alt+z" automatically in your sleep =_= ... you know, whichever works best for you ;)

Gibson · July 15, 2010, 03:38:31 AM

My guess is that you're using a feathering tool, airbrush or some other kind of pen/brush option with a blurry edge. That's just a guess, but if you're drawing straight to the computer, that's the only thing I know that will cause blurring at 100%. If you're drawing by hand and scanning, my guess would be that you're not scanning at the right size and you've been changing the image size with the cursor. Again, just a guess based on no information whatsoever. Tell us more about your process so we have a better idea what to suggest.

Rob · July 15, 2010, 04:02:41 AM

Quote from: Mari on July 15, 2010, 01:15:20 AM
it all depends on your input I guess. Are you drawing them by hand or are you using a tablet?

If the former, then do as Rob suggested.

If the latter, well, you can mess around with the settings (brush hardness, try different tools, increase dpi of your canvas before beginning, etc.) and just practice more... or you could be like me and just undo each stroke again and again obsessively until your comic is late updating every week and your hand does "cntrl+alt+z" automatically in your sleep =_= ... you know, whichever works best for you ;)

Oh man that's hilarious. I feel your pain sister!

operationremie · July 15, 2010, 04:24:42 AM

Quote from: Mari on July 15, 2010, 01:15:20 AM
it all depends on your input I guess. Are you drawing them by hand or are you using a tablet?

If the former, then do as Rob suggested.

If the latter, well, you can mess around with the settings (brush hardness, try different tools, increase dpi of your canvas before beginning, etc.) and just practice more... or you could be like me and just undo each stroke again and again obsessively until your comic is late updating every week and your hand does "cntrl+alt+z" automatically in your sleep =_= ... you know, whichever works best for you ;)

nope. that's me. lol i am always constantly hitting CTRL+ALT+Z constantly.

thanks for the all the input. i found out it was my resolution. i was doing it very small and it wasn't really working that well. i tried higher resolutions and it is working much better!

Rob · July 16, 2010, 01:09:05 AM

Yay! Someone got helped! ;D

mcfadyn · July 16, 2010, 04:19:39 AM

i suggest making all kinds of lines and working on keeping a steady hand. Learn to control you're hand a bit better. THAT'S first, THEN all the stuff these guys said. If you have a shaky hand and crappy line quality, all the photoshop in the world wont help you out.

operationremie · July 16, 2010, 07:15:55 AM

Quote from: mcfadyn on July 16, 2010, 04:19:39 AM
i suggest making all kinds of lines and working on keeping a steady hand. Learn to control you're hand a bit better. THAT'S first, THEN all the stuff these guys said. If you have a shaky hand and crappy line quality, all the photoshop in the world wont help you out.

well i've been practicing with a tablet for a few years now. so i think i've gotten use to it. the ctrl+alt+z is my friend too.

mcfadyn · July 17, 2010, 04:02:59 AM

Right on. Yeah, I barely do anything in photoshop at all. For my comic I do everything by hand. Inks, frames, pencil, all done by hand... so I'm not the best guy to ask about that sort of thing :P

operationremie · July 17, 2010, 08:34:24 AM

Quote from: mcfadyn on July 17, 2010, 04:02:59 AM
Right on. Yeah, I barely do anything in photoshop at all. For my comic I do everything by hand. Inks, frames, pencil, all done by hand... so I'm not the best guy to ask about that sort of thing :P

i use to do the pencils by hand and then scan them into photoshop. i'm trying to move past that and just be a digital media drawer. so far it's pretty well, now that i got everything figured out.

and creativity is much better. a bird with crab claws? sure why not

Gar · July 18, 2010, 08:10:14 AM

I go the doing-the-Pencils-with-actual-pencils route myself. The final line art is done digitally and is generally more detailed than the original sketches, but I find doing an actual physical sketch gives a better sense of the page layout while drawing than working zoomed-in in Photoshop.

Yamino · July 30, 2010, 04:05:11 PM

I use Illustrator to do my lineart, then export it to Photoshop for coloring. :)

If you're interested in seeing an in-depth tutorial that I made on the process, I've posted it here:
http://www.sisterclaire.com/tutorials/how-to-draw-a-la-yamino/

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Photoshop line art question