ArtSpots Forum Topic - Need help with inking.

KoOkY!

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:13:12 -0000

Oooh good eye Metsys. I forgot that I did take it into Photoshop afterwards and added I think a 3 pt. stroke around the entire silhouette as I usually do with most of my pictures. Yeah I agree that should've darkened the lines along the bottom there, didn't think of that at the time though do remember thinking it looked a bit weird. The background sadly I threw in there in a matter of minutes and it shows, just wanted to finish it at the time. ^.^ Was it easier and faster? Well, no, actually was about twice as long. Lol! But then it's the first time trying it that way so not giving up just yet with it. :)

Metsys

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:25:41 -0000

I like it! It doesn't look mechanical. The line variation is subtle enough that it looks natural instead of overdone. Your choice of thick and thins are well placed. I noticed in some places where as soon as a silhouette line of an object turns into an inner object line it suddenly changes thickness, such as where the purple mushroom cap meets it's stem, and other places on the bug. I'm not sure exactly what your inking process was but it looks like there's an additional line or stroke that makes up the silhouette of each individual object. It actually looks just fine on the bug, but the one on the mushroom was the only one that bugged me (no pun intended). So the same effect is on the centipede, and it works, but it's not working on the mushroom. Probably because the mushroom is two big overlapping shapes instead of a bunch of intertwining shapes, and it looks odd when the line thickness suddenly changes on something that big. The only other critique I really have are the line colors for the stem of the mushrooms and the bottom of the bug, basically any part where the value of the grass is close to the value of the line. A darker line in those areas would help separate the foreground objects from the grass, and make it look like there's more shadow down there. And maybe have some blades of grass overlapping parts of the bug and mushrooms? But now I'm just nitpicking. So yeah, it looks really good. Obviously it gives you more control, but the real question is was inking with Illustrator faster and easier for you. I do think that the line quality in this is one is an improvement, so hopefully the process is easier too. Good work!

KoOkY!

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:08:49 -0000

Metsys said: Your welcome :).

I went through that as well and first Illustrator inking results are here: http://kooky.jaxpad.com/image/18309/happy-bug I still don't think I was varying the line widths nearly as much as I should have been though guess that'd be my fault instead of Illustrator's. :D Any critique, please feel free... Wasn't colored in Ill. though that was still PS.

Metsys

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:45:18 -0000

Your welcome :).

Fr0styRyan

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:41:41 -0000

Just wanna thank you all who gave links to online resources, as well as Metsys for the video tutorial. I'll see if I can give Illustrator a shot, though it might take some getting used to. :3 If I have another question, I'll come back and ask my concerns.

KoOkY!

Thu, 29 May 2008 01:23:58 -0000

Metsys said: I just stumbled on this today and thought I'd add it to the topic: http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/lines.htm It's tips about inking in various programs. The artist also compares inking with Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, and Sketchbook.

Cool! Actually found my old copy of Illustrator (9.0) so was finally able to go through a bit of your tutorial Metsys. Did a silly sketch over in my sketchbook area that I'm going to try to ink tomorrow in Illustrator. See what kinda mess I can make of that. :P

Sorinnt

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:18:42 -0000

i just found out...........i cant put a smart vector object into photoshop elements.....and photoshop cs2 costs over £500..........can anyone find any cheaper price for it.....???

Drakenhart

Wed, 14 May 2008 14:46:49 -0000

*bookmarks* Thank you!

Metsys

Mon, 12 May 2008 18:10:20 -0000

I just stumbled on this today and thought I'd add it to the topic: http://www.itchy-animation.co.uk/lines.htm It's tips about inking in various programs. The artist also compares inking with Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, and Sketchbook.

Sorinnt

Sat, 10 May 2008 21:42:34 -0000

thanks...i'll go try it then.....imma bit short on the cash at the mo...

Metsys

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:37:07 -0000

Illustrator is an Adobe product, part of the CS3 suite. If you are a student you can get Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign for $400. Check with your school though because some college bookstores manage to sell it for less. Or, if you already own Photoshop CS3, Illustrator by itself costs $200. Academicsuperstore.com is probably the best place to get software with a student discount. I'm pretty sure you can also download a trial from the Adobe website to give it a try.

Sorinnt

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:27:29 -0000

I would really like to know where i can find this illustrator.....looks as though it would help my art a lot

Metsys

Thu, 08 May 2008 06:20:05 -0000

Illustrator is REALLY good with cell shading. If you use calligraphic brushes to do line drawings and want to quickly fill it in using Illustrator, select all your lines, click on Object > Expand Appearance (you need to this otherwise you'll loose your thick and thin lines when you convert it to a Live Paint Group). Then press K to select the Live Paint Bucket, make sure all your line art is still selected then click on it to covert it to a Live Paint Group, and now you can start filling in areas with the currently selected color (default is transparent so pick a new color). Also, since your line art isn't just strokes anymore, you can use the Live Paint tool to change the color of your line art too. The now solid lines will still have the original stroke line in the middle, so you'll have to color both sides of the line unless you fix that. To fix it (if you want to) select the middle line by using the direct select tool (shortcut A), and then press delete twice (once for the arc and the second time for the entire line). Holding down the left mouse button when you paint lets you fill multiple areas at once. Once you are done with that you can expand the Live Paint and start using the knife tool to separate the filled areas for two-tone shading—or three, or four, however many tones you want. There could be a more elegant way of doing this because I've found rendering bugs when you have two shapes that butt up against each other which is what happens when you use the knife tool; overlapping shapes don't do that. You can start using gradients too if you want. If you are really adventurous you can use gradient meshes, which are really cool.

KoOkY!

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:25:06 -0000

Thanks Metsys! I'd been wanting to learn how to ink in Illustrator and will check out the tutorials once I get some time to spare. Busy week ahead. :P Has to be faster than PS pen tool right? Or at least will be more dynamic with the line widths. Hehe. And yeah that's some intense illustrator work under that Cris Vector link, whew! Looks like Illustrator would be great for cell shading though.

Metsys

Wed, 07 May 2008 21:53:38 -0000

Thanks Vizon. I remember hating Illustrator too, for illustrating with anyway. It's great for graphic design where things are so accurately and deliberately placed, but when it comes to creating images quickly it's not really suited for it, depending on the style of course. That's why I rarely use Illustrator for my illustration work unless I need to add typography or logos or something like that. I don't do the cartoony style often, but when I do I most certainly use Illustrator for that. It really boils down to the style you like, how much time it takes you to do it, and how much you get paid for it. Luckily that inking thing I showed is super quick and easy to do, and there's even quicker things you can do with Illustrator if you like solid color fills and two tone shading (like Live Paint and the knife tool). I have seen people do some amazing work with Illustrator, like this lunatic for example: http://www.crisvector.com/ Now there's someone I wish would give a demo. I can't imagine how much time goes into those, but it's amazing stuff nonetheless.

Vizon

Wed, 07 May 2008 04:41:15 -0000

Wow nice tutorial. You should post it in the "tutorials" forum also so that even more people can see it. I knew a lot of the hot keys and techniques you use, but some of them I didn't know (like how to use the lock transparency feature). Makes me wish I had Illustrator now...a little (this is a big step for me as I've hated it for a long time - so frustrating to learn).

Metsys

Wed, 07 May 2008 01:43:05 -0000

Yay! It works now! Both videos are listed here: http://www.vimeo.com/metsystutorials Direct link to Part 1: http://www.vimeo.com/982474 Direct link to Part 2: http://www.vimeo.com/982847 The new files worked great, and splitting them up into 15 minute chunks helped too. Next time people won't have to wait so long now that I know what works. Although for a video this length it still takes about 4 hours from final edit to it being available on Vimeo. Yeah, I was really used to using Vimeo for short videos. Anyway, I'm extremely happy with the results. The video quality for the HD stream is really good. I'm going to do all of my other video tutorials this way from now on: no mirrors, no torrents, HD, streamable, downloadable, and I don't have to host them. I already liked Vimeo before, but—wow, this service rocks. And I got the new Iris album today, so I'm in a pretty good mood. :)

Metsys

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:15:34 -0000

Oh, and here's how far I got the video tutorial before I went ahead and finished the image today. So there's a little teaser for ya until that video finishes converting.

Metsys

Tue, 06 May 2008 07:10:19 -0000

Yeah, the video is stuck on 11%. Hopefully it'll get fixed by tomorrow morning. Just in case something went really wrong, I uploaded the file again under a slightly different title hoping that at least one of them will finish. It's almost midnight now and well past peak hours, so I shouldn't have to wait through the queue for the video to start converting. EDIT: And neither of the videos worked. I'm going to upload the video in a different format. I've been thinking about showing some of my other stuff. I'm kind of an outsider and don't have any anthro art that I can show that isn't studio related. And even though I'm not hiding anything I'm still debating on how much I like being anonymous :). I was thinking about participating in the trading post when I have time and showing some original stuff here and there. But yeah, I have been thinking about it. If nothing else there's the squirrels image from earlier in the thread, and the following image is from the tutorial after an hours worth of work without having to give a demonstration while working. It's tricky illustrating and teaching at the same time, and after I finished the video I wanted to at least put another hour into the drawing—which I probably should have done a time lapse of. Ack. Well, all I really did was fix a few lines (and the cross eyes), separate the hair, skin and shirt fills into different layers so it would be easier to color, and did the usual painting techniques for the background. So you didn't really miss anything unless I don't do a video on painting. :)

KoOkY!

Tue, 06 May 2008 03:38:49 -0000

*pouts 'n waits seeing it's only 11% done* :) Can't wait to check it out. Do you have a gallery of your work somewhere also? Been curious to see some of what you've done.