got rice ninja at 12:32AM, June 7, 2006

i know someone already beat me to it but i love that way you do messy hairstyles.

Tamerlane at 11:01PM, June 6, 2006

great!

Li Li at 1:53AM, May 30, 2006

I really like how you draw hairstyles. The story seems quite interesting as well. I'm keeping my eye out for this.

Killer_Queen at 12:29PM, May 28, 2006

I finally exist. Yes yes, I like it muchly. By thw way, I am going to need to borrow your scanner soon. Yes, I started. Fun eh?

threatening score at 8:15AM, May 28, 2006

keiganLee337: yeah, sorry about the delay.. i'm on vacation.. should a lot of pages done when i come back though.. ;-; Rich: thanks for the tips! whooooot! EinKun: thank you and... i really don't know.. maybe..>>;;;; Blackfire: thankyou kevii kun!!!!! @-@ jxknight: thank you thank you thank you!

jxknight at 7:49PM, May 22, 2006

cool simple style!

Blackfire at 5:47PM, May 22, 2006

Not bad ni chan keep up the good work i hopefully will be setting up soon and ill be apart of the drunk duck family with you and micah. AND QUIT BEING LAZY WHEN YOU WORK ON A CELL FINISH WITH PRIME ART GOT IT GOOD!

EinKun at 4:12PM, May 22, 2006

Ehhh you have style my friend! hmm hmm btw have we met before? -_^

threatening score at 4:11PM, May 22, 2006

well that's okay because i kind of "know" photoshop .. abit more than i did a few months ago.

Rich at 3:48PM, May 22, 2006

Looks like another person knows how to use the wand properly. Yeah, that technique requires touch ups here and there, but I have used it and it DOES work. I still suggest use of the polygonal lasso tool when first starting out, if only to get the hang of photoshop.

KeiganLee337 at 2:37PM, May 22, 2006

Whoa that's a long comment. But I have one to add (which may get me set on fire) about the magic wand. I use PhotoShop, and sometimes when I just don't have the time for anything else (and I *don't* have a tablet, so that's pretty often) I use the wand tool and then, to get rid of that thing with the line of white pixels, I expand the selected area by 3-5 pixels. Then I move to a layer below my line art and fill the selection. (After making sure the "all layers" box is un-checked for the fill tool.) The expanded selection usually makes the color fill an area all the way under the lineart, thereby eliminating those little white dots. As long as I do my coloring before I resize the comic for the web, all of the lines in my lineart are usually 3+ pixels wide, but for thinner lines, I expand by fewer pixels so that my color doesn't end up filling an area larger than the boundry lines. It still takes some touchup here and there, but it's a lot quicker than trying to use the mouse to trace out a selection, especially since in PhotoShop you can record functions to expand your selection by 2, 3, and 5 pixels so you don't even need to go into the menus to do it. The menu commands are, by the way, select->modify->expand... P.S. Please don't kill me wand-haters! It just saves so much time!

Rich at 3:11AM, May 22, 2006

LONGEST COMMENT EVER!!!

Rich at 3:11AM, May 22, 2006

You left a comment on my comic asking about photoshop tips. Looking at your standard black and white art, you are at least a good artist. So that does give you an advantage over most. That and your lineart is horrifically crisp. Seriously, that shit is smooth as hell. So clearly, with lineart like that, you must want coloring tips. Now first off, I'm not going to assume you are gonna do cel, flat, or soft shading, so you're gonna get advice for all three. Keep in mind, I'm telling you how I do them, not necessarily the most efficient way, but simply MY way of doing things. WHAT YOU NEED: -A wacom tablet (If you do not have one, consider yourself fucked. Yes, my techniques are still possible, but they will then take you forever to use effectively.) -Photoshop/GIMP (Either will work for pretty much anything. I assume you have photoshop 7 or CS. Still, most techniques I know will cover work on lower versions. I will assume you know the layout of the buttons. If you dont, find a diagram or something.) -Time (My ways of doing things are inefficient. You may adapt them later to fit you, but to start out, I strongly suggest you follow my instructions. If you do not wish to spend hours at your computer, then quit reading now. I am not trying to discourage you, but merely trying to state, this shit will consume your life.) -Scan your work at 600 DPI. You can shrink it later when its done. THE MOTHERFUCKING MAGIC WAND! -The magic wand. I know its tempting. But personally, I dont think you should use it. I use it for EMD!. But the way I make EVERYTHING MUST DIE! allows for that. Stay away from it and you will be happier. -STAY AWAY FROM THAT DAMN MAGIC WAND! AVOID IT LIKE THE MOTHERFUCKING PLAGUE! -You know how some comics have that icky white stuff between the coloring and the outline? Thats the wand's residue. -I imaging you think you know who satan is right? Well you know what? You dont. See that magic wand? Thats him. He wants to tempt you with a shitty halfassed way of coloring so the internet gets aweful comics. -Someday, when you have a couple years of experience under your belt, THEN you start using the wand. Until then, remember, it is evil. FLAT SHADING -More accurately the total LACK of shading. The easiest and quickest to do. Pros: -Looks clean -Easy -The first step a photoshopper must take to learn photoshop coloring. Cons: -Looks simple -Takes a shitpile of talent to use effectively -Ever hear of seppuku? If after a whole month you cant figure this out, try seppuku. HOW TO... 1. You want TWO layers. A color layer, and a lineart layer. Make sure the layer with your lineart is on top. Set it to multiply. 2. Zoom in and color your stuff using your brush tool of choice. If you lack a Wacom tablet, use the polygonal lasso to select the area, and fill it with the paint bucket. 3. Make sure you do upper layers first, clothes, hair, jewelry, etc. 4. Make a second color layer. Put it on the bottom. 5. Now color in everything remaining. See how you can go under all the upper color layer? Easy as pie. 6. Save and publish. CEL SHADING -You know the style of shading used in pretty much every anime ever made? Thats what this is. Pros: -When done right looks clean and crisp -Very professional looking -Hard to fuck up Cons: -You think you know time consuming? Try using cel shading. You'll be married and/or dead by the time you finish this shit. (But then again, maybe its just the most boring to do. -If you do fuck it up, it will look VERY VERY bad. -Some effects just dont look as cool with cel shading. HOW TO... 1. Again, two layers, a lineart and a color. 2. Again, flat color the whole thing. 3. Now here is the fun part, the actual shading. Make a new layer between the color and the lineart. Label it shading. 4. You have two options here, pen tool or brush. If you got a wacom tablet, use the brush, its quicker. If not, youre gonna using the pen. I will assume you know how to use the pen tool, and if you dont, there are lots of tutorials on it. BRUSH TECHNIQUE: Find a color that sticks out. It doesnt matter what it is, just one that sticks out. Now using the brush, zoom in and color all the area you want shaded in. I know, it looks fuckin wierd. Now set it to preserve transparency. Get the brush back out and set it to black. Color EVERY bit of shading solid black. Now set the layer opacity to 50%. Now save and youre done. PEN TECHNIQUE: This is why I dont do cel shading. You pretty much use the pen to make a selection of all the area you want shaded. Right click then, pick make selection. Color it all black, set to 50%, DONE! I know, it sounds easy, but takes forever. SOFT SHADING -This is like real life. Pros: -In the hands a skilled photoshopper, this style of coloring is absolutely beautiful -Easier to do than you think Cons: -And even easier to fuck up too! -You dont have a wacom tablet? Then forget about it. With the tablet it would be a quick job. Without, it is an eternity. -You mess it up, and your comic may look so ugly that even poisenedV's mom may look good by comparison. Yes, that is even with your good lineart. HOW TO... 1.Ok, you remeber the fun we had flat shading? Repeat the whole fucking process. Ok? Good. 2.Now make a single layer for each area you want shaded. 3. You are aware how a gradient works right? Pick a couple of different shades of a color. Add the lightest one to the area you want shaded first, going clear down to the darkest. Dont worry about accuracy, we'll clean up later. 4. You have all the areas on different layers shaded? Good. Now let me introduce you to my best buddy, the gaussian blur. Open the gaussian blur, adjust til you find a satisfactory effect, then run the blur. Go to ever layer that needs blurred then, and hit ctrl-f. 5. Now the clean up. You see all that extra horseshit that bled out of your shading? get out your eraser and clean that stuff off of everything but where its supposed to be. Do this for every layer. 6.Merge your layers. 7.Done, go get a biscuit for reading all of this shit. LETTERING -Stick to what you got now, it looks fine. SPECIAL EFFECTS -Every artist has thier little bag of tricks so that thier comic sticks out. I'll share my favorite ones with you. The soft blur outline: -I use this in Equinox to give the art a surreal feeling. Its actually quite simple. Copy your lineart layer, and blur it to about 6 pixels with the gaussian blur. Thats it. EMD! Coloring: -I mentioned I use the evil magic wand tool for EMD!. I can do that because of how it is inked. I select the areas using the polygonal lasso tool with anti aliasing turned off. This means that the white outline is minimal and can be beaten with one little trick. I copy the lineart to a lower layer, and set the layer options to stroke it by 4 pixels with black. I then rasterize the layer effects, and I then set it to stroke again, about 4 pixels, but white now. I doubt you will find much use for it, but you never know... This is all of my basic knowledge. I know it aint nothing special, but you asked for help, and therefore you get the help I think you need. Not knowing how much you know about the program, I tossed you into the deep end. Good luck and dont drown in confusion.

Ninja_Jette at 11:12AM, May 21, 2006

^^

KeiganLee337 at 10:48AM, May 21, 2006

Your comic intrigues me and I wish to read more. Woot for later today.