Info General Artists' Studio Discussion/Hangout Thread

[Roflkopt3r]

Hey,
I thought it might be nice to have such a thread specifically for selfmade arts/image editing programs (I guess Photoshop in most cases) for all kinds of small stuff, discussions or simple questions related to it.
Since we've just been wondering in general hangout thread where to place such a thread it's in Tutorials & Workshops for now, it might be moved to a different forum soon

To add a first personal post:
Right now I'm struggling with the recreation of outlines from Berserk. This very detailed style of most Seinen (it seems, after all I only read Beserk and Shigurui from that genre yet and both have very detailled drawings) is a pain compared to clean and easy outlines like Naruto. I'm usually working with a fully zoomed out overview to figure out details and an extremely closely zoomed in version to set prezise paths.
But as Beserk is incredibly detailled and partially has very precise shadows/lightning etc., close zoom ins become totally muddy while details aren't clearly visible in normal size.
This little part gave me a hard time, I think I studied at least 15 reference images to fully understand what's what
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss203/T33_K3SS3LCH3N/Photoshop/Matsch.jpg

Still, at least everything looks much finer when actually drawn than the path-versions
Current (incomplete) state including some mistakes (such as totally screwed up shoulder plates which have to be remade from the first and a bunch of useless lines):

Spoiler

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

The lines doesn't look too bad actually. And yeah, I think you've figured it out right, Naruto is prolly one of the simplest drawn mangas and very easy to clean/outline w/e.

So you're using PS for the cleaning work, heh?
Not a big fan of colouring others' lines to be honest, but whenever I feel to colour a panel or something I simply redraw the lines myself using the program Paint Tool SAI. The lines become way cleaner than just cleaning an orginal page, and you can modify the strength of the lines yourself. Which I believe is super useful especially when you need to have thin hair and stuff.

The only problem is that it takes more time and might not be applictable on drawn out mangas like Berserk, Gantz etc. However if you've get bored some time, just give it a shot.
lines with SAI

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

I'm using Path Tool usually for outlines as it's the way I'm used to do it. It might be the most time-robbing way to do, but it's also the most precise and best to scrap and change things. And, of course, the lines are perfectly clean in the end as there's nothing of the original in it. I simply grew attached to the method as it's one of the first things I did using Photoshop to create simple comic characters.
I'll certainly take a look at SAI, thanks for the hint.

http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss203/T33_K3SS3LCH3N/Photoshop/Berserk-Paths.jpg
(as far as I know the golden rule is to use as few anchor points as possible - still this is how it looks like as I easily ignore it for very simple lines which won't go wrong anyways and only stick to it for complex details which might require rework a couple of times)
At least I figured out a rule of the thumb (damn that's really the english word for "Faustregel" (Fist-Rule/german)?) for Berserk Outlines: Anything that can't be identified must be a belt buckle! (I roughly guess that these outlines contain 10 belt buckles, without counting the repeating clasps on Kjaskar's pants)

I was toying around with a Shigurui shot recently and somehow had the absurd idea of only using Hue/Saturation adjustments to colourise it as the original image already had perfect shadows/highlights, here's the result (without any afterwork, only one "layer" of Hue/Saturation):
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss203/T33_K3SS3LCH3N/Misc/GennosukeSchaftblock.jpg

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

Was only using PS for colourings so far, so I don't even know wat differents methods there are
But this one you've showed does not look that much different from what I am using. Also got those points which I can modify the lines with, as well as their strength.

Spoiler

I recall you have to modify the brush first to have a different strength of line in PS, or is there a quicker way to do so?

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

I recall you have to modify the brush to have a different strength of line in PS, or is there a quicker method to do so?

A path can be drawn with different tools in photoshop, I guess Brush is the most common one. I couldn't think of an easier way. Simply opening the brush tool, adjusting everything necessary (usually only brush size) and then let PS draw the path with it.
I mean it's only one adjustment for drawing everything at once after the path is finished so it is rather quick.

For a data like I created only using one path, this leads to a uniform line thickness. It's possible to seperate the paths though (technically everything is one path on my example) and draw them in different strength. There's also a setting called "Simulate Pressure" for drawing paths but that's of no use for outlines I'ld say.

I think there are other ways to draw paths as well but I don't know them :P

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

I tried out that pen tool few times, but got confused with the path-ing. Had to draw and cancel that thing every time I wanted to start a new line. I don't really get how to work with it properly. A tutorial woulda be sweet lol.

But since I'm pretty much out of time atm and not in an artistic mood either,..meh D:

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

It's quite easy to use actually, maybe I'll make one but there's actually little to explain

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

ohw would you do that? sweet.
or you might just link me one, if you ...accidently.. bang into one :wink

 

[Googlez_kun]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

I'd like to use the path-tool,but it somehow does not work anymore,so i have to redraw everything myself ;-;

From where did you get SAI,M?

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

Was a recommendation from nat back then (though I figured she's using a different prog aleady ). Don't know where I dl'ed it. Google it, however it's not a freeware, one actually got to pay for the license.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

ohw would you do that? sweet.
or you might just link me one, if you ...accidently.. bang into one :wink

Done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UVPLNwEc6Q
I hope it's enough to give a good overview on it, since Pen tool actually is quite user-friendly
The final step I didn't mention would be right-click -> Draw Path of course.

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

ohkay, thanks. That one can use them on different layers was news to me. Still don't know how to 'draw' properly with it though. Or can I select just one path that it'll be traced with a brush, without affecting the others? Gotta try it out some day..

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

ohkay, thanks. That one can use them on different layers was news to me. Still don't know how to 'draw' properly with it though. Or can I select just one path that it'll be traced with a brush, without affecting the others? Gotta try it out some day..

That's something I wondered myself, to me it seems that it's only possible to "draw" a whole set of paths at once. However, it's relatively easy to first make a set of subpaths and than split it into several paths which can be drawn seperatly.
Also it is possible to draw a single subpath, but it seems that requires to select exactly one subpath and not more at a time, which would make it taking quite a while to draw a complex lineart.

---

Right now I'm working on some super simple shots to get some experience. Sadly I always tend to try the large projects right away, but that's not a good approach for me as I'm really low on experience still. However, the simple shots can be surprisingly great sometimes...
Working on this shot now because I loved it right from the start
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss203/T33_K3SS3LCH3N/Berserk/CaskaundderApfel.jpg
Does anyone have an idea what that strange round object to the left of the chewed apple in her mouth might be?

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

Some stuff from the background. A round little window in the wall (?) I'd say.

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

I'm so slow right now, It's so many days since I started this one
http://i576.photobucket.com/albums/ss203/T33_K3SS3LCH3N/Berserk/GattsimRegenZW1.jpg
Yet I didn't invest much time in it yet...

---

Does anyone have a clue which eye colour Guts may have? I'm working on a Berserk shot for the coloured arts contest and I can't decide on an eye colour for him

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

the rain effect and all are pretty cool. are you planning to add some shapes to the background as well? I think it'd give the picture the special 'somethin-somethin'.

I put Berserk on hold after lke the 7th chapter, so I have no idea which eye colour he may has to be honest. I'd colour his eyes brown with a tad red... for the insanity effect lol

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

Red would be too crazy ^^
I thought about brown as well, I'm still not sure which colour I'm gonna use. I tried green but screwed up, so I only chose blue for now but not as a final choice.

I've no idea what I'm gonna do with that shot of Guts in the rain, right now I'm kinda busy with the young Guts shot as I think it's suitable for delivering be quite a spectacular result

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

according to this 'screen shot' you're well served by choosing brown..

Spoiler

 

[Roflkopt3r]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

I'm currently mostly trying to combine clearly defined shadows like typical for most Shounen/anime with gradients, I'm kinda struggling with getting a nice effect from combining these two. Hope I can do that some day.

However, the shot is progressing

http://yfrog.com/f/6xguttsbesiegtbazusozsj/
I hope it's not too bloody for the contest in the end... after all the original contains an almost scientifical cross-section through a skull and brain.

 

[Evil3ye]

Re: General Digital Art/Photoshop Discussion/Hangout Thread

was bit bored and tried to rebuild the face of an old art to make it more realistic. started with the eyes, over the lips and heh.. got stuck on the nose

Spoiler

tutorial would be sweet