Update: 8:40amI know some of you own and use a Powerbook G3 pismo just like me. The pismo is a great machine and I love it. The powerbook does have a design flaw though….

When you open the powerbook, the Apple symbol on the cover is upside down. This was fixed in the new powerbooks of course. Somebody decided to fix the problem on the pismo, check it out here. Thanks John, for the link.End Update

Sorry, the new comic will be up tomorrow.

The server was down the whole weekend. It went down sometime Saturday afternoon, while I was away. The server is back up and so far everything looks good. For the next couple of days, the site might act a little weird due to some more tweaking. If you encounter any major problems, please let me know as soon as possible.

In other news…

We’re guests at Otakon 2004 =)

w00t.

Issue 106 is finally done with a background. The background is just one layer, which is below all the other layers. I don’t have much to say about the background, just that it’s a mixture of the airbrush, lasso tool, and smudge tool.

Any questions about my coloring process can bediscussed here. I will try my best to answer them.

RAWR! Babydoll tees are now available!

Ok, Highlights.
To me, adding the highlights are fun. This is when the image rendering becomes very interesting and really stands out.

I start off by using the lasso tool and the dodge tool. I select the base color layer (for example the skin base color) and with the lasso tool I start making selections. After that, I select the dodge tool and set the brush to a soft edge brush. I start making the areas I selected lighter with the dodge tool. After I repeat the process to all the base colors, the next step is to add some kind of reflecting light in the shadow area. To do this, using the skin layer as an example again, I add a new layer above the shadow layer. The process is basically the same as the lasso and dodge tool, but this time I’m using the lasso tool and a regular soft edge brush.

Tomorrow, I will post the final version of the comic. Now back to work for me.

Any questions about my coloring process can bediscussed here. I will try my best to answer them.

RAWR! Babydoll tees are now available!

Ok, Shadows.
You will notice I have a “shadow” layer right above the base skin layer, but with a return character on the left. What does this mean? The “shadow” layer is grouped with the previous layer (Layer -> Group With Previous). This command allows you to use one layer as a mask for other layers. When you define a clipping group, the lowest layer in the group becomes the mask for the other layers in the group. If I went over the line while adding shadows to the skin, it would still look good and crisp.

Any questions about my coloring process can bediscussed here. I will try my best to answer them.

RAWR! Babydoll tees are now available!

I will go into detail later, I need food.

Gah! Sorry I fell asleep… I’m too tired.

Anyways, today I’m showing what I do after I have the lineart completed. I basically lay down the base (flat colors) for all the characters and objects in the panel. You will notice I have different layers for different colors. I have a shirt layer, skin layer, pants layer, etc. I like to keep them separate, you will see why tomorrow. Also, I have the lineart above all the colors, and the layer is set to multiply. Tomorrow I will show how I add shadows.

Any questions about my coloring process can bediscussed here. I will try my best to answer them.

RAWR! Babydoll tees are now available!

Ok, this week should be very interesting. Ananth basically explained what we’re planning to do this whole week, but I’ll talk about it as well.

You will notice Monday comic (Issue 106) is in black and white. The reason for this, I want to show you some of the steps I take when I color each comic. So on Tuesday, I will post an updated version of Issue 106. The updated version will have the base color. On Wednesday, Issue106 will have the base color and shadows. This will keep on going until Friday, which is when the comic should be completely rendered. We’re hoping this will work out well and help a lot of people who are interested in coloring in photoshop.

Writing up a long rant, read Ananth’s rant for now.