Issue 245: what's your sign?

[AI_Joe]

Why Flash and not Illustrator?

Flash allows you to vector-ink freehand. I believe Illustrator only has the pen tool, which, while powerful, is just not the same as making a freehand line.

Illustrator does a pressure brush tool, but it's not as versatile as Flash's (IMHO).

I should say ""works different".

[craigeth]

im sorry i still dont see how the flats serve much purpose. so in step 3 you did the flats. that took approx 1.5hours. then when you move into step 4 (colour) you just hide the flats layer anyway. or do you keep showing it when selecting with the wand tool? but that makes no sense either because you could just use the wand too and select inside the line-art. also, doesnt the polygonal selection tool only draw straight lines?

i dunno maybe im missing something here but it just seems pointless to make a greyscale flats layer if you're just gonna go over it with the colours anyway. i mean, dont you have all those colours in your head?

[ananth]

im sorry i still dont see how the flats serve much purpose. so in step 3 you did the flats. that took approx 1.5hours. then when you move into step 4 (colour) you just hide the flats layer anyway. or do you keep showing it when selecting with the wand tool? but that makes no sense either because you could just use the wand too and select inside the line-art. also, doesnt the polygonal selection tool only draw straight lines?

i dunno maybe im missing something here but it just seems pointless to make a greyscale flats layer if you're just gonna go over it with the colours anyway. i mean, dont you have all those colours in your head?

My guess is that you haven't tried the method. As you can see *points to latest comic* it obviously works, and allows for relatively quick coloring - Hawk colored the whole page in one night.

I'll lay it out, because Hawk is getting a little frustrated.

The greyscale layer first and foremost is used to block out the different areas of interest. Hawk explained all of this already, but I'll go over it again ... once you color something with a soft-edged brush (i.e. the colors are no longer hard-edged), you can no longer make a clean selection. You get jagged selections. But what if Hawk wants to go through the rest of the drawing and add lighting all around, and then go back into previous areas and create uniform highlights across the whole image? He can't just select the arm anymore, because the magic wand tool gets fucked up by gradients previously produced by the soft-edged brush. So, he toggles back to his greyscales, selects the arm, and then goes back to the color layer and adds highlights. These selections can also be made while the greyscale layer is hidden, which is incredibly useful.

The greyscale layer isn't meant to be a part of the final product. It's merely a tool.

It is also worth noting that the comic isn't normally done over the span of a week ... it's done in 1-2 days. Have the foresight to set files up with the greyscale layer before coloring can (and does) save a lot of time in the long run. A lot of Hawk's Photoshop technique has less to do with wowing people and more to do with efficiency - something which is often overlooked.

[craigeth]

oh ok, cool.

haha. thanks for explaining it ananth. sorry hawk.

[Sraen]

I'd like to say thanks to Hawk and Ananth. You guys simply amaze me - you both have so much talent that it is almost impossible. Keep up the good work.

Now it's off to the Color Me section to pick one out and attempt this method.

P.S. You guys rock harder than anybody in the known universe.

[DrunkenC0wb0y]

My guess is that you haven't tried the method. As you can see *points to latest comic* it obviously works, and allows for relatively quick coloring - Hawk colored the whole page in one night.

I'll lay it out, because Hawk is getting a little frustrated.

I guess you guys haven't really noticed that these guys have lives too and are trying their best to help you all out. But you guys need to calm down a little bit, read and re-read the forum posts and the ones on the main site. Hawk explains it all in there and it is pretty damn clear. So please read and re-read everything before asking a question because it seems as if you are all too hyped up to just figure it out yourselves. Hawk is doing is best and he is only human, give him some space to breathe guys. And Ananth thank you for being so patient.

[ananth]

My guess is that you haven't tried the method. As you can see *points to latest comic* it obviously works, and allows for relatively quick coloring - Hawk colored the whole page in one night.

I'll lay it out, because Hawk is getting a little frustrated.

I guess you guys haven't really noticed that these guys have lives too and are trying their best to help you all out. But you guys need to calm down a little bit, read and re-read the forum posts and the ones on the main site. Hawk explains it all in there and it is pretty damn clear. So please read and re-read everything before asking a question because it seems as if you are all too hyped up to just figure it out yourselves. Hawk is doing is best and he is only human, give him some space to breathe guys. And Ananth thank you for being so patient.

Thanks ... and we're not trying to stop people from asking questions. We definitely welcome them. But please please pleaaaase read everything before posting ... the answer to your question may very well have already been answered.

[craigeth]

DrunkenC0wb0y, just because i asked for something to be explained doesnt mean i didnt read the thread. if you look yourself, i have posted multiple times on different pages in this thread. i have been keeping watch on what people ask and what hawk and ananth answer.

also, no disrespect to hawk or ananth, in fact all the more respect for being gratious enough to do this, but this thread was not intended for everyone to come in and kiss hawk and ananths ass, it was created so that we could come in and ask questions about this little tutorial that the creators of applegeeks are putting on for us.

there have been a few questions throughout the thread (mostly 'why flash and not illustrator' or 'which tablet rulz') that didnt need to be asked multiple times. i can definately understand why hawk would get frustrated by that, it frustrates me as a reader. but asking the same questions 5times is different to asking for an answer to be explained a bit more.

Edit:
"Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post. "

well ananth pretty much said what i did but not as long. haha.
 

[DrunkenC0wb0y]

My guess is that you haven't tried the method. As you can see *points to latest comic* it obviously works, and allows for relatively quick coloring - Hawk colored the whole page in one night.

I'll lay it out, because Hawk is getting a little frustrated.

I guess you guys haven't really noticed that these guys have lives too and are trying their best to help you all out. But you guys need to calm down a little bit, read and re-read the forum posts and the ones on the main site. Hawk explains it all in there and it is pretty damn clear. So please read and re-read everything before asking a question because it seems as if you are all too hyped up to just figure it out yourselves. Hawk is doing is best and he is only human, give him some space to breathe guys. And Ananth thank you for being so patient.

Thanks ... and we're not trying to stop people from asking questions. We definitely welcome them. But please please pleaaaase read everything before posting ... the answer to your question may very well have already been answered.

No problem, and I can understand that you guys are fans; hell so am I but you just need to know when your beating a dead horse here. You guys all mean well but sometimes stuff gets off the subject and into everyone being very needy all of a sudden. Haha I have a ton of questions I want to ask the guys about technique and the whatnot but I try to save them for appropriate times. Just remember that if you guys piss Ananth and Hawk off enough they have the power to just end it, so be polite. I hate playing the bad guy but hey sometimes stuff needs to be said and for the sanity of these two haha. Some of the things you guys are asking can be figured out on your own or found out with a little bit of web searching.


~Eternal Peacemaker,    C0wb0y.


And Craigeth, none of this was pointed towards you it was more of an everyone as a whole sort of thing bud.

[ananth]

Alright, you guys had your say, back to the topic.

Any more questions?

[craigeth]

id like to know what ananth does in the case of writers block. 

[Silent Slaier]

Hawk, how do you decide where you need to shade?  Is it just artist instict now or do you actually have to think about what's covering what and where the lights should be at?

[craigeth]

actually i have another question for hawk that i havent ever seen brought up on the internet.

a while back i did a short little comic. i did it using photoshop on my powerbook. its a fairly old computer, 500mhz, so its not one of the new brighter screens.
anyway, after id finished, i sent the comic to a friend of mine who is  on a pc. he kept telling me that it was too dark and that he couldnt see alot of it. so much to the point that he didnt get the joke. i thought, "what?? i can see everything clear as day on my powerbook.." so i transfered the comic over to my pc to see how it looked on that monitor and would you believe it was so dark i couldnt even begin to see what was going on. even when my pc monitor was turned up to full brightness.

so what i want to know is, when you've finished the entire comic and flattened the image, do you use levels to brighten up the comic a bit? ive noticed ive had to do this often in order to brighten the image up for darker screens.

[Gamble]

Hey hawk and anth thnx alot for doing this for all us fans... Its a very nice thinkgs. this coloring one was my favorite and really showed me alot of things.

My question relates to the guys arm the  one beside the girl. For his do you do the same thing of just adding in fills and then just used a really small bursh for the highlights in his jacket? and On the glass that brown line going up is that supposed to show the reflection of the glass cuz if so how do you notice how something like that would reflect. do you just go form everyday life for reflection and shadows or do you have something that helped u along with those?

[Hawk]

Hawk, how do you decide where you need to shade?  Is it just artist instict now or do you actually have to think about what's covering what and where the lights should be at?

since i have been doing this for so long, it has become an instict. I'm also a very observant person, I take mental notes of my surroundings and how objects look in different enivroments.

also any basic art class explains about lighting.