BW Line Art

[Steve B]

Henry,
My memory is that when you do textured lineart with the Watercolor brush, you bump the res up so the tool reads as an ink tool better. Is that true? How big is your canvas here, and how big do you use the watercolor tool for the linework?

I agree that the Watercolor and Felt Pen tools are the most "realistic" IMO. They interact with the canvas texture. I guess there are comic artist out there who use Bristol board and what not, and want a really smooth line, like what the Ink Pen offers, but that could be just as easily accomplished with the Watercolor tool by just removing the canvas texture. Of course, the Ink Pen also offers smoothing, but I don't really care for that look. A bit too clean to me. I like to see the imperfections of the human hand at work when I look at a painting. That's the way "in".

It's all a matter of preference, but regardless, I like where you're going with these things.

[Steve B]

Attachment 76453

Turning Black into White in ArtRage, Quick and Easy...very useful...using a stencil...

edit- I see that the image didn't load. It's the one from a few pages back, where you have the girl done in B and W ink and then you made a stencil to make the opposite image. end edit--

Henry, what tool are you using for the linework here? Particularly the area where the girls hair is shown with these long strokes. This kind of "dry brush" textured look comes off wonderfully, but I've found it hard to get in AR. Is it the Watercolor tool or the Oils tool, with the Loading setting turned down?

As before, it would be very informative and helpful to know how big the image is and how large of a setting you're using the tool at. Thanks for sharing these images!


2nd edit- BTW, the Brendan Leach stuff is great. Real scratchy and full of life. I particularly like his lettering, and how he introduces it to the website layout. Thanks for sharing it.

[Henry Stahle]

Hi Steve B,

I usually work on high resolution doing line art. 300 - 600 dpi. Sometimes less, but never less than 150, then you can see all the jaggies if you print it out. The WC brush is of no antialiasing when using it like I do. So therefore high resolution is important.

The size of the brush can vary between 10 and 20 %. Mostly 10.

Image size: A4 is a common size since my printer is a A4 printer. For comics I use double size when drawing (A3) but then at 300 dpi. After scaling the A3 to A4 (50%) the line art is as crisp as working in 600 dpi mode directly in A4.

The Art Felt pen was used in this image.



Thanks for commenting! Hope my answers helps you understand my xperiments...

[Steve B]

Yeah, that was helpful, though I'm curious- if you're using the Felt Pen, how are you getting those long dry strokes in the hair? I can only seem to get that effect with the Watecolor brush, using a low Loading effect. What you've got going there is very rich and organic texturally. I really like it.,

[Henry Stahle]

Yeah, that was helpful, though I'm curious- if you're using the Felt Pen, how are you getting those long dry strokes in the hair? I can only seem to get that effect with the Watecolor brush, using a low Loading effect. What you've got going there is very rich and organic texturally. I really like it.,

Well, I dont know. My Art Pen / Felt Pen settings are: 75% pressure, 100% softness and 0% wetness. Maybe also my Wacom settings help me... the Tip Feel is set second to the left or "Firm".
I also tend to swing my arm instead of my wrist to get more steady lines. I guess you have seen this image Before from Kirby Fleischer:



I sometimes follow his advice.

Here is another idea I am trying out: some gritty spray and gray lines for the background. I Think it can be useful.

[D Akey]

Super.

I think line quality is like a voice in singing or style in playing a guitar. It's all about character and tone. And of course, it is interesting to match a line quality with a subject, and when coupled with the stylization of the characters you create a distinct voice.

So many drawings exist in our culture that picking one will often create associations with art that existed before. I think one style that comes to mind is the famous Zap Comix, especially the stuff drawn by R. Crumb out of San Francisco in the 1960s. It was identifiable with the hippie counter culture. It's as identifiable to me as listening to a Janis Joplin recording and those artists who try to emulate her style. Similar to Jimi Hendrix's guitar style that so many artists have taken on. And then the new artists who emulate their style then go on to new things in that direction or they keep expanding within the range the original artist did. It's like so many other areas when there's an appetite for a look, somebody will generally go there.

Yes. I agree, the animator's line (Popeye above) is an identifiable look, and it came about from having to paint within those lines for film where they needed to match countless drawings one to the next without it popping on film. It's no longer necessary to have a closed line anymore because the ink and paint process has evolved with computers, but it still is used a lot because it's practical. . . and it looks good in that it describes the form but generally doesn't draw attention away from the cartoon character. So that page with the rules shows how to make Popeye look like the way the professionals do it (and some artists aspired to be animators and had to learn to draw that way). But it certainly is not the only way. But it gives a recognizable professional animation voice that has use in other contexts.

It's delightful to experiment and catalog ways of drawing as you're doing. I'm very impressed. It's quite a gift for people aspiring to drawing to share your process.

Bravo!

[Henry Stahle]

R. Crumb...oh! yes! He is great. But my favourite artists in the american comics realm are George Herriman and Bill Watterson...they are unbeatable to me.

Here are the settings I used for the Beatnik Beagle:

[Henry Stahle]

By using a character doll it is easy to get the grip of the different angles of his face...so I model a clay+papiermaché figure and take photos with my webcam, mobile phone or tablet and then trace the photo in ArtRage. Easy and effective..!

[Henry Stahle]

This BW line drawing is made using the Ink Pen. The colouring in made using the same tool. These are the settings:

[L Skylar Brown]

Wonderful way of working! I like your process. What I do is a variation similar to yours. I am classically trained in the Dutch, &/or Italian Camera Obscura way of painting. (You might enjoy David Hockney's videos explaining how mirrors & C.O. gave imagery such a boost toward total realism.) I do the same thing, just using computer tools to achieve the same levels.