Well, here we go. My first tutorial on Blogger. I hope this works.Welll this tutorial will be to show the way I do my comics on PAINTER 9.5. STEP 1
This is how i start. I like to do vertical strips, mainly because that way the reader can't see what's comming later in the strip. ^^;
I already have the colors i will use in my pallete, aswell as the tools in a separate window. refer to the Painter Help panel to see how to make your own tool window.
STEP 2
Ok, so now i start sketching out the comic. I never plan my comics ahead of time (big mistake.) Infact... i usually make them up as i go along XD
Because of that i never worry about the placement of my drawing. Why? because im drawing in a computer so it doesn't mater. i got fancy tools that let me move stuff around later ^^
To sketch i use the Pencil Brush with the "sketching pencil" variant. The size varies depenting on the size of the document, but it's usually 1.5 or 2.5. The opacity is 100%, and the Resat between 75%-90%, but never full, it allows you to get nice soft lines and yet you will still be able to see details. The Bleed is 30% and the Feature is 1.4. What does that mean? i have no idea....>>
STEP 3
Alright! now it's time to get serious. Once you finish sketching it's time to ink the drawing. I try not to choose black, in this case i'll be using a navy blue.
The tool i will be using is the Pen brush with the "Flat Color" variant. by pressing Ctrl+B you get into the Brush Creator menu. I'm not gona go into detail and tell you all the brush settings. Mainly becasue i don't remember wahat makes this specific brush special fromt the standard variant. Either way, experiment around. The white area next to the menu is to test your brush as you change the settings.
STEP 4
Now the inking begins. I select the canvas layer with the sketch (Ctrl+A) and using the layer adjuster tool (the button to the right of the brush tool) i click once on the image. This moves the sketch to a new layer, leaving the canvas clear. I change the setting of the sketch layer to "gel" and i lower the opacity.Then i beggin inking on the canvas layer.
STEP 5
w00t!! now, once the lineart is out of the way you can fix any placement mistakes. Make sure to drop any new layer containing lineart, that way you keep them all in the same place. After my placement is finished i go on with the text. Everytime you type new text a new layer is created. this helps if you want to play around with the location of the text, but make sure you drop it to the canvas layer along with the line art.
There's a handy button at the bottom left of the layer's menu. It looks like a bunch of sheets stacked together. When you have a layer selected, press this button and it gives you the option to drop the layer. ^^
STEP 6
Now i add all the extras (arows, word ballons, anything exciting-looking) To do this icreate a new layer, switch the layer's type to GEL, and i start drawing.
Now for the fun part!
STEP 7
Shading time!! And yes, i shade before i color. I do this because it helps chose a light source. This should be the main focus when coloring or toning. ALOT of mistakes are made by not paying attention to this.
Do, make sure you have your colors in the mixer. I only used 3 in this comic, i usually just use one, or sometimes none. Its up to you to chose this part.
To shade, i make a new layer, ( i deleted my sketch layer since i don't need it any more), change the layer mode to gel, and i start shading. I use the same tool that i used to ink. It's sharp, and very solid. Im not really looking for a traditional-tool type of look at the time.
Now you're almost done. If you want to add color, do the same steps from shading. New layer, set to gel, and color. After about 30 minutes i had something like this:
Putting the layer in "gel" works the same as the "multiply" option in Photoshop. In painter, however, 'gel' and 'multiply' give different outcomes. Try them and see which one you like more.
Well, i hope this proved helpfull, or atleast insightfull. ^^
-Gabby
