[Art/Writing] Jairus: Merry Christmas

[Jairus]

Okay, I got one more drawing inked today... and I also bought Photoshop! Yay! This shall be the weekend of experimentation!

Anyway, here's Jyrras Highwind, inked.

Jyrras Highwind, inked

Anyway, I made a few changes between this and the last version. The head was bugging me, so I fixed it, but he ended up looking like he'd gotten a bit of a haircut. I also realized that with how his jacket was posed, we should be able to see the right side of his t-shirt, so I added that down at the bottom.

Anyway, as always, comments and constructive criticisms are appreciated.

I'm currently thinking about revising the Mark VII and VIII Roland stat's and posting them... thanks to Ren, I've made a few changes. Anyhoo...

[WhiteFox]

The lines look kind of light. Could be your ink, could be how you scanned it. By the way, if you ink on paper, set your scanner to Black and White. You'll get better results.

Anyway... I really should have commented on this when it was in pencils, sorry. The handdoesn't look like it's gripping the haft, really. The haft should be braced against the crook of the thumb, the fingers should be wrapped around the haft, and the thumb isn't quite at the right angle.

I drew a picture.
And the structure behind it.

Other then that, he's missing eyebrows. That's easy to fix, tho.

Other then *that*, it's a good picture overall. It's definitely better inking, and the character has a better sense of volume and mass. I like the fabric on the pants, too. (The cut of his collar is a bit off, tho.)

To expand on "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast":

When you slow down, you think about your actions more carefully. This isn't a conscious thing, it's just paying attention to what your doing more clearly. There is a difference between this and slowing down to be extra careful. Being "extra careful" usually makes unsteady lines, or trying to "fix" lines in the pencil work as you're inking it. Both are bad.

Eventually, with enough practice, you'll start to notice that your pen moves at the same speed no matter what you're inking. This is where being smooth makes you fast. But at the same point, you still have to be paying attention to what you're doing. It's a speed that comes when you stop frantic, worried, nervous, or rushed, and proceed with confidence and focus.

Most importantly, you stop thinking about what you're doing because it has become natural to you.

This is a really ephemeral thing to describe, it's more of a sense or feeling that you get when you do something, rather then a thing you do. First person shooters call it being in the zone. Calligraphers call it rythm, because each stroke is sure and without hesitation. In sword fighting it's called action without thought because your body moves on their own.

I got the quote from a move called "Sniper" It's an ok movie at best, but that line always stuck with me.

*Sigh.* Another wall o' text. This is getting to be a habit.

[EDIT:] Whoo, Photoshop? Congratulations. There's a whole new can of worms. When ever you do something, make sure you're on the right layer.

[Jairus]

The lines look kind of light. Could be your ink, could be how you scanned it. By the way, if you ink on paper, set your scanner to Black and White. You'll get better results.

Oh, definitely. The ink is actually black, but the picture does look much better when scanned in black+white (see Pip XIII and Deathbringer: same inking style, just scanned in B+W). If you want, I'll scan and post a link to a B+W version.

Anyway... I really should have commented on this when it was in pencils, sorry. The handdoesn't look like it's gripping the haft, really. The haft should be braced against the crook of the thumb, the fingers should be wrapped around the haft, and the thumb isn't quite at the right angle.

I drew a picture.
And the structure behind it.

Argh. Yeah, I'm not used to drawing hands yet. I couldn't quite get the look right when I was penciling it in, so I ended up with this. Oh well, practice makes perfect. Next time I'll get the hands right. Or at least better. Thanks for the points, as always.

And the links don't seem to be working.

Other then that, he's missing eyebrows. That's easy to fix, tho.

Gyah. Eyebrows. Oh well, easy fix indeed. What angle do you think they should be at? Definitely not inward. I'm thinking downward, to kind of carry that embarrassed/shy look that his new head/face seems to have.

I'm used to forgetting things on my drawings. On a few of these I've forgotten the tail... though that was because I wasn't used to anthro art (or art AT ALL). I think it's to the point that I'll have to remind myself NOT to draw the tails (and ears and funky hair) once I get to drawing MY characters.

Other then *that*, it's a good picture overall. It's definitely better inking, and the character has a better sense of volume and mass. I like the fabric on the pants, too. (The cut of his collar is a bit off, tho.)

Yeah... I kind of cheated though: I used the lineart of Cid Highwind from FFVII to help me get the weight of the costume right, though I ended up simplifying it a lot. But since I was A) drawing from eye and B) adapting it to a shorter character, i think it worked out okay. The last picture (Jyrras Zero) is a better example of my skills with clothing. Cut of his collar? Hm... yeah, I can kind of see that.

We'll have to see how good I can do clothes normally when I get that far (Jyrras in Zero's R2 outfit doesn't count).

To expand on "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast":

When you slow down, you think about your actions more carefully. This isn't a conscious thing, it's just paying attention to what your doing more clearly. There is a difference between this and slowing down to be extra careful. Being "extra careful" usually makes unsteady lines, or trying to "fix" lines in the pencil work as you're inking it. Both are bad.

Eventually, with enough practice, you'll start to notice that your pen moves at the same speed no matter what you're inking. This is where being smooth makes you fast. But at the same point, you still have to be paying attention to what you're doing. It's a speed that comes when you stop frantic, worried, nervous, or rushed, and proceed with confidence and focus.

Most importantly, you stop thinking about what you're doing because it has become natural to you.

This is a really ephemeral thing to describe, it's more of a sense or feeling that you get when you do something, rather then a thing you do. First person shooters call it being in the zone. Calligraphers call it rythm, because each stroke is sure and without hesitation. In sword fighting it's called action without thought because your body moves on their own.

I got the quote from a move called "Sniper" It's an ok movie at best, but that line always stuck with me.

*Sigh.* Another wall o' text. This is getting to be a habit.

Ah, I see. Yes, I have a problem with going slowly to be "extra careful," which is why up close you can tell that these are multiple lines run together, and why some of the lines look better than others. Yeah, I'll work on that too. Thanks again. As for Walls of Texts... well, I've done that a few times, especially in this thread (Roland was really bad: 12 pages when I saved it to my computer).

[EDIT:] Whoo, Photoshop? Congratulations. There's a whole new can of worms. When ever you do something, make sure you're on the right layer.

Well, it's brand new, so I'll mostly be experimenting with it this weekend, and eventually get to the point that I go through all of the tutorials and such because I can't figure it out otherwise. Fortunately, there are a lot of people on this forum who have used it or similar programs who can point out what I'm doing wrong.

[WhiteFox]

I'm not used to drawing hands yet. I couldn't quite get the look right when I was penciling it in, so I ended up with this.

Hands are not easy to do, they're very complicated structures and have all kinds of quirks to the skin and muscle. Once you get used to the basic structure, though, you learn to work with them. They can be as expressive, and touchy, as faces.

And the links don't seem to be working.

*Twitch* It is fixed.
Hand.
And the structure behind it.

This is getting to be a habit.

I'm used to forgetting things on my drawings. On a few of these I've forgotten the tail... though that was because I wasn't used to anthro art (or art AT ALL). I think it's to the point that I'll have to remind myself NOT to draw the tails (and ears and funky hair) once I get to drawing MY characters.

Take a look back through the archives for my DSOF comic and count how many times I've forgotten wings and tails.

What angle do you think [the eyebrows] should be at?

I dunno. Make the face you want him to have and look in the mirror. Heck, you don't even have to look in the mirror. Just start acting, and figure out what your face is doing.

Warning: using this method will lead to this sort of thing. (After a while, I got used to doing it in public, tho. I mean, if I'm going to be drawing 8ft. tall cartoon demon cats in a donut shop, I might as well stop giving a damn about what people think about me at all. Very liberating.  )

[Jairus]

And the links don't seem to be working.

*Twitch* It is fixed.
Hand.
And the structure behind it.

This is getting to be a habit.

No worries. That diagram is very helpful: thank you. Though you're *twitch* is kind of funny.

What angle do you think [the eyebrows] should be at?

I dunno. Make the face you want him to have and look in the mirror. Heck, you don't even have to look in the mirror. Just start acting, and figure out what your face is doing.

Well, I quickly did some mock-up eyebrows and scanned just the head:

How about that?

Warning: using this method will lead to this sort of thing. (After a while, I got used to doing it in public, tho. I mean, if I'm going to be drawing 8ft. tall cartoon demon cats in a donut shop, I might as well stop giving a damn about what people think about me at all. Very liberating.  )

*snerrrk* That was great.

EDIT: When I scan this in with the fixed eyebrows, I'll do it in B/W. Also, any recommendations for Abel Valentine before I ink him in?


Also... haiku!

It's been so very
Long since I wrote anything,
And this is not good.

I should finish those
Technical stats for the rest
Of the other ships.

Or perhaps some more
Character profiles. Or
Even a chapter.

Or should I just write
A one shot thing? That might be
Easier to do.

Or should I stop with
The stupid haiku and write
Something else right now?

There once was a Gundam named Exia,
And it's seven great blades it would draw.
It spliced and it diced,
All through CB's heist,
And dear Graham would just watch with awe.


... yeah, that one was bad. Sorry.

[WhiteFox]

Generally you want some space between the eyes and the brow, if only for readability. I can't really tell what expression you're going for tho.

[Jairus]

Generally you want some space between the eyes and the brow, if only for readability. I can't really tell what expression you're going for tho.

Shy/embarrassed. It seems to be what the eyes best look like at the moment. If that kind of makes sense.

[Jairus]

This was something I drew for the IF contest, and I thought I should post it here, since it represents my first ever coloring job on one of my pictures.

Something wicked...

Before you ask, no, I did not use Photoshop. This was done with a Painting application on my computer, which explains why it looks like crap. Someday I might redo it, especially with a background of some kind. It's supposed to be some elder god or something like Cthulhu emerging from Boxy, but after I sketched a whole bunch of tentacles in the original version I decided that one just poking up worked a bit better... maybe it was a precursor to the rest. And I think I'll end up redoing the logos and words when I get that far. Anyway...

[Tapewolf]

Okay, I got one more drawing inked today... and I also bought Photoshop!

Christ.  I could buy a 24-track machine for that kind of money.  Which version was it?

Anyway, if you're interested, I was bored waiting for something big to finish uploading so I did this:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/scraps/JyrrasHighwindinked.png

The PSD, which contains a snapshot of each step of the process, is here:
http://tapewolf.wildernessguardians.com/stuff/JyrrasHighwindinked.zip

While I realise you probably have your own colour scheme for the clothes, I went ahead and sampled the colours from strip 608.  Except for the shoes.

[Ren Gaulen]

Something wicked...

...Tentacoo wape?

[Jairus]

Okay, I got one more drawing inked today... and I also bought Photoshop!

Christ.  I could buy a 24-track machine for that kind of money.  Which version was it?

Adobe Creative Suit 3 Design Premium. I got Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Acrobat 9, and a few other programs too. All for a total of $368.58. Student discount.

Anyway, if you're interested, I was bored waiting for something big to finish uploading so I did this:

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k216/tapewolf/scraps/JyrrasHighwindinked.png

The PSD, which contains a snapshot of each step of the process, is here:
http://tapewolf.wildernessguardians.com/stuff/JyrrasHighwindinked.zip

While I realise you probably have your own colour scheme for the clothes, I went ahead and sampled the colours from strip 608.  Except for the shoes.

Ah, cool. Very cool. That actually gives me an idea of how much I've still got to learn. Thanks!

I should add some lines to his hair and tail tuft, shouldn't I? And scan it in black and white to amplify the lines?

Something wicked...

...Tentacoo wape?

... maybe.

[WhiteFox]

Something wicked...

...Tentacoo wape?

... maybe.

...yes

I find hair works better if you shade it in coloring rather inking as many strands as you can. By the way, if you can color that box in some paint program, you should be fine with Photoshop. You'll just have to pick up a few tools and tricks.

[Jairus]

I find hair works better if you shade it in coloring rather inking as many strands as you can. By the way, if you can color that box in some paint program, you should be fine with Photoshop. You'll just have to pick up a few tools and tricks.

It's not so much a coloring program as it was a Painting document under Appleworks. I'm practicing with Deebs, since all she is is bubblegum pink. I wish I new how to smooth the edges a little, though. Or what half of these tools did.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

It's not so much a coloring program as it was a Painting document under Appleworks. I'm practicing with Deebs, since all she is is bubblegum pink. I wish I new how to smooth the edges a little, though. Or what half of these tools did.

"change things"

Each one does something specific. There will be times when each is useful; however, you can get by with just the few minimal tools to start with.

And those ones are pretty obvious. ;-]

[Jairus]

It's not so much a coloring program as it was a Painting document under Appleworks. I'm practicing with Deebs, since all she is is bubblegum pink. I wish I new how to smooth the edges a little, though. Or what half of these tools did.

"change things"

Each one does something specific. There will be times when each is useful; however, you can get by with just the few minimal tools to start with.

And those ones are pretty obvious. ;-]

Ha ha, very helpful. It's more of a matter of "at what point am I going to give up and listen/watch/read the tutorials." Probably right now, to be honest.

[WhiteFox]

It's not so much a coloring program as it was a Painting document under Appleworks. I'm practicing with Deebs, since all she is is bubblegum pink. I wish I new how to smooth the edges a little, though. Or what half of these tools did.

Huh... Appleworks. Been a while since I used that. At any rate, it should have a brush tool.

As for getting smoother lines... Scan the image at 400 DPI (Or higher), color the sucker, and shrink it down by 25% (Or more). Scaling it down antialiases it, making for smoother lines.

Of course, you can end up working with images thousands of pixels in dimensions (When I work on a comic page, it's usually about 2700 X 4000). That's why artists have love affairs with gigs of RAM.

On the matter of tools, though, I wouldn't worry about it too much till you get Photoshop. If you're going to study the tools, wait till you get the application you're going to be using. And Photoshop has four times as many tools. You probably won't need more then half of them, though.

[Jairus]

It's not so much a coloring program as it was a Painting document under Appleworks. I'm practicing with Deebs, since all she is is bubblegum pink. I wish I new how to smooth the edges a little, though. Or what half of these tools did.

Huh... Appleworks. Been a while since I used that. At any rate, it should have a brush tool.

Yep... and I rarely used it. More often than not I was just using the paint can, and that just filled the whole area.

As for getting smoother lines... Scan the image at 400 DPI (Or higher), color the sucker, and shrink it down by 25% (Or more). Scaling it down antialiases it, making for smoother lines.

Of course, you can end up working with images thousands of pixels in dimensions (When I work on a comic page, it's usually about 2700 X 4000). That's why artists have love affairs with gigs of RAM.

On the matter of tools, though, I wouldn't worry about it too much till you get Photoshop. If you're going to study the tools, wait till you get the application you're going to be using. And Photoshop has four times as many tools. You probably won't need more then half of them, though.

Yes... Photoshop indeed has a buttload of tools. That's why it's currently giving me a headache. This is basically going to be trial and error till I get it right, isn't it? Ah well, I'll get it eventually. And I'll try the sizing trick when I get that far. Thanks.

[WhiteFox]

To save you some time and not make you go over every tool on the bar:

Things I use most in Photoshop (Well, my version is CS2, so there might be a few differences. Most of this is pretty basic to any version of Photoshop though):

(Note: if you click and hold on some tools, you'll get a drop down with more similar tools, like Blur/Smudge/Sharpen, and Burn/Dodge/Sponge.)

Magic wand: Click on a color, and it selects a shape of that color. Along with the fill command, you can select large patches of white and fill (Even the smallest gap in line work can make a big mess). I use the Fill Command (Shift-F5, or under the Edit menu) cause PS doesn't have a paint bucket. Note that there are a couple of options for this tool:
Contiguous- This will make it select all the color of what you clicked on, over the entire document rather then just the one shape you clicked on.
Tolerance sets how tolerant the tool is about the color. If you have a low tolerance, it'll select only the color you click on. If you have a high tolerance, it'll select that color and everything kinda sorta the same color. When working with cell shading, I set it to 1.
Sample All Layers: If you have a separate layer for color and ink, this can be useful at times.
Anti-alias: If you get a black and white scan, you'll want to turn this off.
Holding down shift will *add* to the selection, holding down option will *remove* from the selection.

Lasoo: When I need to fill something in that isn't an existing shape, I use this with the Fill command. Not it also has an anti-alias Button. Also uses the shift and option keys.

Photoshop is very sticky about selections. It won't deselect unless you *Tell* it to (Command-D), no matter what. It also won't let you paint in anything but the selection. So, if you mysteriously can't erase something, you're either on the wrong layer, or forgot about a selection elsewhere. It is extremely nice to be able to magic wand multiple times, and to use the lasoo tool with the Magic Wand to add or subtract areas.

By the way: if you ever see a colored picture that has gray around the edges of the linework, it's because the lines were anti aliased and someone used Magic Wand+Fill. The magic wand didn't grab the gray pixels around the anti-aliased black lines, and thus they remain gray. Fussing with the tolerance won't help. This is another reason to use B+W scans.

Under the Image Menu is "Mode". This is where you can switch between B+W, Grayscale, and color. I go with RGB for web work, and CMYK is for the print industry (Since Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black are the standard colors in a four color print process. Yes, the K stands for Black). In CS2, I can't go directly from B+W to color without converting it to Grayscale first.

Select>Inverse and everything under Select>Modify are some very handy menu items.

Layer>Rasterize lets you change things like text and styles into bitmaps. Which means you can edit them with, say, the air brush, smudge tool, and eraser. Oh, and people will usually recognize a style instantly when they see one. Use them sparingly. Likewise with everything under the Filter Menu.

Careful with the smudge tool. It can be handy sometimes (Especially touching up gradients), but it can really muddy things up too.

Image>Image Size: you can reduce the images size here. Obvious, I know, but annoying when you can't find it when you need it.

A warning about the airbrush: You can't really stop it from antialiasing. You can turn down the flow and use it to shade, however. Especially nice when you have a pressure sensitive tablet. Take a look at the earliest pages of DSOF, my comic, and you'll see what happens when you apply ink with the airbrush.

Under the Fill command is Stroke. This will run a line around whatever you have selected. I use it for the black outlines of speech balloons, and you could use it for panel borders.

Anyway... playing with those should keep you busy for a while.

[Edit] Oh, I forgot. If you're taking black and white scans, be sure to find the Threshold setting. This will let you tweak how light or dark your scan will end up. Too dark and your lines will look mushy. Too light and you'll loose lines altogether. Also, i don't recommend inking hair strands on paper, if you're going to color them, because no tweaking of the threshold will ever get it to scan well.

A lot of people like the gradient tool, but I haven't used it much.

Actually, I lie. Photoshop does have a paint bucket tool. It's with the gradient tool. Gah.

And the Eyedropper tool is very handy.

You let me know if I start talking too much. 

[Jairus]

*snip long yet informational word dump*

Awesome. Thanks for all of that, that's very helpful... or will be once I get to that point, at least.

You let me know if I start talking too much. 

Keep talking, good sir.

Meanwhile, after approximately 36 hours of fiddling with Photoshop, listening to the advice of other more experienced users, praying to various deities I do not believe in, and sacrificing virgins to various demons and devils, I have the first thing I've ever colored in Photoshop. Avert your eyes.

Deebs, first coloring

... yeah, it's not much, but I'm glad I figured out how to do at least this much. The color's screwy, but that's easily fixed next time around. Anyway, this is basically just practice, but it's good to do it.

Advice always appreciated.


EDIT: Haiku. Poem. Paragraph. Must write something.

Photoshop drives me
Nuts. So many choices, so
Little clarity.

I write so little.
Why is that? I really need
To work on that. Now.

It was a fragile peace, forged in the name of a long-dead king, with a world watching the political balancing act that was the Gwyteg continent.
It would not last.
The Deinan Empire moved first, eastward to conquer the islands of the Jin Republic. In the face of the newest in technology, the Republic fell swiftly, becoming the first Imperial Province.

... and that's all I've got. I'm actually wondering if I can make the prologue for TCW be exciting enough if I do it as a sort of history dump. Oh well. No way to know till I try, right?

[WhiteFox]

If you need to adjust colors, here's how you do it: Get the Magic wand tool. turn off "Contiguous". Select all the pink with one click. Go up to the menu, Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. You can adjust the color, how bright or pale it is, and how light or dark it is. If you select more then one color at a time, well, it's kinda trippy actually. I use this a lot in character design, especially when I'm building character references. Or if I want *All* the shadows on a character to get darker, say.

Other then that, you might want to start taking thinking about how to shade it, and where to put highlights.

It really doesn't look bad, though. The color is fine (On my monitor, at least. It's not even an obnoxious shade of pink) and I see no gray jaggies. Any problems I might comment on, with the image on the whole, are mostly with the original inks. Which I've mentioned before. By the way: one mistake in the inks turns into ten times as much work if you try to fix it in Photoshop.

One suggestion tho: You could erase all the text and type it out. The Type tool can be a bit ornery.

And, if you're going to be sacrificing anything to demons, 7 out of 10 prefer jujubes. Right now the market is saturated with virgins.

[Jairus]

If you need to adjust colors, here's how you do it: Get the Magic wand tool. turn off "Contiguous". Select all the pink with one click. Go up to the menu, Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation. You can adjust the color, how bright or pale it is, and how light or dark it is. If you select more then one color at a time, well, it's kinda trippy actually. I use this a lot in character design, especially when I'm building character references. Or if I want *All* the shadows on a character to get darker, say.

Hm... again, thanks for the advice.

You know, I should probably save this advice to my computer in the eventuality of no internet connection.

Other then that, you might want to start taking thinking about how to shade it, and where to put highlights.

Shading? Who said anything about shading?
...
Yeah, that'll be a whole other kettle of fish.

It really doesn't look bad, though. The color is fine (On my monitor, at least. It's not even an obnoxious shade of pink) and I see no gray jaggies. Any problems I might comment on, with the image on the whole, are mostly with the original inks. Which I've mentioned before. By the way: one mistake in the inks turns into ten times as much work if you try to fix it in Photoshop.

One suggestion tho: You could erase all the text and type it out. The Type tool can be a bit ornery.

Well, I want it to be as close as possible to Deebs' coloration... and now I just realized that I can use the ink dropper on the Deebs wallpaper to get her color right. That only took forever for me to realize.

Oh yeah, I'm going to erase the text and put in something better, no worries about that. Maybe even the DMFA font (I've forgotten the name, but I know I have it... and about two or three hundred other fonts. Crud.)

And, if you're going to be sacrificing anything to demons, 7 out of 10 prefer jujubes. Right now the market is saturated with virgins.

Hm... never had a Jujube. Will see about that.


An empire moves,
And nations fall before an
Unstoppable force.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Oh yeah, I'm going to erase the text and put in something better, no worries about that. Maybe even the DMFA font (I've forgotten the name, but I know I have it... and about two or three hundred other fonts. Crud.)

Pasteris. Just look at RobbieThe1st's sig.

[Jairus]

Oh yeah, I'm going to erase the text and put in something better, no worries about that. Maybe even the DMFA font (I've forgotten the name, but I know I have it... and about two or three hundred other fonts. Crud.)

Pasteris. Just look at RobbieThe1st's sig.

Ah, thank you, Boxy. Uno momento... yep, I've got it. Pasteris. Thanks again.


The wind blows. Leaves are
Trapped in my little porch. I'll
Never get them out.

The wind still blows. A
Piece of bark falls and hits me.
I stop, and go on.

And it's still blowing.
Four days, it's been windy. This
Morning, it is cold.

[Ren Gaulen]

The wind blows. Leaves are
Trapped in my little porch. I'll
Never get them out.

The wind still blows. A
Piece of bark falls and hits me.
I stop, and go on.

And it's still blowing.
Four days, it's been windy. This
Morning, it is cold.

"I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."

[Jairus]

The wind blows. Leaves are
Trapped in my little porch. I'll
Never get them out.

The wind still blows. A
Piece of bark falls and hits me.
I stop, and go on.

And it's still blowing.
Four days, it's been windy. This
Morning, it is cold.

"I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."

I am a leaf on
The wind. Watch how I soar. Then
A spike goes through me.

Should I die before
I wake, I really won't care,
Now will I? Thank you.

[WhiteFox]

and now I just realized that I can use the ink dropper on the Deebs wallpaper to get her color right.

If you're trying to lift a color off a jpeg or gif, it's a good idea to set the "Sample Size" fairly large. Compression from image formats will make for grainy color, and a 1x1 point sample will usually end up the wrong shade.

Also, I can drag an image directly from my browser window into a Photoshop window, and it places the image on a new layer. Very cool.

[Jairus]

Given that I have no idea how to start on shading, I decided to keep practicing coloring in photoshop instead. So, here's the Jyrras from Strip #413, in glorious unshaded color.

Jyrras, quick color practice

So, um, yeah. Nothing much, just some rough practice. It's gotten a bit easier now that I've fiddled with some of the tool settings so I can select small areas. As always, constructive criticism and advice are appreciated.


Haiku time!

Okay, so I don't watch
Sports. I just don't find them fun
To follow, that's all.

This angel from God...
No, no god. Only man. This
Angel is from Man.

The heart of the first,
The heart of the second, now
United as one.

Here we have the 0,
The Exia, and now me!
Double 0 Gundam.

0 and Exia.
They now live on, Double 0.
You are my Gundam.

Yeah, so I did some Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Haiku. But the 00 Gundam premiered today, and boy was it awesome! Um, for those who don't know "0" is pronounced "oh." And Exia is "Eks-ee-ah." Sorry. And they're a bit repetitive... how about a swordman's haiku?

My blade is broken.
I should get a new one. I
Won't chop rocks again.

[Ren Gaulen]

Not bad, Jay. I wish I could give you some advice, but I don't have a Photoshop and don't know what to say. Well, I know, actually. Next time, use black-and-white mode when scanning.

Also. Double-0 Gundam - the mech worthy of being piloted by James Bond?

[Tapewolf]

Not bad, Jay. I wish I could give you some advice, but I don't have a Photoshop and don't know what to say. Well, I know, actually. Next time, use black-and-white mode when scanning.

Either that, or use a decimation filter afterwards.  I've no idea how you do that in PS - with Gimp, it's Tools->Colours->Threshold.  Down-converting it to 1bpp has the same effect, though it's less controllable.

[Jairus]

Not bad, Jay. I wish I could give you some advice, but I don't have a Photoshop and don't know what to say. Well, I know, actually. Next time, use black-and-white mode when scanning.

Either that, or use a decimation filter afterwards.  I've no idea how you do that in PS - with Gimp, it's Tools->Colours->Threshold.  Down-converting it to 1bpp has the same effect, though it's less controllable.

Well, the scan was a black and white scan I did solely for this picture. I did notice that while I was coloring it, so I used a paintbrush tool on his pants and sweater to try and fix it. That just got tedious, so I skipped it to color the rest. As for Tapewolf's suggestion, there doesn't seem to be a "decimation filter," but I'm betting there's an equivalent. I'll look for it after I go to class and I'm awake. I think I saw something like that somewhere. I also fiddled with a second layer to fill in some lines that got lost for some reason (especially in the pants: one of the dividing lines between his two legs vanished). I mean, it's just an experiment, but it's good practice. And I'm not making much sense, so I'm clearly not fully awake. Hello coffee, I'm about to drink you.

Also. Double-0 Gundam - the mech worthy of being piloted by James Bond?

No. Double-0 is too awesome for James Bond. He can use the 0. Or maybe the Wing Zero.

There are only a handful of pilots worthy of the 00. Amuro, Ryoma, Uso, Domon, Sousuke, Roger, Zengar, Kamina, Chirico, Simon, Kallen, Guy, Suzaku, Setsuna... these are the piloting gods of mecha. The only ones worthy.