I think I'm some sort of masochist
...for deciding to make and upload a tutorial for pen & paper inked scans. /sigh
I'm sort of assuming that if you're going to be doing this tutorial in Photoshop, you have at least a cursory knowledge of the program, so I won't be screencapping a lot to explain the tools. There are about a million jillion tutorials online for Photoshop, so anything I mention should be easily Google-able (Googlable should be a word, dangit!). Feel free to ask me questions, though, if I'm not clear on anything since I tend to ramble. A lot.
Okay! Well, I'm not going to get into the actual drawing and inking process I use, but I will list my super professional sketching and inking tools, and why I chose them.
Sketching: PaperMate Clear Point 0.7 mm mechanical pencil with a twist-up eraser...from Wal-Mart. I have been using mechanical pencils to sketch since, well, forever. I can't be persuaded to switch to more "professional" pencils because they generally don't have erasers and that kind of makes me want to punch things.
Inking: Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Rolling Ball pen, black ink...also from Wal-Mart. Hey, I said "professional," didn't I? These pens are great. You can get very smooth lines with them, and they're so thin that mistakes can easily be corrected by building around the line. That also gives you some really nice depth and feeling in your picture, at least more than simply tracing the image and being done with it.
Cleanup: Moo eraser from Hobby Lobby. This is my favorite eraser because it doesn't leave crumbly junk all over the place, but instead, the eraser bits clump together into long strands that you can easily pick up and throw away. It also erases very cleanly, leaving very few ugly pencil bits to clean up later.
Paper: Bright white copier paper. Actual artist's papers give me the heebie jeebies when inking. My pen gets caught in all the neat little nooks and crannies and I end up with messier inks. The only stipulation to using plain copier paper is...you kind of need to buy the good stuff. It should be at least 20lb weight, and you should probably make sure it's bright white.
So basically, just sketch and ink your drawing. If you're using a rolling ball or gel ink pen (like me) you'll want to make sure you let it dry completely before erasing your sketch. Sometimes the ink can build up and stay wet for a while (especially if you're inking over thick pencil, like I was). The ink will just rest on top and will take a while to soak through the graphite into the paper. Anyway, erase the crap out of it!
Before scanning, make sure your scanner is set to scan at high resolutions. I generally use 300dpi for all of my art. It can be resized when you're finished. Here's my ultra messy-looking scan:
Ewww! See all those gross pencil lines and junk going on that didn't quite erase? Also, I think you can see what was on my scanner underneath the image. Nasty. Here's how to clean it up (in Photoshop 7...other programs should be fairly easy to figure out, you might just have to finagle with them a little bit):
1. Duplicate your ink layer. In Photoshop 7, it is generally the default Background layer, which you'll notice is immobile, and fairly difficult to work with. Right-click on the layer, and select "Duplicate Layer..." then select "OK." You can rename the layer if you like. I generally go with "Ink" or "Lineart."
2. Go back to the Background layer. Go to Select > All, then Edit > Clear. This should make your background layer clean and white! If it's not white, then that means that your background color isn't set to white. Not that big of a deal, unless of course, it's set to black. Anyway, if you need to change the color, just use your paint bucket tool to fill it with whatever color you like.
3. Go to your new ink layer (the one you duplicated from the background). Grab the Magic Wand tool. In your tool options (mine are set at the top of the Photoshop window), make sure that your Tolerance is set to about 32, "Anti-aliased" should be checked, but "Contiguous" and "Use All Layers" should not be checked. Now, click on a white portion of your image, then hit Delete. This should clear up a good bit of the useless and ugly junk that's mucking up your beautiful, clean inks.
4. For added insurance against stray lines, dots, etc, Right-click on your ink layer in the layers window, and select "Blending Options." A new window should pop up. On the left side, you'll see a bunch of neat options. Click on "Stroke" (click the text, not the checkbox). Now your inks have a nice red outline around them. I find that this helps me see stray bits around my image better. You can also make this red outline larger by moving the Size slider in the Blending Options window. You can also change the color if red bothers you. Hit "OK."
5. Now, zoom way in and erase where all the red bits that shouldn't be there are! You can also use this as an opportunity to further clean up your inks. Here is a close-up of what my screen looks like before I've done any cleanup:
So basically, I'm just going to erase all of the obvious stuff that shouldn't be there, and erase a little around my lines to make them smoother and cleaner. The folds of her dress in particular caused some problems when inking, so I'll use my eraser to taper them a bit more and make them more subtle. Also, I'll go over some lines that need work with my paintbrush tool.
REMEMBER: The "Stroke" tool is only outlining your inks. It is not affecting them in any way, and when you erase black bits, the red will sort of follow what you're doing. We'll get rid of the red after everything looks satisfactory. Also, you'll probably notice some bits of white or gray around your black and red. These are fine, unless they're really disrupting your picture, in which case, you can erase them, but we're going to take care of them in the next step anyway.
Yay! That's much better! Now we can get rid of the red and we're almost done!
6. Right-click on your "Ink" layer again, and click "Clear Layer Style." OMGAH, the red is gone and my inks look just super! But we're not done.
7. With the "Ink" layer still selected, click on the little checkerboard box next to "Lock:" This will lock your ink layer so you don't erase any of your pretty inks by accident.
8. Now zoom back out, and select a HUGE paintbrush. With your foreground color set to black, run over the entire image. Yay, now all the gray bits are gone and you have a really clean, great-looking image!
PLEASE NOTE: If you want to keep editing and cleaning your inks, UNCHECK the transparency box in your Layers window! If you don't, you won't actually be erasing anything, it will just change your ink color to white, and that can get pretty messy when you want to color later.
Here is my squeaky, newly-cleaned image!
I guess my little Draenei Priest is still a bit iffy about this tutorial. It's okay, Aelynd, you're looking good!
Coloring: This will be a quick-and-dirty guide to laying down colors under your nice new inks. I will not go in-depth on shading, because that's not what this tutorial is about.
1. Click on your Background layer and then the little icon in the Layers window next to the trash can, the one that looks like a little page turning. This will make a new layer between your inks and background. Name it "Color" or something...whatever you like.
2. Go back to your Ink layer and select your magic wand tool again. This time, make sure "Contiguous" is checked. Also, to the left of your "Tolerance" option, there are four boxes. Click on the second one (it says "Add to selection" on mouseover).
3. Now, select any parts of the image that will be the background showing through. You may need to zoom in if your image has a lot of negative space, or you can just select around the drawing and then clean up the negative space later.
4. Now go to Select > Modify > Expand. Expand the selection by at least 2 pixels, then hit "OK"
5. Go to Select > Inverse to select the drawing rather than the background.
6. Go to your color layer. Pick a nice base color. I chose a light bluish purple because...that's my character's skin tone. Select your paint bucket tool and fill the color layer with whatever you chose. Your drawing should be filled with the color, but your background shouldn't.
7. Zoom way in again, and search for any stray bits of color that you may have missed. Erase them. If you can't really tell, it might help to fill in your background layer with something a bit darker than your fill color. This way, anything left outside of the intended area will stick out like a sore thumb.
8. Once you've got your color layer all cleaned up, lock the transparency (remember the little checkerboard box?). Now, you can add in details, change the color, or do whatever you want to the color layer without fear of going outside the lines. Neat, huh?
Here's my colored image:
So yeah, she'll need some more colors added, and that far hand is too big and is bothering me, so I'm going to go back and edit that, but that's pretty much it! I hope this hasn't been completely confusing and horrible, and I certainly hope it helped you in some small way. If I was terribly unclear about an option or setting to use, don't hesitate to mention it! I'd be more than happy to take screencaps of the various options if needed.
I'm sort of assuming that if you're going to be doing this tutorial in Photoshop, you have at least a cursory knowledge of the program, so I won't be screencapping a lot to explain the tools. There are about a million jillion tutorials online for Photoshop, so anything I mention should be easily Google-able (Googlable should be a word, dangit!). Feel free to ask me questions, though, if I'm not clear on anything since I tend to ramble. A lot.
Okay! Well, I'm not going to get into the actual drawing and inking process I use, but I will list my super professional sketching and inking tools, and why I chose them.
Sketching: PaperMate Clear Point 0.7 mm mechanical pencil with a twist-up eraser...from Wal-Mart. I have been using mechanical pencils to sketch since, well, forever. I can't be persuaded to switch to more "professional" pencils because they generally don't have erasers and that kind of makes me want to punch things.
Inking: Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine Rolling Ball pen, black ink...also from Wal-Mart. Hey, I said "professional," didn't I? These pens are great. You can get very smooth lines with them, and they're so thin that mistakes can easily be corrected by building around the line. That also gives you some really nice depth and feeling in your picture, at least more than simply tracing the image and being done with it.
Cleanup: Moo eraser from Hobby Lobby. This is my favorite eraser because it doesn't leave crumbly junk all over the place, but instead, the eraser bits clump together into long strands that you can easily pick up and throw away. It also erases very cleanly, leaving very few ugly pencil bits to clean up later.
Paper: Bright white copier paper. Actual artist's papers give me the heebie jeebies when inking. My pen gets caught in all the neat little nooks and crannies and I end up with messier inks. The only stipulation to using plain copier paper is...you kind of need to buy the good stuff. It should be at least 20lb weight, and you should probably make sure it's bright white.
So basically, just sketch and ink your drawing. If you're using a rolling ball or gel ink pen (like me) you'll want to make sure you let it dry completely before erasing your sketch. Sometimes the ink can build up and stay wet for a while (especially if you're inking over thick pencil, like I was). The ink will just rest on top and will take a while to soak through the graphite into the paper. Anyway, erase the crap out of it!
Before scanning, make sure your scanner is set to scan at high resolutions. I generally use 300dpi for all of my art. It can be resized when you're finished. Here's my ultra messy-looking scan:
Ewww! See all those gross pencil lines and junk going on that didn't quite erase? Also, I think you can see what was on my scanner underneath the image. Nasty. Here's how to clean it up (in Photoshop 7...other programs should be fairly easy to figure out, you might just have to finagle with them a little bit):
1. Duplicate your ink layer. In Photoshop 7, it is generally the default Background layer, which you'll notice is immobile, and fairly difficult to work with. Right-click on the layer, and select "Duplicate Layer..." then select "OK." You can rename the layer if you like. I generally go with "Ink" or "Lineart."
2. Go back to the Background layer. Go to Select > All, then Edit > Clear. This should make your background layer clean and white! If it's not white, then that means that your background color isn't set to white. Not that big of a deal, unless of course, it's set to black. Anyway, if you need to change the color, just use your paint bucket tool to fill it with whatever color you like.
3. Go to your new ink layer (the one you duplicated from the background). Grab the Magic Wand tool. In your tool options (mine are set at the top of the Photoshop window), make sure that your Tolerance is set to about 32, "Anti-aliased" should be checked, but "Contiguous" and "Use All Layers" should not be checked. Now, click on a white portion of your image, then hit Delete. This should clear up a good bit of the useless and ugly junk that's mucking up your beautiful, clean inks.
4. For added insurance against stray lines, dots, etc, Right-click on your ink layer in the layers window, and select "Blending Options." A new window should pop up. On the left side, you'll see a bunch of neat options. Click on "Stroke" (click the text, not the checkbox). Now your inks have a nice red outline around them. I find that this helps me see stray bits around my image better. You can also make this red outline larger by moving the Size slider in the Blending Options window. You can also change the color if red bothers you. Hit "OK."
5. Now, zoom way in and erase where all the red bits that shouldn't be there are! You can also use this as an opportunity to further clean up your inks. Here is a close-up of what my screen looks like before I've done any cleanup:
So basically, I'm just going to erase all of the obvious stuff that shouldn't be there, and erase a little around my lines to make them smoother and cleaner. The folds of her dress in particular caused some problems when inking, so I'll use my eraser to taper them a bit more and make them more subtle. Also, I'll go over some lines that need work with my paintbrush tool.
REMEMBER: The "Stroke" tool is only outlining your inks. It is not affecting them in any way, and when you erase black bits, the red will sort of follow what you're doing. We'll get rid of the red after everything looks satisfactory. Also, you'll probably notice some bits of white or gray around your black and red. These are fine, unless they're really disrupting your picture, in which case, you can erase them, but we're going to take care of them in the next step anyway.
Yay! That's much better! Now we can get rid of the red and we're almost done!
6. Right-click on your "Ink" layer again, and click "Clear Layer Style." OMGAH, the red is gone and my inks look just super! But we're not done.
7. With the "Ink" layer still selected, click on the little checkerboard box next to "Lock:" This will lock your ink layer so you don't erase any of your pretty inks by accident.
8. Now zoom back out, and select a HUGE paintbrush. With your foreground color set to black, run over the entire image. Yay, now all the gray bits are gone and you have a really clean, great-looking image!
PLEASE NOTE: If you want to keep editing and cleaning your inks, UNCHECK the transparency box in your Layers window! If you don't, you won't actually be erasing anything, it will just change your ink color to white, and that can get pretty messy when you want to color later.
Here is my squeaky, newly-cleaned image!
I guess my little Draenei Priest is still a bit iffy about this tutorial. It's okay, Aelynd, you're looking good!
Coloring: This will be a quick-and-dirty guide to laying down colors under your nice new inks. I will not go in-depth on shading, because that's not what this tutorial is about.
1. Click on your Background layer and then the little icon in the Layers window next to the trash can, the one that looks like a little page turning. This will make a new layer between your inks and background. Name it "Color" or something...whatever you like.
2. Go back to your Ink layer and select your magic wand tool again. This time, make sure "Contiguous" is checked. Also, to the left of your "Tolerance" option, there are four boxes. Click on the second one (it says "Add to selection" on mouseover).
3. Now, select any parts of the image that will be the background showing through. You may need to zoom in if your image has a lot of negative space, or you can just select around the drawing and then clean up the negative space later.
4. Now go to Select > Modify > Expand. Expand the selection by at least 2 pixels, then hit "OK"
5. Go to Select > Inverse to select the drawing rather than the background.
6. Go to your color layer. Pick a nice base color. I chose a light bluish purple because...that's my character's skin tone. Select your paint bucket tool and fill the color layer with whatever you chose. Your drawing should be filled with the color, but your background shouldn't.
7. Zoom way in again, and search for any stray bits of color that you may have missed. Erase them. If you can't really tell, it might help to fill in your background layer with something a bit darker than your fill color. This way, anything left outside of the intended area will stick out like a sore thumb.
8. Once you've got your color layer all cleaned up, lock the transparency (remember the little checkerboard box?). Now, you can add in details, change the color, or do whatever you want to the color layer without fear of going outside the lines. Neat, huh?
Here's my colored image:
So yeah, she'll need some more colors added, and that far hand is too big and is bothering me, so I'm going to go back and edit that, but that's pretty much it! I hope this hasn't been completely confusing and horrible, and I certainly hope it helped you in some small way. If I was terribly unclear about an option or setting to use, don't hesitate to mention it! I'd be more than happy to take screencaps of the various options if needed.