I was very confused by what you meant by "preliminary flats" and why you would need a flatter after that. I'm guessing using the plug-in reduces the cost of the flatter if they don't have to do the basic shapes themselves.
I tried one of those flatting plug-ins ages ago and it was unusable for my style. It was just a mess of little tiny flecks of colour that took me longer to select than just drawing the shapes in myself. Maybe they have improved or I just needed to dial in the settings better, but my inking style has too much banjo work I think. I do way too much feathering and hatching and random texture lines for it be able to pick shapes.
I can see how it would work with your linge-claire style.
You’re absolutely right and because I use a lot of decorative detail, the flatting program is now essential to my process. It has also changed my inking approach somewhat as I am careful to close the lines so that the color flatter program works better.
Well presented Colleen. Thank you. There is nothing like being able to see the printing process first hand to fully grasp the concepts (ghosting for ex.) you discuss. It’s fascinating to see just how far printing has come over the years. Extraordinary!
I honestly think you will save enough money using the Multifill program to pay for the cost of Photoshop every month. If it just saves you a few hours, that’s a basic subscription. My process depends on it now, so I’m really tied into it.
This is an excellent breakdown of the process as I know it. The crazy purple and green colors that the computer does are simultaneously beautiful and unreadable in the best way. It's like looking through a weird alien vision filter.
As a screen printer, I know all about having to apply what we call "trapping," making sure the color fill area extends underneath the lineart to avoid ghosting. I never use the fill tool directly on lineart, it always makes such a harsh edge anyway. But I can definitely understand people making purely digital comic images doing so, with no idea of the printing process, and their images getting messed up if their stuff ever does get printed. That totally makes sense.
The computer flats are so crazy and deep it’s hard for me to think when I see them. I usually go in and make them pale pastels before doing final flats.
Fair play. Sometimes changing a process helps, but other times it can just make things more hard work. Ive experienced both and it does make me hesitant to change my own process too much.
Thank you! I didn't know anything about this process, so it is very interesting.
You’re welcome!
Thanks for the breakdown.
I was very confused by what you meant by "preliminary flats" and why you would need a flatter after that. I'm guessing using the plug-in reduces the cost of the flatter if they don't have to do the basic shapes themselves.
I tried one of those flatting plug-ins ages ago and it was unusable for my style. It was just a mess of little tiny flecks of colour that took me longer to select than just drawing the shapes in myself. Maybe they have improved or I just needed to dial in the settings better, but my inking style has too much banjo work I think. I do way too much feathering and hatching and random texture lines for it be able to pick shapes.
I can see how it would work with your linge-claire style.
You’re absolutely right and because I use a lot of decorative detail, the flatting program is now essential to my process. It has also changed my inking approach somewhat as I am careful to close the lines so that the color flatter program works better.
Well presented Colleen. Thank you. There is nothing like being able to see the printing process first hand to fully grasp the concepts (ghosting for ex.) you discuss. It’s fascinating to see just how far printing has come over the years. Extraordinary!
Thank you so much, I really should have done a better job explaining it in my last post. But this is clear, and thank you for letting me know.
Great explanation, and I did not know that you could automatically do flats in Photoshop so I'm going to have to get that again, despite the price.
In general, I feel like I could teach my 21 year old son to do flats, but I couldn't teach him to color. Maybe that's a useful distinction.
I honestly think you will save enough money using the Multifill program to pay for the cost of Photoshop every month. If it just saves you a few hours, that’s a basic subscription. My process depends on it now, so I’m really tied into it.
This is an excellent breakdown of the process as I know it. The crazy purple and green colors that the computer does are simultaneously beautiful and unreadable in the best way. It's like looking through a weird alien vision filter.
As a screen printer, I know all about having to apply what we call "trapping," making sure the color fill area extends underneath the lineart to avoid ghosting. I never use the fill tool directly on lineart, it always makes such a harsh edge anyway. But I can definitely understand people making purely digital comic images doing so, with no idea of the printing process, and their images getting messed up if their stuff ever does get printed. That totally makes sense.
The computer flats are so crazy and deep it’s hard for me to think when I see them. I usually go in and make them pale pastels before doing final flats.
Great post, thank you!
Fascinating, thanks for the explanation. Any idea if Clip Studio has a decent flatting plugin? Is the program I'm most used to.
Not that I know of. Until it does, for my purposes, keeping Photoshop is worth it due to the compatibility of the Multifill Program.
Actually, at this point in my life I should probably just admit I have no interest in changing my entire process again and learning a new system.
Fair play. Sometimes changing a process helps, but other times it can just make things more hard work. Ive experienced both and it does make me hesitant to change my own process too much.
I thought through the time cost of learning a whole new process very carefully, and don’t see a benefit at this juncture.
Okay so these are amazing. How long does it take to create these overall? It looks very time consuming