Best pen? (and other questions)

[Cybeat]

hmm i've never heard of it *googles*

might be worth a try. thanks for telling me

Oh it is worth a try.

[akemicchi]

Aha, I outline my stuff on the computer, but when I used to outline with pens, I used Microns like Qu-ko. :)

Which version of openCanvas are you using? I have 4.5e+, and I found that you can save the transparency by clicking File, then Save Layer, then changing the save type to .png. You'll have to merge everything onto one layer, and you'll also have to make sure that what you want is transparent. I don't know about the other versions, but I don't think openCanvas1, has any transparency available. >_<;

GIMP is supposed to have transparency available-- you should use that. I haven't found out how to make the background transparent in sai, though.

As for making art neat after scanning....
Levels are the way to go. They'll make blacks blacker, and grays and extra lines less visible. Most paint programs should have Levels.

[Kaihaku]

I use inkscape, it crushes any other vector program I've used...even Illustrator CS2, though I haven't got my hands on CS3 yet. I'm messing around with coloring in GIMP after linearting with Inkscape but the results aren't great, mostly because I hate shading.

[Mikan]

Anybody know how to make your art look neat after scanning?

The trick is to draw very big using a consistent stream, such as a brand new sharpie, sakura micron, or if you must, a gelly pen.

[Jake]

Anybody know how to make your art look neat after scanning?

The trick is to draw very big using a consistent stream, such as a brand new sharpie, sakura micron, or if you must, a gelly pen.

Or a dip pen! Dip pens really do remain the ultimate clean line, as far as I'm concerned. It's such a pity they're so messy and difficult to use. :/
[EDIT: Forgot to mention - Tachikawa do a drawing fountain-pen, which... is OK. You can't really get the line variation I like out of it, but it's arguably better than pigma microns and without the hassle of a proper dip pen.]

Anyway.

Firstly, other companies make pigment liners/archival pens very similar to Sakura's Pigma Microns - Staedtler do a line called "Pigment Liner", for example, and Faber Castell do "Pitt Artist Pen"s. They're both very good, also... but really, with pigment liners to get a clean line you still need high-quality paper, like bristol or something. Something with very small fibres, 'cause the fibres will still disturb your line.

Secondly, I'd second the careful use of Levels, which Photoshop, OpenCanvas and many other graphics programs have - recently, I've been doing a lot of my lineart with a mechanical pencil on marker paper, scanning that in and just fiddling with levels, contrast and brightness until it looks like clean inked lines. (e.g. this or this.)
(I've heard tell of some artists scanning their work at a very high resolution and then using something like Streamline or some other bitmap-to-vector automatic processor to convert it to vector art for the ultimate clean lines, but it's never really seemed to work out, for me.)

Thirdly, speaking of mechanical pencils, the few times I've tried to use the GIMP for anything it's felt like stabbing myself with one. And if I want to feel like I'm being stabbed with a mechanical pencil I do have plenty of mechanical pencils - that program has about as much thought put into graphics usability as most housebricks. (Myself and a couple of other Photoshop users I know have tried 'GIMPShop' and really don't see how it's any better than the original interface.) I still suspect that most people who reccomend it either aren't artists or do so for political reasons rather than practical ones. The resources page on the wiki has some links to other packages - personally I quite like Paint.NET from that list, although for cheap-but-not-free graphics tools OpenCanvas is easily my favourite.

[Cybeat]

Anybody know how to make your art look neat after scanning?

The trick is to draw very big using a consistent stream, such as a brand new sharpie, sakura micron, or if you must, a gelly pen.

Or a dip pen! Dip pens really do remain the ultimate clean line, as far as I'm concerned. It's such a pity they're so messy and difficult to use. :/
[EDIT: Forgot to mention - Tachikawa do a drawing fountain-pen, which... is OK. You can't really get the line variation I like out of it, but it's arguably better than pigma microns and without the hassle of a proper dip pen.]

Anyway.

Firstly, other companies make pigment liners/archival pens very similar to Sakura's Pigma Microns - Staedtler do a line called "Pigment Liner", for example, and Faber Castell do "Pitt Artist Pen"s. They're both very good, also... but really, with pigment liners to get a clean line you still need high-quality paper, like bristol or something. Something with very small fibres, 'cause the fibres will still disturb your line.

Secondly, I'd second the careful use of Levels, which Photoshop, OpenCanvas and many other graphics programs have - recently, I've been doing a lot of my lineart with a mechanical pencil on marker paper, scanning that in and just fiddling with levels, contrast and brightness until it looks like clean inked lines. (e.g. this or this.)
(I've heard tell of some artists scanning their work at a very high resolution and then using something like Streamline or some other bitmap-to-vector automatic processor to convert it to vector art for the ultimate clean lines, but it's never really seemed to work out, for me.)

Thirdly, speaking of mechanical pencils, the few times I've tried to use the GIMP for anything it's felt like stabbing myself with one. And if I want to feel like I'm being stabbed with a mechanical pencil I do have plenty of mechanical pencils - that program has about as much thought put into graphics usability as most housebricks. (Myself and a couple of other Photoshop users I know have tried 'GIMPShop' and really don't see how it's any better than the original interface.) I still suspect that most people who reccomend it either aren't artists or do so for political reasons rather than practical ones. The resources page on the wiki has some links to other packages - personally I quite like Paint.NET from that list, although for cheap-but-not-free graphics tools OpenCanvas is easily my favourite.

Those pictures were some nice examples. How do I mess with levels, contrast and brightness in opencanvas? I don't use open canvas and I'm about to give it a try.

[Deji]

I used to use a set of COPIC multiliners to ink (from 00.3 to 1.0 and a brush tip one), but they're starting to run dry... and I always mess up when inking =/
So Now I trace my pics with a 0.5 mechanic pencil and a 2B pencil with a light box/table and just play atround with Levels in Photoshop to make it look darker. I usually clean the lineart with the eraser and redraw digitally the parts that I messed up or that I find they don't look good.
I dunno, i find it easier to outline with graphite than with ink ^^; And if you mess up, you can always erase =P

I've never use dother programs, thou, so I wouldn't know how to do the same in them >_o;

[LateWhiteRabbit]

I can second the previous suggestions that COPIC markers or micron pens are the best way to go if you prefer to use pens to ink your line-art. When I still inked my original art, I used micron pens, but didn't feel I was getting the line variation and flow I wanted on the inks. I like to use brushes and india magic ink for organic figures and people, and pens for buildings and machines.

I'm still nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs everytime I brush-ink my artwork, however. I almost always end up having to employ white-out or clean it up in the computer afterward.

For almost all my work now, I ink the pencil drawing digitally in Illustrator. By setting up the brushes correctly and using my graphics tablet I can achieve good results. As a bonus I can always adjust a line afterwards and I have access to the mighty undo button. It takes a little while to get used to the switch from tradition to digital inking, but I really prefer it now. As a bonus, all my line-art becomes a vector image, meaning I don't have to pay as much attention to the final size I need before I color it, since it resizes with no loss of quality.

[Deji]

(...)
For almost all my work now, I ink the pencil drawing digitally in Illustrator. By setting up the brushes correctly and using my graphics tablet I can achieve good results. As a bonus I can always adjust a line afterwards and I have access to the mighty undo button. It takes a little while to get used to the switch from tradition to digital inking, but I really prefer it now. As a bonus, all my line-art becomes a vector image, meaning I don't have to pay as much attention to the final size I need before I color it, since it resizes with no loss of quality.

I haven't tried Illustrator in ages >_o;
I learnt how to vectorize an scanned lineart in Macromedia Freehand, thou... but it always ended up having undesired anchor points here and there that i had to edit, so it was always easier to do the cleaning job in Photoshop.
I might try Illustrator again sometime =3

[Cybeat]

How do I mess with levels, contrast and brightness in opencanvas?

[akemicchi]

:< Well, which openCanvas version do you have/are thinking of trying? Are you going to use the trial? In that case, openCanvas 4.5/4.0's Levels and Brightness & Contrast are located at Filter, then Adjustment. Levels is the first option, Brightness & Contrast is the third. The free version (1.1) doesn't have either, so if you're using that...

[Nessiah]

Hey guys, what's the best kind of pen for outlining your character? I use a fine line pen that doesn't write in dark ink anymore and it appears sloppy on photoshop (maybe I'm supposed to do lineart after that?) and won't appear neat after coloring. Anybody knows how to make your art look neat after scanning? Also, I can't download photoshop anymore since I used up the trial version. Is there another program that's like photoshop? If it's open canvas, how do I make the background transparent(like a magic eraser)?

Pen for outlining characters...hmmm...

Artline pens do the job fine, gel pens are nice too.

To make it look neat after scanning, just adjust brightness and contrast and Levels. Open Canvas is cool, to make the bg transparent, set the lineart to multiply, then make a layer below it and color.

[Guest]

Whoa! Careful with Gelpens... I really do not recommend them... In fact I strongly insist you do not use them...

Those darn things can be messy if mishandled...

First, they take a long time to dry, Second if you happen to blowdry them, the wet sections will not have enough time to settle on the paper and end up solidifying and somewhat powdery form which will lead us to the third problem... scanning it... If it's still wet, it will blot into the scanner, too dry or just plain dried the wrong way and it will turn powdery and stick to the scanner...

"POOF" (Dissapears)

[Nessiah]

Whoa! Careful with Gelpens... I really do not recommend them... In fact I strongly insist you do not use them...

Those darn things can be messy if mishandled...

First, they take a long time to dry, Second if you happen to blowdry them, the wet sections will not have enough time to settle on the paper and end up solidifying and somewhat powdery form which will lead us to the third problem... scanning it... If it's still wet, it will blot into the scanner, too dry or just plain dried the wrong way and it will turn powdery and stick to the scanner...

"POOF" (Dissapears)

I guess that depends on what paper you use and what kind of gel pen you used. I used a lot of Gel pens before and they work just fine.

But yeah, Artlines and nibs might get the job done for you :3

[mrsulu]

Copics vs. Microns: I third the suggestion of Copic Multiliners. They're more expensive than Sakura Microns, but all the parts come out and can be replaced if they fail, while you have to throw away Microns when they die.

Copics also have a better curve on failure than Microns. Micron tips begin to fray a little and it causes your lines to get worse and worse but so gradually that you screw three pictures up before you realize it's your tip, not your shaky hand. I've been using my Copics for a long time, and only one finally had a bad tip and it was easy to spot.

Copics work better on airplanes, I discovered. They can decompress with altitude safely.

Plus, Copics are SHINY. MMMMM, SHINY.

Gimp vs. Photoshop: I have both Photoshop and Gimp. There's plenty of to hate about Gimp's interface. No question.

However, Gimp does have all the core functionality of Photoshop and a little bit extra, and it costs $600 less (plus no constant upgrade tax). If you can get used to the interface wackiness, it's perfectly usable for coloring and touch-up of scanned art. I don't think all Gimp recommenders are just insane open-source maniacs; it's an amazing piece of code that provides astounding functionality. Unfortunately, it's got some issues about logical placement of important tools, and it's different enough from Photoshop to really drive Photoshop people batty.

For my upcoming game (yes, there's an upcoming game---announcement later) I've been using Alias Sketchbook for the CGs and Sketchbook+Gimp for the paperdoll parts. Sketchbook is great for laying in the initial image and the inks, and then I use Gimp for coloring, cleanup, and exporting.