Not sure if anyone already said this but a good trick for splicing the two scanned halves together would be to drop the opacity of the layer that's on top by about 50% which would then allow you to line the crop lines of your comic page up. Once aligned, put the opacity back to 100% before flattening 👍
it’s called tiling and its a basic knowledge for any illustrator like me and him who’s 40 or older because scanners were small and expensive and large ones were generally not in your home or readily available lol.
and yes im glad you find it cool i came here to comment that im glad he still shared this little trick even though lots of people may find it obsolete or weird but it works great as a workaround or in a pinch.
TIP 1 >> when stitching scans of two halves >> set the top layer to Difference mode in the Layers. At first you'll get a lot of contrast noise. This is the effect of showing the difference of the contrast between the layers - where blacks and whites (shadows and highlights) are overlapping. Even more noticeable with overlapping colors. Then use the arrow keys to line up the top layer. As the layers get closer and closer to alignment, the image becomes more of a solid black, and where you see some white edges, you get a clearer idea of the direction to tweak the alignment. The idea is to make the top layer solid black, where there's NO difference of shadow/highlight contrast. Then set that top layer back to Normal and you should see a perfect alignment of all the ink lines and solid shape edges. TIP 2 >> for cleaning up the loose pencil scribbles from the final lines DON'T use the eraser >> instead use the Dodge tool, set to target Highlights, 10% Exposure (intensity) and uncheck Protect Tones option. The Dodge tool is a way of "bleaching" the tonal values of where you brush, and by setting it to target Highlights has a reduced effect on shadow areas of the image, the *stronger* pencil lines. Keep in mind it *can* still effect shadow tones to some extent so adjust the brush size in finer detail areas. Still it's a lot safer than the eraser and gives you more flexibility to brush more freely and smoothly with cleaning up the line edges. In fact it's even better to do the Levels adjustment BEFORE brushing, as that contrast cleanup will strengthen the dark lines and diminish the soft grays, making some disappear entirely into the white.... reducing the brushwork needed and making the Dodge brush target the highlights separately from the shadow lines that much safer.
I wrestled with this topic quite a lot when starting out and trying to scan pencils and inks the right way for my friend to color it digitally. Eventually, you'll just find the right "levels" value in PS to do the trick, for the most part. That being said, the whole process of scanning, cropping and cleaning up is quite a chore in itself, haha. Very informative video, especially regarding the industry standard file types, resolutions and the whole process overall!
I did this with an image a while back, but didn't have a tablet so ended up doing it all with a mouse, and it took DAYS to clean it up! Very interesting and useful video David, as always, thank you for doing this!
Awesome thanks for that advice it sure was helpful..... and thanks for your inspiring amazing Art work that has tought me a lot and helped me improve in my style. Have a blessed day David Finch.
I also find that using a Fill Layer over the top set to White means that you don't have to do any destructive editing, that way can just erase the fill layer if want to restore an area of the drawing back to how it was, long after the 'Undo' function has gone past its history limit. Plus if want to apply the paper texture, can just copy from a clean area of the background where the paper is, then clip mask it over the fill layer, that way can still get the texture, but without the hassle of using the Clone Stamp tool.
Great info David. Sometimes I like to leave my scans a little dirty and less contact on the duplicate layers for layer mode effects later when coloring.
I tip I always gives is to save the original unaffected scan as the back later and then duplicate that to the next layer to work with. You always have the raw scan then
Always wondered how to retain black....after coloring black didn't stand out. ... But this tutorial really helped me.... Thanks @davidfinch ... Will post new work , based on the inputs soon.
ayyyy I asked for this on a Monday Night Draw a couple of weeks ago and David answered me, I'm still like 5 videos behind on the course David, hopefully get it done soon
I like to let Photoshop do the work so, I just scan the two parts, then select "photo Merge" and the program combines them into one perfect image in seconds rather than jumping through hoops to align things. Also, for clean up, the dodge tool set on "highlight" is a faster less destructive way of cleaning up/erasing the lighter gray lines without effecting the dark lines..likewise, the burn tool to darken things if needed.
I suggest to use a new layer for the cleanup in Photoshop. This way you can keep the original scan, compare the cleanup vs the original any time, and it's a lot easier to undo mistakes later because you can erase (or mask out) the cleanup layer.
Hey david, i got a trick for cleaning. Select smart selection, and play with the strength.. then make a mask. You can delete all the color that you dont want (messy grey) with one click. Cheers.
2 года назад
Hey David. You must be using Automate / Bath in the File menu to joing pieces of a page. And "J" to remove rough lines. I hope that help you. Thanks for sharing your videos o/
I have a question. So I watched an old Brian Haberlin video where he turned the inks into bitmap so the lines were "stair stepped" and then turned it back into color mode. I've been doing that recently for my indie book but I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing since technology has advanced since he made that video. Thoughts? Should I rescan those pages and not do the whole bitmap process or just keep doing it?
I scan my artwork at 400 dpi since it's for a comic book I'm making myself, and not a large poster. If I want to make a poster, I should go with 600 dpi, right?
Thanks so much, I learned so much from this video. First of all, that I need a new scanner lol. Mine doesn't have TIFF or JPEG option, so I was wondering why I was struggling so much. There are so few videos on this subject that its hard to find advice. If you are reading these comments, is there anyway you could put the name of the scanner you were using? Thanks
really ballsy is to take a picture with a phone, straighten it out in photoshop and mail that. If you use a stand and the stand never moves and the paper lies in the same spot consistently, it can actualyl work very well
I looked up that scanner and good god man! That's alot of cheddar to shell out! But you mentioned something about printing prints ourselves, I was wondering what printers you'd suggest to use?
For automatically stitching the two halves together I find Microsoft ICE (Image Composite Editor) useful, not connected with them in any way just an FYI.
ive been wondering: its necessary to scan the pencil or final art in color? In the software i use i can scan in in B&W and i though perhaps thats easier but maybe there is something i dont know... Great vid anyway :)
When is only black and white i just put the thing when making the selection that automaticly select everything that is black or white and than just paint on It xD
Sweet how do u print in blue line for inking. Know Meredith is against it but wanna try inking your DPS magneto on throne with mjolnir, do a collab with Jim Lee if u get chance. #FinchFlock
This video could not have come out at a better time for me since I'm actually trying get more into the digital scene. I'd appreciate if anyone could give me scanner recommendations.
If you read this I care about you enough to tell you that you have sinned against a Holy God and because of that you are under condemnation and will endure God’s wraith if you do not come to know and believe in His son Jesus Christ who died on the cross so the door to have your sins forgiven could be open and you receive salvation as a free gift you will suffer for all eternity turn from your sinful ways and live a life that is appealing to the Lord and brings Him Glory you don’t have all the time in the world tomorrow is not guaranteed
From what I saw in the video, this is the worst way to clean a digitized job. Photoshop has tools for this that are better, more practical and easier to use. Sorry, but I don't understand why you do this.
