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The next step is to make the final linedrawing. Of the entire process, this next step will probably take
the most time. First create a new layer above the sketch. I've called my new layer 'Linework'. Pick a
name that works best for you. Now it's time to retrace the sketch on the new layer. For this I usually use the no. 2 standard brush in Photoshop. This brush is probably the same everwhere, but just to be sure, I'll mention the specs: Diameter: 3 pixels Hardness: 100% Spacing: 25% Angle: 0 degrees Roundness: 100% |
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Just start retracing the sketch where ever you like. There is little logic in my own retracing. I just start
with the easy panels. In this case I started with panel two. Sometimes you will notice a flaw in the sketch,
while you are retracing it. Now would be the perfect time to fix it. Take a look at the three small pictures
below this text. While I was retracing the sketch, I noticed that Nick's head was a bit too big. With
Photoshop you can easily scale things up or down. Here's how you do it. Take the lasso tool and select
a part of the retraced lines, that need to be adjusted. Now go to the upper menu and select: 'Edit - Transform - Scale'. You will now be able to click and drag the selection to scale it up or down. When your happy with it, just click on something in the toolmenu (or something else if you prefer) and Photoshop will ask you if you want to apply the changes to the selection. If you're happy with the result, click 'Yes'. Don't deselect the adjusted retracing just yet, though. You might still want to drag it to a better location. 
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When you've finished the initial retracing, it's time to make the lines thicker. First turn the Sketch
layer off, because it might distract you. If you did the initial retracing correctly, you don't need the
Sketch layer anymore anyway. Now, using the same no. 2 brush, just go over the lines again to make
them thicker. If there were any imperfections in the original retracing, such as lines crossing over other lines, you can fix them now. In this late stage I also noticed that the logo on Nick's shirt looked a bit flat. So I used the same method as before, to also scale the letter 'N' down to size. The second picture to the left shows the finished linedrawing for panel two. This is the final linedrawing that also appeared in the finished comic. One panel down, five to go. :) 
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Turn the Sketch layer back on and pick a new panel to work on. I chose to work on panel one next. This panel
needed quite a bit of adjusting. For instance, I couldn't get Nick's face right. The face is at an unusual
angle, so it's easy to mess it up. There is a simple trick to help you get it right, though. Select the retraced face. Now select 'Edit - Transform - Turn Horizontally'. This will flip the face horizontally and show you the mirror image of the picture. I'm not sure why or how it works, but when you see the mirror image of your drawing, you will notice its flaws much quicker and you will also see how you could potentially fix them. After you've fixed the problem areas, you can just flip the image back using the same procedure. There is a downside to this trick. Flipping the image even once might affect the quality of the image in a negative way. In this case I didn't really care, because I still had to go over the retracing anyway. Any ill effects from the flip could be brushed away. However, if you want to make certain that your linework won't be affected by the flip, just treat the retracing as yet another small sketch on a different layer. Just create a new layer and retrace the flipped retracing from before, again. I also adjusted Nick's fist and arm in this panel, but that was just a matter of selecting it with the lasso and dragging it to its new home: Nick's shoulder. 
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I didn't do panel four until the very last moment. Like I said before, I wasn't completely happy with that shot
of Nick. I already had Matt doing a lot of screaming in the final panel and, well... Nick just looked...
scary... Really scary... So I redesigned that panel. I created a new layer underneath the linework and called it 'Sketch panel 4'. I could have just deleted the original sketch, but I like to keep all my sketches intact. You never know if you might need them in the future. After some failed attempts, I settled on a cute design for Nick's reply. It's much better than the sreaming version. Or at least, that's what I think. And with that, the linedrawing is completed. If you don't like to color, then all you need to do now is add the text and publish the page. Personally, I think the fun part is coming up next! ^__^ 
Back to Stuff of Legend tutorial: Sketching On to Stuff of Legend tutorial: Coloring |
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Copyright © 2006-2010 Blue Uncia - Charlotte Dikken. I do NOT own the rights to Pokémon or any other
trademark. I DO own the copyrights to all my drawings, paintings and other creative products, including
the storyline and the characters of my webcomic, Stuff of Legend. Please, do not copy any of this site's
content without my explicit written permission and please do not steal my work. You may only download and use content from those pages, where I specifically said it was allowed to do so. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. |