Sister Claire

Welcome! I want to share with you a method of digital inking that invented. I’m sure someone else has done it before me, but if they did, I am unaware of it, and I really wish they had made a tutorial like this! What you are about to read was painstakingly learned through a very long (perhaps still on-going) period of trial-and-error. However, if you crave to know the secret of my sexy, perfect vector lineart, you’ve come to the right place.

One of the benefits of vector lineart is that you can make your artwork ANY size you want, from a few inches, to a size that could cover an entire wall, and you wouldn’t lose any resolution. Another big benefit of this is the gorgeous fluidity and smoothness that vector inking offers. I was initially daunted by the idea of drawing in Illustrator, but I assure you, if you follow these directions and practice a few times, you will find is much easier than you might assume.

Tools used:

• Tablet (I use a Wacom Intuos 3)
• Photoshop (I have CS3)
• Illustrator (I have CS3)

Common shortcuts used:
Photoshop:
b – Brush tool
[ - shrink brush
] – enlarge brush
e - eraser tool
g – gradient/paintbucket tool
shift+command+n (shift+crtl+n) - make a new layer
command+c (ctrl+c) – copy selection
command+a (ctrl+a) – select all
command+d (ctrl+d) – deselect
command+t (ctrl+t) – transform/rotate/resize
x – switch between foreground and background colors
command+u (ctrl+u) – Hue/Saturation

Illustrator:
b - Brush tool
v – selection tool (for selecting the entire object/line)
a – direct selection tool (for selecting specific points)
command+a (ctrl+a) – select all
command+shift+a (ctrl+shift+a) – deselect all
c – scissor tool – (to cut out specific segments of line)

Step 1: Create your sketch!

For me, the first step to making a finished drawing is to make my initial sketch in Photoshop. I will then export it to Illustrator in order to trace over it with slick, smooth vector linear. Don’t worry at all about fine details or having immaculate lines at this stage, you’ll be doing that once we get to Illustrator!

First, make a new document. This isn’t necessary, but I usually start with my canvas already at 300dpi, and if I don’t know what I’m sketching yet, 10×10 inches is a good, flexible size. You can sketch at lower resolution if you wish, as long as you remember to change that in the later steps. (Don’t worry, Mama Yamino will remind you.) For sketching, I like to use the second #19 brush. This gives the sketches a soft, painterly feel which is best for conceptual sketching. I set my foreground color to blue, and background to white.

That way, instead of using the eraser, I can hit “x” to switch the colors and lighten up a bit with white. Then I switch back to blue by hitting “x.”

I tend to start out very sketch, making a “mannequin” of my character first- They initially look a bit like a crash test dummy, with my main focus on getting all the limbs and body parts looking right. Think of your drawing in simple terms, and visualize each body part as a jointed piece, as on a doll. I draw cross sections on the head and the chest, in order to place the features/clothing. I’ll also sometimes draw other details in another color, so I can see them more easily. Again, I can’t emphasize this enough- DON’T jump into details too soon. Think in big, simple shapes.

Next, start working on the details little by little. I tend to start with the facial expression first, because it tends to really set the theme for the entire picture. If this is a concept for a new character, I often try out several variations of a costume design before settling on the one I like best. I’ll put each one on a new layer, so I can turn the layers off and on to switch back and forth between ideas. (With this particular drawing, I must have tried at least 10 different crazy witch hats before I finally picked my favorite.)

I add more layers for effects that I may or may not want to use. Once I’m sure of the basic sketches on everything, I refine them so that they look more or less how I want the finished lineart to be:

Now, it’s ready for inking! Save your sketch somewhere where you can find it. Then, fire up Illustrator! While it’s loading, I suggest you get out of your chair, have a drink of water, and look at something besides your computer screen.

Step 2: Inking in Illustrator!

Create a new file, and make sure it’s the same size as the Photoshop sketch you made. Next, click “File”–>”Place.” DON’T just copy and paste your sketch, it won’t work right. You MUST use the “Place” command. Find your sketch, and click “Ok.” You should now see your sketch sitting all cosily in the Illustrator document. This is what you are going to trace. To make thing easier, I usually double click the layer to get the “Layer Options” window, and change the opacity of the layer to 50 or 30 percent. This makes it a lot lighter, so you can see your traced lines better without getting confused.

When you’ve done that, lock the sketch layer, so you don’t accidentally click it and drag it around while you ink.

Next, you’ll want to set up a new layer to do your linework. Find your layers palette (If you don’t see it, go to “Windows–>Layers” to make it visible) and click the icon that looks like a little page with a bent corner.

Before you start inking, you’ll also want to set up your inking brush. This is completely up to you and what style you want to draw in. For example, some might want a more grainy looking brush, or one that looks like a calligraphic stroke. Select the brush tool (or hit “b”) and check out the Brush palatte at the top of your document. There are many presets available:

Particularly the chalk/charcoal/pencil brushes are good for more “authentic” sketch looks. Feel free to experiment to see what you like. The one I always use for all my Sister Claire comic pages and illustrations is the standard 3 pt. round.

Double click on it to get the Brush Options Palette. Change the diameter setting to “Pressure” and the “Variation” to 3. This will give your brush variable pressure sensitivity, just like in Photoshop drawings. If you have done this step correctly, you should be able to press harder to make a thicker line, and soften your pressure to make a thinner line. This is the KEY to making vector lineart with believable volume and real cartoony life.

Also, you’ll want to make sure you double click your brush tool and have the options set up to look like this:
I think the default for the brush tool is to keep selecting the last line you made, which is a nightmare when you’re trying to ink. Uncheck “Keep Selected” to save your sanity.

Now that you’re all set up, have at it! Keep in mind that you can also turn off the “sketch” layer at any time by click the little “eye” icon in the layers palette. This will let you look at just the lineart without the sketch.

If you make a line you don’t like, you can undo it by quickly hitting “command+z” (or “ctrl+z” on a PC). You can also tweak the line to perfection by using the Direct Selection tool, which looks like a white arrow. (You can access this tool instantly by hitting “a”) Use the Direct Selection tool to select the points on the line you want to edit. You can adjust their location, or just manipulate their curves by dragging the handles that appear.

Yamino’s Time-Saving Tip: Make all of your shapes CLOSED. That means don’t leave lines open like this:

Make sure areas that will be one color are closed, because you will be using the paint bucket tool a LOT in the coloring stage. Making sure you keep your art tidy early on will save you hours of time, which is definitely useful if you’re making lots of comic pages/drawings on a deadline.

Sometimes, I want to draw an object on TOP of something I already drew. For example, I have the witch holding a bottle, and I wanted to draw her thumb on top of it. I draw the thumb, then select the thumb line and fill the shape with white. Now, the entire space inside the “thumb” line is white, and as long as it is on top of the bottle’s lines, it will cover it. (I followed the same step to make the “ribs” on the bottle filled with white.)


Another method I sometimes use if a small chunk of line needs to be erased: the Scissor tool. But first, use the Selection tool (the black arrow, which you can get by hitting “v”) to select the entire line which you want to cut. Then click the Scissor tool (or get it by hitting “c”):

By default, you may have to click and hold over the Knife tool, in order to display the Scissor tool:

-and click the two areas on the line you wish to cut. Then, select that area and hit “delete.”

Additionally, you might want to make new layers for effects or outlines that aren’t black. I usually don’t do this, but this particular picture called for SEVERAL complex lighting effects, so I separated them in order to see them better. Some of them might overlap, and I’ll show you why in a moment.
PIC

Now, use these methods to finish inking your picture! Once it’s done, you might be ready to save it. Normally, I just hit “File–>Export” and save it as a high-quality JPEG file. Set Quality to 10 (maximum) and set resolution to at least 300dpi. Make sure “Options–>Anti-Alias” is UNCHECKED. Then hit “ok.”

If I have lots of effects going on (like the fire and smoke in this picture) then I will make the other layers invisible, and save the main lineart and each effect by itself in a separate jpeg. Congrats…. you’re two-thirds done!

Step 3: Coloring in Photoshop!

So, you have your awesome, sexy, SMOOTH vector linart done! Go ahead and open up that huge 300dpi image you saved. Zoom in, and you’ll see the un-aliased lines. Before you start shrieking in horror at the pixellation, let me reassure you: this is a GOOD thing.

Now, if this was a Sister Claire page, I would dig up my swatches and color it according to the palettes I have saved for each character. If you are coloring a comic, I highly suggest doing this. It keeps your character’s local colors (eg. basic, non-lighting/environment affected colors) looking unified even when you use crazy lighting, like me.

If this is just for a one-shot illustration, then you can go ahead and throw whatever colors you want on it, just make sure they aren’t too dark- they will get darker with the following steps. Grab your paint bucket tool (It’s sometimes under the gradient tool in your toolbar.) You can also quickly access the gradient/bucket tool by hitting “g”.

Check the options at the top of the screen, and make sure that “Anti-alias” is unchecked and that “Continuous” is checked.

Now you can go ahead and click and fill all the colors! At this stage, you might find that you accidentally left some lines open if the bucket spills color into unwanted areas. If that’s the case, just use the pencil (under the brush tool) took to fix the line, then keep coloring. Continue like this until you have the entire picture colored. This is called laying down your “flat colors”, or simply “flats.” These are the “local” colors, eg. the colors BEFORE we add atmosphere and shading/highlights.

(In the case of this image, I placed the effects on separate layers in Photoshop, and colored them separately, too.)

Next, you’ll want to add some atmospheric lighting. This will be key in defining the mood of your picture. I suggest you study up on color theory, and train yourself to think about colors in terms of mood and subtle symbolism. Make a new layer (same way you did in Illustrator) and in the layer options, set it to “Multiply.” This makes the layer like a transparent sheet that will only darken what’s underneath. Now, to pick your atmospheric color…

Green gives a sickly feel, ideal for zombies and radioactive things- but then again, it would also be ideal for a fairy surrounded by green leaves. Blue is calm, cold, and clean- excellent for everything from snowscapes, underwater lighting, or robotic things. Purple is good for night scenes. Red symbolizes power- a good color for violence, action, or more sexual overtones. A pink wash instantly makes an image seem more cute and romantic. It really is a question of picking the right color for your image.

Pick a color, and fill the entire layer with it. You can always edit it manually by hitting “command+u” (or “ctrl+u” on a PC) and moving around the slide bars for Hue, Saturation, and Contrast until you find something you like. Be bold! Mine ended up looking something like this:

Now, time to add some lighting and shading! Make two news layer, the same way you made the Atmosphere Color layer. (By the way, it might be helpful to double click these layers and name them, so you don’t get confused.) One will be the “shadow” layer, and one will be the “highlight” layer.
Set the “Shadow” layer’s option to “Multiply.” Set the “Highlight” layer to “Screen.”

To complete this step, you must know where your light source is. For this particular image, the light is coming from the candles all around her feet, so the lighting will be unusually low, the opposite of the usual light direction (from the sun.) Once you know where your light source is, you can shade/highlight accordingly. Imagine your character as a bunch of objects (like you did in your sketch).

Yamino’s Pro Lighting Tip: Warm light has cold shadows. Cold light has warm shadows. Follow this formula, and a GUARANTEE your coloring will look much more impressive. Deciding what color your light is is just as important as picking the atmospheric color. (In fact, the two are often very similar in hue.) Here’s a sample of the same image in warm light, and then cold light. The warm light has a blue shadow, and the cold light has a warm, red shadow. Also, see how much lighting can change a mood? The warm light makes the witch seem a little more friendly and has a more Halloween/Fall-feel to it. The cold light makes her a bit more sinister.

Something I find very helpful when doing lighting is to select all my blacks (in other words, all of my lineart) by clicking the lineart layer, and using the magic wand tool. (Make sure “Anti-Alias is OFF.) Then, Invert the selection (you can do this by hitting command+i, or ctrl+i) . This ensures that your highlight layer won’t go over your lineart. In some rare cases (like showing a shine on eyes) I let the highlight go over the lineart.

As before, you should constantly tweak the colors on each layer using the Hue/Saturation command until you’re happy with you they look.

Finally, if you have any effects (like the fire or smoke in this drawing) you can color them with a gradient, or set their layer to screen/multiply depending on what the effect is. I recommend making effects like smoke/fire/water have a colored outline to set them apart from the normal black lineart. it just adds a bit more color and interest.

And before you know it, you’re done! Congratulations, you survived! =D Now, go make 100 more, just like this! Practice till your hand falls off!

Got any questions? Contact me at claire @ sisterclaire.com, and I’ll do my best to answer them.