How do you do that!?

Today I was asked by a fan named Valencia how I setup and use certain programs when it comes to my artwork, designs and also comics. Well Valencia, there are multiple programs I utilize in my work. First we will talk strictly digital painting. The are two programs I use in the painting process are Adobe Photoshop CS5 and Corel Painter 12.

 Both of these programs have their benefits and weaknesses. Adobe Photoshop is great for photo manipulation, adding some basic colors and setting up individual comic panels. Corel, on the other hand, has the innate ability to mimic other natural mediums such as oil, pastels and acrylics. Be warned though; if you do use Corel be sure to save often as it has the tendency to crash frequently. 

© 2012 "Evil Dead: Groovy" SRB Productions, Inc.

For what you are looking for I would try and stick with Photoshop. Just scan in your drawings, duplicate the first layer and set it to multiply. Then on the “Background Layer” double click it to make it its own layer, rename it (for this example I will call it “Background Layer”), erase all the black line and just start putting in colors. Now when you lay in color on the “Background Layer”, the inking will not be changed because it is above the layer in use and  will still show as a solid black line because you set it to multiply.

I start out all of my paintings with a good old traditional pencil or pen drawing. Then it is scanned in and setup for painting in a similar fashion as described above. I also leave the pen drawing on top until a solid black and white under painting is done. Then I use a color overlay to put down as a base coat. Once complete, I flatten the image and paint all my extra details right on the single layer. It is a lot to explain in a paragraph but that is the gist of it.

© 2012 "Sam" Salgad Publishing Group, LTC

As for your question about Graphic Design, I use the entire Adobe Suite but mostly Photoshop, Illustrator and In-Design. In-Design is the most universally used program for effective and efficient layouts. It allows you too easily do almost anything with type and your overall design wishes. If you can imagine it in your mind, you can probably do it in In-Design. As for Illustrator and Photoshop, I primarily use these when I want to create a custom font. Creating vectors is easier in Illustrator than the other programs and since they are all Adobe they can communicate with each other as long as you are using the correct file format. 

 

For more information on how I work digitally please visit the other step by step blog posts and be sure to following me on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/SRB-Productions-Inc-The-Art-of-Stephen-Bryant/129671413743133

If you have any other questions please feel free to ask and I hope I helped in your journey to make your comic come to life. Please let me know how it is looking as I love to stay active in the comic community.