I know; this ain’t Wednesday! But I wanted to make a post right away since I finally got my scanner to do what I wanted it to! But before I start getting over-excited about it, I want to explain to new readers what the problem actually was that I was having, and why it was such a big deal to me.
I am working on the comic adaptation of Subject 218 whilst my proof readers catch up on all the projects I have thrown onto them, and since Subject 218 now has a structured plot-line I can finally begin making it in the format it was originally intended to be. For more info on the headaches of making this series, I advise you check out the Development of Subject 218 under the relevant menu.
Anyway, I have been drawing everything on pencil and paper, inking in a combination of professional manga pens and fine-liners, using the highest quality paper I could find. Of course, this paper is not pure white because of its quality of thickness, so when scanned in it produced some unwanted results.
The above image is the first attempt at using the scanner for this project, I chose a random panel that had different levels of detail to see how much it could pick up, so I also opted to leave the sketch in to see what would happen. This scanner picks up all details, including the paper texture! I didn’t want this for the project, so I looked for the correct settings to use in order to scan the pages nice and cleanly, so less editing would be needed to produce a flat-white background.
I decided to see if this was because of the sketch making the scanners job more difficult than it needed to be, so I erased the sketch and tried again. The lines looked better, but the paper texture was still showing as was some erased lines. I struggled with finding the correct settings for weeks; online tutorials only proved handy for scanning in paintings were people wanted more texture to display, and the manual is pretty much useless. I resorted to trial and error, which has worked for me in the past but takes too darn long.
The above image is how I intended the final line-work scans to look, this requires less editing to make the white background flat, and only needs some cleaning up (rogue dust marks and lines). This means I can focus on doing the drawings and get it edited faster, published quicker and made available for print before Comic Con.
Next on the update is a new print, which is based on one panel from the comic that I quite liked for a sticker, so I decided to share it. You can grab this print on Redbubble.
I plan on livestreaming tomorrow as usual but I don’t believe it will be for one whole hour as our internet is still a bit shaky. I want to thank those who have stopped on by either the stream via the website, or have come to see the site after seeing a stream. After the print of N’iota is done I will look at what other prints to work on for the stream instead, and hopefully I can do it from sketch to finish this time.
As you got the update today for the week, there will be no update tomorrow unless I make some miraculous breakthrough in a project.
Thomas