Fill » Brian Denham

IT'S A WHITE THING. YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND.

Jul 222005

When I draw an effect that I know will be white I first draw it in a different color. Usually I make it a hot pink or other neon color that I can easily identify on the page.

Once I am happy with the lines I want WHITE I select them and change the FILL and STROKE to white by selecting white in the color picker or by DOUBLE-CLICKING the TOOLBOX colors. This will open a Fly-Away menu box and I select the color from there.

It’s a lot easier to do this than to color in white on a white background. That may have been fine in 5th grade art class when you drew a snowman in a snowstorm fighting a Yeti, but it’s not a good idea here.

PAPER BEATS ROCK, BUT ILLUSTRATOR BEATS PAPER

Pro Tips, Screenshots 5 Responses »

Jul 212005

As I start inking I place my working layers a few layers apart with a bunch of blank layers.

I’ll use the blank layers to try stuff out. I’ll create new texture effects, brushes if I want to overtax my computer, and I’ll create some gray coloring in the middle to see if I want some of my lineart in grey instead of black.

When I choose to create some of my black lines in gray I do so because it really adds some cool visuals and depth to the shot. They are also there as guide notes for the colorist if I have a specfic lighting style in mind.

This shot of the thing has a lot of small details I have added to play up his rocky structure. I notice at this stage that some of the grit looks a little too purposeful. I want more of a random real-world look to his rocks.

So now I’ll go in with the pencil and add some white effects. I’ll use one of the middle layers and draw some patterns with my PENCIL TOOL set to a WHITE FILL and a WHITE STROKE and a .01 STROKE. With some of my black line-art on a lower layer and some on a top layer this will create some interesting effects.

I’ll then place another layer higher than my black line art and do some smaller splattering of white to help break up the rocks.

GET THE LEAD OUT

Basics No Responses »

Jul 152005

Here we have some line art I would use everyday. Some of these lines would be used for hair or bricks or concrete or fabric folds in a g-string, you know, normal comic book stuff.

All of these lines were created using the info I told you in the last step. I have to draw the outline of these shapes with the Pencil Tool in order to achieve this look.

Take a gander at the lower image. These lines are the same as the lines on top, however I gave them an EMPTY FILL with a BLACK STROKE so you can see how sketchy my lines look. After I sketch out my artwork using a NO FILL and a .01 PENCIL TOOL setting I switch to a BLACK FILL and ink the lines.

If you click on this image for a closer look you will see a very pixelated jpeg. These lines are very smooth in Illustrator and just look a little distorted here on Al Gore’s internet.

The lines in the middle of the image that look like a real smooth brush are created using a reverse “j” looking line. Anytime you want a Pencil line looking like a brush I have noticed a “j” shape works well to achieve the look.

Why don’t I just use a brush? I noticed when I use a ton of brush lines my computer lags. My computer has a 200 gig hard drive and 512 memory. I must upgrade that. But for now the Pencil tool is a cheap alternative to Computer Memory.

I BROUGHT MY PENCIL

Basics No Responses »

Jul 152005

Well looky ‘chere. We have finally gotten into the nitty gritty, meat and potatoes Pencil tutorial. The red line is the tracking path of the PENCIL TOOL as I drew the shape below.

I started with this shape as an extreme zoom-in of a small shape that could be used in a brick pattern on a wall, or a sweat bead on a manga character.

The purpose is to demonstrate one small drawback of drawing in Illustrator with the Pencil. You see how a shape that would have been one quick line with a brush has me drawing all the way around the shape to achieve the same effect with the pencil.

It takes a little getting used to, but once you can do this it will really pay off. It shouldn’t take more than a day or so to get used to drawing shapes like this and understanding where you need to do it this way and where you don’t.

One incredible benefit of Adobe Creative Suite 2′s Illustrator is you can use the paint bucket to fill some areas like this very, very quickly. I’m talking Quicksilver fast!

COMPOUND SHAPE-Ta-Da!

Basics, Cool Tools 3 Responses »

Jul 142005

Ta-Da!

It’s our new COMPOUND SHAPE! I placed a red star on a lower layer so you can see the magic of the Compound Shape.

Once you create the compound shape the previous 2 seperate layers named PAGE and PANELS now merge into one single layer.

You can rename this layer something dramatic, something silly, or you can keep your stuff well organized and just give it the plain jane monicker GUTTERS.

Place this sucker on the TOP LAYER and don’t move it!

Draw everything in the panels on the layers below it. You can sperate your art into seperate panel layers if the mood strikes you.

If you are into a goth book, or want your stuff to look like Ultimates you can fill your GUTTER with a BLACK FILL and BLACK STROKE. To do this just touch the Compound Shape with your Area Selection Tool, the black arrow at the left corner of your TOOLBOX. The set the Fill and Stroke to black.

I have this Compound Shape set to a WHITE FILL and a 1point STROKE.

What’s that? You don’t know what the heck I am talking about? You are new to Illustrator you say? Allrighty then, next lesson–the Quickie Illustrator tutorial

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IT'S A WHITE THING. YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND.

PAPER BEATS ROCK, BUT ILLUSTRATOR BEATS PAPER

GET THE LEAD OUT

I BROUGHT MY PENCIL

COMPOUND SHAPE-Ta-Da!