What is the difference in setting up line art for color?

[JHFerry]

I have seen 2 ways to set up your lines for color. The first is the old layer on top of your line art set to multiple. The other is when you fill the background layer with white, copy your line art to a new layer etc. What is the benefit of one over the other?

[SeanE]

I make the lineart a channel and then colour under it..

1. RGB mode
2. Go to channels pallette box and copy the blue channel
3. Back to normal layers pallette and fill you picture with plain white - all of it
4. make a new layer
5. SELECT - LOAD SELECTIOON and choose the new blue copy layer
...lots of marching ants appear...
6. Fill with black

ta-dahh - you now have your lineart on a new layer with a transparent background

[Zombie Dave McCaig]

Ignore Sean.

You should be starting with a bitmap file, not a color file.

Use the tutorial I've made here:

http://www.dave-co.com/gutterzombie/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=133

You can color in either RBG or CMYK mode, but if you work in RGB, you'll have to do some fiddling at the end to convert to CMYK if you are going to print, since you need to have your black ink set up correctly.



You actually don't want to use either method that you've described. your line art should be loaded as a selection and filled instead. The reason for this is that it makes doing color holds a ton easier later on. Try out the method described above and let me know if it works for you.

[Alex Sollazzo]

I use a method similar to your's dave. I have the base flats layer, then for the lines layer i have a layer set to normal filled with black and the line art as the mask, lets me do the holds easily like your method. Whats the resoning behind setting the lines layer to darken rather than normal ?

[Sweeney]

Whats the resoning behind setting the lines layer to darken rather than normal ?

Darken/Multiply adds black to the colors underneath them. Normal mode replaces the colors underneath the lineart with black. On screen, you don't see a difference. But in print, if the black plate shifts slightly, you still have color under the blacks using the Multiply/Darken Modes. With Normal mode, you'll end up with white halos around the black lineart if the plate shifts, as there will be no color under the black.

[Alex Sollazzo]

Ahhh i getcha. Thanks Sweeney

[Hollingsworth]

Ignore Sean.

You should be starting with a bitmap file, not a color file.

Yeah. You certainly shouldn't be copying your lineart from one channel regardless of your method.

[SeanE]

Ignore Sean.

You should be starting with a bitmap file, not a color file.

Use the tutorial I've made here:

http://www.dave-co.com/gutterzombie/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=133

ok ok so I misinterpreted what he was asking about... sue me.

[Zombie Dave McCaig]

No you didn't.


Anyway JH, hope that works for you.

[Hollingsworth]

ok ok so I misinterpreted what he was asking about... sue me.

So then give us an instance when what you told him to do would be the right thing to do. I can't think of any.

[SeanE]

ok ok so I misinterpreted what he was asking about... sue me.

So then give us an instance when what you told him to do would be the right thing to do. I can't think of any.

ummm.. every single time I start a picture...*shrugs*

That's what I do to separate the black lines from the white background of a picture so I can colour under it (which is inevitably a flattened jpg or tif file when I get them). It makes the lineart a channel on a transparent background.

I'm not saying its the right thing to do but what I do. Like I said maybe I didn't understand what he was asking about.

with it set up this way I can do colour holds etc etc without any trouble ast all

[Zombie Dave McCaig]

Blue channel will not always be 100% opaque using that method, depending on your color profile. It's a terrible habit that you should think about changing.

[robbdaman]

Well the only instance I've taken to coloring on a multiply layer above the lineart is with pencils, using the grays to enhance the color. It's a different process than what I'd use for coloring a comic page though, more likely for art I'd want to have a Giclee or print made of.

[SeanE]

Blue channel will not always be 100% opaque using that method, depending on your color profile. It's a terrible habit that you should think about changing.

If I knew how I would - so what's another way of making the lineart separate on a transparent layer of its own? Your demo in the link above just says to do it but not how

[Chris Summers]

Blue channel will not always be 100% opaque using that method, depending on your color profile. It's a terrible habit that you should think about changing.

If I knew how I would - so what's another way of making the lineart separate on a transparent layer of its own? Your demo in the link above just says to do it but not how

Put your line art into a channel (select all, copy, create new channel, paste)
create new LAYER
select>load selection>lineart channel
Fill selection with black (you may have to invert the selection if it fills the white part with black)

Now you have your lines on a layer without any of the white background.