h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Mala,
I have been toying with the idea of becoming a community artist, but I mostly draws and sketch or paint at home, never did it on a computer and I don't know which programmes to use. After seeing some of Amy the Ant's and Shea's work I feel like I'm not up to standard. What do you think? Should I try anyway? Which programmes to use?
Elly x

Oh, hi, Elly! We'd just love to have more Community Artists!

I use the same technique for my blobs as I do for my comics - by hand with pencil and paper, followed by dip pens and india ink. Then, I scan it and do the colouring on the computer.

Some of the CAs draw (or drew, rather - most of them are no longer active) theirs entirely on the computer, and there have been blobs done entirely by hand and simply scanned at the end.

So all you really *have* to use the computer for is adjusting the contrast, cropping and re-sizing, drawing in the 1px black border, and saving an optimised version. Nothing overly complicated. And you'll need access to a scanner, because photographing it never looks quite right

I use Adobe Photoshop (and sometimes Illustrator) myself, but I know some of the other CAs are working with The Gimp, which I don't like as much myself but which has the major advantage that it's free. There's also a version called Gimpshop, which is Gimp with something closer to a Photoshop interface. I wouldn't recommend Paint, it's a bit too basic.


(And if we used Amy the Ant's work as a standard, none of us current CAs would make the grade! )

Hi Elly (and sorry for butting in!)

It's fantastic to hear that you're thinking of joining the CA's, because numbers are...if not dropping, at least sleeping, and it would be great to have more hands on deck!

Anyway, to give another answer to your questions - I use Photoshop and Gimp (moreso). Gimp's free, as Mala said. Some people don't like it so much, but that's usually because they are used to using Photoshop. If you're new to both of them, that won't bother you though! Really, they both do the same things in different ways.

But yes, if you draw and paint and sketch a lot anyway, I'd say you've won most of the battle already. All you need to do is get it on screen and presentable, which isn't that tough. (If you want to, you can get really fancy with Photoshop or Gimp - but it's not a requirement at all.)

We'd be happy to help you out if you've any questions about either - probably best to ask Mal if it's about Photoshop, and me if it's about Gimp.

Glad to hear you're thinking about it!

It sounds easy enough, other than the part of colouring a scanned image on the pooter - how d'you do that??
I have a good all in 1 printer-scanner-fax type thing so scanning shouldn't be a problem.
I'll tell you what - I'll be back home on Wednesday and try Gimp over the weekend, then post problems/end products.
Can you give me a topic that's currently in need of illustration, see if I can work on it?
Elly

Well, you can colour them by hand, if you prefer.

The trick to colouring is to work on multiple layers, really, and remember that you can select/mask certain areas to colour in I usually use the fill tool on a high sensitivity on a layer above the line art, then copy the line art onto a third layer above *that* and set it to multiply to give crisp edges

Why don't you head over here <./>CommunityArtists-Recruit</.> to volunteer?

Usually, the test is based on a random entry from the infinite improbability drive, but if you want to do one from ComingUp that'd be fine But check with us first, because we've already illustrated some of those and it would be a shame to double up

I want to do a little test drive, make sure I understand how to use the software before I volunteer. If it takes me hours to do anything and even it's not good, I will be no use to anyone. I think I'll do the line drawing first and then use the programme to colour it in.

Good idea. Have fun playing around with it!

where did the word "then" disappear to in that posting? I'm sure I wrote it, right after the word even....

They have a way of doing that!

I don't understand what to do with silly GIMP! I took an existing image and tried to layer it but all I can see is the current layer, not the whole picture together. I just don't get it...

Could you email me some quick tips to yaelsmith at yahoo dot com?

Sorry, I haven't a clue about Gimp. Let's hope King Bomba comes back soon!

But how exactly were you trying to use the layers?

If you have black and white line art that you want to see through, it's simple - you just need to set the layer to "multiply". Here's an explanation:

http://emptyeasel.com/2008/10/31/explaining-blending-modes-in-photoshop-and-gimp-multiply-divide-overlay-screen/

I tried to give an existing image a background layer, but all I could see was the background layer, couldn't blend them together. I think the tutorial you pointed me to might help, though, I'll give it a shot.

I think you might have had the layers in the wrong order, then. It should be a simple matter of drag and drop to exchange them

It's at times like this I wish we could upload things like screenshots.

You have the layers box open, right? It shows each layer with a thumbnail on the left and a title on the right. Above it there is a drop-down menu with different blending modes, transparency and so on.

If you can see the layer box, can you see a little picture of an eye beside both layers?

I can't see the layer box. To make it all worse it's half in English and half in Hebrew as it is enabled on my PC. I really feel like giving up the whole thing, as I have no clue what I'm doing!

Sorry for whinging before, I have opened the layers, channels etc toolbox now, and am attempting to learn some stuff from the... help thingy.

Heyyyy, don't use the baseball bat just yet!

If you hit CTRL + L, the layers dialogue should appear.

If you go to http://docs.gimp.org/2.6/en/ , you'll find a guide to gimp. It's very long, but you don't need to read it all - you can just pick the bit you want from the contents. I'd skip the first pages - it's just techie details. Start with "3. First Steps with Wilber", to get a feel for how the tools etc are used.

But first ignore it until it's not giving you a headache.

Hebrew would make it even more confusing, because then half of it will be aligned differently.

Good luck! Sorry I can't be of more help.

That was a reply to post 15.

Thanks for the input.
I feel like I'm tackling a glacier with a toothbrush...
New day, new start. I found the manual and started reading last night, see what I can make of it.
Where can I look for colouring my own scanned images? I want to scan a pencil drawing and fill it in.