So I hung out with one of my bff’s a couple of weekends ago and she asked me some questions about art, so I thought I’d go ahead and make a post about it here too!
Q. What settings should I scan in?
A. Well, when I scan images, especially if it’s something I’m going to use as a base layer to ink over in Photoshop or SAI, I scan all my images in at anywhere from 300-600 DPI. Woah, that’s huge I know, but it also gives you a lot of room to work with and lets you resize smaller with ease. (I would rather scale an image down than scale an image up, so you don’t have to worry about stretching pixels or anything of the sort.) Also, if you have a finished work that you’re wanting to scan, that same resolution applies as well—600 DPI is great for 11x17” posters.
Also, something to keep in mind is that most scanners have at least two or three different settings: Grayscale, Black & White (Text), and Color. Grayscale is really good for sketches (unless you use a colored pencil to sketch with and you want to keep the color, then obviously scan in color). Text is really good for bold, contrasting linework, and color is of course the best for colored works.
I’ve been asked a lot about my brush settings in SAI for drawing, linework, and coloring—so here you go!
- Crayon brush - I really like the grungy effect that the crayon tool gives, however the default settings are a little too spotty for me. I edited them just a tad to get the smoothness I wanted along with still having that little bit of gritty-ness. I mainly use this for linework and keep it at a 3-5pt setting.
- Watercolor brush - I use this brush sometimes to color with underneath my flat lines. I basically decreased the sensitivity a little bit to where you don’t have to push down as hard to get the color to show up/blend.
- Other brushes I use are the pen tool and the marker tool, both for the occasional lineart but mainly for coloring. I really like cel-shading or flat coloring, so the pen tool gives me the accuracy I want with that.
I have a few more questions in my queue to answer, so if you’re curious about how I do anything, you know what to do! Leave me a message!
xoxo♥
tri-error-deactivated20120205 asked: hi! i'm going to my first convention next year as a seller and i was wondering if i could get some tips? :<
Hello! I’d be glad to give a fellow artist some tips!!
Some important things to remember first:
- - Always make sure you have your state tax ID with you at the table at all times. Some states require you to have a tax ID in order to sell. Always check the forums of the con you’re attending to see what necessary legal forms/things you need to bring!
- - Keep up with what you sell and keep a good record of your inventory. This will help you most definitely in the long run to see what kind of money you’re making, what sells the most/what people are interested in, and most importantly, if you’re making any profit!
- - Invest in a money lock-box, or some sort of locked storage bin to keep your money in.
- - BRING CHANGE! People at the beginning of the con will come up to you with $20’s and sometimes $100’s and want to buy a $10 print. I would bring maybe about $100 in change; $5’s and $1’s, with some $10’s.
- - One thing that happened (and always happens!) to me was the Artist Alley was FREEZING. Bring a blanket! Or a hoodie, jacket, etc. You never know the temperature of the AA, it’s hard to guesstimate that.
- - If you can, have one of your friends have an Artist Alley badge and have them as a registered member of your table (if you’re selling by yourself). This way, you can take breaks easier and you’ll have time to check out the dealer’s room as well. Some cons (well, most actually) will assume you’re forfeiting your table, and withdraw your table from you if you’re away for extended periods of time.
- - Bring a baggie of snacks. Try to avoid messy foods like sandwiches and the like if you can. Try not to have open-top drinks floating around your table that don’t have lids. If you have a drink with a lid, always try to put it back on when you’re done taking a sip! The last thing you want is “oops I spilled my diet coke all over my table and my neighbor’s table” or “oops I dropped my tuna sandwich all over these prints.” My con diet usually consists of melon pan, and maybe a juice or something. This also saying, don’t think you can’t take a break to eat if you can have someone cover your table. And hey, if you’re a clean person, small personal cans of spaghetti o’s are a good in-between-rushes snack and easy to dispose of. A good thing that I found was trail mixes, or those new Breakfast on the go packets. Other snacks like gummies are good; any temporary hunger-satisfiers are usually good! Granola bars, etc.
- - Try to find a zip-up portfolio or something similar to carry your prints in. If you have large prints, try keeping them in the bag you got them in from the print store. Have your friends/helpers be wary of where your prints are so nothing gets bent!
- - Trash bags. Not the heavy-duty kind, but small bathroom-size trash bags are a good thing to have at your table. Very convenient for pencil shavings, small clippings of paper, and food waste. Easy to take to a bigger trash can around the con and easy to keep under the table!
- - Try to invest in a rolling crate. Like this one: http://tinyurl.com/449d544 This has been the best investment I’ve ever made for my art stuff. You can fit a ton of stuff in it, and it has (most of them anyway) a plastic lid you can place on top and stack other things on top of it. I also purchased a small storage bin for my purse and other small items and merchandise, and it was SO helpful. I only had two items to take to my table: the rolling crate and the storage bin. It was so nice! And easy to keep organized. The crate, once the handle is pushed down, can be easily used to store backstock and slid under the table to avoid crowding your neighbor tables.
- - As boring as it might get sometimes (depending on the con), try not to leave your table too often but do take stretch breaks! Walk around some to get the creative juices flowing and wake up your sleepy limbs.
- - Associate with other artists! They’ve worked just as hard as you have to be where you both are. So take some names and maybe their business card, and enjoy the con.
I think this may have covered everything! A good forum to join is the Convention Artists Community (a forum), located here: http://starcrossd.net/akon/index.php
I hope this wasn’t TOO long! ; v; If you have any other questions let me know!
algerian-gal asked: Hi ^ ^
what kind of pencils do you use in your drawings ?
Sorry this took me so long to answer!! When I saw it, I knew I wanted to take a pic, but I just now got around to it. Haha.
Alright! Here’s what I use, in a nutshell. (minus a couple of odd and end pencils and pens)
From left to right;
1. Crayola erasable colored pencils. I normally use blue or purple, something that is easy to see. You don’t have to draw hard with these to get the pencil to show up, and it makes for very easy and clean erasing. (used for sketching, gesture, base lines etc)
2. Faber-Castell sketching pencil in 2H. Just like the colored pencil, the graphite very light and easy to erase. I normally don’t use any pencil softer than HB; I hate smearing my sketches and it just makes me self conscious about it haha. Let me just say, that Faber-Castell is my favorite type of pencils, EVER. ♥♥ I have them from 2H-4B. Love it.
3. Pentel GraphGear 500 mechanical pencil, lead size 0.9. This is what I use to go over rough sketches, if I want a softer look or sometimes I use it to sketch (however not very often). I like the thickness of the lead and the kind of lines it makes, as well as the sturdiness of the pencil. :3 (pictured above is just a soft white eraser, that I found at the supply store at my college. I recommend these types of erasers because they’re very durable, soft, and don’t leave too much of an eraser mess behind, plus they are very kind to your paper!)
4. Erm, yes. That is a watermelon scented black ballpoint pen. I found it at the Hastings I work at. I like ballpoint pens, I tend to ink my sketches with these rather than my Microns, Because they get the same kind of soft effect that pencils do (except you’re obviously inking haha). LOVE IT LOVE IT. Except I have to be careful with erasing, because they sometimes tend to smear. :(
5. Sakura Micron pens, size 005-08, and my (freshly dead) Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen in size F. SIGH I can’t stress enough how much I love Faber-Castell products!! I used it until it died, obviously. haha. But I have a full set of Sakura Microns (that include different kinds of tips as well, like brush and graphic pens for inking) that I use occasionally for a very clean crisp lineart.
*thumbs up*!! I hope this was helpful!!
