Alpha Luna

[Quadhouse]

Please tell my you guys have been keeping up with the werewolf tf in Alpha Luna?

[LK]

Oh yeah. I sent Leo a $100 donation after that foot TF

[Mitchell]

Hm...I should donate, but I have no money...It's officially the best werewolf comic out there, though. (Beats Shifters by a good bit.)

[Esquire]

Originally Posted by Mitchell

Hm...I should donate, but I have no money...It's officially the best werewolf comic out there, though. (Beats Shifters by a good bit.)

Bad old Shifters. You'd think that after over five years, the artist would learn not to use Dodge and Burn. It's always seemed like a Photoshop newbie mistake.

The only reason I still read it is so I can find out the endings to all those plot threads.

[TF-Viewer]

I'm a big fan of Leo's work. I've been donating a bit every so often to show support too. He's a great artist and it's a great comic.

[Spacix]

Originally Posted by Esquire

Bad old Shifters. You'd think that after over five years, the artist would learn not to use Dodge and Burn. It's always seemed like a Photoshop newbie mistake.

The only reason I still read it is so I can find out the endings to all those plot threads.

not really wanting to take this off topic but dodge and burn arn't noobs tools.

most noobs use gradiants and filters and then go "wow my stuff is coo!" Doge and burn have their place but it is for creating realistic textrues in games.

With digital drawing you make a pallet near your image and use smudge to mix colors, and thus the only color you should see in the image are painted by you.

There problem is when noobs find dodge/burn by somone finally getting them to look at some tut online and then they go to the one flat basic color + dodge/burn. I know I'm no where near the best nor do I even concider myself 'good' but flat 'cell' shading and then dodge/burn on flat color looks like crap. Dodge/Burn almost always toss the hue off anyway but that is a diffrent topic, I shall shutup now

and AL is kickass, and lookin good. Hope poor leo can keep up his pace heh. Though jakel is the one with the golden hands for puttin out as many as she does O_o

This comic is really something else! I knew it was gonna get good! It has substance and a very good story!

Of course, Those Transformations don't hurt either, very detailed and well done. Hey Leo, if you're reading this, keep up the work good buddy!

Originally Posted by Esquire

Bad old Shifters.

Ouch. Way to kick a girl in the teeth.

Originally Posted by Esquire

You'd think that after over five years, the artist would learn not to use Dodge and Burn. It's always seemed like a Photoshop newbie mistake.

Uh, newsflash, I haven't used dodge and burn for 5 years. In fact, the first time you even see digital shading in shifters is in September 2003. Before that, save for the very first few chapters ( which is going on what.. 8-9 years ago?), its all done in either digital screen tones or pencil shading. And I'd have hoped that after 5 years, you might know my name aside from 'the artist'.

And actually neither of you are correct regarding the Dodge and burn tools.

Dodge and burn are actually photography touch up tools in photoshop. They derive their name and function from the original tools used in the darkroom as photographers developed their pictures to either 'dodge' or lighten over-exposed areas or 'burn' and darken under-exposed areas. They are ment to add shadows and highlights to pictures to give more definition. They have nothing to do with videogame textures specifically and are hardly novice tools. They are ment for photography, specifically that which is going to be used in publications that are going to be mass produced.

There is only one reason I experimented with them.

Speed.

It was a lot faster to use dodge and burn to add shadows and highlights on black and white artwork than to manually mouse paint (yes, you heard me, paint with the MOUSE of all things...) in the shadows in a painting style. I didn't own a tablet until early last year, and I'm just now really starting to get decent with it. I am well aware of the evils of dodge and burn as a coloring techinque, however, on black and white, it is no different from airbrushing with black and white paint. You can't tell the difference. There are places in shifters where I did paint and didn't dodge and burn, but since you can't tell, it just proves my point. On colors it tends to over-saturate the hue and especially on skintones, makes them look burnt.

In the new pages of shifters I'm moving towards a cell shading technique using vector masks in photoshop for the shadows and highlights, touched up with brush work. But thats neither here nor there. I just don't like people talking shit about me when they obviously are misinformed.

I'll now return you to your regularly scheduled gushing over Leo's babe, Luna.

Thank you.

[SSJAzazel]

Originally Posted by Esquire

Bad old Shifters. You'd think that after over five years, the artist would learn not to use Dodge and Burn. It's always seemed like a Photoshop newbie mistake.

The only reason I still read it is so I can find out the endings to all those plot threads.

Would love to see your 'non-newb' art that is clearly superior.

Because I doubt you'll find it. Dodge and burn is very handy, and can be used in both photography, textures, and digital coloring. They're hardly "noob" tools, as I was a noob for over two years and never used them, figuring they had no use. I'm still learning, but I find that dodge and burn are very useful and powerful tools when used.

Especially when coloring hair for putting in highlights and especially for eyes. Pen tool to start, dodge and burn to blend it better.

[Spacix]

Originally Posted by ShadowsMyst

Ouch. Way to kick a girl in the teeth.



Uh, newsflash, I haven't used dodge and burn for 5 years. In fact, the first time you even see digital shading in shifters is in September 2003. Before that, save for the very first few chapters ( which is going on what.. 8-9 years ago?), its all done in either digital screen tones or pencil shading. And I'd have hoped that after 5 years, you might know my name aside from 'the artist'.

And actually neither of you are correct regarding the Dodge and burn tools.

Dodge and burn are actually photography touch up tools in photoshop. They derive their name and function from the original tools used in the darkroom as photographers developed their pictures to either 'dodge' or lighten over-exposed areas or 'burn' and darken under-exposed areas. They are ment to add shadows and highlights to pictures to give more definition. They have nothing to do with videogame textures specifically and are hardly novice tools. They are ment for photography, specifically that which is going to be used in publications that are going to be mass produced.

There is only one reason I experimented with them.

Speed.

It was a lot faster to use dodge and burn to add shadows and highlights on black and white artwork than to manually mouse paint (yes, you heard me, paint with the MOUSE of all things...) in the shadows in a painting style. I didn't own a tablet until early last year, and I'm just now really starting to get decent with it. I am well aware of the evils of dodge and burn as a coloring techinque, however, on black and white, it is no different from airbrushing with black and white paint. You can't tell the difference. There are places in shifters where I did paint and didn't dodge and burn, but since you can't tell, it just proves my point. On colors it tends to over-saturate the hue and especially on skintones, makes them look burnt.

In the new pages of shifters I'm moving towards a cell shading technique using vector masks in photoshop for the shadows and highlights, touched up with brush work. But thats neither here nor there. I just don't like people talking shit about me when they obviously are misinformed.

I'll now return you to your regularly scheduled gushing over Leo's babe, Luna.

Thank you.

Exactly ShadowsMyst, they arn't MENT for video game textures I was using that as an example of how they arn't noob tools. I'd love to find somone out there who can make photo-realistic textures without useing the ole'dodge/burn or simular tool. They have become out dated for digital photogrphy though, there are SO many sweet tools for digital photos within ANY large scale image software package. As i said before I know my comments would take this off topic, please don't get into a large debate here about software packages and what tool is good for what. I'll leave it to lorekeep to say or do anything else as I'm just a pawn in the game over here.

Originally Posted by Spacix

Exactly ShadowsMyst, they arn't MENT for video game textures I was using that as an example of how they arn't noob tools. I'd love to find somone out there who can make photo-realistic textures without useing the ole'dodge/burn or simular tool.

Some artists can do it with a pencil and paper. Seen lots of books on it. Also, some 3D texturists use photographs or photopainting/montage. Very common in the industry. Trick is, like any good photo job, you shouldn't be able to tell what was used.

Originally Posted by Spacix

They have become out dated for digital photogrphy though, there are SO many sweet tools for digital photos within ANY large scale image software package. .

Uh no. No, they arent. But I'm not going to argue with you since this isn't the place. I realize you were trying to defend the technique as not being noob, and you are right. They aren't noob tools. Most noobs don't even know what they do till years down the road. And with any tool, used properly, you'd never know they were used. A good photoshop job shouldn't look photoshopped, it should look totally natural. Only an expert who knew what to look for should be able to see it. I admit, I'm lazy, so I don't take the time unless I'm doing something special or for work.

Leo's using a tri-tone cellshading style with either a hit of airbrushing or a slight dodge and burn from time to time. I'm not sure if he's using selections or he's using vectors for his cellshades. He may just use the brush, but I doubt it with the strait lines. Probably uses brush for touchup and black lines.
Its something I've only recently had time to try to learn. Wish I'd learnt it sooner, its a bit easier in some respects.

[SSJAzazel]

Heh, one thing we have to remember is that SM here has a lot more practice and experience with art than probably the majority of us here. So there's a pretty strong chance she knows what she's talking about.