Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with inking

Gray Areas

Rykey — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:01:23 -0800

Help me remember a great web tutorial I once found on halftoning comics with Photoshop. I'm trying in vain to locate a tutorial I used to refer to for halftoning in Photoshop. The example used was a Manga-style ink drawing of a girl with black hair wearing a schoolgirl-type skirt and stockings.

I've since found many tutorials on inking/halftoning in PS, but this one worked the best for me. It utilized the Mode->Bitmap->Halftone Screen style (not the Filter->Pixelate->Color Halftone style) of achieving the halftone effect, and it also required a couple more steps than the typical halftoning tutorial (I seem to remember that the extra steps involved using the diamond or cross shape in the actual halftone instead of a round dot, but relied on anti-aliasing to "smooth" the shape back to round for the final result).

When I originally found this tutorial (a few years back), it was fairly high up in Google results for halftoning in Photoshop. But being the dumbass that I am about bookmarking, I can't find it now.

I appreciate the impulse to point me to tutorials that sound similar to what I'm describing, but I really want to find this particular one-- I remember being really pleased with the result, and want to find it again.

Specific custom self inking stamps?

simplethings — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:11:39 -0800

Can you help me find a very specific custom rubber stamp? I'd like to get a custom stamp made. I've spent the past hour or so searching custom rubber stamp retailers online but none have had the format I'm looking for.

I'd like the stamp to be self-inking. It would also have one line.
On the left would be the date (which would have the dials so I could set the current date). On the right side would be my name:

NOV 4 2008 simplethings

This seemed like a typical stamp design but the only dynamic date + static, custom text format I could find is date in the center and text either above or below.

I've seen a similar non-self-inking design where you would have the date followed by a dial with generic accounting phrases (e.g. PAID, VOID, RECEIVED).
However, it's not self-inking and I haven't come across a retailer that would allow me to customize the text dial.

I also came across a retailer that had a very complex alphanumeric stamp designer... this might have been what I was looking for but it was too user-unfriendly for me to figure out.

Can you point me to a legit (and easy to use) website that can take care of my needs?
Thank you!

How do you do pen and ink illustrations?

Shane — Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:56:56 -0800

Pen-n-ink illustration filter:
I've recently taken a renewed interest in "embellishing" or "rendering" in pen and ink. This has led me to this picture of a fiddling cat, which is naggingly familiar to myself and also to my Mom, although neither of us can remember the artist or source. Also, I came across this illustration from an Aesop's Fable, but I do not know the artist either (evidently, though, Aesop has a long and old tradition of finely illustrated editions.) Can anyone help me out?

And while we're at it, do we have any pen-n-ink or comics style artists out there? What good books or practice-methods have helped you? (I've had this great book since I was a child but am only now making good use of it.) Do you use traditional quills, or have you transitioned to modern markers and such? Or a Wacom tablet?
Really, I'd love any info from anyone who creates art or plays with the techniques.