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General Chat => Creative Common => Topic started by: El Chivo on 28 May, 2014, 07:00:11 PM

Title: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: El Chivo on 28 May, 2014, 07:00:11 PM
Hey Art Dudes,

Need to upgrade my art type hardware type shizz. I generally use Manga Studio with my Bamboo which i have for PC/Mac & Photoshop which i have for PC only but willing to learn anything compatible. What i wanna know is are tablets any harder/easier to use with these programmes, what the quality of the finished artwork is like, what people's preferences are.
Portability is important but a decent size helps & obviously price is important too

Cheers arty peeps, let's be having u!

Chi

Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 28 May, 2014, 07:29:58 PM
I don't have a tablet but my only understanding of art on them is (subtext: I could be ignorant on the matter feel free anyone to correct me here) a lot of programmes just work to 72dpi - not a problem for webcomics, starts becoming an issue if you're working to print.
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: El Chivo on 28 May, 2014, 08:00:15 PM
Cheers Foxy

Nah, don't think 72dpi will cut it

Any other suggestions?

Chi
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 28 May, 2014, 08:33:35 PM
Stephen Prestwood's last couple of episodes of Icarus for Paragon were done on iPad (in ProCreate, I think). The original files were about half the pixel dimensions required for A4 300dpi but required minimal post-processing in Photoshop and, I think, came out pretty well.

TBH, I remain slightly astonished that Stephen's efforts look so much like his pen-and-ink work, but whatever he's doing, it seems to work!

Cheers

Jim
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: CrazyFoxMachine on 28 May, 2014, 09:05:28 PM
Agreed he does kick arse on that iPad - !
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: El Chivo on 28 May, 2014, 09:31:57 PM
Cool i will bend Mr. Prestwood's ear about it, big fan of his work

Any more?
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: Daveycandlish on 29 May, 2014, 07:33:18 AM
Chi, you'd be better off asking Jim for details - or John Caliber who did something similar with Mr Prestwood's Bulldog strip - if you want to know how to get the art print ready.
Stephen's work is marvellous and you really can't see the join between his pen and ink stuff and his stylus and screen stuff!
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: Bolt-01 on 29 May, 2014, 10:57:03 AM
Agreed on Mr Prestwood. I've had two strips from him since he moved over to digital and his work looks just as good. A few issues with resolution but there are ways to adjust things at the far end that I've found successful so far.
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: Steve Green on 29 May, 2014, 01:06:53 PM
I don't know if this is on your radar, but there's a review of the new Surface Pro 3 here, talking about the pros/cons of using it for drawing.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2014/05/23/surface-pro-3 (http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2014/05/23/surface-pro-3)
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 29 May, 2014, 01:30:50 PM
Quote from: Daveycandlish on 29 May, 2014, 07:33:18 AM
Chi, you'd be better off asking Jim for details

It's pretty straightforward... I can't remember the exact dimensions of the original file, but I'm sure it was about half what you'd need. The process was:

Convert to grayscale

Image Size (bicubic interpolation): select a size midway between current size and target size (say 150mm wide and 144dpi)

Filter -> Noise -> Median 2px (to take off the jaggies but without being as crude as a blur)

Image Size (bicubic again): select actual size (210mm wide and 300dpi)

Median again.

Use Levels and drag the middle slider to the right and tweak the right slider inwards a little — this should darken the soft grey edges of the linework.

Filter -> Sharpen - Smart Sharpen: fiddle with the settings until you get a result you're happy with.

Sounds like a faff but actually takes about two minutes per page.

Cheers!

Jim
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 29 May, 2014, 01:37:15 PM
(Too late to edit the above. The Median step may have been 1px. Have a play and see what works for you!)
Title: Re: Laptop v Tablets for Art?
Post by: El Chivo on 29 May, 2014, 04:31:29 PM
Cool guys, thanks for the advice
Quite like the look of the Surface Pro tho i might have to go with version 2
Anybody have experience with it & can u use MS/ Photoshop/ Bamboo with it?

Cheers

Chi