About LineArt

[Tiko]

Hi! I have a problem with my lineart. I think that it's take a lot of prominence. It attracts all the atention. Surely, because i don't paint it with soft color or because I leave it how I draw (super-mega-ultra-BLACK). Well, watching some pics from another artist I see that they paint their lineart, or the y paint without lineart (over it, I supouse...).
That's my question: how can I resolve my problem? I must paint the lineart with similar color like the pic? Or I must paint over it (I like more this type of pics)? How can I paint over without lose de..."shape"? May be, or surely, it's an idiot question and the only posible answer is: practice. But I want to know if you use some kind of tip that can help to work with my pics.
I want to know how to make my lineart so discreet.

Can you help me?

Thanks a lot. (And like always: forgive my poor english).

[Ilaekae]

Tiko, it would be a lot easier to advise you if you posted a few examples of your work so we can see what exactly you're dealing with. :)

[ALH]

Why not try each method and see what looks best? I assume you're working digital, right? Theres no right or wrong, experiment til you find something that looks right to you, and collect some examples of good lineart for inspiration.

I used to struggle with lineart myself, I have a big thing for line, but got into the habit of painting over it, because every time i turned the lineart layer off things looked wayy better. I personally found that rediscovering lines as a graphic statement in their own right rather than just 'containers' helped me reintegrate them into my work in a satisfying way.

[Tiko]

Well, I'm going to show you one work mine and one work from another that I like about lineart.
My work:
http://SHINEstudio.deviantart.com/art/Rock-Lee-Vs-Zabuza-Colour-109087019
How you can see, the linart is there..

And another work from another artist:
http://ukitakumuki.deviantart.com/art/Hurricane-Entry-117763570
You "can't" see the lineart but the shapes are perfected defined. How? When I try to paint without lineart it seems like a couple of blots...

How can I get this type of "line art"?

[FraserMcT]

For a start, you are 'painting' manga, which is pretty much made up of line work . In the example you gave, it is in a cartoony style, so it probably would look weird without outlines.
In the example of someone elses' work, it is much more realistic. They most likely started with a sketch, which was set as the background layer, then they probably put in the main masses, and refined from there on.
You worked in a different way, and looks like you were going for the opposite style.
If you want to be able to paint realistically, I would advise downloading some of the massiveblack downloads, and study how they work.
But I think it would be most beneficial if you got a pencil and paper, and did a lot of still-life drawings before trying complicated anatomy and colour paintings.

[Hexokinase]

If I'm understanding your question correctly, you're asking how to preserve crisp edges in your painting.

Unless your going for a style that requires the clear presence of lineart in the final piece, in my opinion, you shouldn't be too concerned with the color of your lines. If anything, they should be more of a preliminary guide to tell you where to place your brush strokes. I personally like to paint on a separate layer right over the lines. To keep crisp edges, I make sure I'm using a hard-edged brush at a high opacity.

This thread demonstrates what I'm trying to say much better (the third post in particular): http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=107217

[carlosranna]

I knew what you were talking about before you post your examples, cause i´ve had the same question some years ago. I was waiting for the examples tough, because i didn´t want to sound like a wise ass, hehehe....

Here is the deal. You want a painterly style, and you can achieve that by painting manga, cartoon or realistic imagery. It doesn´t matter. The difference is that you must not simply color inside the lines. You must think of colors, values, contrasts and shapes, and how it all works togeter without the lineart.

So, how do you do that without loosing the drawn you like so much? If you were using traditional media, you would have to strugle all the time to keep the idea of the drawing there while the paint slowly covers your linework. Digitaly the idea is the same. But of course you have some ways to easy it up.

For instance, if your line is in a different layer, you can set the opacity to 50%. That way the drawn is still there to guide you, but you will see there is something missing, and you will need to solve this puzlle by the use of masses of colors. After some more work, set the line layer opacity to 20% and cry to heaven, because you will realize you still have a lot more work to do. Keep on doing it till your image works completely without the linework.

And very important. You must absolutely read Elwell´s tutorial about edges here (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913). Read this here (http://stapletonkearns.blogspot.com/2009/04/more-about-edges.html) too.

[Tiko]

Ok. To this I was refering exactly. I find it so useful to me your ideas and links to "tutorials". That was what I want. Thanks a lot!!
I'll show you my new works to see if I have improve something my "style" (and my english, hehe). Thanks a lot guys!! You are the best!

[FLenG]

Ukitakumuki does not work with line arts, he works with blocking in shapes and colors, kinda like how Jason Chan does it.

You can check out Jason Chan's Massive Black video on PainterSketch and Photoshop, to see how they do it.

As for Uki, he does it in Photoshop by blocking colors and rendering them until they look good, you can see some of his work is kinda messy but complete ala Ashley Wood.

[Tiko]

I'm doing this, I'm going by the right way? (Opinions I mean).
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=161162

Thanks you.