Page 188: Get down from there Alex!

[Jagged]

Awesome response. Ta!

[RockB]

*explaining ideas*

So I did some more research on bubble styles and digital techniques, and I saw some really interesting examples. Unfortunately, Photoshop can't do all the tricks with vector shapes that Illustrator does (which is what most professional letterers use), so I came up with is a combination of elements: the spikes are more traditionally used as a "radio" or mechanical voice, and the dotted outline is more traditionally a "whisper" indicator.

*more explaining*

Of all these, I like the version you finally used the best, with the spikes pointing towards Alex and the spikes on the opposite "side" and the solid outline and the speech-bubble form it looks the most as if
- the voice "is within" Alex,
- is also coming from some outside source
- is "received as" an audible message*

*: Btw, you also have no directional info if you hear a mono-sound with earphones, then it seems like the sound source is in the middle of your head.

Now I wonder how the Loroi deal with dreaming. I mean... it is the state where a human would be the most susceptible towards telepathic influence, if only because every other source of input is (mostly) off. Not a big deal for humans - but how do the Loroi keep telepathic influence out of their dreams? Also, what about involuntarily sending thoughts to the outside?
...
They dream, about like humans** do, don't they?

**: And at least some animals (at least cats and dogs)

[CrimsonFALKE]

Oh damn I hope to see a hard trooper

[dragoongfa]

Oh damn I hope to see a hard trooper

SpoilerShow

Page 190 will cover you

[icekatze]

hi hi

So I did some more research on bubble styles and digital techniques, and I saw some really interesting examples. Unfortunately, Photoshop can't do all the tricks with vector shapes that Illustrator does...

That's pretty cool. I definitely haven't read enough old-school comics to notice those things. The combination of like cutting through dotted line is really slick though, and thematically appropriate to boot.

It's been a while since I've had access to a up-to-date version of Photoshop and Illustrator. There were a number of tricks I use to move objects back and forth between the two, but it is absolutely a huge pain in the butt. (And I'm guessing it hasn't been made much easier.)

You'd think there'd be a way to sync up between the two programs more easily, but instead the most common trick I end up using is putting 'crop markers' in the corners and using them to line things up when I copy and paste.

[Arioch]

I think a normal process often involves creating/coloring the artwork in Photoshop, then lettering in Illustrator, and doing typesetting for print in Pagemaker or whatever (each step being done by a different person). I don't presently have Illustrator (at least, not a new enough version that will run properly), but I don't really need it, as the current version of Photoshop has sufficiently good vector tools to do what I need to do.

[SVlad]

Maybe that process needed for actual printing, but for now looks like Photoshop is enough for web distribution.
The only issue I've seen in downscaling of pixel aligned fonts like that used for umiak.

[Arioch]

Maybe that process needed for actual printing, but for now looks like Photoshop is enough for web distribution.
The only issue I've seen in downscaling of pixel aligned fonts like that used for umiak.

I use a slight sharpen when I reduce the pages 50% for web. Photoshop does this automatically (unless you tell it not to), but if you're using GIMP you probably have to do it manually. I think it's about a 25% unsharp mask.

[CaptEndo]

Elf quest! I forgot about those! Good memories from my teenage years!

[icekatze]

hi hi

I've been trying to move more of my workflow over to Clip Studio Paint, which has been working out really well for page setup and everything black and white at least. Although I still have to end up switching over to Photoshop for some of the color and effect tools. I haven't found anything else that can do the 'high pass overlay mask' trick like Photoshop can. But I'm still stuck using CS2, so it's hardly up to date and definitely buggy.

[SVlad]

I use a slight sharpen when I reduce the pages 50% for web. Photoshop does this automatically (unless you tell it not to), but if you're using GIMP you probably have to do it manually. I think it's about a 25% unsharp mask.

Yes, I've noticed sharpen and eyeballed it to 0.300 (that, I think, in GIMP therms pretty close to Photoshop's 25%). Just didn't know Photoshop do it automatically.

But I've meant another thing:Show

From top to bottom: original, downscaled, translated.
Vertical lines of letters that fits pixel grid in original slightly blurred after downscale. I think Photoshop (like a GIMP) rasterize text before downscale. If text applied after downscale, letters fits pixels.

[Arioch]

Pages are rasterized before resizing. Doing a resize while there are still vector objects screws up the scaling of outlines, etc.