Shojo Sparkles
Mar. 24th, 2021 08:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingWell lads, I have learned how to use screentones.
https://rynling.tumblr.com/post/646491900903325697/draw-me-like-one-of-your-anime-boyfriends-uwu
The process of creating and applying screentones in Photoshop is not quite as arcane as creating transparent digital line art from a scanned physical drawing, but it's still some next-level wizard shenanigans.
And I can hear people from Twitter yelling "it's way easier in Clip Studio Paint," but I hate Clip Studio Paint. Don't get me wrong, I hate Photoshop too. All digital art programs are garbage. The reasons I can tolerate Photoshop are (a) I don't need an iPad to use it, (b) it doesn't insist on showing me anime, (c) people have created a plethora of resources and tutorials for it, and (d) it's what I'm used to. I'm also starting to appreciate how Photoshop organizes itself by "things the program can do" as opposed to "things the user would conceivably want to do," which makes for a steep learning curve but ultimately allows for more experimentation and creativity, I think.
I don't want to get into the details, but using screentones essentially involves coloring in grayscale. I'm not crazy about monochromatic painting, but it has the undeniable benefit of being super quick. It took me about 30 minutes to color the comic I linked to above, for example. The application of screentones gives the image texture and a manga-style feel instead of the bland and generic smoothness of digital grayscale painting. I still need to experiment more with the process, but I'm happy with the result.
https://rynling.tumblr.com/post/646491900903325697/draw-me-like-one-of-your-anime-boyfriends-uwu
The process of creating and applying screentones in Photoshop is not quite as arcane as creating transparent digital line art from a scanned physical drawing, but it's still some next-level wizard shenanigans.
And I can hear people from Twitter yelling "it's way easier in Clip Studio Paint," but I hate Clip Studio Paint. Don't get me wrong, I hate Photoshop too. All digital art programs are garbage. The reasons I can tolerate Photoshop are (a) I don't need an iPad to use it, (b) it doesn't insist on showing me anime, (c) people have created a plethora of resources and tutorials for it, and (d) it's what I'm used to. I'm also starting to appreciate how Photoshop organizes itself by "things the program can do" as opposed to "things the user would conceivably want to do," which makes for a steep learning curve but ultimately allows for more experimentation and creativity, I think.
I don't want to get into the details, but using screentones essentially involves coloring in grayscale. I'm not crazy about monochromatic painting, but it has the undeniable benefit of being super quick. It took me about 30 minutes to color the comic I linked to above, for example. The application of screentones gives the image texture and a manga-style feel instead of the bland and generic smoothness of digital grayscale painting. I still need to experiment more with the process, but I'm happy with the result.
