# Neat, fine lines?



## mousethedog (Nov 30, 2008)

I see all this art around with outlines that are so smooth and tiny and all my stuff looks so chunky and fat and just "too pixely."  I thought maybe people are working big and then shrinking stuff down, but that just makes everything fuzzy?  Also how do people whip up tiny little 100x100 avatars with tiny, clear details?  I don't get it!  

I'm using Gimp.  Please clue me in, haha.


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## reved (Nov 30, 2008)

I'd link to some of my drawings, but they're pretty explicit.  They're also much more anthro than "furry", so don't think they'd be well appreciated (the adult pics in the galleries is pretty mild, compared).  

For the most part, images are often drawn large and reduced to tighten the linework.  That's why average comic-books have an industry-standard of 10X15, so they can be reduced to 6x9 for printing.  

I've never used GIMP, so not quite sure how your renders come out...(?)


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## mousethedog (Nov 30, 2008)

reved said:


> I'd link to some of my drawings, but they're pretty explicit.  They're also much more anthro than "furry", so don't think they'd be well appreciated (the adult pics in the galleries is pretty mild, compared).
> 
> For the most part, images are often drawn large and reduced to tighten the linework.  That's why average comic-books have an industry-standard of 10X15, so they can be reduced to 6x9 for printing.
> 
> I've never used GIMP, so not quite sure how your renders come out...(?)



LMAO about the explicitness. OK i figured it was something like that, i'll try to go even bigger. just hope i don't get lost in the image once i'm zoomed in. haha. that's what the navigation window is for i suppose. 

thanks a ton!


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## reved (Dec 2, 2008)

*THIS POST* (NOT THE THREAD) CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL!  *NSFW*!!!

Well, guess I'll have to show a lil bit of my art.  

http://monstersandangels.com/testsite/cpg144/index.php?cat=10673

I still have the original drawings, so could tell you exactly how large they were fefore reducing them in Photoshop.


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## mrredfox (Dec 2, 2008)

i use flash cs3, it uses vector graphics so no matter how far you shrink it down, the lines will always be smooth, then i export as a png


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## Zseliq (Dec 2, 2008)

I wish I knew, as well. All my lines are pixel-y and sharp.

EDIT** I also use GIMP


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## Kangamutt (Dec 2, 2008)

If you use a tablet and have GIMP programmed to work with it, it comes down to how you handle your pen. Light, easy strokes will do the job. Personally, when I do small stuff, I work on a 1000x1000 pixel artboard at 300 dpi, and when finished, I downsize it to the dimensions I want.


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## Azerane (Dec 5, 2008)

Yeah, I believe the trick to it is to work with a huge canvas (something I still struggle with) and also a large part of it is the dpi (dots per inch) If you're opening a new file in photoshop, there'll be a setting you can change for this. 300dpi is a good amount. If you want something really, -really- intricate, you can go to 600 or more. I've never used anything higher than 300 dpi.


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## Kittiara (Dec 5, 2008)

I dunno.  When I do icons I do 'em 400x400 pixels or 500x500 at most (but that usually doesn't come out as well when shrunk down) and they shrink fine.


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## spartanpanda (Dec 8, 2008)

I have been forced to rely on vectoring my stuff because my scanner sucks


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## ChapperIce (Dec 13, 2008)

I drew my icon at 600x600 and shrunk it down to 100x100 in photoshop so..yeah drawing bigger is how it is..

I had to adjust it a little, though, because I drew the picture too tiny even though it was a large size, and it was hard to see ;;

For me, it's a bit of trial and error....

But my lines are EXTREMELY messy and you can't tell from the picture now :>


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## 50percentgrey (Dec 14, 2008)

I don't have flash, but I do use two essential Adobe programs: Photoshop 5.5 and Illustrator CS2.  I scan a drawing, clean it up and darken it in Photoshop, place the image into Illustrator and apply the "live trace" feature.  This makes my rough, bitmapped line drawing a smooth vector graphic.  I open a new Photoshop file with a DPI of at least 300, I copy and paste the vectored drawing and I simply cellshade it.

This method works for my drawings, so I don't really need flash, unless I want to animate something.  Did some of you guys do art like this when you didn't have flash?


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## DragonFoxDemon (Dec 17, 2008)

Like someone already mentioned, work large and shrink it down. Also you can take off opacity under pressure sensitivity in Tool Options.


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