Draw on Paper and scan?

[shadowstep00]

Ok guys first of all i am new to the forum and this is my first thread.

So me and my brother have decided to make a manga, cause we had some nice ideas recently.
We can't draw, but fortunately our father is a professional painter artist. So my father can draw pretty much everything and he is very experienced so no big deal about that, it might only take him about a week to get the manga style drawing.

The only problem is that he can't draw on a computer because he cant use painting programs properly (photoshop etc.). So I wanna ask you if we can draw all the manga pages on paper and then scan it and just add the dialog. Is it a good idea? will the colour look ok?

Thanks in advance.

[Rubisko]

It should be fine. You can either scan or set it up to take photos, the quality of the digital image will depend on the quality of the scanner or camera. Most artists that still do their work traditional will eventually have to take from paper or canvas to some sort of digital medium for distribution, and they manage it just fine =)

Welcome to the community, and good luck to you and your brother!

[shadowstep00]

Thanks for the reply!! :P

[TenaciousD]

Pardon me for stating the obvious but couldn't your dad use some kind of Tablet Computer? I understand the value of scanning drawn pictures but this can get pretty tedious and although from my knowledge some professionals still use this method, this seems like the best time to try out the variety of Tablet computers available on the market.

Even the new Windows 8 platform has a new free program for it called Fresh Paint that looks great! Some artists use a completely digital workflow which while expensive can seriously speed up the process.

[Yukie]

The downside to drawing traditionally and then scanning is that when you draw, you will definitely make mistakes which you will then erase. Then your paper gets dirty and some pencil marks will stay on the paper which will then get picked up by the scanner. With pencil, your paper can also have smudge marks in various places which makes the overall quality a little dirty-looking unless you go over everything meticulously with an eraser. Then, if you're going to ink it, you'll be super tense, praying you don't mess up because it'll be quite permanent And THEN, the toning process will drive you insane (again, if you plan on doing it.)

The upside of drawing traditionally and then scanning (and why a lot of artists still do it that way) is that it gives off a different vibe than digital. I personally think it looks nicer and less, er...uniform. I honestly have no other way of describing it. Real tone paper gives off a delicate feel to everything. Maybe it's just me. XD

[ClockHand]

The downside to drawing traditionally and then scanning is that when you draw, you will definitely make mistakes which you will then erase. Then your paper gets dirty and some pencil marks will stay on the paper which will then get picked up by the scanner. With pencil, your paper can also have smudge marks in various places which makes the overall quality a little dirty-looking unless you go over everything meticulously with an eraser. Then, if you're going to ink it, you'll be super tense, praying you don't mess up because it'll be quite permanent And THEN, the toning process will drive you insane (again, if you plan on doing it.)

This is why using the corrects tools is really important. I always work with a piece of toilet paper to clean, a kneaded erasers (always used first to clean any kind of pen that might spread on the paper), a soft vinyl eraser (doesn't damage the paper that much) and always work with 2 types of pens (I work with 2B and HB, I used to work with 4B, but they are harder to get). Also, on inking, having a technical pen is great for clean lines, while a brush pen works great for inking wider areas. The deal with traditional is that you need to know how to use your tools, if you do, using a simple ballpoint pen can work perfectly for almost everything (Maus was done entirely with a ballpoint pen).

[Yukie]

(Maus was done entirely with a ballpoint pen).

I had to google that title, but really?? I would have never guessed, that is quite impressive. How did he create such solid lines and shadows?

But yeah, what you said is definitely true, Jules César. And I believe a good, careful practice is helpful too. If you draw lightly and plan ahead with roughs, you could potentially go at it with a crappy mechanical pencil hahaha. And usually, the pages you draw on traditionally are a lot larger than your average 8.5x11 anyway. I guess it's primarily for the resolution, but it sure helps to hide all the minor flaws. :P

[Rubisko]

You are probably thinking about the standard office-ballpoints that makes pencil like marks there Yukie. There are also high flow ballpoints that leaves much denser marks. It looks pretty much like a normal pen, but it feels a bit different to work with. I had one that I used for sketching but it was much more expensive than regular pens so I switched back to them again when it ran out of ink.

[ClockHand]

I guess he must have used 2 types of ballpoints, as he mix wide stripes with thinners to create the xylography with expressionism.