does anyone know how to make smooth line-art

Boomslang · Post by **Boomslang** » 13 Apr 2007, 12:39

Hello, for the style I plan to make an animation in, TV-paint is a very good program to make linetests in, however, I never get the final line-art of the characters the way I want it. It's allways a bit shaky. Some smooth option would be nice, but that's only possible with vector.

perhaps I'm doing something wrong, not using the right brushes, or the right settings, or perhaps i should use another program to do the lineart...
Does anyone have any tips on this?

http://www.gobelins.fr/galerie/animation/gen2006-4.htm the characters in this short are a good example of what i would like to achieve with the lineart.[/url]

Peter Wassink · Post by **Peter Wassink** » 13 Apr 2007, 13:18

this film was most likely animated on paper.

it is possible to achieve a similar look by directly animating in tvpaint.
like the traditional process you'll have to work in two stages, first your rough animation so you can do the clean up in a tight line
for a smooth result it will help a lot to choose a high resolution, if possible substantially bigger then the destination resolution.
scaling down the project will make the line tighter.

you should do some tests before you decide which resolution works best for you.

Patrice · Post by **Patrice** » 13 Apr 2007, 18:14

Hi Boomslang,
Have you tried the sketch panel? You can draw the rough line in blue and red. Then you can draw the smooth line in black and clean the rough lines by one click!

Boomslang · Post by **Boomslang** » 13 Apr 2007, 18:51

hi, yes I have, but the final black lines still look a bit crappy when zoomed out. It's quite hard for me to make them look round, the round lines usually end up being bumpy. I wondered if there was some sort of method to make this easier, like a special brush or something.

But I should probably perhaps just draw the final lines with more patience and precision and work on a higher resolution too.
thanks for the help

fabrice_ · Post by **fabrice_** » 13 Apr 2007, 20:32

Maybe can you try the Bezier Spline when doing the final lines ?

malcooning · Post by **malcooning** » 13 Apr 2007, 21:42

Boomslang, which graphic tablet are you using?

I use the intuos3, and when I bought it it came with extra pen nibs. one of them is a white coloured one, with a spring embedded into it. When I put in my pen I can draw much smoother lines. If you have it, give it a try. You can as well buy it separately online for a couple of pennois.

As well, try to draw fine lines zoomed into the area you want to draw, because the large hand movement will allow to draw from the wrist, rather than from the fingers, which usually gives firmer results.

Boomslang · Post by **Boomslang** » 14 Apr 2007, 14:23

I'm using a graphire A5, thanks for the tips, i shall definately look for those pen nibs

D.T. Nethery · Post by **D.T. Nethery** » 15 Apr 2007, 00:18

For making smooth lines (like traditional animation tight pencils or "inked" line) make sure you work at the highest resolution possible and do your clean up on a new layer .

I've attached images of a demonstration using a quick little sketch of a cartoony cat's head .

I usually start with a blue pencil from the Sketch Panel , then on a new layer I ink the lines in black . Make sure you take advantage of the rotating "virtual animation disc" in TVPaint to rotate the drawing to the best angles for laying down the clean up lines smoothly and use the zoom in control to get closer in on the part of the drawing you're working on. (see the second image) .

Finish the black line clean up, then drop out the blue line .
You then have the option of coloring some of the lines a different color from black if you want to by using the Add function in the pen tool . Then add fill color. I've done this one in black & white because it felt sort of like a 30's character with the dot eyes and the pie-cut highlights in the eyes . Not the greatest drawing in the world , but it gives you the idea of what can be accomplished in terms of "smooth" line quality .

(I have to add the attachments as two separate posts because of the file sizes )

D.T. Nethery · Post by **D.T. Nethery** » 15 Apr 2007, 00:23

further drawings illustrating "smooth" clean up lines, continued from my last post .

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 15 Apr 2007, 00:38

that's so cool !!!

what's your original project's size, in this exemple ?

Cintiq or Intuos ?

thank for sharing.

D.T. Nethery · Post by **D.T. Nethery** » 15 Apr 2007, 00:41

ZigOtto wrote:
what's your original project's size, in this exemple ?

cintiq or Intuos ?

Original size is Film 2K Academy , 1828 x 1332 .

Drawn on Wacom Cintiq tablet.

ZigOtto · Post by **ZigOtto** » 15 Apr 2007, 00:49

D.T. Nethery wrote:... and do your clean up on a new layer .

well, what's the benefit to draw on a new layer?
as you may know, the Sketch Panel allows the user to work on the same layer,
from the rough (blue) to the clean (black).

D.T. Nethery · Post by **D.T. Nethery** » 15 Apr 2007, 01:26

ZigOtto wrote:
D.T. Nethery wrote:... and do your clean up on a new layer .
well, what's the benefit to draw on a new layer?
as you may know, the Sketch Panel allows the user to work on the same layer,
from the rough (blue) to the clean (black).

Sometime I will clean up on the same layer and then drop-out the blue or red underdrawing, but usually I want to preserve the rough layer unaltered in case I want to go back to rework the roughs later on for some reason.

This is the same as in traditional pencil on paper animation;
if the clean up artist feels confident enough they may just rub down the animator's rough drawing a bit with a kneaded eraser , then tie-down the clean up lines directly on top of the animator's original rough ( you see this a lot in the later Disney features like "The One Hundred and One Dalmatians" , "Sword in the Stone" , or "The Rescuers"
--- as in Milt Kahl's Madame Medusa scenes... Milt's roughs , just barely touched up by the clean up assistants to make them workable for the cel painters to fill the color in, but more or less the same as they came from Milt's animation disc , in rough form ) .

However, if the roughs are a bit off-model or if the clean up artist is not confident enough to work directly on top of the animator's roughs , it is simpler to put a fresh piece of paper on top of the rough to do the clean up drawing on .

cartoonM!ke · Post by **cartoonM!ke** » 15 Apr 2007, 02:20

Way cool example, D.T.! Love the cat, it's so retro like you said.

Thanks very much for the answer to this thread's question and the extra info (about clean-up and such). I found myself doing much the same as you (doing the originals 2x and using new layers for clean-up so I have the ruffs intact just in case things go really wrong).

Again , love that cat!

elmisilhumano · Post by **elmisilhumano** » 15 Apr 2007, 15:28

D.T. Nethery wrote: You then have the option of coloring some of the lines a different color from black if you want to by using the Add function in the pen tool .

Great post David! What you mean by using the add function? I tried it and it colored more than just the line or I try to say it worked just like a normal pen. I've done line coloring with stencil and just color mode in my pen. Is "add function" better when done in right way?

Mikko