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Graphic Design question: Services and prices?

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app103:
It's actually not that hard to simulate the style in the first image.

You start with a simple basic line drawing and scan it. Then import it into the software of your choice (photoshop, paintshop pro, gimp, etc) Then "color" it in with a pattern rather than a color. The pattern tiles should be basic lines, criss crosses, and maybe dots (for shading).

Just build it up in layers, never working directly on the base layer of the original line sketch.

Tiles can be rotated to change the direction of the lines. You can also change the size to make the pattern tighter or looser.

There may also be a filter capable of doing it much faster, but I think the manual approach might work better.

Make sure you work big, so the quality will be much better when printed, so there will be no need to resize it larger. (Exact size, I can't tell you. You'd have to get that info from a publisher/printer)

When you are finished, reduce it to 2 color (black & white, not grayscale) before saving the merged image. And always keep the original with all the layers intact, in case you need to do any additional editing.

40hz:
Those aren't sketches, they're etchings. Dore earned his reputation creating those.  :Thmbsup:

To make an etching, you had to first create a printing plate. Usually the plate was made of copper. To produce the image, the artist had to cover the plate with a thin coating of wax. He then had to draw the image by scribing through the wax with a sharp steel stylus. The plate was then dipped in acid to allow the picture to be etched into the exposed areas of the plate - hence the name "etching." The plate was then washed and examined. This process (wax/scribe/etch/wash) was repeated several times as the image was gradually built up in reverse order. It was a painstaking and dangerous process (acid!) that took years to master. In the hands of an artist like Dore, an etching could rival the level of detail produced by the photographic offset process, which would ultimately replace it.

Once the plate was completed, it was inked and pressed. The quality of the print was best at the earliest part of the print run since the soft copper plate gradually got damaged by the pressure applied by the press. When used for fine art prints today, etchings usually carry a penciled number to indicate where it fell  in the press run. The designation "25/150" would tell the buyer that his copy was number 25 in a printing of 150 copies. Usually the first 30 or so are considered to be the best quality and therefor command the highest prices.

Fortunately, we don't have to go through all that to get a similar look any more!

The effect can be obtained digitally, either by hand, or by using a filter plug-in. Doing it by hand, as app suggested, is probably the better way to go if you want a unique look.

But there are also dozens of prebuilt plugins that will produce acceptable results if you take the time to play with them.

Here's two examples of an "etching look" using two different plugins from one vendor:

Graphic Design question:  Services and prices?

Graphic Design question:  Services and prices?

Link to page: www.andromeda.com/main/screening_gallery.php

(A quick Google search will pull up tons more. :tellme:)

In the meantime, keep up the great job you're doing. Can't wait to see the finished product. :Thmbsup:

app103:
Those aren't sketches, they're etchings. Dore earned his reputation creating those.  :Thmbsup:
-40hz (October 19, 2009, 10:07 PM)
--- End quote ---

I know it wasn't a sketch. I am quite familiar with the original process. I was just giving info on how the look can be easily duplicated, with software.  ;)

40hz:
Those aren't sketches, they're etchings. Dore earned his reputation creating those.  :Thmbsup:
-40hz (October 19, 2009, 10:07 PM)
--- End quote ---

I know it wasn't a sketch. I am quite familiar with the original process. I was just giving info on how the look can be easily duplicated, with software.  ;)
-app103 (October 20, 2009, 04:41 AM)
--- End quote ---

@app103 - Hiya. My earlier comment wasn't specifically directed at you or anyone else.

It was just offered for general informational purposes. Same goes for the description of the etching process. Glad to hear you're quite familiar with it. But most people aren't, so I thought it would be nice to share it with anyone who might be interested.

Sorry if it somehow offended. :) :Thmbsup:

-----

P.S. I also acknowledged your suggestion in the same post (emphasis now added) so I think I understood what you were saying. ;)

The effect can be obtained digitally, either by hand, or by using a filter plug-in. Doing it by hand, as app suggested, is probably the better way to go if you want a unique look.
-40hz (October 19, 2009, 10:07 PM)
--- End quote ---

superboyac:
40hz, thanks for the information about etching!  I knew that Dore did a lot of his work on wood engravings, but besides some basics, I didn't know about all those details.

The Photoshop plugins are cool.  Frankly, I'm a little annoyed by how good it looks simply by using a plugin.  But I have to admit, that is really cool.  I love that look.  However, if I go that route there are a couple of things I don't like.  First, I still have to shade the illustration properly so the plugin can do it's thing...and just that shading is going to be a lot of work.  Second, I don't really want the lines to be added so mechanically.  There's a certain touch to the drawing I did that I really like, and the same goes for Dore's.  Even though his illustrations are technically done the same way as the plugin...because he did it by hand, it has a certain touch to it.

I bought a book of Dore's illustrations and studied it pretty carefully this past weekend.  Even in his paper sketches, he utilizes the same technique.  And i really love that look.  It's exactly what I'm going for.  The plugin look, assuming I can even prep the drawing nicely enough, is a little too clean.

That being said, I may use the plugin to create references of images i want to draw.  Like I said, I'm not very good yet, so I need a lot of help to know how to shade things, so if I find a good photo of something I like, i can load it into photoshop, apply the plugin, and I can see kind of what I have to do.  Also, I really like the idea of using Illustrator.

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