Joined Apr 2015 Los Angeles, California
West Coast Comics is:
Christopher Khayman Lee! Writes!
Danny Cuevas! Writes, puts the comics together! Also runs this account! Hi!
Joshua Pina! Draws EVERYTHING!
Tools
Paint.net, Inkscape, FireAlpaca
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Hey, I was just wondering if you’d be interested checking out my comic/manga http://tapastic.com/series/4THQ. Any constructive criticism or feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.
James Kelly.
James Kelly.
Hey, ya'll. It's Danny. Just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone that's subscribed so far! I'm hoping you're all enjoying the story so far! Updates will be put up every other day from now on, if things go well.
And again, thanks for subscribing to us! The team loves ya.
And again, thanks for subscribing to us! The team loves ya.
Issue 4 is coming this Friday! It's all gonna be one update, but not re-made like the last few, as it's a little closer to the style that we're currently using. Issue 5, the current chapter, will be uploaded a few days after. Look forward to it!
Hey it's Keemy, I tried downloading the program with the quarts download for mac but didn't work. Are there any other programs that can do what you mentioned about quality?
Ah, shame. Seems like the Mac setup has a lot of steps involved, yikes. Unfortunately, I don't know too much about Mac art programs, aside from Illustrator, which does the same, more or less. Any vector art program, really, should be fine. Pixelmator, Photoline are also good, but cost a bit of cash. Most of the free programs seem to have disappeared, it seems, but LibreOffice seems to include an art program that can do non-destructive scaling, as well.
I suppose the last thing I can ask of you is, is how do you usually edit your images? The process, programs, etc.
I suppose the last thing I can ask of you is, is how do you usually edit your images? The process, programs, etc.
First I scan my pages into my cpu at 200 resolution, then I do screen tones in photoshop, then edit the resolution and transfer to adobe illustrator, and rescale for my two page set up. Heres the catch when uploading to this site I lower the res to the highest but an awkward res of 185. What sux is the fact that you can't upload pdfs and there is where my resolution is perfect.
The main issue is the width and it interferes with ones limit to the resolution, to fix that id have to separate the pages, but i want it to feel like a book. My goal is to self publish and release this as a Graphic novel so this resolution problem on this site won't affect the quality. Besides books are suppose to be uploaded as pdfs which this site doesn't allow sadly.
I'm afraid that, for this site at least, you'll have to compromise and split the pages. This is a mobile-focused comic site, which is the reason for small page sizes; it's a lot easier to scroll down on a phone/iPad. Its for old-school, three-panel comics/4-komas, not graphic novels. It makes comics like ours harder to publish, as they're not meant for downsizing. Not to say it's impossible, though. It's just going to take some creative layouts. Moonlight Hair is a good example.
As for your work pipeline, I'll give you mine for comparison. Maybe it'll help.
I get the scans, usually at 300 to 600 dpi. The bigger, the better, but make sure your computer can handle it. I clean it up make sure there aren't any scanlines, sketchy stuff, etc., on my Paint NET program. I save this as PNG. There is no down-scaling at all, even though most images I get are at least 6000x10000+ monsters.
I open up a fresh file in Inkscape. I set the image export at 300dpi. To give you an example of how big I work at, mine always ends up at 2100x3150.
I import the PNG. Because of the sheer size of these images, I scale them to fit the confines of the page. To ensure it scales correctly, I hold CTRL. Because I use a vector program, I can scale it up and down as much as I want without worrying about the quality going down. (I believe your Illustrator is one, as I mentioned before) I center it, add bubbles, colors, whatever. Once I'm happy I export it, again as PNG. (This image is the one that goes to print but saved as a JPEG, the print standard)
I take the now-scaled image to Paint NET again. Now, all I have to do is set the resolution to something that fits the site. To ensure the resolution is good, I check "Mantain Aspect Ratio". Because I work at 2100x3150, I set my width to 800, and it adjusts it to 800x1200 automatically for me.
And then I'm done. Sorry if I flubbed something; I'm editing my own comic while I'm writing this. :P
As for your work pipeline, I'll give you mine for comparison. Maybe it'll help.
I get the scans, usually at 300 to 600 dpi. The bigger, the better, but make sure your computer can handle it. I clean it up make sure there aren't any scanlines, sketchy stuff, etc., on my Paint NET program. I save this as PNG. There is no down-scaling at all, even though most images I get are at least 6000x10000+ monsters.
I open up a fresh file in Inkscape. I set the image export at 300dpi. To give you an example of how big I work at, mine always ends up at 2100x3150.
I import the PNG. Because of the sheer size of these images, I scale them to fit the confines of the page. To ensure it scales correctly, I hold CTRL. Because I use a vector program, I can scale it up and down as much as I want without worrying about the quality going down. (I believe your Illustrator is one, as I mentioned before) I center it, add bubbles, colors, whatever. Once I'm happy I export it, again as PNG. (This image is the one that goes to print but saved as a JPEG, the print standard)
I take the now-scaled image to Paint NET again. Now, all I have to do is set the resolution to something that fits the site. To ensure the resolution is good, I check "Mantain Aspect Ratio". Because I work at 2100x3150, I set my width to 800, and it adjusts it to 800x1200 automatically for me.
And then I'm done. Sorry if I flubbed something; I'm editing my own comic while I'm writing this. :P
IT's cool Thanks again. Guess thats just what all have to do. Have to make it more legible for the readers. so one page it is XD. Problem solved
Thanks much for the sub. Really appreciate it.
Hey, no prob. I'm really feeling the art and concept! Keep at it, eh?
Glad you like my stuff. Keep on with LA Crazy Town as well.
Case y'all haven't noticed, I got a new PC! Whoo! Took a bit of doing, but everything is back and I'm back to re-doing the comic. Gonna be working my ass off to catch you all up! As a reminder, you can read the current issue and more on our official site!
Thanks for subscribing to Hunter Black! You apparently subscribed two days ago...I don't know why I'm just seeing this now. Anyway, buckle in, we have a LOT of pages to upload in the next few weeks and months as we catch up to the main comic site. I hope we manage to keep you entertained!
Heh, looks like I got a LOT of updates to catch up to myself. Love what I seen so far, though.
Thanks...Joshua? Chris? Oh...no. Danny. Thanks, Danny! We appreciate you!
My laptop seems to be on its last legs. The screen gave out and the fan is spinning like crazy. Doesn't seem to be slowing it down or heating up in any way, which is good. Time will tell if I need a replacement. Either way, hoping all of you are enjoying L.A. Crazy Town!
Lost a lot of data a few days back. Salvaged most of it, so I'll update by tomorrow at latest.
Just thought I'd share a somewhat recent picture of the team.
