Hi Guys,
I really wanted to make a few characters in the style of this cover art ...
http://h.imagehost.org/0825/comic_effect.png
now i had visions of this being really easy, I think i've got the whole black outline thing sorted easily, mainly by just using filters such as stamp and then editing them by hand, but somehow my efforts never look quite right- I just cant get that character shading thing that they've got going on to work, mine either looks too hidden, or too dominant!  Theirs looks like its pencil shading which is rubbed in with a finger, so I tried copying that using blur and smudge, but they don't seem to quite do it, blur is too, well blurred and smudge just smeers it everywhere like there's an infinite amount of ink!
To cut a long (and frustrating) story short i just wondered if anyone could give me any tips at all as to how to achieve such a cool looking comic sketch?
Thanks in advance for any help, have a great weekend,
Mark P

You could try doing a fine grayscale halftone pattern (it does have texture) on a different layer and then paint in the mask channel to control its intensity. I can't say I've done it before, but that seems like an approach that seems reasonable. Note that you can blur and smudge away on the mask channel, and your texture revealed by it should stay as clear/consistent as ever.

There's always more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to PhotoShop. Maybe somebody else will stop by and come up with a better approach?

Thanks for the re pauljs75, it's worth a try.
Its strange because its not exactly an unusual style of comic drawing (afaik) but all the tutorials I've seen relate to a more cartoony style.

you can lower the % for both the Blur and Smudge tool. this will in effect give you more control on how much is "blurred"  or how much the "smudge" is to go before tapering off.

i've used the "cutout" filter to create some of the limited colour range and blended those to create the underlying layer.

as far as i've been able to do, i've yet to find a "simple" solution (that has been acceptable "results-wise") but i have found you can get it down to a routine with a little patience and practice.

hope this helps:)
:)
retrocity

Yeah retrocity, I'll have to try and find the time to keep playing with it i think. I discovered the joys of the cutout filter, which at least gives a decent guide as the way to go if nothing else. Thanks for the Re!

If you look closely (and I DO mean eyes right up as close as you can focus - get a magnifying glass to be more apparent) at any printed magazine, you'll see the very pattern that is on the lower guy's jacket.

I think in reality it's just a darker color.

I haven't tried this, so this is just a guess, but I'd start with a mild toned color (they seem to have a very pale dull cyan - or this could also be the result of ink-bleed during cheap printing - don't discount that), and use Levels Adjustment Layers - clip the White, then invert the mask (at which point it should be solid BLACK). Then grab your paint brush and paint WHITE where you want the shading to be - big soft brush will give you the soft edges, like for their hands, and hard brushes will give you the surface shading of the lower guy's cheeks.

You can lower the opacity of your brush for painting to layer it as much as possible, and toggle back and forth between black and white to take away, add more, take away, add more - incrementally, and not 100% all at once.

You can also do multiple Levels Adjustment Layers - even with different colors added per channel - to build it even more, or for different areas of the image rather than 1 Layer for everything.

I hope this makes sense and helps - good luck and have fun!

-Lew

Hi Lew,
cheers for the tip, i'll give it a whirl!
Mark