I've been looking for a style, but I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, except that I wanted the "old fashion comic book" look. Raw Poser renders were too realistic for that, so I've been experimenting, and I finally stumbled onto the look I was going for. I knew it was the right one as soon as I found it.

Just by way of comparison, here are two previous versions, followed by the latest, greatest, old-fashioned comic book look:

FIRST TRY: (Not too bad, I guess)

(SECOND TRY: OK, but I wasn't really excited about it.)

(AND THE WINNER IS...)

I like it, but if you're after a comic book feel, you might see if you can find something that provides more of a black outline. There are some Photoshop actions for sale here by AdamWright and Darkworld and maybe others that you might like, if you haven't seen them already.

In order to stand out, you have to have a visual style that no one else has. I'd say you found it. You'll notice as time goes on that you will continue to tweak it and in a couple years, you will look back and notice improvements. It might be hard to look at your first works.

willshetterly posted at 10:09PM Wed, 23 September 2015 - #4230396

I like it, but if you're after a comic book feel, you might see if you can find something that provides more of a black outline. There are some Photoshop actions for sale here by AdamWright and Darkworld and maybe others that you might like, if you haven't seen them already.

Good advice. I would like a bolder outline, but I don't have Photoshop. I use Paintshop Pro. (I've used it since version 0 in 1990, and I'm used to it.)

I have been seriously considering getting a drawing tablet and doing my outlining by hand, or, (since I'm a retired programmer) writing my own Paintshop plugin to do outlining. (But that's another whole can or worms!)

Another alternative is a Poser shader for outlining. Then I could use a render from that as an overlay on a layer in Paintshop.

GIMP is a free program that has a lot of photoshop style features and isn't that hard to learn. It's got a pretty decent toon oultiner. Just giving you another alternative.

rokket posted at 12:36AM Thu, 24 September 2015 - #4230442

GIMP is a free program that has a lot of photoshop style features and isn't that hard to learn. It's got a pretty decent toon oultiner. Just giving you another alternative.

Cool. My laptop is Linux and I have Gimp on it. I've just never tried it.

As I said, it's fairly easy to learn, plus there are a bunch of tutorials all over the net on how to do certain things. I have the latest and greatest version on my laptop, and I use it almost as much as I use Poser and Wings.

One easy way to get nice ink lines is to render a normal pass and then run an edge detect filter on it (IIRC Gimp also has it). For smoother results you can even try a render at double the size of your final output and then resize it down.

ghonma posted at 1:43AM Thu, 24 September 2015 - #4230458

One easy way to get nice ink lines is to render a normal pass and then run an edge detect filter on it (IIRC Gimp also has it). For smoother results you can even try a render at double the size of your final output and then resize it down.

This render was done with GIMP's cartoon filter set at default.

This one was done by duplicating the layer, the top one had edge detect applied, then I set the image mode to subtract.

Both renders are my WW suit for Sydney with new boots that I am modeling for her. The lighting is default, I used BB's envirosphere and rendered with IDL and raytracing on.

IF you have Poser Pro 2014, you can do a lot with the comicbook settings there. This was done purely in Poser (with 3rd party figures and props).

I saw a video by Daniel Eskridge, I believe, on how to use PSD filters in GIMP. Might be useful. Also check out MonoPrice graphic tablets. Way, way cheaper than Wacom but good enough for your purposes I think. Especially if you're just trying to get a feel for it.

Thanks everyone for that information. @false1 - I like the look of the MonoPrice tablet. I like to price even better. hehe. I think I'll get one and play around with it. @boni - Yes, I have Poser Pro. I've also discovered lots of custom sketch render settings to experiment with. @rokket - That GIMP outlining looks pretty good. I'll definitely give that a try. @ghonma - I've been using 150% to work with, but if these drawings are going to end up in a graphic novel format, as panels on a page, then I may want to reduce them even smaller, and use 200% or more for the originals. But then I have to make my lines bolder so they will show up right in a smaller panel.

The comicbook style is NOT in the sketch render ... it's separate. Once you discover it, it'll be like a free-for-all in a candy store!!! It is amazing!

• Left click in the preview window
• At the bottom of the menu is "Toon tones"
• Experiment with them in color and black and white
• Adjust lines etc. in render settings: preview tab
• Adjust contrast with item circled in red
• Play with document display styles in conjunction with comic tones
• Check out webinar on toon shading at SmithMicro, Poser's home.
• Oh, and switch to preview mode to render for the comic style.

Boni posted at 10:50AM Fri, 25 September 2015 - #4230674

The comicbook style is NOT in the sketch render ... it's separate. Once you discover it, it'll be like a free-for-all in a candy store!!! It is amazing!

Yes, I know. That's what I've been using. I experimented a bit with sketch render, but it wasn't at all like what I wanted. All these samples I've posted were done in the Poser preview window, the "pose" window, NOT with sketch render.

I discovered that if I add the outlining BEFORE I do the watercolor filter in FotoSketcher it comes out much better. Here's the latest version: (But I think I got the outlining a little TOO heavy on this one. I need to dial it back just a little.)