Reply With QuoteIt's kind of a moot point since inked art is either scanned in as a 1-bit black and white bitmap or scanned in as grayscale and converted to a 1-bit black and white bitmap. The black will be 100% black and the white 100% white.
I've been wondering about printing either full-color art or black and white art, and what the black areas have to be like. I don't really know how to phrase it, but what I basically want to know is if a large black area is printed, does the black area on the original art have to be perfect black with no gray splotchy areas?
Basically, I read the DC Comics Guide to Inking by Klaus Janson, and he said that in order for art to print correctly, a black area on the original art has to be pitch black. However, in a tutorial by Gerry Alanguilan, he said that the black area could be gray or black with gray splotches, but it will print black because the style of printing would permit that. I also spoke with my grandfather, who illustrates children's books, and he told me after looking at an inked picture I did that even though there were gray areas in solid black areas, it would print as black. He also gave me some technical pens with somewhat grayish ink, and he said that the gray lines they made would print black.
So do you have to make a black line or black area completely black, or can it be lighter or more blotchy?
It's kind of a moot point since inked art is either scanned in as a 1-bit black and white bitmap or scanned in as grayscale and converted to a 1-bit black and white bitmap. The black will be 100% black and the white 100% white.
Dark grays will print as black. You don't have to worry about everything being perfectly black on the artboard but the blacker you can make it the better. If you get things as black as you can it takes some of the guesswork out of it. The more gray you have on the page the more you're trusting to the person who scans your page to set the threshold appropriately.Originally posted by UniverseX259
So do you have to make a black line or black area completely black, or can it be lighter or more blotchy?
By and large though it doesn't matter a great deal if your blacks aren't perfect.
Solid pitch black ink is not needed.
Gray inks only become a problem when used with dark/soft pencil such as B's, where the difference between the two can confuse the camera/scanner. Because ink doesn't stand up to erasing these days, many artists use a harder/lighter pencil, H or F (between H and HB) or blue pencil. Blue pencil (such as Col-erase #1283) is invisible to the stat camera and can be made invisible to the scanner by using it's blue filter.
When erasing pages, stick to white rubber or kneaded erasers as they are less abrasive than the red "Pink Pearl" type. Brushwork is especially vulnerable. Dip pens, such as a crow quill, leave a much heavier line and are near indestructible.
This is one ofthe major reasons that I like to fill in large areas of black using the computer... then there is no question of the solidity of the blacks, because they are guaranteed solid.
Cool, thanks for the info, all. I was just confused, since Klaus Janson (Who appears to be an expert when it comes to inking) said that the inks have to be completely black, but I've read elsewhere and been told otherwise.
I've also debated whether or not to fill in black areas by computer. That's also very helpful.
Thanks again
I try to get my blacks as dark as possible, but I bitmap my images when I scan them, so it makes everything straight black and white.
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