Gray tones to halftones

[axelloveroxas]

Hello, I was wondering if you could help me. Okay I followed everything as best as I could (I think) , but I keep having this strange problem. The texture of the tones look different, as not in squares like yours when you zoom in, but more like...dots. Idk why, and I'm still a noob at PS and all. If it helps, I downloaded Halftone 19. Idk which version to download. ^^; Also, I have photoshop CS2. Another question, I have downloaded many screentones off the net, would it be the same?

[LaraYokoshima]

@axelloveroxas Hi there. If you are seeing dots, then it is fine. It's probably the video quality that wouldn't let you appreciate the details, but in the end, screen tones are made of dots or lines. I should really update these videos.... Anyway, I suggest you convert the grey tones to 65dpi dots, it's a good size that looks beautiful printed :)

[LaraYokoshima]

Oh, about the downloaded screentones, I suggest you only use tones that are at least at 300dpi in pure black and white. If you can find 600dpi, the better. I see there are many of them for free in Deviant Art, you are in luck!

[meanbluedevil167]

this guy reminds me of alberto del rio 's personal ring anouncer. lol. Great art btw

[omigodcelebitchy]

Hi Lara! It's me again! This time I want to ask you a few questions about THIS video.Gradually.

Firstly, what exactly are gray tones? Are they just gray colours? Or tones than can be found only in filters or plugins like

Celsys Powertone3, NEWFS,Manga Studio etc...? Where can I learn more about them?

The next question I'll ask it when you'll answer this one, because the rest depents on this. Thank you.

[LaraYokoshima]

@omigodcelebitchy Well, in this particular video guide I first apply solid greys in different opacity, gradients and even grey-scale patterns, to later convert them to halftones using the free plug-in mentioned in the description. Once I have the desired grey tones I want, then I convert them to halftones (which are pure black dots/lines). In the past, manga was printed this way because it was cheap and effective, since different dot patterns create the illusion of solid grey tones.

[noncanadian]

nice tutorial

keep coming back to this music because the music is so good xD

[AsiLayFlyying]

sorry im kinda new to PS, how do i put the halftones in photoshop?

[singinglawnchair]

I'M A GOD WARRIOR! Awesome tutorial, this plugin will be very helpful :D

[venchia3]

Thank you sooo much for sharing this tutorial and the wonderful free plugin! I can confirm it works flawlessly in Photoshop CS5. Just a question for you: I usually work with 300dpi documents since I use Easy Paint Tool SAI and can't figure out how to use 600dpi documents. Is there soooo much of a difference in using 300 instead of 600?

[LaraYokoshima]

@venchia3 Hi there, I'm glad you found this video and plugin useful! Now, it makes a lot of difference working on 600/1200dpi than 300dpi in black and white drawings. It produces crisper, better lines when printed; 300 or 350dpi is better for color. When working with black and white pictures, the greater the dpi, the best the quality you'll get when printing. Sai is not recommended for this kind of technique; use Sai for sketching, but ink in other program, like Photoshop or ComicWorks.

[LaraYokoshima]

@LaraYokoshima But if you are not interested in printing, 300dpi is enough for screen display, and it'll be reduced to 72dpi whenever you save for web. You could also print on 300dpi, but the lines won't appear as soft and crisp. Also, when using screentones, always remember to switch to grayscale or 1-bit mode, altho grayscale is recommended. Hope you find this info useful. Feel free to ask if you have anymore doubts :)

[S8S5S8]

@LaraYokoshima SAI is excellent for drawing, and significantly more friendly than ComicWorks imo.

SAI also can use screen tones, you just need to drop small bmp files with the types of tones you want to use, into the right folder in SAI and you immediately can use tones as if you were using a brush.

SAI works with 600 dpi too. It's easier to just use a combination of SAI and Photoshop for their different strong points.

It's a much more useful program than people give it credit for.

[venchia3]

@LaraYokoshima Hi, thank you so much for your reply! Now I can totally understand the reason why 600dpi is better! Ok, I was kinda idiot since in SAI I can draw 600dpi documents (I was using the program in an old PC with just 1gb of RAM and now with 4gb of RAM I can produce 600dpi documents no problem). Now I just have one more question...why in your opinion SAI is no good for this technique? Why inking if photoshop or comicworks makes much of a difference?

[LaraYokoshima]

@venchia3 Well, Paint Tool SAI is more of a painting program to me, but it does have a nice inking pen tool and it can ink in vectors! Very helpful I must say when rendering to higher resolutions. The difference is that Comicworks inks directly in 1-bit black, leaving only pure black in a transparent layer, thus making the file smaller. That's why I prefer to ink in CW. You can still do your inking in Sai, just remember to convert it later to 1-bit b/w picture file before applying screentones.

[venchia3]

@LaraYokoshima Thank you again for the reply! I see the point and I came across a really nice little app for mac called "HyperDither". It basically transform the lineart made in SAI in pure 1-bit B/W using the Atkinson's dithering filter. The app is so cool that it just does the conversion for you. I've really learned alot with your video and your replies! Thank you for the useful hints and congratulations for your wonderful skills when it comes to drawing! Cheers from Italy.

[megatroll]

Very nice and helpful tutorial.

Much appreciated. Thanks. :)

But wow... the music is... unusual... xD

[Edel99]

I did create my dots/tones @600 dpi. If my image is at 600dpi should I create the tones @ 90, 75 dpi?? What I'm trying to do is make the comic look great for print and the web.

[Edel99]

I'm working @600 dpi and I've creating some real nice tones. It looks fantastic when I print my pages. The problem is when scaling down for web!! When I scale down to 90dpi the tones look terrible!! Does anybody have any suggestions on how to make the art look good for the web??

[LaraYokoshima]

@Edel99 It's difficult to scale high resolution screentones for web viewing. What I do is reduce it's size little by little, like, for example, if your final image is 3000 x 2000 px, try scaling it down first 70%, then 50%, until you reach the size you want. Then, save the file in GIF or PNG, not JPG since image artifacts will probably mess with the patterns as well.

[Edel99]

@LaraYokoshima Thank you. I will try that. This might seem like a crazy idea, but I was thinking about scanning the finished pages back into the computer at a lower resolution...

[LaraYokoshima]

@Edel99 It could work, but there is also the possibility the scanner might mess up the patterns. Good luck!

[infernonecro130]

Hi, I just downloaded the plug in and inserted it into my photoshop but when I clicked on the plug-in it had a lot of gibberish. Is there a way to fix that?

[LaraYokoshima]

@infernonecro130 That's because the program is in Japanese. Unless you have the Jap language installed in your windows, all you'll see are strange characters. But it's pretty easy to understand. The first section let's you choose the lines per inch. Usually 60 or 65 are enough for classic dot patterns. The second section lets you choose the degree of the lines of dots. It's set to 45°, which is standard. Third section is the offset option, which I recommend to leave untouched. Test away :)

[FreakyNinja33]

Your videos are so helpful!!! (i just got a wacom bamboo pen yesterday 2-19-11)

and i have no idea how to use the drawing software...... but these videos are helping so much!!!

Thanks for posting them!!!

[jellybeanguitarist]

HAHAHA IT'S THE DARKSIDED LADY!!

[parade]

Eww, anime. Ewww, amerime. Eww.

[songxdancexgeisha]

@parade Ewww. A troll. Let's squish it.

[parade]

@songxdancexgeisha YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A TROLL IS. TWO THINGS SISTA:

A) TROLLS ARE TOO BIG TO SQUISH

B) ME SAYING THAT I HATE SOMETHING ISN'T TROLLING

C) THIS POST IS MORE AKIN TO TROLLING (except the next bit)

D) ANIME IS THE BIGGEST STYLISTIC CRUTCH KNOWN TO ARTISTS

[songxdancexgeisha]

@parade I know very well what a troll is. Watching a video that you know you're going to hate then commenting on it is trolling. And besides, don't use cap locks. It's such a n00b thing to do. The biggest stylistic crutch known to artists my friend is not developing your own style. Anime is too broad to be one style. There are hundreds of anime styles.

[parade]

@songxdancexgeisha I like the idea that there are hundreds of anime styles... all fighting to be more the same than the next.

[songxdancexgeisha]

@parade Hayao Miyazaki is totally the same as Beyblade. *eyeroll* Watery argument is watery.

[parade]

@songxdancexgeisha Um yes, they are the same. Despite having obvious differences, the similarities are much more abundant than, lets say, two artists of any other genre.

It's funny that you choose what you consider to be two artists who are very different, but in doing so prove my point. If that's the farthest you can separate two "anime" styles, than you must see. Now let me compare two american comic artists. Like, Adam Hugues, and Mike Mignola. Who are both actually unique :)

[songxdancexgeisha]

@parade Of course it's the same, it's a genre of animation that's the bastardization of American animation and comics. Used the wrong way, anime can damage your style and be a crutch. Used the right way, you can make something magical.

[Caltello]

Can you tell me how to make my dudes look good like yours do?? T_T  Would greatly appreciate it.....

[LaraYokoshima]

@Caltello Yikes, that's an awfully vague question O.o

Um, all I can say is, practice a lot, check fashion magazines for references, photographs are also good to practice anatomy, even a mirror is very helpful! Just don't give up :)

[golmatolsi]

@LaraYokoshima

Why did you make halftone patterns. is it for effect or its requirement to print

Thanks

[LaraYokoshima]

@golmatolsi Halftones were required to print in black and white printers, since it reduced costs. Nowadays, you can even see a few color inserts inside the tankobons or compilations, but still, black and white or grayscale are the cheapest way to print hundreds of pages. It is also become a tradition.

[golmatolsi]

@LaraYokoshima

thanks could you please give me a bit more info on how to setup for halftones for printing.

How do you know what kind of halfttones to use or it depends on your size of media?.

thanks & keep up the good work

[LaraYokoshima]

@golmatolsi Setting up a printer for halftones doesn't require much, just have in mind the quality you want. Most manga is printed at 1200 or 600 dpi, 300dpi are not enough like for color images. First of all, you must work at least at 600dpi for a black and white image. You can work in a grayscale image file, but always convert your files to bitmap or b/w tiff to be sure the only color present is black and white (for the paper).

[LaraYokoshima]

@golmatolsi The size of the pattern depends on your style, but usually 60 to 65 LPI (lines per inch) will deliver a nice dotty effect that once printed will be almost invisible. There are more sizes (30, 35, 50, 75, etc) which you can try. In digital application, just be sure to be working on the right dpi setting. My recommendation is 600dpi, it delivers nice quality if you work in A4 size. If you wanna know more, send me a PM, since replying here limits the characters I can type...

[playabledance]

please could u tell me were i can get celsy powertone for photoshop sc3 please

[DarkWolfDeltas]

I AM A GOD WARRIOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!

She is not a CHRISTIAAAAHHHHNN!!!

ROFLMAO!!! To funny.

[sadik0n3]

shes not a CHRISTIANNNAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! lmfao!

[robertusmol]

DAyum ur good!

[otakuofanime]

SHES NOT A CHRISTIAN!

awesome drawing

[ScorchArtist]

he looks like john travolta

[EXiiNCT]

Wow,

My speakers were sorta loud -_-

Anyway nice tut

[carnagerevolver]

which folder in phothoshop do you upload that file in?

[webkinzluver1721]

thats a good tutorial... but music scares me X(

[cad132]

because its not working :C

[LaraYokoshima]

Which plugin did you download?

[cad132]

does it work in CS4?

[sacana456]

cool but they are littles problems

[dogsrock2345]

this is like the story of these two girl believein god and they got shot... ( this is about the song)

[LaraYokoshima]

Actually is a remix made of some dialog taken from one very infamous "Trading Spouses" episode.

[Yuuichirosama]

Thank you so much! This plugin is great! It makes everything so much easier! n_n

[LaraYokoshima]

I'm very glad you found it useful :)

[N01Espada]

brilliant work do you have a deviantart account by any chance.

[LaraYokoshima]

I do but I have never used it, it's just for anti-plagiarism. I do have a y!gallery account tho and a personal website.

[DiamondSpahire]

the songs freaky but shit love your work,

[rieltoot]

nice!.... luv u'r work man!?..

wth title of the song?

[LaraYokoshima]

LOL glad you like. The song is named "God Warrior" by Combichrist <3

[1MindFck1]

LOL! It's the "God Worrior" from wife swap. xDDD

Holy shit, I loved her freak outs. Anyway, lovely video. :3

[LaraYokoshima]

:D Thanks!

[nanakon99]

LPI.. my first time to see the word. i think im getting deeper now in learning CG stuff. thanks for the vid. benkyo ni narimasu!

[shinkubara]

Great art. Also, just a little note to other people, you're here for the art, not the music.

Besides, Combichrist is awesome.

[LaraYokoshima]

Thank you! Finally, an intelligent comment :)

[shinkubara]

You're welcome. ;]

[icesamurai8]

Well I have some thing to ask you, I tryed to do as you said but the tones are to big (Way to big). And i downloaded all of the plugin on the link. My image info is Width: 600 Pixels, Height: 600 Pixels, Res: 300 Pixels/Inch, Grayscale. I set it to Bitmap but it looked al wrong, will the tones only work in Bitmap? And I'm I doing something wrong, if so can you help?

[icesamurai8]

Never mind i got it. thank you.

[LauraSeabrook]

Interesting tutorial, but I'll set volume to "Mute"

[strictpolicy]

i know right, why is it that decent art videos always have consecutive bad music taste.. i mean i love electronic but no

[CityHello]

Thanks! I'm getting the point now though I use a different program ^-^;;;

[andybside]

HAHA. That chick yelling is from the TV show Wife Swap!!

[LaraYokoshima]

Yes! You got it right.

[Kiyoto]

awsome tutorial!

[mikevitsi1]

music choise was bit wierd, girl screaming ' words of hell ' or something, but in fact your vid was nice. :)

[jellybeanguitarist]

@mikevitsi1 lolol its a remix of the audio of some crazy lady from ''swapping wives'' or something like that. it was such a funny episode XD

[rorymorris1]

Ignore the negative comments, great job man

[rhoxsux]

that song sucks for a tutorial

[FlareonJupiter]

Your technique is just amazing.

I want to try this filter, but I need to know where exactly I save the folder to.

Do I save it in Plugins or Plugins -> Filters... I'm confused because I can't get the plugin to show up on the Filter menu. I'm using Photoshop CS2, btw.

[LaraYokoshima]

Yes, you have to save the plugin in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\PlugIns. I suggest you create a folder for halftone plugin too inside CS2 plugins folder. Did you download the CS2 version of the plugin? Sometimes it doesn't show because the plugin is not compatible with your PS version, try also downloading other versions (I use halftone17 for CS3).

[FlareonJupiter]

I downloaded halftone17 -- and it works perfectly!

Thank you so much... I'm also using Computones but NEWFS Halftone makes things much easier for things such as special effects.

[LaraYokoshima]

It does make things easier for custom halftones, right? :D

I want to get my hands on those how to draw manga computones books, but can't find any torrents with the CD software. I guess I'll have to buy some through ebay, even tho the shipping is gonna be costly :(

Is $50usd worth 3 of these books?

[FlareonJupiter]

The books retail for about $23 each... but you might be able to get them cheaper.

The techniques covered in each book are very useful -- including how to make "etching" brushes to use with the Eraser tool.

[LaraYokoshima]

One last question: does Computones use the same .tdt files Powertone3 uses? I would like to know if there is compatibility between them.

[FlareonJupiter]

Yes, the tones are in the .tdt format. The installation instructions are included in each book.

[FlareonJupiter]

Oh, I just checked one of my books -- the Computones tone files are .tst format. I'm not sure about .tdt, however.

I'll have to investigate further.

[LaraYokoshima]

Oh, thanks for letting me know! I was going to buy just one book and use my PT3 tones with the English computones plugin... but I guess that won't be possible, since powertone uses only .tdt files. The good thing about powertone is that it comes with a nifty tone maker software that lets you create your own tone files for PT3.

[heavensmile01]

Listening to 'God Warrior' is definitely a good way to concentrate on halftones. :)

[LaraYokoshima]

I'm glad you enjoy it :D

[Dominicdamopoli]

Fackin' great drawing!

[7SinfulPleasures]

omg plz show how to do lineart so beautifully

[LaraYokoshima]

Gracias por el cumplido, pero desgraciadamente no tengo nada en español ya que el inglés por ahora es el idioma dominante en internet :(

Pero con un buen traductor online creo que solucionas decentemente el problema.

[rukiahime88]

si tenes razon, igualmente gracias y una pregunta mas si no te molesta en el otro video como es que combinas photoshop con el powertone 3 es de comicworks o manga studio porque tengo este ultimo pero no me convence.

[LaraYokoshima]

Mi versión de PT3 es para Photoshop. Existe otra para ComicStudio (la versión japonesa de MangaStudio) lo cual hace la aplicación de los tonos más sencillo que con el método normal del programa. Concuerdo contigo, el mangastudio tampoco me agrada mucho, yo te recomiendo el ComicWorks, es más sencillo de comprender. Si no puedes conseguir PT3, éste método de convertir grises -> tonos es lo que yo recomiendo.

[rukiahime88]

lo que haces es Grandioso me encanta! hay un problema no entiendo muy bien el ingles no tienes alguna pagina en castellano, es que quisiera aprender porfa!

[latoywri]

the link dont work! DX

[LaraYokoshima]

Seems youtube added that parentesis at the end to the url address. I removed it, so there should be no problem now.