Tip of the Week - Line Art
L is for LINE ART!
*note that the shortcut keys are in () and bold *
I have had a TON of people asking about line art. Most of the time, it is someone asking about using sketches they have done on paper. Can you actually use sketches you have drawn on paper? If so, then HOW? Others have asked how to turn their photos into great line art. Is it even possible? Where else can you get line art? And FINALLY, what am I using line art for and do I really need it?
In short LINE ART is an awesome way to add character to your photos, or scrapbook pages. You don’t need it, but it is sometimes that “missing something” that will finish your project. And like anything else, YES!!! You can use any of the sketches you have done on paper. As a matter of fact, you can use fabrics, objects, papers, or anything else you can fit on your scanner, just as easily.
You will need to scan your LINE ART, before you can use it on/with your photos. You will have to read the manual for instruction on where to find the settings, and how to work the different features for your particular scanner, but the information I give you here should get you started! Depending on what you plan on doing with your “projects”, your settings will be different.
When scanning , you will want to make sure you set your resolution to 300 ppi (pixels per inch). 300 ppi is a great number to use for anything you plan on having printed, that you want really good quality on. If you are planning on showing your work on the web/internet you will want to change your resolution to 72 ppi. You also want to make sure that the resolutions match on the files you plan on “collaging” together, because if the resolutions don’t match between the files, things won’t blend together right and might look “off”.
Specifically for LINE ART, you will want to scan in black and white or grayscale. You could convert it to black and white or grayscale later, but doing it from the start will save you a few steps and a bit of time. Black and white will give you straight black and white, where grayscale will give you several shades of gray and what you choose will highly depend on what you want to use your art for. Once your LINE ART is scanned, you may need to “clean up” any artifacts that shouldn’t be there. This is easily accomplished by using the eraser tool.
When you are ready to add the LINE ART to your project, you will need to either remove the white background (use the magic wand tool and click on the white area of the LINE ART or you can use the eraser tool and erase out the parts you don’t want) or set the layer blending mode to MULTIPLY (you do this by using the dropdown menu in the layers panel, by default this box says NORMAL change it to MULTIPLY), you need to make sure you have both files open so you can see both windows. Get your MOVE TOOL (V) and then drag your LINE ART into the project window. When the curser shows a little “suitcase” on it, release your mouse button. Now that you have dropped your line art into your project window, you will need to move (V) and possibly scale or rotate (T) your LINE ART to fit where you want it.
Don’t forget that you can change the color of your LINE ART, as well as the opacity (in the layers panel in the opacity box, just make sure you have the right layer selected). Also, try out the layer blending modes (the little drop down box in the layers panel). ALSO, try playing around with different layer blend modes, you might find something that you like better!
(Line Art courtesy of Tye Durbin)
