Hello from western Washington

[Petoons]

Hi all,
Newbie here, just signed up. I'm looking forward to chatting with those who share my first passion in life. I've had a commercial sign/graphic shop for 26 years that I recently closed so I have been getting back to doing more cartooning so I thought it would be good to share, have critiques and otherwise discuss cartooning with like minded folks.

I very recently got into digital coloring but prefer to scan in the pencil drawings, that way it still has a hand done look, something that computers don't do well. But they are great at coloring when you get the hang of it. It's still pretty new to me so I'm still going uphill on the learning curve.

I'm using Linux Mint 11 with Gimp for the most part.

I set up my website with Weebly, as I see some others have done. It is limited but does allow for web rookies like me to jump in there and get started.
jimupchurch.net

[Steve B]

Always good to see new people here - welcome on board

[Simon Lake]

VERY WELCOME PETOONS! I like this debate about buggering up your perfectly crafted pencil Art with a black pen and losing all spontaneity and flair. A very big bone of contention for me. You seem to have acheived a very good happy medium with your Barrak Obama. I like that. Having said that, the Mermaid Painter is brilliant as well and more conducive to Reproduction and the Web. Let's get to the bottom of this. I know there is a feature in Photoshop called Auto contrast under Image/ Adjustments that darkens the lines to a certain extent but still a bit of integrity is lost. You should obviously know about Printing Principles as well having been in the Sign Industry and all that.

Here is the link to Jim's site, quality stuff........

http://jimupchurch.net/cartoons.html

Nice to have you onboard. Your drawing is superb.

[Kathy]

Hi, Jim, and welcome! You've got some great work on your site - I look forward to seeing more! Feel free to jump into any of the threads, all viewpoints are welcome.

[Simon Lake]

I'll do an inked and colour version of this to demonstrate my point...

[Petoons]

Hi, thanks all. I'm looking forward to checking out all of your work too. I'm putting up a cartoon of my two troublemakers soon, if Weebly co-operates. In Gimp I use the curve function to get the desired contrast/integrity thing dialed in. It allows for fine tuning the image. Photoshop has it as well, of course!

[Steve B]

I have used Weebly since July - cant say I am disappointed in the least...and I dont even use all its features

[Simon Lake]

Looks interesting. I think I'll look into it for my new Clipart service.
http://www.cartoonist-forum.com/t1216-digital-clipart-cartoons-for-the-web#6395
Thanks.

http://www.weebly.com/

[gjconser]

Hi Jim-
It is nice to see another person from the NW here. I like the works on your site.
You live in a beautiful part of the world. Back in the 80's I lived on Mercer Island and then in Poulsbo. My sister lived in Tumwater for several years. Really loved it up there!
Your caricatures are great!
Did you find getting out of business was harder than getting into business?
I use GIMP as well and am still trying to figure it out. Haven't figured out the curves function yet but will take a look tonight.
Anyway, welcome to the forum.
Regards,
Greg C.

[Petoons]

Hi Greg, thanks for the compliments, I like your work too, very clean!

Yes, getting out of business was much harder. Took me two years to leave and I sorta fell into it without much effort. I started out in Tumwater, ran the shop there 14 years.

The curve function is under colors on the main menu, it's just a diagonal bar that you can grab at any point and move around while seeing the results in the preview. It's very handy. The threshold tool will turn a pencil drawing into an ink look.

The cropping and pasting between layers is driving me nuts. Gotta watch a Youtube tutorial I guess.

[gjconser]

Thanks Jim!
To get the look I wanted has been pretty cumbersome. I will give those tools a try.
G

[Petoons]

OK, this is hot off the press. Just learned a bunch more about the Gimp.
My two doggies...

[gjconser]

Very nice! I am wondering who got the bone. (On some level, that last sentence doesn't soung right.)
Greg

[Petoons]

Very nice! I am wondering who got the bone. (On some level, that last sentence doesn't soung right.)
Greg

Thanks Greg, the Rat Terrier gets the bone, only because his girlfriend is a real sweetheart!

[Simon Lake]