Increasing the Contrast on Inked Pages- Digitally Correcting Watercolor Pages- Part 4

Our little digital corrections miniseries is almost at an end.  In the first installment, we talked about color correcting traditional watercolor pages digitally, in the second installment, we talked about resizing elements, adding shadows, and adjusting tone.  In the third installment, we talked about lettering and creating balloons that fit a watercolor page.  And today, we're going to discuss ways to adjust lineart contrast on watercolor comic pages that have been inked before painting.

Sometimes when painting, your watercolors can leave an opaque layer on top of your inks.  This can make the whole page feel dull.  If you scanned your inks before you started painting, you can layer them on top, using the Multiple mode, to recapture that clarity.

Top: Scanned inks, scanned at 600DP.

Bottom: Left:  Original Scan, not color corrected or adjusted.  Right:  Color corrected scan.

This is a pretty simple procedure, but it does take patience and a keen eye, as watercolor illustrations can shrink or warp while painting, and it may be challenging to match the two scans.

Right now, there isn't an elegant way to share my tweets, so I hope you guys will bear with me and endure the ugliness.  Tweet threads are also linked, for a more organic way to pursue the topic.  You don't need a Twitter account to see the threads.  To view the images, I HIGHLY recommend clicking the provided links- Twitter is able to serve up large versions of the images so you can see what's going on.

Increasing Lineart Contrast Digitally 

Thread Readable Here

Correcting pages! Already finished with color correction, now I'm layering lineart scans to increase my lineart's contrast. pic.twitter.com/wIyc8Gzzyg

— 🍀Becca Hillburn🍀 (@Nattosoup) November 28, 2019

Pages shrink a bit and warp when painting, so it's not a 1 to 1 layering. Some areas need to be erased for clarity, and sometimes it helps to copy and shift individual panels pic.twitter.com/uPfAUA6RhE

— 🍀Becca Hillburn🍀 (@Nattosoup) November 28, 2019

When I painted over my inks, the watercolor sorta muddied the contrast of the lineart, so I'm glad I scanned the b&w lineart first! It helps give it a little more clarity, and I can erase areas I don't want reinforced. pic.twitter.com/rJ94eEXQS1

— 🍀Becca Hillburn🍀 (@Nattosoup) November 28, 2019

Corrections, color balancing, making minor edits are really satisfying on smaller chapters like this one- it's so fulfilling to see everything come together to become A COMIC

— 🍀Becca Hillburn🍀 (@Nattosoup) November 28, 2019

So many people assume traditional art means no digital process ever, but traditionally painted watercolor comics are only feasible for me with digital intervention! pic.twitter.com/zI9CgUYVrU

— 🍀Becca Hillburn🍀 (@Nattosoup) November 28, 2019

Before and after! A slight difference, but I think it helps! pic.twitter.com/2qrQK3J1a3

— 🍀Becca Hillburn🍀 (@Nattosoup) November 28, 2019

This is part one of a four part series on digitizing, correcting, and lettering watercolor comic pages!  If you're interested in more about the digital side of my watercolor art, please let me know- I'm happy to create more tutorials that showcase that side of the process.  If you enjoy my art, we're preparing to launch the Kickstarter for Volume 2 of 7" Kara!  Almost all of the art in this watercolor correction series is from Volume 2.  If you Follow us on Kickstarter, Kickstarter will let you know when the project has launched!  And if you're interested in learning more about 7" Kara, I have a mailing list that talks about 7" Kara in depth.   

That about wraps up this mini series on editing and altering traditional media watercolor pages digitally.  If you would like to see any of these techniques demonstrated live, please feel free to reach out to me and let me know.