Hi,
I'm very interessted in your experiences with pencils for clean-upping your animations.
The scenes I'll have to clean-up are basically drawn very small (A4 paper).
So, which grade should I use?
Have you any good advices/ what kind of products do you use?
(By the way, I'll use Animo and the ruffs are done with Col Eraese Light Blue. Is it possible to do the clean up on the same paper and suppress the blue color with Animo before processing the images??)
Ahhhh, I forgot, one last thing: Do you know any freeware lip sync tools?
Well, it's a few months later, young miss...
I'd have to go with a good tech pencil with an HB lead. I've been noticing that harder leads will just cause me to press harder, which makes it harder to erase. If I'm precise with my lines, I can get an HB lead to look very much like ink by boosting contrast in photoshop.
Hi DrSpector,
thank you, too. I know this erase-thing, it's really annoying. In general, I noticed that doing a really good clean-up is very hard.
The results----- you can see them in my gallery; I've posted a few clean-up scenes.
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
I usually use a 2b lead to do my clean up. I wouldn't recomend doing the clean-up right on top of the rough animation paper. If you screw up the clean-up drawing then you'll have no rough to go back to. I just gets messy too. Get a good electric eraser too.
Sorry, I don't know Animo and I don't like lip sync softwear so I can't help you with those. :)
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
I do my best clean-ups using H lead pencils. My lines tend to get too smudgy and unsteady the softer the pencil I use is. Erasing them also can get messy.
I don't really use pencils as such, either, but Faber-Castell brand TK lead holders. You need a special sharpener for those, though.
Well, best try a variety of pencils.
If you're going for a consistent-weight line, try out a mechanical pencil, with the lead thickness determined by how heavy a line you want. If you want a weighted line either a mechanical or wood pencil - whichever you prefer.
I'm going to split the difference between Jabber and Ape and suggest an HB lead. Soft enough to get a good dark line, but hard enough to control the darkness/lightness easily.
Also agree about cleaning up on a separate sheet. And once you've done the cleanup, go back and make sure your character still looks solid and round, and not traced.
I always use a mechanical pencil for cleaning up drawings, especially if I plan to color them digitally. You can still get a weigted line with them, but it's much easier to control the thickness and darkness of the line, I think. I use it not only for clean-up animation drawings but for anything I plan to color in photoshop, as I find it gives a really good result in black and white scans. Micron pen works well, too, but I don't think you'll want to use that.
Thanks a lot for your advices... hope to be able to present the result in a few months ;)
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
If you are going to experiment with different pencils, you might wont to make notes on your drawings. Like brand name, type, and your thoughts on the use of that drawing tools. I am trying to develope the habbit of keeping notes on whatever I am working on.
meleponine, I am looking for a pencil that does not wast so much lead. I must lose twenty percent of the lead, because the pencil can no longer hold it.
I hear ya on that one. Also, the lead sometimes breaks easily. I asked Eric Goldberg to give me his autograph (because I'm a pathetic fan girl like that) and I gave him a m.p. because that's all I had. But he had such trouble with lead breaking!! I felt terrible. But at least now I have a nice little sketch by one of my idols.
Still, I think if you know how to work them right, they can do wonders.
Ha!!!! I finally found the best clean up pencil!! It's the Faber-Castell brand TK lead holder, grade 2b. When it's good sharpened, it produces a very dark line, which I definetly need for my scanning process, and I don't have such a jittered line, because there is less pressure required to achieve it...
http://violabaier.blogspot.com/
Even on saying what grade (b, 2b etc) brand is important to note for experience because the brands vary in their softness or hardness even though they might say they're the same.
Faber Castell 2B...generally...when I did/do clean-up.
Y'know...whatever you're comfortable with. David was offered armour and used pebbles. If you were at a studio they'd issue you a brand and everyone may have to use it and do such-and-such line quality. It's your film...whatever you please.
..Oh! and the best lip synch software is between your ears! :)