E110 Week7 Lab2 - Open Computing Facility · 2008-03-04 · E110 Week7 Lab2 ---2D Storyboard /...

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E110 Week7 Lab2 --- 2D Storyboard / Comic Strip The goal of today’s lab is to create a minimum 3-panel comic strip or storyboard, to better understand linear story progression, as well as the joys of having layers in Photoshop. 1. Make a new image in Photoshop (Width = 300 pixels, Height = 400 pixels, Resolution 72), leaving the background layer transparent. 2. Save this image as BaseLayers.psd 3. Creating your background plate: This is going to be your background throughout the comic strip. You may add other elements or use found images from the internet, but the following are directions to make a very simple bg. Background Layer a. Using the horizontal line tool or by holding the shift-key while using the paintbrush, make a black horizontal line across the image. b. Pick a color for your ground: Use the paintbucket to fill in the bottom portion of the image. c. Pick a color for your sky: Use the paintbucket to fill it in. d. Rename this layer by double-clicking the text in the Layers window. Change it from “Layer 1” to “Background Plate” Characters Last week, you cutout yourself as well as other elements from pictures found on the net. Feel free to use your cutouts, or to create new “characters” of your own. Characters can be any shape, element, or found picture, as long as they have a visible facial expression that can be manipulated. This is how I made mine: a. Select the desired color of your character (though you can use the Paintbucket to change it later) b. Ellipse Tool – Click and drag to make a shape. (Hint: Hold shift to create a perfect circle). c. On a New Layer, select the paintbrush tool. d. When you hold it down, you will find that there are many brush types and options. Choose the circular brush and draw the eyes. e. In the layers window, turn off the background layer and go to Layer -> Merge Visible to merge the circle and the eyes. Rename this as “Character #1.” You can turn on the background again.

Transcript of E110 Week7 Lab2 - Open Computing Facility · 2008-03-04 · E110 Week7 Lab2 ---2D Storyboard /...

Page 1: E110 Week7 Lab2 - Open Computing Facility · 2008-03-04 · E110 Week7 Lab2 ---2D Storyboard / Comic Strip The goal of today’s lab is to create a minimum 3-panel comic strip or

E110 Week7 Lab2 --- 2D Storyboard / Comic Strip The goal of today’s lab is to create a minimum 3-panel comic strip or storyboard, to better understand linear story progression, as well as the joys of having layers in Photoshop. 1. Make a new image in Photoshop (Width = 300 pixels, Height = 400 pixels,

Resolution 72), leaving the background layer transparent. 2. Save this image as BaseLayers.psd 3. Creating your background plate:

This is going to be your background throughout the comic strip. You may add other elements or use found images from the internet, but the following are directions to make a very simple bg.

Background Layer

a. Using the horizontal line tool or by holding the shift-key while using the paintbrush, make a black horizontal line across the image.

b. Pick a color for your ground: Use the paintbucket to fill in the bottom portion of the image.

c. Pick a color for your sky: Use the paintbucket to fill it in. d. Rename this layer by double-clicking the text in the Layers window.

Change it from “Layer 1” to “Background Plate” Characters Last week, you cutout yourself as well as other elements from pictures found on the net. Feel free to use your cutouts, or to create new “characters” of your own. Characters can be any shape, element, or found picture, as long as they have a visible facial expression that can be manipulated. This is how I made mine:

a. Select the desired color of your character (though

you can use the Paintbucket to change it later)

b. Ellipse Tool – Click and drag to make a shape. (Hint: Hold shift to create a perfect circle).

c. On a New Layer, select the paintbrush tool.

d. When you hold it down, you will find that there are many brush types and options. Choose the circular brush and draw the eyes.

e. In the layers window, turn off the background layer and go to Layer -> Merge Visible to merge the circle and the eyes. Rename this as “Character #1.” You can turn on the background again.

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f. Make a new layer. Click on the paintbrush tool. Change the master diameter to 5 px. Hold down the shift key to create a horizontal line mouth.

g. Rename this layer to “C1 Smile” h. Notice that you now have a Background Plate, a Character #1, and the Smile

layer. Do not merge these layers. i. Create another “character” using the same methods above. It can be a different

shape, or a cut-out image from the net. Make sure it is on its own “Character 2” layer.

j. Make a new layer. Rename it “C2 Smile” Give your 2nd Character a facial expression.

Adding A Text Bubble for Narration

1. Select white for your color. Click and drag the Rounded Rectangular Tool (in Shapes) to create a bubble.

2. Use your Text tool inside the bubble to add the story. 3. Instead of narration, you may want to create dialogue

bubbles instead. Under Shapes you will find the Custom Shape Tool. Click on it.

4. When you click on it, a new set of options will appear at the top of the Photoshop window, including “Shapes” (currently an arrow). Click and hold, and you should be able to find the dialogue bubble shape. Add Text on top of the bubble.

5. Notice that each time you use the Text tool, it automatically places it on a New Layer.

6. Anytime you want to change the text, you can either hide the Text layer, and make a New Text layer, or simply edit the already present Text layer.

Saving each panel as a separate .jpg

1. Before we move on, save your overall file (BaseLayers.psd). 2. You can still come back and add more elements, but maybe you have already

established your opening scene and dialogue and want to save it before you go on. If this is the case, go to Save As – and save your file as “1.jpg”

3. Notice after the save, you are still working on your BaseLayers.psd file. 4. Be aware that you can turn on/off various Text or “Smile” layers to create

different scenes. When you save AS a .jpg, it is saving the current image only, taking a snapshot of the current layers visible.

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CREATING ACTION Moving Characters You may leave your characters stationary, or you might want some action in your frames, like if someone is jumping off a building. Remember to save as a .jpg each time you have the next frame ready in your comic strip.

1. MOVEMENT: Making sure you are on the correct layer, use your move tool to move characters around the frame.

2. SCALE: Changes the size of the layer. Makes the element look closer to you in distance. Go to Edit -> Transform -> Scale. Hold down Shift to keep original proportions.

3. DUPLICATE LAYER: If you do not want to mess up your original character layers, you may duplicate your layer prior to transforming it. Go to Layer -> Duplicate Layer. Then use the duplicate to make any edits or transformations.

STORY: Changing Over Time: Facial Expressions / Text

1. On a New Layer, make a new facial expression for your first character, or add eyebrows, or even a beard. You could make your cartoon about how the character sits and grows a beard over four frames.

2. Change the text in the dialogue or narration bubble. 3. Insert an element that passes through the screen over the three frames.

Be aware of which layers are ON TOP / BOTTOM, which are HIDDEN / VISIBLE. Think of the layers as a stack – the top layer is most visible, then the next, and so on. Your background should be on the bottom. CHECKLIST

• Character • Story/Message • Action or an Element that changes over time

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Potential for Animation Using Movie-Editing Software Though we don’t have the capability to animate the frames in Photoshop, if you brought your .psd file into a program such as Adobe After Effects, you would be able to have greater layer control for movement and action in your story. Another idea would be to bring it into a movie-editing program and play through the frames you have created – Think stop-motion film: when depicting action, the more frames the better. OPTIONAL: Publishing Your Comic

1. Open up Dreamweaver and save your file as “comic.html” 2. Title your page, include a header with the title of your comic.

a. Option 1: Place your images in sequence on the page. b. Option 2: Place 1.jpg on the first page, making it link to 2.jpg and so on. c. Option 3: In Photoshop, create a new image W: 900 H: 400 and paste

your three images in sequence. You can arrange them linearly or in a window-pane formation as seen below. Save it as “sequence.jpg” Then post this to a webpage.

3. Share your comic strip with at least two other people.

Henry’s Beautiful Day By: a silly GSI

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Hints for Cutting Out Elements in Photoshop:

8. Find a large image with a foreground or background image that you want. (flickr.com) The bigger the better. There are several methods I like to use when doing this (Skip to 9, if unnecessary).

For low contrast photos: a) Go to “Layer--> New Adjustment Layer --> Brightness/Contrast”

- Adjust as necessary to better distinguish the image you are cutting out from the background

- You can also adjust levels, colors, etc. whatever will make the cutting out easier. By doing this as a separate “adjustment layer,” we avoid permanently damaging the original image.

b) In the Layers Channels Paths window, select Channels. - Then unselect the “eyes” for all the other channels except for Red. - Sometimes, showing only the Red channel enhances the edges and

lines of items in a picture. 9. Select the Magnetic Lasso tool (next to magic wand).

a) Let the mouse drag around the desired item as closely as possible b) When you have the item selected, click into “Quick Mask Mode” (beneath the

general fore/background color selector) c) Use the Paintbrush and Eraser tools to fine-tune any selections. You can zoom

in/out (CTRL+/CTRL-) in order to be as precise as possible. d) When you’ve made your selection, click back into “Standard Mode” and copy

your selection (CTRL-C, or Apple-C). e) Go to File--> New, and agree to whatever parameters Photoshop has already

designated and Paste your selection (CTRL-V, or Apple-V) f) Save as “cutout-object-name.jpg”