Clean Tablet Lines?

Alright everyone you all really helped me out before in my post about getting cleaner lines from a scan.
( See this post: http://emptees.com/posts/4667-cleaner-lines )

But now I have another question. I have been using my tablet more and more and was wondering how I can get smoother lines while using my tablet?

I am getting lines like this:

but i was wondering if there was anything I could do to clean this up or make them look a little more smooth?

Is it the brushes? The tablet or is it all just a case of practice?

Thanks :)

1. 

   RustyEight said about 1 month ago

   I’m betting on practice... there are also ways to adjust the sensitivity of your tablet i think

2. 

   DrewGliever said about 1 month ago

   don’t ink in photoshop.. and if you do, zoom in at like 300%

   I like corel painter X for inking.

3. 

   make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

   DrewGliever said: don’t ink in photoshop.. and if you do, zoom in at like 300% I like corel painter X for inking.

   Its just photoshop and illustrator are all I have but I am not too sure how to use illustrator except for livetrace.

4. 

   djredbrownie said about 1 month ago

   Typically I draw my lines in Illustrator and then copy them in to photoshop.... photoshop you would use to color things in if you want or you can live paint in illustrator. Then bring everything into photoshop and do your de-stressing effects and halftones. That’s what I do at least.

5. 

   make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

   djredbrownie said: Typically I draw my lines in Illustrator and then copy them in to photoshop....

   Any good tutorial sites for learning to draw in illustrator?

6. 

   LitoQ said about 1 month ago

   yeah, photoshop is terrible for inking

   you can set a degree of correction in Illustrator which works pretty well... Ive been meaning to get my hands on Manga Studio which apparently rocks in the realm of linework

7. 

   DrewGliever said about 1 month ago

   ithew did a good tutorial for illustrator, or his process anyway.. look in his posts.

8. 

   make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

   LitoQ said: yeah, photoshop is terrible for inking you can set a degree of correction in Illustrator which works pretty well... Ive been meaning to get my hands on Manga Studio which apparently rocks in the realm of linework

   do you use illustrator also?

9. 

   djredbrownie said about 1 month ago

   Tutorials.... no unfortunately not, it’s something I taught myself pretty much. If you have illustrator you can utilize the help section and I’m sure there are some tutorials on there. Some of the photoshop magazines have illustrator tutorials and you can also find some free podcase tutorials on itunes.

   You can make your own brushes in illustrator, use the pen tool, pencil tool and you can change the settings to get desired effects. I would say to just go into the program and play around if you have it.

10. 

    make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

    DrewGliever said: ithew did a good tutorial for illustrator, or his process anyway.. look in his posts.

    Yea thats sweet dude, just checked it out its good!

    thanks mate - going to have to learn to use illustrator

11. 

    ithew said about 1 month ago

    That was a pretty basic tutorial, I wrote up a detailed tutorial for Vectortuts but it wont be available until the 15th...

    I just recently started working with pressure sensititivy in illustrator, so I will see how that works out

12. 

    RustyEight said about 1 month ago

    DrewGliever said: don’t ink in photoshop.. and if you do, zoom in at like 300% I like corel painter X for inking.

    Gomedia inks in photoshop...

13. 

    LitoQ said about 1 month ago

    make planes not waste said:

    LitoQ said: yeah, photoshop is terrible for inking you can set a degree of correction in Illustrator which works pretty well... Ive been meaning to get my hands on Manga Studio which apparently rocks in the realm of linework

    do you use illustrator also?

    I do. And im more than happy to share any knowledge i have at that... u cant hit me up on AIM: Inpulse Designs anytime

14. 

    LitoQ said about 1 month ago

    ithew said: That was a pretty basic tutorial, I wrote up a detailed tutorial for Vectortuts but it wont be available until the 15th... I just recently started working with pressure sensititivy in illustrator, so I will see how that works out

    they have pressure sensetivity!? CS3? am I retarded?

15. 

    make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

    LitoQ said:im more than happy to share any knowledge i have at that... u cant hit me up on AIM: Inpulse Designs anytime

    Thanks man but I dont have AIM. Cheers for the offer though - I am going to have to read up on how to use illustrator - i just been messing round now using the paintbrush but not really sure what is happening haha

16. 

    make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

    RustyEight said: Gomedia inks in photoshop...

    are they as clean as the illustrator brushes?

17. 

    Visual Singularities said about 1 month ago

    LitoQ said:

    ithew said: That was a pretty basic tutorial, I wrote up a detailed tutorial for Vectortuts but it wont be available until the 15th... I just recently started working with pressure sensititivy in illustrator, so I will see how that works out

    they have pressure sensetivity!? CS3? am I retarded?

    Yep, the calligraphic brushes do. Double-click on a brush to edit it, and then change the Diameter to "Pressure" You can also use the Eraser tool and all the Warp, Crystallize, etc tools with pressure sensitivity turned on.

    Personally I use the pencil tool to draw the shapes/lines i want, and then refine them with the Eraser tool if necessary.

18. 

    heavyprints said about 1 month ago

    You’re zoomed in at 135% in that picture. Everything will look like crap at that zoom level. You’re seeing pixels like twice their normal size.

    Work at 300DPI, Don’t zoom out further than 100%. In photoshop hit "print preview" in the "view" menu to see what your lines look like in actuality.

    Just because it looks rough under a magnifying glass doesn’t make it bad.

    If you ink in Illustrator and import to photoshop, you should have anti-alias turned off, and your lines will look like that close up, anyway. You’re working with pixel data. That’s what pixels look like. It’s okay.

    As far as smoother strokes, just take your time.

19. 

    make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

    heavyprints said: You’re zoomed in at 135% in that picture. Everything will look like crap at that zoom level. You’re seeing pixels like twice their normal size. Work at 300DPI, Don’t zoom out further than 100%. In photoshop hit "print preview" in the "view" menu to see what your lines look like in actuality. Just because it looks rough under a magnifying glass doesn’t make it bad. If you ink in Illustrator and import to photoshop, you should have anti-alias turned off, and your lines will look like that close up, anyway. You’re working with pixel data. That’s what pixels look like. It’s okay. As far as smoother strokes, just take your time.

    yea I hear you - good shout - cheers!

20. 

    godmachine said about 1 month ago

    i ink strictly in photocrud. i work at 1000dpi and zoom in at about 100% or more. use a good tablet- i was surprised how much smoother the lines are using a good tablet (intuos 3). also try and be confident in your lines and learn to make 'ctrl, alt, z' your friend (undo up to 8 moves). when they bring in the rotate canvas feature i’m gonna whack off in the tool shed.
    but if you can- try painter and manga- they are more geared towards 'real' lines.Joey.

21. 

    integralApparel said about 1 month ago

    whoa! this whole time I have been confusing Rusty’s avatar with make planes not waste!!

    Jimiyo has a post on youtube about inking and cleaning up lines in photoshop...Ill find..
    

22. 

    ithew said about 1 month ago

    I work in Illustrator because working in manga or photoshop is absolute murder on my computer...the file sizes are rediculous

23. 

    basil said about 1 month ago

    Work at 300 dpi + and use the pencil tool for your inking. Although your strokes will look pixelated at the 100% zoom or ever more or less, when you want to mock it up, or display it online, resize it to 72 dpi image>image size
    you’ll notice your lines will look as if you have used the brush tool.

    using the brush tool to ink in photoshop will result in blurry mocks or a poor presentation of an illustration.

24. 

    godmachine said about 1 month ago

    basil said: using the brush tool to ink in photoshop will result in blurry mocks or a poor presentation of an illustration.

    do mine look like that?

25. 

    basil said about 1 month ago

    godmachine said:

    basil said: using the brush tool to ink in photoshop will result in blurry mocks or a poor presentation of an illustration.

    do mine look like that?

    no, lol. it happens to me though so idk

26. 

    make planes not waste said about 1 month ago

    godmachine said: i ink strictly in photocrud. i work at 1000dpi and zoom in at about 100% or more. use a good tablet- i was surprised how much smoother the lines are using a good tablet (intuos 3). also try and be confident in your lines and learn to make 'ctrl, alt, z' your friend (undo up to 8 moves). when they bring in the rotate canvas feature i’m gonna whack off in the tool shed. but if you can- try painter and manga- they are more geared towards 'real' lines.Joey.

    thanks man - you are a big influence on me too so to hear that you can get better lines using PS is good to know....guess I just need to keep practicing.

27. 

    Antik said about 1 month ago

    It might be the speed of your stroke. I’ve had the same problem for a while and I noticed that same effect would happen when I was doing details slowly. Try a slow stroke and then a swift one...you will see a difference. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to ink with the brush tool, it just takes practice

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