Thanks Helen! I love the feeling of creating on paper and this approach is the best of both worlds! A few questions:
1. Are you scanning in jpg, tiff or something else?
2. Do you do any other color adjusting to your image once it's in Procreate?
3. For art that will be placed on a full page, do you need to know the dimensions of the target page so you can make your original drawing the exact size or aspect ratio?
Thanks for the photoshop alternative. I was difficult just to cancel the expensive product. Wanted something cheaper because like u I was done w PS and it’s monthly “lets get richer fees”!
Do you notice that the size of a Procreate document seems to shrink affecting the printing ? If so is it best to save in PS first ? thanks Helen ( love Peggy, smelly or not !)
I’m not sure what you mean? I set the procreate doc at 400dpi and that prints well. But if I enlarge any part of the drawing, it immediately goes blurry. That’s the very annoying thing about Procreate, but as long as you know that, you can work around it. I draw everything at full size and never enlarge anything. Is that what you mean?
Thanks for sharing this part of your process, Helen! I can't wait to get hold of a copy :) On the colour side - I wanted to check how you manage to keep the colours so vibrant. Do you edit the values of the scanned artwork? Thank you!
I am in love with your work! It has such a playful and nostalgic feel to it. I have read all your books and thoroughly enjoy the sense of comfort it brings. Please keep sharing your process, it's a delight to experience. It's my dream to illustrate a children's book one day. Could you delve deeper like how do you story board? How do you send them to your publisher?
Hi Helen, this is so helpful, so do you not need to use Affinity anymore, just Procreate to patch things up once you have scanned in your original drawings/paintings? I have the monthly paid PS subscription and now thinking of ditching it as I have Procreate on my Ipad but haven't used it much yet. I do everything by hand and then scan it all into PS to create the final layout so thinking that I might not need PS subscription anymore. Thanks (Scottish lassie living in NZ!) :)
I still use Affinity Photo for bits and bobs in the process. Sometimes I use it to clean up scans, it feels easier on a big screen. So I haven’t got rid of it completely.
Here in Iceland printers have upgraded their printers to RGB. It creates a much truer colour especially for really bright colours. Apparently there are far more colour possibilities in RGB. If books are printed abroad specialists change the files to CMYK. I find if I try to do it the colours always get so dull.
There's so much more life to pencil and paint on paper, I feel! I love it Helen, can't wait to get my copy of your book (I'm laying on the doormat, waiting for the postman to come).
They updated me that the courier is on its way by bike, so I'm literally checking every 30 minutes hahaha! Honestly, can't wait, so excited! *hypermode*
Thanks, Helen. I have such a fear of the lack of an undo on paper, but there is so much more life in it and I am really feeling the call to get back to paper. Great to see this way of fixing when things do go wrong.
Yes, 100% to this. And the ability to zoom in digitally means even when I try to be looser I end up tidying it up. It's such a muscle memory thing that I found myself trying to zoom in on my sketchbook the other day! I think I might make my new project paper first and use to practise and maybe built a better workflow.
Thanks Helen! I love the feeling of creating on paper and this approach is the best of both worlds! A few questions:
1. Are you scanning in jpg, tiff or something else?
2. Do you do any other color adjusting to your image once it's in Procreate?
3. For art that will be placed on a full page, do you need to know the dimensions of the target page so you can make your original drawing the exact size or aspect ratio?
Oh good questions! I will answer these in the next substack! Hx
Thanks for the photoshop alternative. I was difficult just to cancel the expensive product. Wanted something cheaper because like u I was done w PS and it’s monthly “lets get richer fees”!
It feel greedy, especially when early career artists aren’t earning huge amounts.
They are definitely greedy. Sometimes think everything about a phones/computer is set up to suck our $$$. 😵💫😵💫
Do you notice that the size of a Procreate document seems to shrink affecting the printing ? If so is it best to save in PS first ? thanks Helen ( love Peggy, smelly or not !)
I’m not sure what you mean? I set the procreate doc at 400dpi and that prints well. But if I enlarge any part of the drawing, it immediately goes blurry. That’s the very annoying thing about Procreate, but as long as you know that, you can work around it. I draw everything at full size and never enlarge anything. Is that what you mean?
thank you - yes that’s about it.
I’d heard there could be issues with the definition of work to be reproduced when sent via Procreate
Yes, there is a problem if you fiddle too much with duplicating layers and increasing the size of the artwork it looks fuzzy. Very annoying.
Thanks for sharing this part of your process, Helen! I can't wait to get hold of a copy :) On the colour side - I wanted to check how you manage to keep the colours so vibrant. Do you edit the values of the scanned artwork? Thank you!
Great question! I will answer that in the next Substack post! Thank you. 😍
Fab, thank you!! ♥️
I am in love with your work! It has such a playful and nostalgic feel to it. I have read all your books and thoroughly enjoy the sense of comfort it brings. Please keep sharing your process, it's a delight to experience. It's my dream to illustrate a children's book one day. Could you delve deeper like how do you story board? How do you send them to your publisher?
Ah thank you. Yes, good idea, I will share some storyboard work on my next post. Thanks for the nudge! (and the nice comments abt my work 😙)
Yes the printers here felt that they were being very forward looking and said RGB was the future 😂
Hi Helen, this is so helpful, so do you not need to use Affinity anymore, just Procreate to patch things up once you have scanned in your original drawings/paintings? I have the monthly paid PS subscription and now thinking of ditching it as I have Procreate on my Ipad but haven't used it much yet. I do everything by hand and then scan it all into PS to create the final layout so thinking that I might not need PS subscription anymore. Thanks (Scottish lassie living in NZ!) :)
I still use Affinity Photo for bits and bobs in the process. Sometimes I use it to clean up scans, it feels easier on a big screen. So I haven’t got rid of it completely.
Love your posts :)
I also use traditional & procreate . I wondered if you make your page in RGB or CMYK ?
Thank you very much
Sarah
RGB, and I know we are told not to do that but my publisher didn't mind and it printed brilliantly!
I was going to ask the same question. I'm surprised the publisher allowed RGB since printers are setup for CMYK.
I am trying to remember if I changed the files to CMYK before I sent them… I must look at the final artwork and see.
Here in Iceland printers have upgraded their printers to RGB. It creates a much truer colour especially for really bright colours. Apparently there are far more colour possibilities in RGB. If books are printed abroad specialists change the files to CMYK. I find if I try to do it the colours always get so dull.
That’s interesting because I have noticed a change here. Publishers are more open to RGB files. I have made three books using RGB since lockdown.
And the colours are amazing! Really well matched.
There's so much more life to pencil and paint on paper, I feel! I love it Helen, can't wait to get my copy of your book (I'm laying on the doormat, waiting for the postman to come).
Lying on the doormat 😆
They updated me that the courier is on its way by bike, so I'm literally checking every 30 minutes hahaha! Honestly, can't wait, so excited! *hypermode*
Has it arrived? I am worried about you lying on your doormat. You’ll catch a chill!
Thanks, Helen. I have such a fear of the lack of an undo on paper, but there is so much more life in it and I am really feeling the call to get back to paper. Great to see this way of fixing when things do go wrong.
I find it easier to accept mistakes on paper and not fall down that slippery ‘correct everything’ slope! But handy to have an easy fix if we need it!
Yes, 100% to this. And the ability to zoom in digitally means even when I try to be looser I end up tidying it up. It's such a muscle memory thing that I found myself trying to zoom in on my sketchbook the other day! I think I might make my new project paper first and use to practise and maybe built a better workflow.
Your book and illustrations are so well crafted. The story seems to be super cute.
Ah cheers!
That patching process is genius!!!! Thank you for sharing your process ☺️
Genius! I’ll take that 🌟😍😂
Ooh thanks this is lovely stuff !