Things to keep in mind before you open up Photoshop. Narrative concept: Plan your political satire theme carefully before you begin so you can focus in on the material you will search out and retrieve.
Constraints:
What are the limitations that you are working within?
a. The page size (A4) and the output normally for print is 150-300 dpi (dots per inch) upwards. This will be difficult with sourced images from the web which will be 72 dpi consistently. Therefore we will be working with this 72 dpi resolution setting for this exercise.
b. The image resolution of the images.
c. What is the output configuration – the publishing format (comic strip for print) – although we will working electronically for assessment (your submitted collage .jpg should be an A4 frame size and at a resolution of 72 dpi (as discussed)
d. You can use a minimum of six different images or more.
e. There is no speech bubbles or text in the final layout (only images). The comic narrative has to be conveyed with images only.
f. Resolution and frame size This is a comic strip, which has a print output. The set size for everybody is A4 – in this version of photoshop we can use the default file menu > new > US Paper > Letter selection to get the 21.59 x 27.94 cms size. You can make this portrait or landscape. Set the resolution to 72 dpi, don’t forget.
The editing process breaks into SELECTING, JOINING, BUILDING
SELECTING
This is a crucial process as your end work is only as good as the selections you make and organise. Even though you will always be eager to get into the edit, you need to put in as much time on selection as you will on joining and building.
Images sources and formats:
Because we are using images for the comic from numerous sources each image will have different specifications – mainly the image dimensions width and height, the resolution (pixels/inch) in photoshop. Many will have JPEG, .jpg file name which is our delivery image format for the entire comic strip. Some of them may also be other file types like .png and .gif, for example.
All this means, we need to really focus on checking what our source material is before we begin to use it. Select the image on the desktop and hit the ‘apple/command’ and ‘I’ keys to get information on the file. Check the file type; the data size; dimensions under ‘More Info’. Open the image up in PhotoShop to get more details on the dimensions and resolution menu > image > image size. This checking of the source material is really important generally, but especially when you are working with found material for something like mash-ups or a remix.
This year, because we are using images from the internet we will be breaking all the rules in regards to up-sampling and down-sampling images etc. i.e A lot of the images will be small in size and have to be scaled up which will deteriorate the quality of the image. Therefore, the aim is to get the largest image sizes you can.
If images are taken from the DVDs supplied some may be a higher dpi like 150-300 these will need to be changed to 72 dpi to work on your 72 dpi project canvas. If you need to know more about how the image dimensions change when the resolution is altered refer to this previous post on this blog.
If the images are taken as video frames from abc video clips off the DVDs provided or from the ABC websites via downloads the resolution will be 72dpi.
This is all about preparing your found images for the canvas the project photoshop file .psd that you are building your comic strip in.
ORGANISING SELECTIONS:
Editors even though they are highly creative people are incredibly well organised in terms of managing their content. This is organising and labelling content so it can be easily found and used to make the creative work.
Create a folder for the project – call it ‘comic’
Dropping your selected images into a folder named ‘originals’ in your ‘comic’ folder. Keep these as original files so you can always go back if you need to make other changes and choices later on.
Before you make changes, (Save as) each image into a separate folder called ‘authored.’ Save them as .jpg files and give them file names that you will recognise. (Save at 12 maximum resolution)
JOINING
The joining phase in this exercise is where you bring together a number of separate images to make a comic strip. This taps into the kernels and chunks exercise earlier in terms of the decisions you make in regards to the connections between those images. Often it is difficult to know what combinations will work well until you actually see things together and can learn from that combination. This means it is good to use the process of bringing things together to work out what works and what does not. This is instead of trying to plan too much on paper or in your head, “Learning by doing”, using the software to draft the work. Think of it as using the software to make sketches.
Projects
In all the software you will use it is important to understand that you have project files that you will make your work in (in this case a comic strip). These project files in photoshop are called a canvas, which where you place all your images to make the comic strip. But, in comparsion to a painting on an actual canvas you do not hand in your project file. You have to save or export the final result into a file type that becomes the final work. In photoshop we work in a .psd file and hand in a .jpg file, which is saved as that file type. In Garageband we export out of the Garageband project a .MP3 file.
Space
The arrangement of the images within the space/frame you are working with will have a significant affect on the narrative that you propose to follow. How will the concept effect the spatial arrangement of the images? – Think about scale, cropping and layout.
- In your journal – Sketch a thumbnail or A4 size layout of the images and write out any thoughts. Do some research on comics and how the design of panels are used to emphasise different stories and genres.
Check out these favourite films turned into comic strips and Scott McCloud’s website.
Tip – some people use sketched or printed versions of existing comic layouts as a guide to use in PhotoShop to help crop and arrange their six images or more.
Creating the A4 canvas (the project .psd file)
Default file menu > new > US Paper > Letter selection to get the 21.59 x 27.94 cms size. You can make this portrait or landscape. Set the resolution to 72 dpi, don’t forget.
NB – save this A4 canvas as a photoshop working file (.psd) – this means chose photoshop in the drop down (not jpeg) when you save as. You need this file to work on any changes and amendments as it keeps all your layers intact and separate.
Keep this .psd photoshop working file beside your prepared (authored) images folder in your ‘comic’ project folder.
One approach: A good starting point before you adjust images, may be to build a comic strip first with the images as they are by cropping and arranging the overall composition as a draft. This means you can work with multiple projects when you are exploring options. So, save a new project when you are going to try another approach or make considerable change. This also avoids preparing and adjusting images you may not use. Like the idea earlier of making numerous drafts to get an idea of which images you will use. The adjustment of those images in terms of tone and style, genre approach could come later.
Cropping
Referring to your narrative concept and layout plan – How will cropping help emphasise the narrative concept and connections between images? Cropping as process can have a significant effect on the meaning of an image. Again in your sketch projects play with the cropping of your selected image withing your spatial composition. Crop the same image several ways for example and then try all of them in the overall composition.
In CS photoshop use the crop tool in the toolbar. Four from top – you can also use the marquee tool 2nd from top.
If you want to keep the scale of the shot use the shift key to keep the dimensions.
Move the frame around to try out crop variations. The crop control to crop is in image >crop from the menu bar.
Save your crops in a separate folder called ‘authored’.
The layout
Each image is added to a seperate layer so you can move it independently within the comic strip. Name each layer to match the image you have added to it (hit the return key to rename). The layer window is in windows > layers on the menu bar.
Use the Transform feature to resize the images in the canvas (Apple + T) and hold the shift key down to keep the aspect ratio – constrain the original captured proportions of your image so it doesn’t get squeezed or stretched.
Tip – Best to scale down your image on the canvas rather than up as you loose quality if you scale an image up. Aim to bring them in slightly larger than the A4 canvas as discussed earlier. (This will depend on what you can source of the Internet)
Finalise the layout – save as .jpg file in the drop down. If you apple > I on this jpg example I used to get info on the file its should be 300dpi, A4 frame size. These will specifications set at 150 dpi upwards depending on what dpi you make your canvas. This will be what you need for submission of your collage 2.3 portfolio assignment. Keep the .psd working file to tweak later if required.
BUILDING
In the building phase I would see this as being about the polish you make on the JOINING phase. This includes adjustments to images, even going back using the draft composition as a template to re-build the work from scratch, as an example.
Some Photoshop tips for adjusting images:
Check these video tutorials for references on adjusting images.
Tip – Try to work in 12.5, 25, 50, 75, 100 % increments in the navigator (windows > navigator) when resizing images – this will generally give you better image representation on the screen.
Tip – If you are working at a lower percentage to fit your whole image on the screen also get into the habit of resizing your image to 100% to check your colour adjustment changes.
Tip – file > revert will take your image back to the original if you get lost with your colour adjustments.
Hue and saturation, Levels, curves video tutorial
As a rule of thumb in Photoshop CS curves and the edit fade option provide excellent basic image adjustment. You can also use the ‘levels’ function.
Image > adjustments > curves (drag the bottom left had corner to raise the blacks)
Fading – This option offers a way to fine tune the colour adjustment you have made to your image.
from Photoshop help
The Fade command changes the opacity and blending mode of any filter, painting tool, erasing tool, or colour adjustment. The Fade command blending modes are a subset of those in the painting and editing tools options (excluding the Behind and Clear modes).
Applying the Fade command is similar to applying the filter effect on a separate layer and then using the layer opacity and blending mode controls.
i.e. Edit > fade curves (the fade option chooses whatever previous adjustment you have made to the image)
In this mode there are number of choices (i.e. multiply, overlay etc.)
Adjusting colour
Tip – often it is only the black and whites that you may want to change in a naturally coloured image. Therefore > image > adjustment > desaturate then use the edit > fade desaturate with an overlay filter chosen to adjust your colour image and tweak the blacks and the whites.
You can also use the colour balance to tweak bad colour recording on the digital format.
