livengood
New Member
Jerry the 'Spider-Wing' guy.
Posts: 35
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Post by livengood on Nov 14, 2008 21:38:22 GMT -5
I was wondering if anyone could tell me how they do blue line printing for inks.
I go to a local Kinko's to get all my hi-res scanning done, but would like to know what to ask for if I want to practice on blue lines or send an inker a blue line piece.
If you could tell me what process you use, that would be great, thanks.
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Post by julienhb on Nov 27, 2008 5:35:19 GMT -5
Here is what I do...
I won't say this is the best and only way - but at least it works for me...
I used to change grey into blue on Photoshop and printed it on color printer. But there is a difference between what you see blue on your screen and what the printer understands. Sometimes, you have green pencils instead of blue ones. This is tricky to remove them afterwards with Photoshop...
So, I take the pencilled file in greyscales and I force the printer to print in greyscales BUT WITH THE BLUE CARTRIDGE.
It depends on the printer you have, you can do it properly by asking it to do that or you can change the cartridges manually.
But there must be another easiest way...
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livengood
New Member
Jerry the 'Spider-Wing' guy.
Posts: 35
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Post by livengood on Nov 28, 2008 9:55:43 GMT -5
Thanks for the repsonse. I don't have a printer to print the 11 x 17, but I'll use that on the 8 x 10 stuff. So just change the pencils to a blue and have them print them at Kinko's? Well, that was easy
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Post by TomParrish on Dec 1, 2008 3:46:00 GMT -5
Hey Livengood - I don't know if this is what you're looking for, but here's how I create my bluelines in Photoshop.
1. First off, with the stitched greyscale pencilled page, I tweak the levels (ctrl-L) so that there's a nice even dark grey, also playing with the white slider at the the other end of the scale to make sure there isn't extra grey from smudged pencils etc that shouldn't be there.
2. I then go to Image->Mode->DuoTone, double click on the square of colour and select a cyan here of about 22%, labelling it blueline. You can use anything between 15% and 30% comfortably, but if it's being laser printed onto your boards, you'll want to watch the saturation as some inks bead over laser printing.
3. Now the image should be looking like a nice faint cyan lined version of the original pencils - but as it is it won't save to jpg or tiff because of the colour mode we're in. So, head back to Image->Mode and this time just select RGB. You could use CMYK and export as a hires TIFF at this point if you wanted, but I've found when printing bluelines the advantage of file size here is neglegable.
4. Save and take to the printers! (..or, invest in an Epson 1290 or the like that'll accept a 260gsm 11x17 board and print your own ;-)
Hope this helps man!
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Post by jimmyt on Dec 1, 2008 20:27:56 GMT -5
That You Jerry?
I usually scan in Greyscale at 600 dpi
I open in Photoshop and convert to DuoTone
1 Go to IMAGE-MODE-DUOTONE 2 Set the TYPE to MONTONE 3 Then in the second box on line one I use the following settings
H - 264 S - 20 B - 95 Then Save and Name it "Blueline".
4 Click "OK" and save as PDF.
5 Print it out, or take to Kinko's
Make sure you have a good quality paper but not to heavy a weight paper or Kinkos machine will jam. I use a 2ply 400 or 500 strathmore and only lost a few with them before buying my printer.
John Beatty, Terry Beatty and a few others, just bought the new large format Brother Machine, that Scans, Prints, etc, for sale price of $200.00 at Office supply, and they say it works like a charm with DC paper. I will be getting one myself.
Best! Jimmy
4.
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Post by TomParrish on Dec 2, 2008 13:07:35 GMT -5
Do you guys work with a copy of the pencils in greyscale in front of you as well as the bluelines? Sometimes I find they can be a bit faint.
What model of Brothers printer was it you're looking at Jimmy? I'm currently lookin at upgrading from my HP1220c at the moment as it won't print onto bristolboard - no matter what I try! lol, 200gsm seems to be its limit.
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Post by bobalmond on Dec 2, 2008 15:05:46 GMT -5
Do you guys work with a copy of the pencils in greyscale in front of you as well as the bluelines? Sometimes I find they can be a bit faint. I work with a copy of the pencils but I also adjust the grayscale pencil file darker with levels and adjust the blue with the H/S/B to be darker when I print it up on 2-ply board with my Epson Stylus 1280. That way, with both clear and defined, I rarely lose time trying to make something out. Bob Almond www.inkwellawards.com
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Post by jimmyt on Dec 2, 2008 19:06:32 GMT -5
The Epson seems to be the best for standalone. My HPis not good for thick stock.
The Brother-MFC6490cw-Professional-Series-Color-Inkjet is the unit.
Of all the guys that got them, Tom Palmer said his bound when he tried to blueline. But he may be using a really heavy stock and paper does have a grain.
Jimmy
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livengood
New Member
Jerry the 'Spider-Wing' guy.
Posts: 35
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Post by livengood on Dec 3, 2008 9:05:38 GMT -5
Hey Jimmy! Yeah, this is Jerry. It better be, if someone else made a Spider-Wing avatar, I'm gonna be ticked! ;D
Thanks for the tips Jimmy, Bob and Tom.
This has been pretty helpful, now I just need to get Photoshop, though Adobe usually has trial versions available.
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Post by jimmyt on Dec 3, 2008 11:08:12 GMT -5
Jerry,
If you want send me the scan and I will convert it for you buddy.
Jimmy
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livengood
New Member
Jerry the 'Spider-Wing' guy.
Posts: 35
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Post by livengood on Dec 13, 2008 21:15:15 GMT -5
Hey Jimmy, Thanks again for all the info. I downloaded a trial version of PS, so I'll be able to convert into blueline for the next 30 days, but after that I'll let you know Tonight I took 12 files to Kinko's and had them printed up, they look pretty good. After I have a go at them is a different matter, lol Cheers, Jerry
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Post by julienhb on Dec 14, 2008 4:55:55 GMT -5
I may have found a good solution... Well, not one I invented, it's been used for decades...
VELLUM! No problem of blue ink, no problem of "plastic ink" forbidding Indian ink to stick to the page, no paper that "drinks" the ink, etc.
Just one small issue, I have to solve: which thickness? The one I have is slightly too thin. Hence the paper becomes curly when there is too much ink.
Any idea about that?
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Post by jimmyt on Dec 14, 2008 21:31:16 GMT -5
Julien,
Vellum is what most of us use Marvel gets there Strathmore in a Vellum finish (Also known as Kid Finish) It takes crowquill and Brush incredibly on the Strathmore 400 and 500. Mostly
2ply because single ply is much to thin. Although I have used it.
But not the drafting see-through vellum. Vellum Finish.
Someone just bought the a large kid finish strathmore 400 pad and it got two 11x17 cut down for pages and I loved inking it and you can blue line no problem. Slick finish Bytes for me.
Jimmy
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Post by TomParrish on Dec 16, 2008 6:40:47 GMT -5
I've only had the pleasure of trying the Blueline pro vellum finish strathmore boards, thought I think they may have only been the 200 or 300s. We just can't get decent boards in the UK (and dare I say Europe) without shipping direct from the States. The repro guy I go to sometimes prints onto AR5 (I think that's what it's called) which is a hot press finished 300gsm card which holds its own against a quill and brush quite well, and is a brilliant white finish (as opposed to the off white/cream colour of the Blueline boards).
Are the EON boards any good? I hope one day to get to try out a company branded board... :-P
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livengood
New Member
Jerry the 'Spider-Wing' guy.
Posts: 35
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Post by livengood on Dec 18, 2008 1:09:57 GMT -5
Okay, so I am pretty informed on printing the pieces, now the scanning part.
So, I know the bluelines aren't supposed to show up in photocopies, but what about scanning? Or do you just scan them in and erase the bluelines in PS?
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