its very nice of u to have share this mike.drop by and congrate u for completing this challenge.very awesome work and wish u best of luck on the finals.see ya again in the next challenge!
Master and Servant 2D Entry: Michael Dashow
ms1
#612
paperclip
#613
Let me get this right- you remove the white from the pencil drawing by using a ‘select white’ mask & anti-aliasing?
walrus
#614
No, I actually don’t remove the white at all. When you set a layer to “Multiply,” it only makes things darker. So something 100% black will affect lower layers 100%, and something 0% black - in other words, white - will affect lower layers 0% - meaning, not at all. Parts that are, say, 50% grey come off as 50% opaque over the layers beneath them.
Think of using the “Multiply” ink like drawing your image from that layer on a piece of acetate or Saran Wrap and then placing it over your image. The areas where you drew in black will be obscured and the areas with no drawing are completely see-through.
So if you set a layer to “Multiply,” the white in it does nothing at all. I don’t need to make any effort to remove the white or cut it out or anything, becuse it’s not affecting anything anyhow.
“Screen,” btw, is the exact opposite: Black is transparent and only the white affects things.
Does that help?
-mike
E.T
#615
So you flatten all the colors to a single layer?
im too scared of changing my mind to do that. 
Very good tut, easy to follow and outlining your workprocess nicely.
(and for me personally its very close to mine, which is sort of a relief, i hate finding ive been doing things the “wrong” way)
:applause:
paperclip
#617
Aahh, I see what you mean there. I thought ‘multiply’ just made it darker- I didn’t know it effectively removed the white. Silly me. 
Thanks for your help- this has really inspired me, believe it or not.:arteest:
I really, really hope you win something- because you have a great piece that I’ve been rooting for from the beginning and also because you aren’t afraid to share your knowledge, that’s a hard thing to find in artists, usually people are rather secretive about how they do things.
Once more…thanks!
Judges, give this man an award!! Can’t you see he deserves it!? :surprised
walrus
#618
Yeah, what she said, judges!
Anyhow, hey, it’s no problem at all, it’s one of the things I love about these CGTalk Challenges: Sure, it’s a contest, but almost everyone is being open and sharing with processes and techniques. (I’ve found the same thing with pro artists I’ve met at conventions like WorldCon, where we’re all doing the same thing, but in our own stlye, and people have been more than willing to share techniques, leads, contacts, the works!)
Anyhow, it makes sense, even if we all knew all the same techniques and tricks, we’d all be doing our own personal images anyhow. No one else was going to come up with an image this weird but me even if they knew every Photoshop trick that I did. In the end, nothing can guarantee you a prize, but at least I’ve grown as an artist and maybe helped others grow too, and that’s important.
Just came back from a walk, during which the correct metaphor for the Multiply ink occurred to me: It’s like drawing your outlines on an animation cel, and then putting the color underneath. But the lines are on the top face of the cel so they always show up on top of the colors.
E.T. - I flatten pretty late in the process when I’ve had several weeks to work with things and be sure that I’m not going to need to back up a few steps. And I never completely flatten things. For example, even my final working copy has seperate layers for the skin, the shirts & suits, the miscellaneous objects, the cubicle walls, and the background. (And a few more for effects, like the rim light and the ceiling lights.) Later in the game it’s less of an issue of changing my mind on things and more just the convenience of having things on seperate locked layers so that I can easily paint without going outside of the lines. If I do need to do something like redesign a minor character, as I did in this piece, I don’t want to also have to repaint the background behind him. So it helps a lot when he’s on a seperate layer. But at a certain point, yeah, you have to just commit to flattening some fo the stuff. At least in a contest like this, you have several thousand pairs of eyes telling you, yeah, it’s okay, you can move forwards, it looks fine! 
anyhow, thanks Theresa (and everyone else) as always, for your kind words and encouragement and vote of confidence! Cheers!
-mike
JTD
#621
This is not a boo-fest but I really would have placed you higher than honorable. At least the judges saw what a fantastic artist you are and had to recognize your submission in some way. Congratulations Michael!
Fahrija
#622
Hi Michael,
my congratulation to honorable mention. I hope you are pleased with the result.
best regards
fahrija
NinjaA55N
#623
Its so nice to see ur piece being awarded man! I hoped u’ll be noticed, while I was counting on u even in previous challenge. U deserve it :bounce: Congratulations and I hope we’ll see in next challenge as well!
paperclip
#624
Congrats, michael!!
I would have placed you higher as well, but…there’s always next time! :twisted:
Have fun with your prizes…:buttrock:
walrus
#625
Prizes? Um, Theresa, we don’t actually get any prizes for honorable mention. But I do appreciate the mention nonetheless. Thanks to all of you for your kind words, too. Hope you’ll all be around for the next challenge, too. I plan on being there… See you then!
-mike
TheFirstAngel
#626
Well you’ll get a choice award for it i think and, grin congratulations Mike! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
xric7
#628
hi Michael,
congratulation!! :buttrock: for me u deserve higher.:bounce:
see u next time.
Miyagu
#630
congrats, mike!
i still think it´s a really awesome piece… and i had so much fun seeing it develop…
see you next time! :bounce:
cgkrusty
#631
Congrats MIKE!!!
An honourable mention… too low on the podium I think but progress non the less!!!
:bounce: