[X] My Assistant

^ Sure, I'll take that.

Go nuts.
[www.dropbox.com] https://www.dropbox.com/s/jax0j0y5i2pmtvj/F...Folder.rar?dl=0

So I only started trying to edit stuff about a bit under two weeks ago and have no previous experience with editing images in any sort of program. So far I've just been playing around with stuff in GIMP to learn what all the buttons do, and reading/watching tutorials here and there for various things (and bugging super shanko in PMs about advice).

Some general questions I have about editing manga:

- I've been told it's a good idea to use different fonts for bubbles, boxes, inner monologues, etc... Is this standard practice regardless of whether the source material is using the same font through-out?

- I've been told to try not to clutter speech bubbles too much... But in some cases, the source material clutters the boxes entirely with text (sometimes to the point of breaching the borders of the bubble). If the source material is doing it, is it still not a good thing to do? And if it isn't a good idea, should I change the font size or should I alter the content of the text to accomodate this (or is it dependent on factors)?

- What do you do about really, really long, thin boxes of text? I was looking at something recently with intent to at least write a script for it, but there were a lot of boxes that were one thin column of text, sometimes spanning almost half the page

Also just some general advice about how good or bad I'm doing with editing would be cool. Here's something I've been playing around with since a little while ago

Original: [a.pomf.se] http://a.pomf.se/uubcgf.jpg
Edited: [a.pomf.se] http://a.pomf.se/kysiqv.jpg

Original: [a.pomf.se] http://a.pomf.se/rvyvvi.jpg
Edited: [a.pomf.se] http://a.pomf.se/adodmc.jpg

I want to change some of the fonts I'm using but I'm not entirely sure what to. Other than that, what things should I be doing in addition (or differently) when I'm editing something like this?

EDIT: Also, on a somewhat unrelated note, the second part of this manga has some of the most ridiculous lines I've ever read in a manga (so stupid it's hilarious). My first draft of the script for one of the boxes of dialogue (p30): The sex industry is the best! The cock of someone I've just met is the best! I don't need to go home! Cock is my home! I'll go to cock! If I go out, I'll return to cock!

This post has been edited by rqwrqw: Feb 1 2015, 17:57

-One should keep in mind though that different text and speech and whatever are probably going to have different tone and your fonts should realy reflect the tone. Other then that, screw 'standard practice', go with what works.

-I'd say it's better it take some liberties with the typeface and layout of the page then with the script.

-Got me there. Maybe try pullnig up some exposition heavy manga to get some inspiration?

Those pages look nice and clean. But you might wanna chnage some option on your text so it isn't so sharp; it looks a bit out of place to me. Also, personally, I would do that title box something more like this. With the text smushed in there like that it makes it look like someone just wanted to black out a part of the page with a big box.

A good number of works seem to have a blank page in the beginning, or close to the end, or both. Is there a reason for that sort of thing? I've never liked it, but it seems to be customary. I'm doing my first editing job and need to decide whether to keep or scrap them.

I've seen guides that recommend keeping a good amount of blank space in speech bubbles, but at least with what I'm working on, there are frequently small (often difficult vertical) bubbles which require a miniscule font size of 0.7 - 1 (photoshop, image size 1400x2000) to just barely fit the translated text, and even that is probably nearly unreadable after the image is resized for browsing. What would an experienced editor do in circumstances like these? After all, I don't want to delete source text.

A good number of works seem to have a blank page in the beginning, or close to the end, or both. Is there a reason for that sort of thing? I've never liked it, but it seems to be customary. I'm doing my first editing job and need to decide whether to keep or scrap them.

I've seen guides that recommend keeping a good amount of blank space in speech bubbles, but at least with what I'm working on, there are frequently small (often difficult vertical) bubbles which require a miniscule font size of 0.7 - 1 (photoshop, image size 1400x2000) to just barely fit the translated text, and even that is probably nearly unreadable after the image is resized for browsing. What would an experienced editor do in circumstances like these? After all, I don't want to delete source text.

These sound like scanner issues.
Question 1. That's because just books deliberately have a blank page, and the scanner so decides whether to keep it just for the sake of having every single page from the book. Usually I'll just keep them just because, but no one would complain scrapping them.

Question 2. That sounds to me like the scanner didn't adjust the resolution of the image after the scanning process. They usually scan at 600dpi for max quality, and then will reduce the image down below the dimensions of a 200-300dpi scan without altering the resolution to match, thus throwing the font off. On PS, you need to go to Image -> Image Size and on the window uncheck "Resample Image" then just change the resolution down to 100-300 depending on the image size.

Question 2. That sounds to me like the scanner didn't adjust the resolution of the image after the scanning process. They usually scan at 600dpi for max quality, and then will reduce the image down below the dimensions of a 200-300dpi scan without altering the resolution to match, thus throwing the font off. On PS, you need to go to Image -> Image Size and on the window uncheck "Resample Image" then just change the resolution down to 100-300 depending on the image size.

It looks like my original images are indeed at 600dpi. Adjusting DPI does make the listed font sizes more understandable - fewer decimals - but it's still just a scale number, and the real problem (of there not being space for full readable text in a tiny vertical bubble) still exists.

I think the issue may be that the work I'm editing just tends to have many of these extremely small bubbles for offhand comments - I doubt it's a common problem. Eg see page 34.

The text is supposed to be small compared to the main font.
Scale the font horizontally (it's an option in the Character window in Photoshop) if you're having problems inserting the text; getting as low as 80% is generally acceptable, though it may look strange if you suddenly start scaling the text on just one page.
Failing that, you can always manually expand the bubble to fit more text in, they're not particularly important bubbles anyway.

So, been working on only my third editing project, and for the first time came across 1400 by 2000 dimension images. So while typesetting I realize a problem; what happens when the image gets resized? Right now, the font size I used means that I can still read it at 50% zoom. Is that enough? Also, while it seems convention that texts should be added centered and in a diamond-shape. But if it looks better left or right aligned, should I use it? I think I have to pick left or right aligned for text that wraps around an image. All these questions stem both from the entire project and also just the first page, so I hope someone can help me with this. I'm addind

So, been working on only my third editing project, and f

So, been working on only my third editing project, and for the first time came across 1400 by 2000 dimension images. So while typesetting I realize a problem; what happens when the image gets resized? Right now, the font size I used means that I can still read it at 50% zoom. Is that enough? Also, while it seems convention that texts should be added centered and in a diamond-shape. But if it looks better left or right aligned, should I use it? I think I have to pick left or right aligned for text that wraps around an image. All these questions stem both from the entire project and also just the first page, so I hope someone can help me with this. Here are the links to the [mega.co.nz] original and [invalid] my edit for reference.

So, been working on only my third editing project, and for the first time came across 1400 by 2000 dimension images. So while typesetting I realize a problem; what happens when the image gets resized? Right now, the font size I used means that I can still read it at 50% zoom. Is that enough? Also, while it seems convention that texts should be added centered and in a diamond-shape. But if it looks better left or right aligned, should I use it? I think I have to pick left or right aligned for text that wraps around an image. All these questions stem both from the entire project and also just the first page, so I hope someone can help me with this. Here are the links to the [mega.co.nz] original and [mega.co.nz] my edit for reference.

This post has been edited by andrewijk: Apr 1 2015, 18:24

I'm having some problems, how can I get real blacks and white from this scan? [i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/LHPwD9W.jpg
I usually can do that by creating a level adjustment layer and from time to time by creating an aditional brightness/contrast adjustment layer but that doesn't seem to do the trick now. What should I do? I can give like 100-150k credits to whoever gives me a detailed explanation, thanks (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'm having some problems, how can I get real blacks and white from this scan? [i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/LHPwD9W.jpg
I usually can do that by creating a level adjustment layer and from time to time by creating an aditional brightness/contrast adjustment layer but that doesn't seem to do the trick now. What should I do? I can give like 100-150k credits to whoever gives me a detailed explanation, thanks (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

When leveling increase the white to 240 and only touch up on the black first to darken it and if it's getting too dark lighten it up using the grey bar. If it's still not working because of the scans itself, try hitting it with a slight blur filter set to 2-3 to soften it slightly and retry your level.

I have a question regarding uploading etiquette. So I saw a Japanese language doujin uploaded to the gallery and given that I had the free time to do so and the tools I decided to translate it and put together an English language version. I've checked to see if there is a bounty on it and there appears to be none.

So my question is: What should I do here in regards to uploading an English version of said doujin? Should I upload it with a credit to the original uploader? Or should I give the English language version to the user who originally uploaded the Japanese language doujin? I'm new to this site and I don't want to step on toes in my attempts to be helpful.

I have a question regarding uploading etiquette. So I saw a Japanese language doujin uploaded to the gallery and given that I had the free time to do so and the tools I decided to translate it and put together an English language version. I've checked to see if there is a bounty on it and there appears to be none.

So my question is: What should I do here in regards to uploading an English version of said doujin? Should I upload it with a credit to the original uploader? Or should I give the English language version to the user who originally uploaded the Japanese language doujin? I'm new to this site and I don't want to step on toes in my attempts to be helpful.

You worked on it so by all means this particular version is yours to do with what you want. Same for if another person comes along and translates your English text into French, Spanish and so on. If you want to out of of courtesy you can credit the other guy if he's responsible for scanning it, but it's not enforced and no one would bat an eye. And to your first part, if you personally happened to (re)translate a book that's already in a translated language that's allowed as well since again, it's your version and different from anyone else's.

This post has been edited by Super Shanko: May 6 2015, 08:40

Alright! I'll upload it later then. I was worried about just making an account here and then irritating the old guard without trying. Thank you Shanko.

I think I have a pretty good grasp of most aspects of black-and-white editing/redrawing, but I'm stumped on color gradients. For instance, say I wanted to redraw/merge this cover with Photoshop:
[i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/Spe5Nw0.jpg (This particular image isn't important - just an example)
I can denoise so that ordinary colors can be drawn on without looking out of place, and the outlines of arms/legs/etc can be redrawn pretty easily with the pen tool, but I'm unsure how to replicate the light and shadow shading on the body and clothes, especially where there could be lots of wrinkles. I could try Photoshop's limited built-in linear/circular gradient tool, liberal use of selections, and content aware to eventually come up with something that might look passable, but that's tedious and I'm sure there are better ways. I'm sure shading along uneven areas is a very basic skill for artists, but I'm only an editor (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

What might I try instead?

This post has been edited by Superlatanium: May 20 2015, 15:50

I think this question would be elementary for the veteran editors, but I can't find a guide on how to do this. How do I make the both H's from "Ahh" to be contained within the red bubble. I think it's somehow related to the lasso or quick selection tools. Anyway thanks in advance (IMG:[invalid] style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Raw: (IMG:[i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/5cN1TMw.png)

Currently trying to edit: (IMG:[i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/wGRDMXQ.png)

This post has been edited by chung2795: Sep 10 2015, 09:33

You have multiple options here and it really depends how you want to align the letters in the bubble.

You can reduce the font size a bit and rotate the text layer by about -15°.
If you don't want to rotate the layer then you can select the letters "H" and change their perspective to force them onto the red bubble.
You can place the letters vertically, reduce the distance between them and get something like this:
(IMG:[i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/mJ8NGcd.png)

What I would do is rasterize the text layer then use the eraser tool to remove the parts outside the bubble.

(IMG:[i.imgur.com] http://i.imgur.com/8Cndq9Q.png)