WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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3 comments
I'm writing this blog post to inform you that the future episode 30 storyboard is now available for "beta-reading". It's a story I wrote without speechbubbles about Carrot. The artworks are still very rough and you'll find on this storyboard only bright-grey digital pencil sketches with perspective and anatomy "eyeballed". While drawing this pass, I was mainly focused into the story and the composition of the panels.
**You'll find a link to read the full pages**
** _[SPOILER ALERT]
_ [on the thread on Framagit](https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/webcomics/issues/114 "on this thread" ).**
As you might already know, I open the full process of my episodes since a long time. I open it without requiring you to be my patron or locking this process behind a paywall (as most of other artists does nowaday...). All my videos, sources files, wallpapers, making-of, tutorials and brushes are free/libre and online. So, if you like the content I'm producing and the way I'm doing it, consider to hit that red button on the top-right of my website and support my work. I guarantee you'll make an happy artist. ;-) (PS: And by the way, I'm sending here a big big thanks to my patrons!)
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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9 comments
Hey patrons and readers! The weather temperature has been over 30°C since a big week here and it's boiling hot! This artwork comes from a series of sketches I have done in June. It was challenging to paint it today with the water transparency and the mix of solid and organic shapes but I'm happy with the result. I put the HD here (if you click on it) and I release this picture under the Creative Commons Attribution license. I painted it on Krita 4.2.2 + Cintiq 13HD on Kubuntu 18.04. Krita 4.2 generation is running very well here, 4.2.2 is very stable, smooth and I really enjoy using it. I probably not entered a new bug report since two or three weeks. That should help me for producing future episode 30.
On other news, I start to see the completion of the various freelance comissions I accepted in May/June and I enjoyed this break in-between my usual rythm of episodes and tutorials. I still have work to do to complete two bigger pack in my comissions but I'll handle the remaining part in parralal of a new Pepper&Carrot episode production.
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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23 comments
After a big month of hard work, I'm happy to release today [the new website for Pepper&Carrot](https://www.peppercarrot.com/ "the new website for Pepper&Carrot" )! Here is a list of the fix, improvements, and what's new:
## 1\. More compact and cleaner:
The new website has less buttons on the way and more room for the content. It is now also possible to share the homepage in a target language. Eg: sharing English or French: [https://www.peppercarrot.com/fr/ .](https://www.peppercarrot.com/fr/ "https://www.peppercarrot.com/fr/" )
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_000-homepage.jpg)
## 2\. Better language menu
The 47 translations of Pepper&Carrot are now listed under a single button. A percentage indicator will show you how much complete the translation is. If you move the mouse hover a language, a tool tip will show you more data about what is missing. Full translation receives a little yellow star for the quality of the maintainance.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_005-translamenu.jpg)
## 3\. I created a new font
For a better appearance, I decided to use a font hand-drawn like in old books. But none of them were available under Free/Libre license; so I decided to fork my existing "ComicSpice" font with the software FontForge and redesign the letters to give them a "Pepper&Carrot" vibe. The resulting font is named Pepper&Carrot ([sources here](https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/website/tree/master/themes/peppercarrot-theme_v2/font "sources here" )) and has all latin-extended and vietnamese accents.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_004-newfont.jpg)
## 4\. Disgusted by the flat colored web fashion
Nowadays, nearly all apps, website, software design comes from the taste of Google, Apple, Twitter, (etc...). I start to dislike this style as much as I dislike the idea that a little group of designer rules the taste of the web. I discovered in CSS3 many tools to add enluminures, non regular borders and frame using bitmap, and paper grain. Doing rich decoration is less easy and takes more time than applying a dull _background-color_ and a _border-radius_ but I think it really improves the experience. Especially in a time where tablets, monitors have a lot of resolution. Krita tools like rulers, symmetry tools, multi-brush, warp-around mode were so precious to design the 'sprite' bitmap I needed. I could this way invent a "modern Grimoire" theming to Pepper&Carrot website.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_009-decoration-bitmap.jpg)
## 5\. A new theme for the wiki:
The [wiki](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/static8/wiki "wiki" ) contains a lot of hidden treasures and really worth a read for the pure entertainement. With the new theme it is now a pleasure to read it. Also, all illustrations of the wiki have moved to the source page 'misc' category.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_002-wiki-doc.jpg)
## 6. Fully responsive
The redesign of the website was thought for small devices and tablets in mind. It is now easier than ever to read Pepper&Carrot on a pad, a smartphone, a TV, (a toaster?) or on a connected e-reader.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_001-mobile.jpg)
## 7\. New "Extras" menu
I'm not only publishing webcomics; I'm also publishing a lot of [extras](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/static15/extras "extras" ) and bonuses: wallpapers, tutorials, brushes, artworks with Krita source files... A lot of cool contributions also extend greatly the universe of Pepper&Carrot: Pepper&Carrot Mini, the Wiki, the Fan-Fictions, the Fan-Arts... All of this was really hard to find in the past. Now, it is all linked under a single quick menu.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_003-cards-system.jpg)
## 8\. Improved footer of the webcomic episodes:
You'll find now a navigation with brighter buttons to quickly read the next episode but also big buttons to access the sources of the episode, comment or directly access to the SVG of the episode on Framagit.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_006-bottom-webcomic.jpg)
## 9\. New way to contribute: Beta-reading
Well, this is not 'so new' because it is something I ran since probably 2 year now but it was only known by the translators and contributors who were familiar with our collaborative Framagit tool. Now it is easier to find in the [Contribute](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/static4/contribute "Contribute" ) menu. You'll need only a Framagit account to interact on this thread as you would do for a forum. (note: nothing started for episode 30 yet, but maybe I'll start a thread in the coming weeks).
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_008-participate.jpg)
## 10\. Easier HD button for Retina and 4K display
If you have a high definition monitor; you'll probably enjoy reading Pepper&Carrot into a 2400pixels wide resolution! Just click the button and the episodes will switch to hi-resolution. (click again on it to turn it off). As far as I know, Pepper&Carrot is still the only webcomics on the www being high-resolution! On the downside, it will cost you a bit of patience because the page are heavier to load via Internet.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_010-easier-hd.jpg)
## 11\. Refactored Fan-Fictions, and three novels available to read
I received many scenarios, fan-fictions and texts (under CC-By license) and I stored them during my journey on a git repository... but I never had really the time to link them to the website. Now all [fan-fictions](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/static9/scenarios "fan-fictions" ) are hosted, themed, and ready to read but also ready to receive corrections. You can also propose new fan-fictions. And big bonus for the French readers; the three novels wrote by Nicolas Artances about Pepper's adventure in Hereva are now available and it is a read I recommend if you like the universe and the humor of Pepper&Carrot.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_007-fan-fiction.jpg)
## 12\. Under the hood
For this redesign; I only did incremental changes ([all visible on Framagit](https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/website/commits/master "all visible on Framagit" )) over the old base and I still use the lightweight CMS [PluXML](https://www.pluxml.org/ "PluXML" ), [PluCSS](https://plucss.pluxml.org/# "PluCSS" ) and [the multilingue plugin](https://github.com/Pluxopolis/plxMyMultiLingue "the multilingue plugin" ). I still write only Php, Html and Css using my favorite editor on GNU/Linux [Geany](https://www.geany.org/ "Geany" ). I also use Markdown, Json and Xml for data. I use only a single cookie to store the favorite lang for a couple of week (so I don't need to tell with a toolbar 'do you accept cookie' because this usage is ok) and I don't use Javascript because I don't like writing it and I'm really "old school" for my websites. You'll find no Google analytic, no bad tracking social-media buttons, and no adv. Your privacy and security is safe while browsing Pepper&Carrot.
[](data/images/blog/2019/website/2019-06-05_website-redesign_011-under-the-hood.jpg)
## Conclusion:
I'm really happy this is done now. It also prepares the place for a future big news. Unfortunately, I choosed on Pepper&Carrot to receive support only when I release a new episode; so I funded the time of this refactoring only with Freelance work. I guess that's the price of independance...
That's why I sincerly hope you'll like all the effort I put into this new website ;-)
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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3 comments
[youtube]m8wzsGukGOI[/youtube]
_The video interview is in French but English subtitles are available in the settings._
Many thanks to [the team Touhoppai](https://touhoppai.moe/ "the team Touhoppai" ) for this interview conducted on March 9, 2019 during the 4th edition of Caramanga (I went there for a [signing session](article703/signing-session-at-caramanga-2019 "signing session" )). Super work and subtitles in English and French... wow! 👍
You can also watch the interview on Peertube:
**Some of the links mentioned in the video:**
Creative Commons:
Krita:
Blender Foundation:
Morevna project:
Cosplay pepper&carrot: [article587/cosplay-by-maria-and-ekaterina](article587/cosplay-by-maria-and-ekaterina)
**The Touhoppai team:**
Voice: Hana (Daphné Lis)
Editing: zeograd (Olivier Jolly)
Documentation and transcription: Kagami (Mélanie Fauvergue)
**License:**
This video is under CC-BY license, with attribution to David Revoy and Touhoppai as well as the Morevna project and the Blender Foundation in case of reuse of their logo or illustrations.
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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31 comments
Hey, I published a fun Bird Avatar Generator. Enter your name, and get a colorful bird!
**[> LINK TO THE BIRD AVATAR GENERATOR <](https://www.peppercarrot.com/extras/html/2019_bird-generator/ "LINK TO CAT AVATAR GENERATOR" )
**
I wanted to try to wrap a new theme for my previous [Cat Avatar](article591/cat-avatar-generator "Cat Avatar" ) project (2016) in a single day while testing [Krita 4.2alpha](https://krita.org/en/item/krita-4-2-0-alpha-released/ "Krita 4.2alpha" ). A mini challenge to myself done only for the fun and the curiosity to make it work. More infos for license/usage/sources on the footer of the bird avatar generator. Have fun with it!
(Note: thanks to Andreas Gohr's [MonsterID code](https://www.splitbrain.org/blog/2007-01/20_monsterid_as_gravatar_fallback).)
[info] Update 2023: Discover [Roucoule, the Bird Avatar written in Rust](https://framagit.org/inkhey/roucoule), a derivation made by Inkhey in the comments. [/info]
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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11 comments
In the [episode 539 of the Podcast "Digital Strips" ](http://www.digitalstrips.com/2019/05/ds-539-sitting-in-the-soup.html "episode 539 of the Podcast Digital Strips" )(the first webcomic podcast!) Pepper&Carrot had a long review (starting at 4:00min to the end at 21min). I loved the review and all the cool feedback. Thank you very much for all the nice words and how you noticed all the little efforts I put into each episodes (the credits, the muted episodes, etc). I spent a very good time listening it!
I also agreed with a critic about the pose of Camomille (the Racoon girl of the Hippiah magic) on the last panel of [episode 22](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/article412/episode-22-the-voting-system "episode 22" ). I admit I haven't put a lot of thought in it and the tail and skirt was looking a lot as she was showing her bottom to the audience... Mea Culpa; I think I just wanted to only depict for her a 'Marylin' pose, seducing audience with roses and winds under. I understand the uncomfort and I felt it too when I saw it after listening the show. That's why I decided to [commit a fix](https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/webcomics/commit/6c83032234ae2892e099521754acca2e1705ee7b "commit a fix" ) about it and re-render all languages with the fix ([art-pack krita files](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/static6/sources&page=ep22_The-Voting-System "art-pack krita files" ) updated too). It's already all online. This feedback was really useful and you were right: it is totally not in the tone of Pepper&Carrot. I hope the change feels better. Thank you again for the feedback!
[](data/images/blog/2019/2019-05-09_patching-ep22_the-voting-system.jpg)
_Fixing the tail and skirt of Camomille in episode 22_
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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16 comments
Thank you very much for all the feedback after the release of [Pepper&Carrot episode 29](https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/article462/episode-29-destroyer-of-worlds "Pepper&Carrot episode 29" ) last week. Here is the third and last part of the making-of episode 29. It's a sort of production diary with my notes (it help myself to re-read them years later) and also adressed to the one who want to take the same way than me or for the curious wanting to see how the things are done in backstage. On [the previous part 2](article715/production-report-episode-29-part-2 "the part 2" ) of the making of episode 29, I explained my workflow for the line-art but nothing about coloring the episode. So, this third and final part will be about coloring and shading.
## Colored thumbnails saves time
I had no idea where to start coloring the episode. What would be the color of the monster? what would be the color of his dimension? So, I opted for painting a quick thumbnails like you can see under and test variations on the first panel. That process is something I usually did when art-directing a game or short movie. I always thought this was unecessary extra-work for coloring a comic. But having this tiny thumbnails really helped later to color very quickly with confidence the final page. I had a art-direction for the color of the full-scene. So this colored thumbnails workflow saved time and provided me a very satisfying experience, I'll repeat doing this for sure on future episodes.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-18_color-research.jpg)
_Color research for the other world_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-18_screenshot_142122_net.jpg)
_Screenshot while applying the color research_
## Colorize mask: mini palette ref and green screen
To prepare my pages (flat colors), I used the Colorize Mask feature of Krita (I published [a video tutorial](article708/tutorial-coloring-with-colorize-mask-in-krita "a video tutorial" ) last month about it). Everything went fine but after the two first pages; I saw it was necessary to use a system to keep a consistency between the colors of all the characters accross all the pages. So I decided to paint on a tiny PNG a color reference and insert it in all my pages as a Image Reference using the Reference Tool. So I could pick from this tiny picture the color and apply my markers on the picture. It was a bit hard to move the reference palette while being zooming in panel after panel. For sure, it would have been better if the Reference Images could have been 'pinned' at an absolute position on my canvas (a corner). I'll try to report that feature request soon.
For the transparency color, I used a pure RGB green in the same spirit of 'green screen' in video production. It worked as expected and flatting the color took me a couple of days for 8 pages this way.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-16_screenshot_184032_net.jpg)
_Colorize mask 'markers'_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-16_screenshot_153846_net.jpg)
_Colorize mask 'markers'_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-16_screenshot_154010_net.jpg)
_Colorize mask rendered_
## A better layer stack
For episode 29, I decided to use a non-destructive workflow and keep a clean layer stack all along the process. So, as I started to get quickly dozens of layers in my way during the process, I had to organize them and give them names easy and quick to type and re-read. I came up with this:
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-15_screenshot_122101.png)
_A typical layer stack_
The top layers (colored in grey with a right click on them) are the helpers:
* **txt:** A file layer of the inkscape texts, to see the content of speechbubbles
* **texture:** one of [my subtle texture](article263/five-traditional-textures "my subtle texture" ) in SoftLight(SVG) blending mode.
* **frame:** a vector layer with white border-less squares to draw my panels layout
Under them, I have the artwork fully grouped under a layer name **/** (the symbol of the root of the system) and a consistent white background at the bottom named **\---**. The artworks are split into two subgroups: **char** (characters) and **bg **(backgrounds). Character group has a **line-art** subgroup with in it the **ink** (inking) and a layer **line-col** to colorize the inking when necessary. Another subgroup is **col** (coloring) with the **flat** island of color dynamically anti-aliased with a filter layer 'Blur' of 1x1px named **antialiasing** and a **shading** layer as in my [tutorial about shading](article709/shading-tutorial-for-comics "tutorial about shading" ).
Was it necessary? Yes, the flexibility of this stack once in production was lovely but I admit it was a bit overkill. I probably wanted to test the full non-destructive workflow too much. For future episode I'll probably keep something similar but with less layers. For example, I think I'll keep the backgrounds (bg) flat and not as a group. Also, the colored flat islands for characters doesn't really need a dynamic antialiasing; I thought it would help at replacing a color or selecting an area later; but once the color flatting is done I rarely came back to edit it. So, keeping this as non-destructive was actually more 'in my way' than helping. I could also probably colorize my inking directly (protecting the alpha of a single 'ink' layer on top) without needing a nested (line-art(line-col+ink)) because once the inking was done; I rarely came back also to redraw it... So, all in all I'll keep same structure, naming but I'll also try to simplify it next time quite a lot.
You can [download the sources pages](https://www.peppercarrot.com/0_sources/ep29_Destroyer-of-Worlds/zip/ep29_Destroyer-of-Worlds_art-pack.zip "download the sources pages" ) (471MB) and spy the structure. This episode is certainly one of my cleanest Pepper&Carrot episode in term of layer stack.
## Painting over 3D mockup for backgrounds
Well, no surprise this part worked perfectly. As you probably know, I'm a specialist of that since decades (I even published a Dvd tutorial about it in 2011, "Blend&Paint" for the Blender Institute) but nowadays with Blender 2.8 and Eevee the work on the 3D part became even quicker and also funnier.
I have to note few things that worked pretty well. For example; rendering the 'world' (sky) with a flat color directly out of Blender was easier to select them later in Krita and split to another layer to paint skies separately. Also, I don't regret to have not textured the 3D buildings, painting the textures of stones and tiles of the roof in Krita is what 'broke' the artificial 3D aspect of the Eevee rendering and made the artwork look a bit more like a painting. I'll keep that for future episodes. It even gives me ideas of more complex and detailed environments.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-18_screenshot_130125_net.jpg)
_The final panel_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/ep29pg02pn01.jpg)
_The 3D rendered (Blender 3D, Eevee)_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-03-13_3d-eevee-mockupb.jpg)
_Blender 2.8 in action_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07_screenshot_064215_net.jpg)
_The 3D in background with quick notes (smoke) with the flat non-shaded characters_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07_screenshot_064130_net.jpg)
_Same panel with paint-over for the 3D, and shading for characters_
## 2D background painting
I also had many panels with background totally hand-drawn. The good idea I had was to split them directly at the line-art step, while drawing. I drew all of them in blue with a soft edge brush while the character had line-art in black. Then I airbrushed all of them under the line (line recolored into a half transparent brown), and added two more pass: one to block the color under; one to paint over to add hightlight and details. You can also note how it followed the steps for the workflow on the character (line-art, flat color, large shading, detail shading).
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07_screenshot_065703_net.jpg)
_Step 1, line-art: backgrounds are penciled separately with blue._
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07_screenshot_065730_net.jpg)
_Step 2, airbrush: adding the main color palette and light source._
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07_screenshot_065759_net.jpg)
_Step 3, paint-under the line with a large brush._
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07_screenshot_065826_net.jpg)
_Step 4, paint-over the lasagna stack of layers for the highlight and details._
## Shading
The shading was a hyper-quick step and super flexible. Ideal when approaching the deadline. [My hard-light blending mode single shading layer method](article709/shading-tutorial-for-comics "My hard-light blending mode layer method" ) revealed to be super effective even with the complex light of fireworks, fire, blue moon and pink dimension. I could really color flat my characters with their same base 'albedo' color for the flatting part and really influence later the color with the shading layer, even when changing a dark base color to a bright yellow. This method proofed to be rock-solid and it was easy for me to airbrush the big ideas and art-direction and then do a longer step of cleaning-up and adding edges and other minor sources of lights to detail the characters and their texture even more.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07-shading-a.gif)
_(animation) Shading on/off: extreme light setup._
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07-shading-b.gif)
_(animation) Shading on/off: consistency on characters during dialogues._
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-05-07-shading-c.gif)
_(animation) Shading on/off: consistency on characters during dialogues._
## Conclusion
All in all, a lot of research have been done on the way to produce episode 29 but I think all this time was really well invested: it was one of the rare production cycle where I didn't had to skip sleeping during a couple of night before the release to find "the missing 80 hours". The management of my time on the production was constant, linear and predictable. I could say: "_by tomorrow I'll finish this pages_" and it was done. This linearity really change my way to manage my stress during production. I can't say this is a quick workflow; it is probably not, but the result was up to my expectation and it improved my daily life because I could predict production time and this aspect is golden.
What's next? Optimisation, compression; for episode 30 I'll try to remove what was unecessary while keeping the best part of this workflow. I want: more 'life' in my inking and more painterly background. The result of episode 29 was a bit too industrial for my taste. I feel it's a necessity that creators like me move away as far as possible of all style that can be easily emulated in (a near?) future by computer graphics, deep learning and IA. I'm thinking about 3D and modern anime style. I have feelings that "sketchy and painterly" will be even more precious in the future industry; and even more if they reveal a solid experience of fundamentals underneath: anatomy, proportion, perspective, composition, color, etc... I must follow that intuition and learn to be a little bit less scholar and clean. This will be interesting. ;-)
Thank you for reading!
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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2 comments
_Production secret: I have a coloring assistant._
I prepared this week all the eight pages of future episode 29 with flat colors and I even started to do shading and detailing backgrounds on a couple of pages. I am on schedule for a release of episode 29 somewhere at the end of next week!
**Translation ready:**
The speechbubbles, texts, onomatopias of episode 29 entered also in 'string freeze' this afternoon (for the French and the English versions). it opens the episode to receive translations before its release. The notes for translators are [on this message on Framagit](https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/webcomics/issues/94#note_401649 "on this message on Framagit" ), and if you want to join translation for the first time; you can check how to translate an episode [on the documentation](https://www.peppercarrot.com/static14/documentation&page=010_Translate_the_comic "on the documentation" ).
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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5 comments
Here is the second production report about the future episode 29 of Pepper&Carrot, an insight into the work behind the scene of next episode. If you missed it, read [the first production report](article706/production-report-episode-29-part-1 "the first production report" ).
**Spoilers alert:** I'll not reveal in this page any plot elements which threaten to give away important details about the story of the next episode. But, because I open all the process, if you follow the link on the Framagit discussion and thread, you'll access to the full story, storyboard, etc.
## Tests
Just before starting the digital inking step for episode 29, I felt I had to upgrade my digital drawing skill in order to be better in sync with my brush presets, Krita and how respond the Cintiq13HD. So I decided to sketch while keeping the same presets and focus on various stylistic researches and constructions methods I wanted to explore. I noted on this researches the brush preset used, the diameter, the zoom of the viewport and if I use a stabilizer method or not until I felt I had something comfortable and predicable.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-03-16_b-coriandre-studies_net.jpg)
_Test 1 - click to enlarge_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-03-17_b-face-studies_net.jpg)
_Test 2 - click to enlarge_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-03-18_b-face-studies_net.jpg)
_Test 3 - click to enlarge_
## The digital page size
I also did researches to match as near as I could my traditional comic-page inking experience. My only previous experience with the Cintiq13HD and inking ([read episode 23 Take a Chance making-of](article334/making-of-episode-23 "read episode 23 Take a Chance making-of" )) wasn't good as I produced a too thin line-art and then I had issue at coloring... For my researches on episode 29, I found that at 50% zoom on my 2975x4200pixels large comic-page, I have a page that exactly matches my ideal traditional page size (something slightly lower than a A3 but bigger than a A4).But I inked most of the time the pages at 67% zoom of the viewport with a 11px large brush (you can find my inking preset on [my duo brushkit](article342/brush-preset-duo-bundle-for-krita "my duo brushkit" )). I drew on the 50% zoom only for close-up.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-14_b-traditional-inking-vs-cintiq.jpg)
_digital inking VS traditional inking : matching styles and widths._
## A subtle background-color
A little tip I found on the way was just a background color; I was used to the light grey **#C0C0C0** but it was also cold and sad. An easier one for my eyes to work on the Cintiq13HD was **#F9F5EE**. It also simplified working with the white borderless frames around the panels and the borderless speechbubbles.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-14_b-inking.jpg)
_While Inking blue digital pencil_
## Blue Pencil
I used a blue **#1871BB** to do all the penciling. This blue has enough of contrast to draw with it and it was subtle enough when the opacity of the layer was reduced at around 25% to enjoy inking over it. I decided to keep all the backgrounds in blue-pencil only and ink in black only the characters. The background will receive a full paint-over pass and they don't need to get a really precise drawing line-art as the character did.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-14_b-inking-the-dragon.jpg)
_A panel with the character inked, and the background in blue pencil_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-11_b-screenshot_170258.png)
_While inking at 67% zoom of viewport_
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-14_b-steps.jpg)
_Three steps side by side: storyboard, pencil and inking_
## 3D helpers
Sometime, it was too hard to draw curvy elements into perspective. My freehand attempts were looking too woobly. In that cases, I used Blender 3D to quickly model backgrounds elements. I then rendered them using Freestyle (a method to get 3D elements traced with lines) and I merged the render tinted in blue with my pencil layer. I kept inking manually over the render to get more life in the line. In episode 29, I used a lot 3D for backgrounds.
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-04-05_b-3d-helper-for-perspective.jpg)
_A shot using 3D elements_
## Coloring: the last step
[](data/images/blog/2019/ep29/2019-03-28_b-kdenlive-video-editing.jpg)
_Kdenlive for video-editing my tutorials._
The next step (starting tomorrow) will be to color everything: characters and background and for that I'll use the Colorize Mask and a single shading layer. I explained my method last weeks on [two video tutorials](core/admin/tag/tutorial "two video tutorials" ) I published.
Episode 29 should be ready before the end of April and the process of starting translations before the release will start within the next days and be annunced on [the translator mailing-list](https://framalistes.org/sympa/info/peppercarrot "the translator mailing-list" ) or [on this thread on Framagit](https://framagit.org/peppercarrot/webcomics/issues/94 "on this thread on Framagit" ). I'll probably publish a third part about coloring after the release.
WRITTEN_BY David REVOY -
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6 comments
As for many, I was really excited to see the [first picture of a black hole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_Horizon_Telescope#Scientific_results "first picture of a black hole" ) yesterday. When I saw the picture was CC-By licensed, I had to test a derivation over [episode 12](https://www.peppercarrot.com/article331/episode-12-autumn-clearout "episode 12" )!
