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Line thickness in graphic tablets

Explorer ,
Jun 19, 2019 Jun 19, 2019

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Hi all

I'm an illustrator and new to graphics tablets. I've started with a Wacom tablet.

The main question I am confused with is how to choose the right line thickness for my drawing.

I used to draw my illustrations using pencils and ballpoint pens. Now after drawing I scan them open it in Photoshop and starting to draw with my graphic tablet.

So how to choose the right line thickness in order to get my desired thickness after printing.

When i start my drawing directly in Photoshop without any sketches, the problem is more serious, because i'v no idea that how the final line thickness will look. No monitor can show the line thickness as same as the thickness will be after printing.

thanks in advance

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Adobe
Community Expert ,
Jun 20, 2019 Jun 20, 2019

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Hi

If you set your monitors actual resolution in Preferences >Units &Rulers >Screen resolution you can use View >Print Size to preview the width of your line as it will be printed at the current document resolution.

Preferences for screen resolution

View print size:

Dave

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Community Expert ,
Jun 20, 2019 Jun 20, 2019

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I was just checking, and was interested to note that you can specify the width of Shape strokes in points, millimeters, or inches, which show correctly in View > Print Size, but Brushes can only be in pixels. Photoshop doesn't even convert; it will change the unit to pixels, but leave the number the same.

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Explorer ,
Jun 22, 2019 Jun 22, 2019

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Thank you so much for your reply

I tested your suggestion. I think this solution depends on the resolution your monitor, the resolution you set in the display control panel.

By changing that the monitor will preview different line thicknesses of the same stroke.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 22, 2019 Jun 22, 2019

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Yes, that is why you need to set the actual resolution of your monitor.

Dave

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Explorer ,
Jul 01, 2019 Jul 01, 2019

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Hi again.

I'm sending you my display, document and photoshop settings. Is there anything that I have to change to have the best result.screen res 1.jpg

screen res 3.jpg

screen res 2.jpg

Was there anything I'de to change if my document had another resolution, for example, if it was 200 dpi?

Anyhow, I think there must be a golden rule which can help operators to have the same stroke thickness in their output files as they see on their screens not only when they're using photoshop also on another imaging and illustrating programs such as Sketchbook.

Thank you again

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2019 Jul 01, 2019

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Hi

Look at your monitor specs you need to change your screen resolution in your 3rd screenshot to 94 pixels/inch.  Then Photoshop will preview the Print size correctly using View -Print Size

Dave

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Community Expert ,
Jul 01, 2019 Jul 01, 2019

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henrikkhach 

Hi Henrik (do I have that right?)  The process is generally referred to as 'inking' when it comes to digital drawing.  In fact a lot of people still uses and scan pencil drawings, and then ink over them in applications like Photoshop.  Because you can use multiple layers, the line thickness is a matter of personal choice, but try using a full hard round brush preset with size jitter set to Pen Pressure. 

Brush smoothing makes the process easier, and that has been available for a long time for Windows users via the third party add-on Lazy Nezumi Pro.  In fact, if you 'are' a Windows user, then Lazy Nezumi is a must have.  If you are a Mac user, then Photoshop introduced its own version of brush smoothing a couple of major version updates ago.  You will still find that it takes practice to place your line work exactly where you want it.  In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much practice for this.

A good exercise is to try and draw intersecting lines.  The way I like to do it is make a new layer, and 'Select All' (Ctrl A or Cmd A).  You then just need to hit the delete key to clear the screen ready for your next set of lines.

It's good that you have a Wacom tablet as they are the most reliable from our experience answering questions here.  I use the Express wheel on my Intuos 4 to adjust brush size.  I have the Express Wheel set so that it effectively toggles between brush size and rotating the canvas

But almost always hold down the R key to rotate the canvas.  Note I said 'Hold Down' as opposed to press.  This is one of Photoshop's Spring Loaded shortcuts, which means when released, it returns to whatever tool you were previous using.  Rotating the canvas is obviously the same as rotating a sheet of drawing paper, and a lot of people find this helpful.

BTW  I used to think that a Cintiq type tablet would help with line accuracy, but I have a Cintiq Companion 2, and don't find my line work is any better with it.

This is the official trailer (as it were) for Lazy Nezumi Pro

As well as brush smoothing, Lazy Nezumi has 30 plus presets which I find invaluable for drawing.  Vanishing Lines is my favourite. It lets you match a drawing's existing perspective.  Great for Photoshop composites.

Vanishing Lines workflow

Search Youtube for Photoshop Inking and you'll find a ton of advice.  We have a talented young lady here called Leslie Murray, (I would kill to have half her tallent!).  Leslie made this illustration for one of our posters who had to go into hospital, and it apparently cheered him up no end.

You can see more of her work on Behance

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Explorer ,
Jul 01, 2019 Jul 01, 2019

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Hi Trevor

Thank you so much for your time and great reply.

Yes, I used to draw my works by pencil or any kind of pen scan and ink them using Photoshop or Sketchbook. Your answer was very helpful but my problem is still the same. How to choose the exact thickness as I've drawn on paper to have the same thickness in the final output?

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Community Expert ,
Jul 02, 2019 Jul 02, 2019

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henrikkhach  wrote

Hi Trevor

Thank you so much for your time and great reply.

Yes, I used to draw my works by pencil or any kind of pen scan and ink them using Photoshop or Sketchbook. Your answer was very helpful but my problem is still the same. How to choose the exact thickness as I've drawn on paper to have the same thickness in the final output?

I might be repeating what other posters have said, but depending on what printer you are using, and the paper size it uses, if I have that requirement I start with the relevant document size, so I use the Print tab in the New Document panel, and in my case, I would choose A4.

Looking at the Image Size for A4 I see that it is 21 centimeters wide and 2480 pixels,

so to print a 1mm line thickness = 2480/21 = 118 pixels

But why make it hard for ourselves? If we ignored the resolution when creating our new document, but instead used conveniently rounded pixel size. A bit of math shows that re-sampling our A4 image to 254 ppi, and that works out that 10 pixel brush will print 1mm line thickness

You are not going to see any difference in print quality with 254ppi instead of 300ppi

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Explorer ,
Jul 02, 2019 Jul 02, 2019

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Thanks again dear Trevor for your perfect reply

And also thanks to all who replied to my post patiently. I learned too much.

I've been using Photoshop for my graphic design for many years and haven't had such problems, but after all these conversations I realized that many things depend on one's experiences when trying to use brushes freehand and trying to draw directly in software like this.

Because everything depends on what you have drawn on paper and what you see on screen. A relationship between your eyes, screen, and printing system.

For example when we use pressure sensitivity, naturally line thickness becomes variable, so what could help the operator to feel the real thickness but the experience?

Or sometimes we have to draw an illustration in a bigger size like A1. So we have to zoom out sometimes to see the whole drawing. In such a case, we'll see the line thinner or thicker.

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Community Expert ,
Jul 04, 2019 Jul 04, 2019

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One of the biggest problems for forum regulars, is that we usually know nothing about a new poster's experience with Photoshop, or what sort of work they use it for.   So it is all too easy to stray too far towards a patronizing reply, or at the very least, teaching granny how to suck eggs.  So my apologies for what was clearly too much detail in part of my replies.  There other aspect to this though, is that other people might read the thread, and need the 'T's crossing and dots on the 'I's, so we just get on with it and hope not to offend people 'too' much.

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Advisor ,
Jul 04, 2019 Jul 04, 2019

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Trevor, Your answers always overwhelm me and I learn so much from you. Thank you for giving your time. Your skills just keep growing at light speed. I am breathless but happy. JH

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Explorer ,
Jul 05, 2019 Jul 05, 2019

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LATEST

Dear Trevor

As I said earlier, your posts and of course other posts on this page were so much helpful for me. In spite of having experiences in working with photoshop, I learned so much from your and davescm 's posts.

I'm so grateful for the time you spent to reply to my posts.

There were many things that I hadn't tested yet. And of course I have still so much to learn.

But I'm still searching for the best working method to resolve my problem.

Thank you again so much

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