Coloring comic strips with software

[arvo]

I draw comic strips in Flash MX. Now I want to put them on the web. Is it better to color the Flash files in Flash, then export them as color GIFs, or export them as black and white GIFs and color them in a paint program?

By better, I mean less work and better results. What do you think?

Thanks for your opinions. If it makes a difference, I don't have Photoshop and will use a good freeware paint program to color them if I decide to do it that way. By the way I'm NOT an experienced graphic artist, if that wasn't obvious :o) /DesktopModules/dotNetBB/emoticons/cheers.gif

[Patrick Shannon]

If Flash exports as a GIF fine enough and lets you output them to 72dpi, I don't see why it wouldn't work. If they're already colored in Flash, you might as well save yourself the trouble. If the drawings are simple colors (GIFs use 256 colors, off the top of my head), then GIF will be fine. If they're more complex, you might get a smaller file size with JPEG.

Patrick Shannon

'Dear valued customer, go home and die. Signed, your friendly graphic artist.'

http://www.patrickshannon.com/mwwc_sm.gif
My War With Culture (http://www.mywarwithculture.com)
Political incorrectness reinvented.

[arvo]

Thanks, Patrick. Should I be exporting these gifs as 72 dpi? I thought that was an older value and modern monitors have higher resolution. I had been making them 96 dpi I think...or I just click 'match screen' to match my laptop screen of 1024 x whatever...but I want to do it right. 72 is the right way to do it for the web?

[Patrick Shannon]

No, if it's just for the web, you want to be at 72dpi. I create my comics at 300dpi (never know if they'll be in print someday), then downsample them. Since you're working straight from Flash, that doesn't matter.

As far as monitor resolution, it's the width and height you should be concerned about. I never let my comics exceed somewhere around 600-700 dpi, my website is formatted for 800x600 (there's little people still using 640x480 these days)

Patrick Shannon

'Dear valued customer, go home and die. Signed, your friendly graphic artist.'

http://www.patrickshannon.com/mwwc_sm.gif
My War With Culture (http://www.mywarwithculture.com)
Political incorrectness reinvented.

[arvo]

Thanks Patrick. Actually, the GIFs that Flash exports aren't great, they're just okay. Do you think i might get a better quality GIF if I first export the Flash file to an Adobe Illustrator file, and then make the GIF from that in Illustrator?

[Patrick Shannon]

If your comic is drawn in vector, you should be able to retain that vector format if you export from Flash. But I've never done so personally, and I'm not in front of Flash at the moment so I'm not aware of all it's export options.

I've also never had a reason to use the 'Save to Web' option from Illustrator (Photoshop is a different story), but I don't see why it wouldn't look any less good than Photoshop's version, especially if that comic is in vector format.

If you've imported bitmap drawings, then that 'might' be a problem.

Patrick Shannon

'Dear valued customer, go home and die. Signed, your friendly graphic artist.'

http://www.patrickshannon.com/mwwc_sm.gif
My War With Culture (http://www.mywarwithculture.com)
Political incorrectness reinvented.

[Patrick Shannon]

By the way, I made a mistake in one of my earlier posts.....

'I never let my comics exceed somewhere around 600-700 dpi, my website is formatted for 800x600'

That should say 600-700 PIXELS/POINTS, not dpi.

Patrick Shannon

'Dear valued customer, go home and die. Signed, your friendly graphic artist.'

http://www.patrickshannon.com/mwwc_sm.gif
My War With Culture (http://www.mywarwithculture.com)
Political incorrectness reinvented.