VECTOR LINEART (introduction)

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DiAdantist

DiAdantist

Have you ever wanted to make perfect lines like that internet artist that you like so much, but you don't know how or it takes so long that you give up? Do not worry! The vector layer will be your best friend from now on.

This video tutorial below explains everything in detail, and much better than in this post so please check it out!

1. What is a vector layer?

Unlike bitmap layers, these have certain advantages that the latter do not have, such as being able to erase lines more easily, balance the lines with just one stroke of your pencil or resize without losing quality, among others. Although the only drawback is that you cannot paint or shade in this type of layer, in this tutorial I am going to explain how to use the vector layer to get even more out of the bitmap and improve in digital drawing.

Vector layers are a slightly different type of layer than those commonly used for artistic drawing. While this layer called bitmap or raster saves the information in the individual cells of your drawing (which is what causes it to look bad when you enlarge your drawing), the vector layer takes into account the starting point of the stroke, the end and the curve of the line!

 

So if you resize it it will always be with that proportion.

 

It's like a technical drawing class! And so much so that it is, since it is what is used to design logos normally, and it is what is called vector illustration. There are programs specialized in this type of illustration, such as Adobe Illustrator, but we are going to focus on how to make the lineart shown in the video.

2. Differences between BITMAP and VECTORS layers

The bitmap layer allows you to paint and shade as you usually do, but the vector layer does not allow it, for the simple reason that it saves the information of each of the strokes and well, you would end up on top of dots ...

With a vector layer, you can resize your lineart as many times as you like until you're happy with it!

Thanks to the ease of vector strokes, it is possible to use a special type of rubber to erase all those unnecessary strokes from your drawing with just one pass to the intersections, as long as there is one or more clear, otherwise it will erase the entire line !

(NOTE: the lineart made in a bitmap layer don't even think about resizing it bigger (or smaller) than the original size or it will be, well ... let's say not very pretty.)

There is a tool called "edit line", which in turn has other sub-tools. These are control point, clamp line, simplify line, connect line, modify line width, and redraw both line and width. Their names are quite descriptive, but we are going to pay special attention to the one to modify.

You can choose to increase, reduce or even select the scalar width of the line. The scalar width, as its name says, will help you make your strokes either thicker or thinner.

Do you remember the dots I had said before? These little dots are the control points of the lineart. You can pinch them with the tool of the same name and move them wherever you want, or connect one stroke to another if they are loose.

 

For the rest, the layer works exactly the same as the raster.

 

You can export your lines in SVG format (or Scalable Vector Graphics in English) to any other program such as illustrator, while with a raster layer you could only export the drawing as it is, since these only contain the information contained in the lines of the He drew.

3. Draw your lineart

Well, this part is quite simple: you only need your sketch (like this one here that I have used for the speedpaint), you want to draw and clean it.

Choose the thickness of the stroke you want for your drawing and get started! I'm going to select a very fine line for this example, since drawings in this style usually have an almost invisible lineart.

3.1. Clean and balance the lines of your lineart

Once you've drawn the main lines, you can start cleaning up the remaining lines with the vector eraser, or just move them around a bit if you're not convinced.

This is the most fun part, but also the most tedious: here you have to pay attention to the contour and the thickness of the lines of the drawing. A bland one without a balanced line is not the same as a well balanced one!

 

For this reason, things that are further away are usually drawn with thinner lines than those that are close. Or, for example, the doubles of the clothes are usually thinner because of the folds, and with a thicker line around the contour of in this case, the jacket.

Have fun playing with the strokes and thicknesses! When you are happy with the result, you can go on to color it and of course, finish it. But that would be for another tutorial.

Conclusion / About the Artist

And with this, it would be all! Nothing happens if you don't get it the first time, I'm sure that after repeating it over and over and over again (or leave it for a while but come back), you will be able to master the vector layer and make authentic works of art.

Make sure to stop by my Instagram account and Clip Studio (both Diadantist) for more tutorials and drawings like that, and we'll see you next time!

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