Keenspace Sampler Minicomic

Bek · Post by **Bek** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:12 pm

On the dpi front: In my Ph.D. lab (biology geek), we had to do photo-quality fancy glossy prints of figures to submit for publication. We used 300dpi, since the naked eye really couldn't see any difference between that and anything bigger. We'd scan or take the original picture at the highest resolution the computer/hardware could handle, and then reduce to 300dpi. Basically, the program (Photoshop or Fireworks, for ex.) does a much better job at reducing the resolution than the scanner or camera does at picking which parts of the original to take. If that made any sense.

p.s. I'd also be happy to seed.
p.p.s. I feel really old if everyone else is really college-age or younger.

Post by **Kisai** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 8:13 pm

Maxim Kovalenko wrote:
Kisai wrote:
Maxim Kovalenko wrote: That hit's me pretty hard then....
Hardcore CG= where 16 million colors will not translate well to 2.
Exactly...my comic is hardcore CG...looks like some tinkering is in my future

I have a feeling that unless someone used up 20% of the ink in an inkjet printing a full color CG version, it would cost someone 90$ to print ONE issue. Hence color needs to be done as color prints. Your average magazine in color costs around 6-13$ for less than 100 pages.

Caduceus · Post by **Caduceus** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:19 pm

Import file to Photoshop at appropriate DPI and size.
Switch to grayscale and agree to discard color information.
Play with Contrast or Levels until you get the image looking like it goes from all the way black to all the way white with a good range of grays in between. Having a big tonal range is very important when you discard the color.
Change to "Bitmapped" mode and choose "Halftone screen" for processing the image.
Set the freqeunecy to (I think) 80 lpi. This will tell the halftone how many dots there are per inch. Note this is not the same thing as DPI which will remain at 600.
Voila. You have a strictly black and white image that should print okay on any half-way decent printer.
Note that this method produces an image that looks AWFUL when you view the PDF on screen with it shrunk to the size to fit on the screen. But it will look fine printed.

Maxim Kovalenko wrote: Exactly...my comic is hardcore CG...looks like some tinkering is in my future

Evil Jamie! · Post by **Evil Jamie!** » Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:48 pm

I'll actually read all the posts and get back to you on this one.

Executor_Arthas · Post by **Executor_Arthas** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 6:36 am

I'm tinkering with something right now, but what type of pencils scan good? (I learned the hard way that graphite = bad for scanners)

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:38 am

Given the printing costs for color, would it be better to use only black and white pages with a color cover? I wouldn't have any problem with that, but then I intend to submit a grayscale or halftoned page anyway. I know that many people who use color are going have problems with this. Maybe you could include "visit my website, I use COLOR!" This WOULD make things easier, especially if people wanted to use photocopiers, which are FAR cheaper than printers anyway.

15 copies at $0.05 per copy = $0.75 per book. The quality is questionable but really no worse than a low resolution ink jet.

Graphite is fine on flatbed scanners as long as you don't use so much that it rubs off. What you need to do is clean up the image after you scan it in. This means removing the paper texture and enhancing the pencil lines so they show up more like ink.

EA: Looking at your site, your comics will need a LOT of help. Your pencil lines don't contrast well with your paper. You need to adjust the curves or levels so the paper texture becomes white and the pencil lines become black. If you need grayscale, you can convert that to halftones for the final page. If you need help doing this, ask for it on TTT.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 8:49 am

I suggest we give articles on history of space and such thing. Seems most appropriate for promotional kind of stuff.

Con idea is ok, but I liked the idea of distributing comics to comic shops. I mean, everyone could get several copies (be it through mail or printed in his own direction) and take them to his local comic shop. That's promotion to more wide audience than conventions.

Coyotzin · Post by **Coyotzin** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:25 am

We should go the way of the Drunk Duck sampler if we really must include interviews and articles: include only one of each. Not that I'm opposed to having some text in the sampler, all the contrary (I'm primarily a writer

), but more text means less comics to include in the sampler.

And we should settle on final numbers for:

Resolution
Color schemes allowed
Maximum/standardized physical dimensions
File format
Where to send the final page

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 9:43 am

The simplest method of submitting a page would be to post a link to the page here from your Keenspace site (the thread's been stickied so there won't be any problems there). You can use Yarpsdat's viewimage.html if you need to. This will allow us to get working on the book quickly, even if we don't yet have hosting for it.

IVstudios · Post by **IVstudios** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:12 pm

So, to clarify: Have we decided the book is going to be totaly B&W or not?

JPSloan · Post by **JPSloan** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 12:23 pm

Coyotzin wrote: And we should settle on final numbers for:

Resolution
Color schemes allowed
Maximum/standardized physical dimensions
File format
Where to send the final page

Indeed. If we can get these finalized, I'll get to work.

War · Post by **War** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:42 pm

viewtopic.php?p=700811#700811

Coyotzin · Post by **Coyotzin** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 1:52 pm

Those figures were tentative and gave options, and there was a LOT of discussion on all points, so we need something final. It's still not clear if we'll be doing a folded A4 thing either; how it looks like in the finished product determines how we plan our pages.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 3:28 pm

I don't think we're in a position to make final decisions yet. I think we need to find out if professional printing is an option for a start - price and price of the postage afterwards, any requirements, etc.

- Joel Fagin

Taiwanimation · Post by **Taiwanimation** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 4:45 pm

More distro suggestions:

Unless the print run is >500, the best means of distribution probably is for each of us to pass a few out to friends.

Executor_Arthas · Post by **Executor_Arthas** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 7:24 pm

I pulled down all of my old comics for that reason Faub, and am now tinkering with different ways of doing stuff for when I start up my comic again sometime next week, so don't worry about that.

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Mon Aug 30, 2004 10:06 pm

Okay, my numbers are a bit off. Not that big a deal, really.
ComixPress uses a comic standard live area.

http://www.blambot.com/ruleyourown.html
Using the same ratio, live area for a mini comic is 5" by 7.5"
At 600 dpi, that's 3000x4500 pixels (use this one)
At 300 dpi, that's 1500x2250 pixels

I suggest we use these values for the image size and ignore the trim around the edges. It's going to be different with each PDF anyway. (I looked at several versions. Nobody does it QUITE the same way.) Just run your graphics right up to the edge of the image. Include a summary of your comic if you have room for it. The image will get scaled a bit when the PDF is generated.

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:26 am

http://stripedb.freeshell.org/minicomic ... guidelines

I'm going to state for convenience sake:
All content pages MUST be B&W, Halftoned B&W or grayscale. Only use grayscale if you absolutely must. Content page sizes will be as stated in my last post.
The cover, when we are ready for that, will be 1650 x 2550 pixels saved in CMYK color.

In the link above, I've made some suggestions about font sizes but I only have the GIMP to compare with. I know Illustrator uses the font size as related to the paper so it might be 6pt or 7pt. You should keep in mind that the font must be readable if you shrink your down to 360x540.

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 12:55 am

I'm not sure about the "first-come first served" bit. This is advertising material and should be treated as such. I'm afraid I must suggest that the best works get in should there be too many. I concede it's somewhat unfair but as I understand it, the idea is to promote Keenspace rather than indivdual comics. It would be better to project a high quality image, particulary given Keenspace's reputation for low quality it's apparently stuck with on the web.

- Joel Fagin

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 4:42 am

Joel Fagin wrote:I'm not sure about the "first-come first served" bit. This is advertising material and should be treated as such. I'm afraid I must suggest that the best works get in should there be too many. I concede it's somewhat unfair but as I understand it, the idea is to promote Keenspace rather than indivdual comics. It would be better to project a high quality image, particulary given Keenspace's reputation for low quality it's apparently stuck with on the web.

- Joel Fagin

I agree with that. While I'm trying hard to help lift Keenspace's reputation in the quality web-comic department, mainly because I'd like to think I'm building my reputation and my comic's reputation first, fair enough, I also wouldn't be too offended if there were a lot of submissions and (if I got around to putting one in) our cartoon wasn't selected because it was felt others would better advertise Keenspace as a place to check out.

After all, if this works properly, it sounds as though you're hoping to do more than just one edition...in future editions no doubt there will usually be room for other comics as well.

Again also, surely most comics on Keenspace will benefit from the advertisement even if they aren't in the mini book, as it's supposed to bring more viewers to the group, and therefore to individual comics. If some submissions are left out though, I might suggest on the back page or whatnot list those comics that also submitted but could not be included.

That way any interested in the comics, and those that didn't make the final cut for whatever reason, could follow the written links if any listed in the back strike their fancy.

Discuss and shred me to pieces if necessary, it keeps the talk going round and that's the main thing