How to use this Page

Watch the powerful debut film of animator Robert Valley.

The post Watch Rob Valley’s ‘Pear Cider and Cigarettes’: 50% Off Promo Code Inside appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

As you can see, I work quite quickly. Any given piece usually takes about 30 seconds. From "Lucy's Lovey" by Betsey Devany. From Henry Holt this September.

Best known for his work on projects like "Gorillaz" and "Tron: Uprising," Robert Valley is making a statement of his own with an electrifying new project.

The post Rob Valley Talks About His Epic New Film ‘Pear Cider and Cigarettes’ (Exclusive Trailer Premiere) appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Do you ever find yourself struggling to remove the white paper-textured background from around your images? I used to, until I learned this incredibly simple method using the “Channels” function in Photoshop. Here’s what you need to do, step by step.

1. Open up your image in Photoshop. Today I’ll be using this bicyclist illustration. Click the “Channels” icon (circled in red below.) You should see four rows: RGB, red, green, and blue. (Unless your image is CMYK, in which case you’ll have a channel for cyan, magenta, yellow and black instead.)

2. Depending on the dominant colors in your image, one channel will likely be darker than the others. I like to start with that one, but really any of them would probably work. In my case, the darkest channel is the the “Blue” channel. When I click on it, I see a grayscale version of my image. I’m going to copy this channel by dragging it down to the “copy” icon in the channels box. (See red arrow.)

3. Now there should be a fifth row in the channels box called “Blue copy.” You can re-name it if you like. While this channel is active, go to Image -> Adjustments -> Levels. Use the sliders to adjust the levels so that everything you want to be deleted (the background) is white, and the image is black. Anything that appears gray will be semi-transparent.

4. Once you’ve adjusted the levels on your channel, use the brush tool to clean it up, making sure the interior of the image is completely black if you don’t want the background showing through. (I didn’t want my cyclist’s mustache to be transparent!) When you’re done, click on the “RGB” composite channel so that your image appears as normal.

5. Exit the “Channels” view by clicking back on the “Layers” icon. Now it’s time to make the mask. To do this, go to Select ->Load Selection.

6. You will see a pop-up box something like this. Choose your “Blue Copy” channel, and click the checkbox for “invert.” (If you forget to do this, you can always just go to “Select -> Inverse”)

7. Now your background should be selected. To make it transparent, make a mask by clicking on the “Add a Mask” icon in your Layers box.

8. That’s all there is to it! It’s super easy. From here you can add any background you want, or just leave it transparent. Here I’ve added a blue background so that you can see how my mask turned out:

How an indie animator in New York City added a unique animated touch to a major Hollywood film.

This is Florence- a commission I did for a lovely couple. Yay for pugs!

Henri!, Character design concept.

Designers using Creative Cloud now have easy access to CG characters and animation tools.

And finally it's time for our happy little line to get dressed. What? Dressing the line? How can that be - is it undressed?  Heavens!

Yes, the raw line right out of the scanner is woefully under-dressed. It's just a plain Jane... it needs that little extra bit of pizzaz.  So once again, it's Mr. Potatoshop to the rescue.

With a few artful clicks of the keyboard the line is enhanced first of all with brightness - contrast. There, it's looking a better already. Next we do a little quick touchup on the actual lines themselves - with a matching textured photoshop black pencil. Finally, our line is ready to go out and meet it's book page!

But first, let's add a touch of color - a little blush! And then, naturally once it's all dressed up we add the color and texture and all the other nice things to make it a real finished line, and proudly part of the artful page.

If you scroll through the images you can see all these steps in like magic.

I have been updating my professional facebook page, Christopher Denise Illustrator, but keep putting off updating my blog so I may try a new approach.
I had been posting some sketches and there seems to be some interest in process. I had been thinking about a longer post on the delights of drawing in my digital charcoal space but it may be some time before I get around to it. I think Ill just let out little bits here and there and go back later (summer 2015 probably) and sum up some thoughts.
In any event, I have found myself drawn back into a world of miniatures. It takes a certain mindset to stay in the right place and I have been helped along by the music of Jonsi and Alex-specifically Riceboy Sleeps. The duo are best known for their amazing work as Sigor Ros. 
So today I put on the headphones again and begin working up this aerial nighttime drawing. It be painted up in the next day or two. Here is a little detail.  I can't share full pieces just yet. If you guys like it...maybe I can try to check in once a week and show little glimpses and let you know what I am listening to.