It’s “Tutorial Tuesday” once again at idrawdigital. This week I’m going to show you how to prep and draw a simple base file in Photoshop to create your own character turnarounds. These sheets are absolutely vital in keeping your characters looking consistent from all angles. By having this handy reference, you’ll be able to compare it to your current drawing for any inaccuracies. Click here to continue…
It’s time for a new digital drawing tutorial. Today we’re going to focus on a basic fundamental of character drawing – head shapes. There are a number of different methods to drawing heads and faces, and in this tutorial, you’ll learn a few different ones than you may have seen before. Since we will be doing this entire sketch digitally, you’ll notice certain shortcuts and techniques you can use to speed up your workflow. Click here to continue…
In today’s update, we’re going to check out the calibration options for a basic WACOM tablet. By setting up your tablet according to your drawing preferences, you should be able to replicate or modify your existing method and make the transition from paper to digital much easier. Once you have your WACOM tablet set up just the way you like it, you’ll be drawing digital comics in no time! Click here to continue…
Hi folks, here’s a simple tutorial for all of you. I’m going to show you how to create a few Photoshop master files for comic book pages, complete with guides and page info. Follow this easy step-by-step tutorial to set up your workspace for drawing digital comics.
Click here to continue…
Hi folks! I’m going to finish off this ‘How to Draw Batman’ tutorial with some colour and effects. If you’ve completed the steps in part one and part two of this tutorial, you’ll remember that we left off with our Caped Crusader stoically standing with Gotham in the background. Once we’ve finalized the details and added our colors and effects, you’ll be well on your way to drawing comics of your own, perhaps some fan-fiction with Batman! Click here to continue…
In this previous post about drawing backgrounds, I wrote about their importance and how to apply them to your comics in order to add further detail to your stories. Without some kind of defining background (whether its a colour, abstract linework, or a beautifully rendered scene) your foreground characters will just appear like they are floating in dead space with no purpose. This quick tutorial will give you a few more advanced techniques for backgrounds, and how to keep a nice big library for use at a moments notice.
If your comic is set in the city, amass a folder filled with reference shots in the city. Skylines, high and low angle views, rooftops, sidewalks, interesting buildings, street scenes, traffic, etc. The more reference photos you have, the better. If your comic is set in the wilderness, you’ll want trees, mountains, lakes, rivers and all sorts of natural vegetation. Separate these files into folders based on location.
You may find yourself seaming two or three photos together in order to get the right look for your scene. Using photo editing software like Photoshop allows you to alter your images in order to create the basic background you are looking for. Here’s some basic tips on how to do this:
Using the transform tools to warp, skew and twist your photos to fit can save you a lot of time trying to figure out what the structures would look like on an angle. Save time and use photo reference where necessary.
Once you’ve set up your photo reference, merge your layers together.
Reduce the opacity of that layer to 40-50% so you can see what you are drawing over.
Your work area should be somewhat transparent.
Now, proceed to trace out your background on a separate layer. Use a variety of different brushes for increasing line weight and creating depth.
I prefer to use a bright colour such as a lime green or a bright red. This shows me where I have traced – using flat black can lead to some problems if the photo below has a lot of dark patches (like the night scene in this example.)
Once your background has been traced out, use the black and white filter to convert your colored line to black.
The Black and White adjustment has a number of options to convert the color on your layer to black and white – choose ‘Maximum Black‘ in the settings.
Adjust the sliders in the dialog box until you have found a dark black that does not lose any of its edge fidelity (gets jagged or too blurry) and click OK. You have converted your background line art into solid black.
With all of these background files for use in specific situations, you will have an easier time keeping a consistent look to your setting, as well as saving time. I most of your story takes place in a certain area, reusing and modifying the line work is much easier than redrawing it all by hand. This helpful set of shortcuts will make you comics process way more efficient.
Tune in next time for another how to draw comics tutorial from idrawdigital. Check back through some of the previous articles for tips on color, inking and pencils.
So you think you’re ready to jump into your comic/webcomic, right? You have a script, you have a schedule, you have drive, ambition and motivation. Now you need to put pen to paper, or in a digital sense, stylus to tablet. If you’re wondering what tools artists use to master their craft, look no further – idrawdigital is going to give you the run-down on the must have items a comic book artist should have in his / her arsenal.
I know I preach a lot about doing everything digitally – but there may come a time when you don’t have access to a computer or have the itch to kick it old school and draw using pencil, pen and paper. There’s nothing quite like the feel of sketching on a natural surface, and it will also keep your skills sharp, your planning in composition and proportion exact, and force you to analyze your subjects more carefully. There is no UNDO feature when you draw by hand – unless you count your eraser, and that can be quite time consuming and sometimes messy.
Go to your local art store or stationery supply store and stock up on a few sketchpads of various sizes. Amazon offers various brands as well if you’re interested in purchasing online for dirt cheap (click the image.) Keep all your random scribbles and concepts – they make great conversation pieces and journals for the projects you’ve worked on – and they also make great reference material as well, where you can go back and skim for hidden gold you may have forgotten about.
If you’re planning on going the hand drawn route at different stages of your production (you could start with pencils and scan them in, or do your roughs digitally and ink by hand, etc) you’ll need these tools at your disposal. Make sure you buy a graphite pencil set with varying degrees of hardness, there are also non-repro versions as well (the blue line pencils that don’t appear when photocopied). For inking, you can use the traditional quill with ink for supreme control, or mimic that elegant line weight result with technical pens with varying point sizes (from millimeters to brush width!)
The weapon of choice for digital comic artists – this is the keystone for all digitally created artwork. There are other cheaper brands, but for the purpose of this list, I will be referring to the WACOM brand of tablets. With a plethora of touch sensitive options, advanced cursor control and key mapping functions, the digital tablet is as close to drawing naturally as you’re going to get in the digital realm. There are a number of tablet products ranging from the small and simple, to the expensive and complex. The higher-end versions allow you to draw directly on screen (the Cintiq by WACOM doubles as a touch sensitive monitor) and simulate the feeling of drawing. If you master the use of a tablet, you are well on your way to a fully digital workflow. For more information on using your WACOM tablet, check out this post.
If you insist on doing your artwork by hand using traditional means, you’ll definitely want to scan it into your computer in order to complete the job. Sending electronic proofs, cleaning up inks and pencil work, or just tightening up the artwork and converting it to digital format requires the use of a reliable scanner. Scanners come in a number of sizes that can accommodate oversized sheets (especially bristol pages) and have a range of resolution (dpi) depths dependent on your need (large format printing or just high quality). Having a scanner in your arsenal is essential if you’re planning to draw comics.
The final tool you need when you’re learning how to draw comics is the purchase of licensed software. There are a number of drawing programs available – whether you’re following the fully digital workflow, or traditional means, drawing software is absolutely necessary for building your work, or preparing your scanned image for final output on press or online.
I’ve given brief reviews in another post on the different drawing software that is available – there are free options, and expensive high-quality versions. All of the software has a try before you buy option – so you don’t have to commit to an expensive purchase if you’re uncomfortable using the programs.
There you have it – get these tools in your possession, and you’ll be ready to tackle any of your comics projects. Go forth and create!
I’ve been practicing and preaching about the digital workflow for presenting comics for quite some time. It is perfectly fine to draw and ink and color by hand, but if you are on a time-sensitive schedule, or you want to simply speed up the process, you may want to consider making the jump to digital for a number of reasons. This post will discuss the benefits of learning how to draw comics using a purely digital workflow.
Many seasoned artists have a set routine when it comes to their workflow. They sit at their desk for a set number of hours per day, have certain tools at their disposal, set a certain amount of days to achieve production goals, and are quite comfortable in their approach. While it sounds like the ideal situation, it may not be the best method for everyone. The traditional workflow for a comic artist generally looks like this:
Now, if you’re working for an editor who has a number of specific changes, this can be extremely time consuming. Drawing out your panel roughs and presenting them, then going back and erasing, redrawing and presenting again can be a serious hassle and eat up valuable time. Especially if you have to scan in these changes, convert them to a JPEG file and e-mail them on for review.
Using a fully digital workflow for creating comics saves a lot of time you would spend erasing planning lines, tracing from a lightbox, photocopying and resizing, and scanning. All of these physical actions are virtually eliminated, giving you more time to come up with quick concepts and sketches, then refinements to those sketches.
Instead of lugging around a sketchbook, full sheets of bristol, your pencils, inks, brushes and other miscellaneous tools, everything you need is in a file or two and on one (or maybe two) programs on your computer. If you use Photoshop, you can set up various layers for your ideas and concepts and use them as reference. You won’t have to keep multiple sheets and layout pages and cut pieces from all over in order to make something complete – you’ll have the ability to do all of that in one spot! Here’s how to draw comics using the digital process.
From Roughs to Pencils: Once you’ve sketched out your rough plan, you can simply create a new layer above it, and proceed to trace and refine your artwork. This eliminates the lightbox step.
Pencils and Revisions: When the pencils have been set and it is time to make modifications to perspective, proportions or the overall look of your panels, you can easily distort, copy, move and adjust your artwork without having to draw/erase/draw like you would with traditional pencils and paper.
From Pencils to Inks: At this stage, you can create a new layer above your pencils, and simply retrace and modify them – or you can duplicate your pencils, darken the linework and add in your ink details. There are no faint pencil lines you need to erase after inking in order to clean up your image – you’ve already created a clean, inked page with a few button clicks and WACOM stylus strokes. The digitally inked page is also more precise and has cleaner edges – traditional inks can bleed on the page and cause the edges to look fuzzy.
From Inks to Color: Once your final solid inks have been created, you can proceed to color your work using numerous digital effects and techniques – airbrushing, metallics, smooth gradients, light effects – can all be achieved in less time. The bonus to this is, if you don’t like the result, you can simply undo it and try it again. This eliminates any guesswork and failures after experimentation. You wouldn’t be able to get away with that if you rendered your colour by hand. Also, your colors will have been chosen specifically using the printed color gamut, so you won’t have any surprises when the final piece is created. There is no conversion necessary from a scanned image.
Adding Dialogue and Sound Effects: With a wide variety of comic book styled fonts and lettering, you can set your dialogue and sound effects in place in minutes. Instead of trying to determine where these items will be placed in relation to the drawn page, and hand rendering letters, you can easily type them on to your screen, then resize and distort them to fit.
The Finished Piece: Now that your page has been drawn, inked, colored and lettered, there is no need for a final scan in order to prepare the file for printing (since modern print-shops create rips from digital files). Your file is already 100% digital, and is print ready.
Another benefit to the digital workflow include the ability to use and obtain reference material. You may have a folder or a file that contains various poses, landmarks, color inspiration etc. that you can view at a moments notice. You can drag these elements into your working file and use them as reference from a spot on your desktop – it is almost like having a digital drawing table with all of your photographed resource material laid out in front of you.
The real benefit comes from being able to make all of those items disappear by turning the visibility of a layer on or off in your Photoshop file.
Scott Kurtz of PvP fame - hard at work.
There is my basic plug for using the digital workflow method when you are learning how to draw comics. These techniques are extremely effective in saving you time, and I highly recommend them. It may take some time to find a comfortable routine, and it may be a big expense initially (if you do not have all of the tools and software first) – but the end result pays huge dividends. You can start out slowly – replace one of your traditional steps (pencils, inks or color) with a digital method, and eventually you will be confident enough to replace a number of the steps until you are using a fully digital workflow for your comics.
Experiment and practice – you’ll be more efficient with time!
I’ve been asked on numerous occasions what the best method is for keeping an organized schedule and remaining committed to producing and releasing comics in a timely fashion. You have all heard the common reasons as to why things go off schedule – now its time to understand the method on how to make a successful schedule and how to stick to it.
Before we begin, you will need to take your personal schedule into consideration – if this is NOT your full-time line of work, it will be much easier to manage. But for many of you, this is a starting point or a hobby, and often you will find your ‘free-time’ taken up by things you may consider more important. The key to making this work is to remain focused and committed – if you are finding that you have too many other personal obligations, perhaps the comic book schedule is not right for you.
For those willing to dedicate the time, here are a number of methods that will keep you on track and in a routine of regular updates, with ample time for life and its other time consuming pursuits.
In order to determine how much time you really put into producing your comics, you will need to make a personal log that tallies the number of hours spent. This tracking summary of your work will show you where your time is spent, and allow you to analyze which parts of the day you are most productive, and how to improve upon the times when you are NOT productive at all.
Take into account the amount of time used doing the following:
Writing (if you also write your comics)
Producing (this includes pencils, inking, coloring, typesetting, etc)
Research (any time spent looking up research material)
Administrative (any work related tasks that do not involve actual production or writing – e-mails/phone calls/meetings)
Down-Time (this includes all interruptions during your dedicated work time)
From this list, you will be able to determine what is taking up your valuable time if you are unable to make deadlines – perhaps you are working too hard on administrative tasks, or are spending too much time goofing off on the internet. By tracking your hours (honestly) you will make better use of your time when the facts and figures are laid out in front of you. Your production depends on it.
Once you have created your time-sheet, now you have to decide how you are going to break out your production cycle. Given that the average issue is approximately 20-22 pages in length, and you need time to plan/lay out each page, then pencil/ink/colour/typeset, you will have to organize your time accordingly. You do not want to over-exert yourself and risk burn-out, nor do you want to give yourself TOO MUCH time to procrastinate. Find the optimal working environment, and plan around that. Most artists have a month to crank out an issue – create a schedule that works around your life. Here’s an example schedule using a full month:
Week One
Day 1 – Review Script & Gather Reference
Day 2 – Layout pages 1-5 (thumbnails and rough layouts)
Day 3 – Layout pages 6-10
Day 4 – On Call (use this day if you haven’t completed your work from the previous 3 days, otherwise, it is a day off)
Day 5 - OFF
Day 6 – Layout pages 11-13, Pencil / Ink pages 1-2
Day 7 – Layout Pages 13-15, Pencil / Ink pages 3-4
Week Two:
Day 8 – Layout Pages 16-18, Pencil / Ink pages 5-6
Day 9 – On Call
Day 10 – OFF
Day 11 – Layout Pages 19-22, Pencil / Ink pages 7-8
Day 12 – Ink Pages 9-10 / Color pages 1-2
Day 13 – Ink Pages 11-12 / Color Pages 3-4
Day 14 – On Call
Week Three:
Day 15 – OFF
Day 16 – Ink Pages 13-14 / Color Pages 5-6
Day 17 – Ink Pages 15-16 / Color Pages 7-8
Day 18 – Ink Pages 17-18 / Color Pages 9-10
Day 19 – On Call
Day 20 – OFF
Day 21 – Ink Pages 19-20 / Color Pages 11-12
Week Four:
Day 22 – Ink Pages 21-22 / Color Pages 13-14
Day 23 – Color Pages 15-19
Day 24 – On Call
Day 25 – OFF
Day 26 – Color Pages 20-22
Day 27 – Review and Refine (last minute edits)
Day 28 – Package Pages
Day 29 – On Call
Day 30 – OFF
Now this works if you’re committed to an issue per month schedule. If you are producing a web-comic or a weekly, this schedule won’t exactly work for you. This is the 30 day cycle you could follow if you had a webcomic you were trying to update weekly.
Week One:
Day 1 – Review Script, Gather Reference, Layout Page
Day 2 – Ink & Color Page
Day 3 – Review & Refine, Publish Page
Day 4 – On Call
Day 5 – OFF
Day 6 – Review Script, Gather Reference, Layout Page
Day 7 – Ink & Color Page
Week Two:
Day 8 – Review & Refine, Publish Page
Day 9 – On Call
Day 10 – OFF
Day 11 – Review Script, Gather Reference, Layout Page
Day 12 – Ink & Color Page
Day 13 – Review & Refine, Publish Page
Day 14 – On Call
… and you see the pattern emerging. One day to review script, plan and layout, one day to ink and color, and one day to refine, followed by a floating spare day and a full off day. This will earn you one update a week, and in some cases, two. For webcomic artists and daily comic producers, this is a manageable timeline if you’re dedicated to just your comic. You could push for a 4 day cycle which eliminates the ‘on call’ day and pushes you straight into the next update. This only allows you one full day off from production, where the standard cycle allows you 2 – one flexible day and one mandatory day. You will have to find the schedule that is the best for you.
Now that you have established a schedule, and you are tracking your hours, it is time to establish some firm deadlines for ensuring your comics are completed in a timely manner. You have already created a foundation for this through your schedule, but there may be some days where you can not physically produce (due to illness, vacation, unexpected occurrence). Your schedule may be completely useless at this point – unless you set an absolute deadline with a goal attached. Decide on a reasonable deadline date for achieving your goal (30 days is perfect) and aim to surpass or equal the goal every month.
When you have decided on a deadline date, it is time to decide on an attainable goal. For example, if you are a weekly creator who updates on a 5 day cycle – aim for 6 updates in your deadline time. When you attain your goal, count it as a point. Once you’ve accumulated 10 points, you have earned yourself a week’s vacation from your production cycle. This banked time can be used at anytime to ‘buy’ you some extra time in the event that you cannot do any work on your comic. It is similar to receiving vacation at work. These mental goals give you an added incentive to get your work done in a timely manner, and reward you for hard work later on.
If you find that you are not meeting your goals from month to month, lower the standards for the goal until you are producing at a comfortable level. Once you consistently surpass your goals with ease and time to spare, you can elevate your production and make loftier goals to achieve.
To recap, in order to get yourself into a ‘work-ready’ mode, you need to be prepared and organized so you will always work at an optimal level. Spending time back-tracking or trying to play ‘catch-up’ will land you in some serious production troubles later on. Iron out your poor work schedules with something more concrete – follow them for an extended period of time until they become habit. Remember the guidelines – take account of your working time, create a schedule dependent on your comic style (monthly issue or weekly page/strip) and set a deadline with some achievable goals.
Following this workflow method will make you extremely productive, and your results plentiful.
In the previous workflow technique, I explained how using keyboard shortcuts would dramatically improve your efficiency and speed while working. This subconscious action is a valuable skill to have when you work in a pressure cooker environment, or for your own personal benefit if you’re looking to get your jobs done faster. In this post, I am going to expand upon the basic shortcut list with a list of more advanced controls that you will find in Illustrator CS4.
(Commands in brackets indicate the shortcuts for Mac)
Control (Cmd “command”)
This will access your Selection or Direction Selection tool at any time
Ctrl + Alt + Tab (Cmd + Option + Tab)
This switches between Selection and Direct Selection tools
Alt + Mouse click tool (Option-click tool)
This cycles through the tools behind column tool
Alt (Option)
You can make a copy of your item while dragging
Shift
Adds to your selection
Arrow keys in any direction
Moves your selection
Shift + Arrow key in a direction
Moves your selection 10 pts in the chosen direction
Ctrl + 2 (Cmd + 2)
This locks your selected artwork so you cannot accidentally select and edit it (good for complex layering)
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2 (Cmd + Option + Shift + 2)
This locks all your unselected artwork (reverse of prior function)
Ctrl + Alt + 2 (Cmd + Option +2)
This command unlocks all artwork
Ctrl + 3 (Cmd + 3)
This hides your selected artwork
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 3 (Cmd + Option + Shift + 3)
This hides all your unselected artwork
Ctrl + Alt + 3 (Cmd + Option + 3)
This shows all your hidden artwork
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + J (Cmd + Option + Shift + J)
This command executes the Join and Average functions at same time (for paths)
Alt (Option)
This converts your Pen Tool to the Anchor Point tool while hovering over anchor points
Alt (Option)
By pressing this key, you will switch between the Add Anchor Point and Delete Anchor Point tools
Alt (Option)
With the Scissors tool, you can access the Add Anchor Point tool
Spacebar
This moves the anchor point while you are drawing with the Pen tool
Hold Alt + Release Mouse (Hold Option + Release Mouse)
This one is a bit trickier, but it will create a closed path when you’re using the Pencil or Paintbrush tool
Ctrl + Drag Mouse (Cmd + Drag Mouse)
This will connect to an open (selected) path with the Pencil Tool
Alt (Option)
This accesses the Eyedropper tool from Live Paint Bucket tool
Shift
This takes an intermediate sample color from a gradient, picture, etc. with the eyedropper
Alt + Mouse click with Tool (Option + Mouse click with Tool)
This sets a center point and shows dialog
Alt + Drag Mouse (Option + Drag Mouse)
This makes a duplicate and allows you to transform your selection
~ (tilde) + Drag Mouse
This transforms your pattern without transforming object
Shift + Drag object bounding box
This allows you to proportionally scale your object with the selection tool
Alt + Drag object bounding box (Option + Drag object bounding box)
This allows you to scale your object from the center using the selection tool
Shift + Drag Mouse
This will move a mesh point along path when using the Mesh tool
Shift + Click Mouse Button
This will add a mesh point when using the Mesh tool and does so without changing the color
Alt + Click Mouse Button (Option + Click Mouse Button)
This will remove a mesh point when using the Mesh tool
Alt (Option)
This will draw your shape from center
Alt + Click Mouse Button (Option + Click Mouse Button)
This will draw your shape from center with a dialog
Shift + Draw/Drag Mouse
This will constrain (maintain) the proportion of your drawn item
Shift + Draw/Drag Mouse
This will constrain (maintain) the orientation of your polygons, stars, spirals from the shape tool
Spacebar
Allows you to move your object while drawing
Up/Down Arrow
This will add or subtract the number of sides, points, spiral segments
Ctrl (Cmd)
This will decrease the inner radius of your shapes
~ (tilde) + Drag Mouse
This will create numerous duplicates following your mouse movement
Spacebar
This activates the Hand Tool so you can pull and drag yourself around your viewing area.
To activate the Hand Tool when you are editing type (this one requires timing and practice:
Ctrl + Spacebar, then release Ctrl once the Hand appears and drag your mouse
(Cmd+ Spacebar, then release Cmd once the Hand appears and drag your mouse)
Ctrl + Spacebar (Cmd + Spacebar)
This activates the Zoom In Tool
Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar (Cmd + Option + Spacebar)
This activates the Zoom Out Tool
Ctrl + Spacebar + Drag Mouse (Cmd + Spacebar + Drag Mouse)
This will Zoom In to exact size of your artwork
Tab
This quickly hides or shows all your tools and panels
Shift + Tab
This quickly hides or shows all your panels except the toolbox
Alt + Drag out New Guide (Option + Drag out New Guide)
This will switch between a horizontal and a vertical guide
Shift + Ctrl + Double-Mouse click (Shift + Cmd + Double-Mouse click)
This will release your guide and turn it into a regular path
Ctrl + Shift +< (or > to increase) (Cmd + Shift +< (or > to increase))
This will decrease or increase type size
Alt + Arrow Up (or Down to increase)
(Option + Arrow Up (or Down to increase)) -This will decrease or increase leading
Alt + Arrow Left (or Right to increase) (Option + Arrow Left (or Right to increase))
This will decrease or increase kerning/tracking
Ctrl + Alt + Arrow Left (or Right to increase) (Cmd + Option + Arrow Left (or Right to increase))
This will decrease or increase kerning/tracking by 5
Shift + Alt + Arrow Up (or Down to increase)(Shift + Option + Arrow Up (or Down to increase))
This will decrease or increase your baseline shift
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Arrow Up (or Down to increase) (Cmd + Shift + Option + Arrow Up (or Down to increase))
This will decrease or increase baseline shift by 5
Ctrl + Shift + (L or R or C or J) (Cmd + Shift + (L or R or C or J))
This aligns your type- L = left, R = right, C = center, J = Justify
Ctrl + Shift + F (Cmd + Shift + F)
This will Justify your last line
Ctrl + Shift + X (Cmd + Shift + X)
This will reset horizontal or vertical scale to 100%
Ctrl + Alt + Q (Cmd + Shift + Q)
This will reset your kerning or tracking to zero (0)
F5
Shows or hides your Brushes Palette
F6
Shows or hides your Color Palette
F7
Shows or hides your Layers Palette
Ctrl + F8 (Cmd + F8)
Shows or hides your Info Palette
Ctrl + F9 (Cmd + F9)
Shows or hides your Gradient Palette
Ctrl + F10 (Cmd + F10)
Shows or hides your Stroke Palette
Ctrl + F11 (Cmd + F11)
Shows or hides your Attributes Palette
F12
This will Revert the file to your last saved state
Shift + F5
Shows or hides your Graphic Styles Palette
Shift + F6
Shows or hides your Appearance Palette
Shift + F7
Shows or hides your Align Palette
Shift + F8
Shows or hides your Transform Palette
Shift + Ctrl + F9 (Shift + Cmd + F9)
Shows or hides your Pathfinder Palette
Shift + Ctrl + F10 (Shift + Cmd + F10)
Shows or hides your Transparency Palette
Shift + Ctrl + F11 (Shift + Cmd + F11)
Shows or hides your Symbols Palette
Ctrl + Mouse click on Eye (Cmd + Mouse click on Eye)
This will toggle your layer between Preview & Outline mode (filled in eye/ outlined eye)
Alt + Mouse click on Eye (Option + Mouse click on Eye)
This will show current layer while turning off all others
Alt + Mouse click on Layer Name
(Option + Mouse click on Layer Name)
This will select all the items on your layer
Alt + Mouse Drag selection square in Layers panel
(Option + Mouse Drag selection square in Layers panel)
This will copy your selected item to a different layer
Ctrl + Mouse click (Cmd + Mouse click)
This creates a new layer at the top of list
Ctrl + Alt + Mouse click (Cmd + Option + Mouse click)
This create a new layer below the selected layer
Shift + Drag color slider left or right
This will saturate or desaturate the current color
Shift + Mouse click color bar
This will change your color mode
Ctrl + Mouse click color bar (Cmd + Mouse click color bar)
This will select the complimentary of your current color
Ctrl + Shift while creating new color
(Cmd + Shift while creating new color)
This will create a your new swatch as a global color
Alt + Mouse drag new swatch over old
(Option + Mouse drag new swatch over old)
This will replace a swatch with another
———-
Now most of these shortcuts can be altered in your options to whatever you prefer. If you have graduated from these advanced ones or just want to set up your working area with custom keyboard shortcuts, you can easily modify them in your preferences/options to suit your particular needs. they can be saved as separate profiles as well.
I don’t even use all of these commands as some of them do not benefit me and the work I do, but there are several here which are absolutely necessary in order to complement the basic shortcuts and make me more efficient during my illustration work. If you need a refresher on the basic commands, check out this blog post and familiarize yourself with them. Or just check it out if you’re new and looking to speed up your working time and turn yourself into a power-user.
With this series on workflow techniques, you’ll be well on your way to efficiently completing tasks and projects in almost half the time. Practice and use each function repeatedly until you commit it to memory – its the best way to learn!
