NeonDragonArt.com finally got it's own set of Oekaki
Boards. At one point, NDA used the oekaki potato program.
This program used oekaki bbs as it's main paint option. NDA
doesn't use oekaki bbs anymore, but I figured that it couldn't
hurt to leave the tutorial up for those who use this particular
program on other websites. If you're interested in reading
up on the drawing programs that NeonDragonArt's oekaki boards
use, please see the paint bbs
or shii bbs tutorials.
Oekaki BBS is much more complex than Paint BBS
and gives you a lot of options to play around with. It's very
much like a mini version of Photoshop. I'm going to give you
a basic overview of what each of the labeled areas is, and
what they do. We'll follow the explinations with a step by
step example of how I used some of the tools to create a simple,
finished picture.
Drawing Area - This is the
active area where you're going to be able to do the drawing.
Pretty self-explanitory, nothing fancy here.
Send/Finish - When you are
finished drawing or ready to quit for the day, press the Save
button to send your image. You can resume your image later
if you choose to.
Animation Watch - The only
time you'll need to use this little area is if you are resuming
a picture to work on it some more. When you first try to resume
your picture, you will be given a blank canvas. To pick up
where you left off, you'll need to play your animation and
the program will fill in the canvas as you left it. The nice
part about this is if you don't want to resume at the last
point, you can pause and pick up the drawing at any point
in between. most people will want to pick up at the last place
though.
Zoom - Zoom in and out of the
canvas. It is useful to Zoom in if you are working on a high
detail area so you can see things better.
Layer Menus - These menus will
allow you to create and rearrange your layers. More info later
in the tutorial.
Color/Opacity - This big menu
box lets you choose your color, how dark you want it to be,
and the transparency of your brush. There will be more info
on how to work this little guy later on in the tutorial.
Brush Size - Pretty self explanitory.
This box lets you make your brush larger or smaller by clicking
the up and down arrows. A brush can be anywhere from 1 pixel
to 40 pixels in diameter.
Preset Colors - If you're feeling
lazy and don't want to use the big color menu to make your
own colors, you can use the preset colors. That'a all that
there is to that area.
Tools - The Basic Tools. You
can have a hard edged pencil, a softer paintbrush, an even
softer airbrush, an eraser, and more. These tools can be customized
by using the tool options above.
Tool Options - After you've
selected your tool, you can tell it how to behave using the
tool options menu. It can operate as a paint bucket, a freehand
line, a straight line, a tool, and much more. More info on
this menu later on in the tutorial.
Layer Mask - Mask off areas
so that you don't put color where you don't want to. For advanced
users only.
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Okay, time to break up all the little options on
that right hand panel! It's a lot to look at, but don't
be intimidated. These menus are what kinds of brushes,
colors, and modes you are going to paint on your canvas
in. Let's look at the most common tools to get you started!
Color Box - See that box with the
rainbow fading in it? That's where you can create your
own custom colors! The white colors near the top are
not for how light your colors are going to be, but for
how much saturation it has (in other words, how red
is the red?) The colors closest to the top are going
to have the least amount of "pigment"/brightness
to them. The colors near the bottom are going to be
the most vibrant. First select what color you want and
you can darken and lighten it using the slide bar underneath.
You can see the current color in the box to the left.
The opacity control will make your brush transparent.
The lower you go, the more transparent it will be. If
it is slid all the way to the right, it will be completely
opaque (you can't see through it).
Tools - Let's go over the basic tools.
Pencil creates a paint brush with a hard edge. Paint
brush has a slightly softer edge, and airbrush is very
fuzzy! The eraser tool actually erases whereas white
paint just covers. The black ball is the dodge tool
which will make your colors lighter, and the hand next
to it is the burn tool which will make your colors darker
(these will let you shade quickly). The hand with the
finger on the lower level is the smudge tool and you
can smudge your colors together for easy blending. The
water drop will also blend paint together, but not in
a direction. The tones are for if you want to use halftones
instead of paint to shade with. |
 | You
can paint all on one layer, but using layers is a very
handy tool. I suggest getting aquainted with them to
save yourself lots of headaches. What is layering? Well,
it's putting one set of colors on top of another on
top of another. In this case I have a solid background
color at the bottom and some more background information
on top of that. On top of THAT, I placed character color
and on top of THAT I placed linework. The topmost layer
was for smoke and highlights. Because of the layering,
I did not have to worry about taking my background right
up to the edge of the chararcter, because I could just
put everything BEHIND it. Because of layering, I could
put my linework on top and not worry about going over
it with color. Layers are a beautiful thing.
Layers - Each layer has it's own little
set of controls to the left, and a preview of what's
on each layer to the right. The eye will let you see
the layer or hide it. The trash can will let you delete
it. The +page will let you create a new layer on top.
I'm really not sure what the eye with a T in it does,
but I assume it hides/shows text. To select which layer
you are working on, click it. It will appear a slightly
darker gray. In this case, the 4th layer is the one
being worked on because it is slightly darker.
Layer Master - This little guy lets
you move your layers up and down. To do this, select
your layer (which will make it a darker gray). Click
up or down on the arrows and your layer will move up
or down in the layer order. If you hold down shift,
you can select two layers and by clicking "join",
combine them into one. Copy will let you make a copy
of whatever layer you have selected (useful for if you
want to try something new, but don't want to ruin your
original. If things don't work out on the copy, you
can always delete it). |
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Let's do a step-by-step drawing together using my
favorite method. I like to start out and sketch a basic
idea of what I want loosely on the canvas. It ends up
looking pretty messy. To do this light pencil look,
I used the pencil tool with a freeform line at a transparent
setting (use the menus on the right to do this). The
color I was drawing with was black, but since it is
transparent, it appears gray. Note that at this point
in time, I only have one layer.
|
 |
I create a new layer on top to do my final line drawing
with. Note that since I am working on the top layer,
it's menu is a darker gray than the one below it. I
take a completely opaque pencil and draw my lines exactly
as I want them. When I finish, I will use the trash
can on my sketch layer to delete it - I no longer need
it.
|
 |
I want to color my character in, but I don't want
to have to worry about accidently running into a line
and ruining my pretty drawing. I need a new layer! I
create another layer using the +page button, but it
is on top, and not below my linework! AghhH! Not to
worry, all I need to do is use select the layer I want
to color on and use the layer master's down arrow to
move it down one space. I then place all my colors on
that layer using my favorite tool for slackers, the
pencil tool. |
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Now I think I'm ready to do my background, but I
don't want to have to paint all around my character
ever-so-carefully... bleh... that takes too long! Instead,
I'm going to make another layer and put it behind everything
else. I can then paint in my background using a soft
airbrush tool without worrying about going over my character.
|
 |
Finally I create a layer on top of everything, even
my linework, for my neondragonart.com text and some
smoke for the hot cocoa. The smoke was done using a
transparent airbrush. I think I'm done! Time to save
and share my oekaki masterpiece with the world! |
All content © J "NeonDragon"
Peffer.
