Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

Test results were - based on the narrator figure I'm using for one of the novels - versions of "Elsie":


SAI-OC Test Comparisons by LauraEss, on Flickr

The originals were all drawn on a canvas about 700px square, and I drew in MyPaint first, followed by SAI and lastly OC. This wasn't a test of my ability, but on whether the editors could give me what I wanted, and fun to use. Colouring and tones is going to be done in Illustrator so I haven't added any in the test.

OK, MyPaint has some potential, but I wasn't used to it and probably didn't find the correct brush to test. It dribbled on me, just like a real ink pen on paper, but that's not the look I want for what I'm working on at the moment (though it might be interesting in a section of the graphic novel that is meant to look like a series of journal entries). The ideal set-up for me is pen in right hand above pad, and left hand hovering over keyboard ready to change tools while still looking at the screen. The fact that MyPaint uses its own set of shortcuts which can't be reconfigured (apart from assigning up to 10 brushes) is a big point against it, because other stuff I have has been configured to use the same or similar keystrokes for the same type of actions. Why "DF" instead of "{}" (Adobe smaller/larger brush size)? If you could reconfigure key shortcuts I might be interested.

Both SAI and OC were easy for me to use. No inkspots by accident. The difference in lines reflects the brushes used and I notice that I seem to have used a heavier hand with OC. SAI seems easier to use for small finicky stuff, OC seems to give a more consistent line.