To screentone or to not screentone..?

[tomoe_daeva]

--Everytime I have to deal with a doujinshi, the same exact crap happens.

So, this time I'd like to have your opinion, f-list, on the "screentones" subject:

Comments

[m3n747]

Don't. It looks cheap, as if the drawings were printed on a poor quality paper, which in turn makes the artwork rather illegible.

[tomoe_daeva]

Well, consider that the above rendition is quite shitty because it was resized-- ANYWAY YEAH, I THINK SO D: !!
I can tell that screentones have that "vintage" fashion to it, but isn't keeping the shading clean and soft much better D: ..?

[m3n747]

It's like applying film grain to purely digital video - you can do it for artistic reasons, but just because you can do it doesn't mean you necessarily should.

[tomoe_daeva]

B-But, don't you think that the clean version is kinda plain :/ ? The screentoned version is a pain in the ass to deal with, but it has that particular flavour that--

[when_im_smilin]

Umm... maybe try to make it something in-between? The screentones look distracting (at least to me) and the clean version doesn't look as good! (no offence!)

[tomoe_daeva]

...How do you do something in between XD ?
Yeah, I'm aware that the clean version is kinda plain :/ ! But the screentones are mysterious!!! I can't be certain of how the finished product would look before it's printed ;_; !
--And consider that this pic is resized, so the screentoning looks all messed up .__.

[when_im_smilin]

As in put screentones in only some places... but maybe you're right - the resizing matters in this case. ^^;

[ceasefire]

TBH I think it looks better without screentone, but I always liked doujins with really clear/sketchy art? XD

[tomoe_daeva]

--But I think that it looks kinda plain without screentones ;_; ! I like the grainy texture-- But it's also true that I'm already using extra sketchy inking, so as Mentat said above, the art would look "tampered" with all those dots ._. ... I'd like to keep the screentoning simple, but it's so difficult to understand how it'd look printed >_< !!

[aflyingteapot]

I like screentones better XD

But I think you should just do what feels best for you. Like, pick the version that looks better to you!

[tomoe_daeva]

--Teap, I can't tell if the screentoned version looks better than the plain one, because on the screen (and in this preview XD) it looks crappy, but I know that the printed version would look different. The problem is that I don't know if "different" will be "better" or "worse" ;_; ...

[aflyingteapot]

...Go for screentones, then! XDD

[tomoe_daeva]

--But what if the final rendition will suck and the dots would look all crappy and "squeezed together" as in this preview D: ..?
--Who will ever buy them xD ?