Drawing in Flash
Oct 23rd, 2008 by J. O'Brien
I’ve been playing with Flash lately, initially for animation and web design. But a couple of my students use Flash exclusively for inking their sketches. So I thought I would try it out and did a quick demo for the rest of the class. At top is a Flash drawing of the above sketch from my Downtowner project.
Here is how I use Flash to create line work for use in a Photoshop image:
- import your sketch to the stage (File > Import > Import to Stage).
- deselect, click the Size button in the Properties panel and select the Contents button, this will resize your Stage to match your sketch.
- insert a blank keyframe (Insert > Timeline > Blank Keyframe) and then click the onion skin icon below the timeline.
- lines are merged if they touch so add additional layers to keep parts of your drawing separate.
- when you are finished, export the file as an Illustrator file (File > Export > Image).
- then, open this exported file in Photoshop, setting your resolution to 300ppi.
Interesting. What is the advantage of using flash to vectorize as opposed to just using illustrator live trace or photoshop?
Hi Dave, it may just be personal preference but the difference I’ve noticed is that Flash merges the brush marks that touch or overlap and the smoothing setting is more direct. The interface is a bit simpler as well. For me, it just feels more fluid, more ink-like.
didn’t seem to work for me. I placed a sketch but the only way to vectorize seems to be to use ‘break apart’ but this doesn’t really convert it to vector lines.
Hi, Brian, here is Yong. Just a observation. Should you mention between the step 3 and step 4, you used the brush tool to draw (trace) on a new blank layer?
Happy New Year from New Hampshire,
Yong
Good point Yong, thanks. Also make sure you are using a tablet and click the pressure-sensitivity option.
By the way Dave, sorry for not replying sooner, maybe you’re missing the painting step that Yong is referring to? With this method, you don’t convert the sketch to vector, you use the sketch as a reference for a new drawing using the brush tool. Hope that’s more clear.
[...] was using my self-portrait in class today for a Flash drawing demo (see technique here). When I stepped away for a bit, one of my teaching assistants sat down and began adding to the [...]