Tracing Anime and other things in Flash - Page 5

Outlining Minor Areas for Coloring (cont.)

In working with the hair or your character, I would suggest using method #3 defined back on Page 3 of this tutorial: Using the Line tool for long curves. You will encounter a lot of difficulties using the bezier path insuch close quarters. The pencil tool is okay, but don't reproduce the same smoothness that the line tool does. All it takes is practice and patience.

I originally didn't know whether to define the hair strands as Major or Minor outlining because of the subtlety of the drawing. In the end I liked the way that the hair looked when all the black lines were removed and when all but the outline of the head. You can also try changing the color of the outlines for a different effect.

The main reason for dividing up the outlines is for easy deletion after shading. If you double click on the thinner lines, it will select all the attached thin lines without touching the thicker ones, thus enabling you to delete them faster when you are done. It is also expedient to do some of the shading along the way so that you can see if you are heading in the right direction. Let us move on to perfection...