Reworking the Kids Encountering an Unfriendly Obstaclt -- the Wall

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unfriendly_wall_blog.png, clean up, barb wire, Clip Studio Paint

Today I added a little barbed wire to the bottom of the picture where the kids encounter a massive border wall. Fortunately, a little wall can’t stop my friends from visiting their families in Mexico. All it takes is a little teamwork, with everyone’s special talents coming in handy.

When I created this picture using Clip Studio Paint I didn’t know how useful folders are. I had 20 layers of ink, color, and tone intermingled randomly. Today I used my recently acquired knowledge of CSP to reorganize all the files into a mere three directories: ink, color, and sketch. I’m so pleased with myself!

Converting JPGs to CYMKs

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I have about 35 psd images in my children’s book. Over the past eight months I’ve exported all of them as JPGs or PNGs for creating an e-book. E-books use the SRGB color space. Now that I’ve decided to make the print version, I have to re-export all of the images using the CMYK color space. It’s not hard — it’s just tedious. Understanding these technicalities takes time, but the more I learn about the publishing business, the more I feel in control.

I’m really slow with Photoshop. I can convert about two images an hour to CMYK. I estimate that it will take me one week to create the new CMYK images. As I’m doing that, I’ll also be exporting all of the JPG images at a high resolution to make sure they meet the 300 dpi minimum for Ingramspark books. To make sure I don’t get the CMYK and SRGB files confused, I’ve created separate directories for the two type of color spaces.

I spent some time in a waiting room today. To while away the time, I sketched the back of some dude’s head. I used a Daler-Rowney sketching pencil for this. The paper is Strathmore VIsual Journal 140 lb. watercolor paper.