Hey, I just started recently using the computer to make or clean up and shade comics and I was wondering if anyone had some tips. For on example of what I can do now, look at the newest page of my Megaman comic. I was able to do that on Gimp by playing with the ocupacy setting, but I was wondering if anyone knew some faster, easier or better looking ways to pull this effect off, or is ocupacy and patience the only way I can do this?

I use gimp, and I get a majority of the art compliments on shading.
You need to know light sources and such, and how to use layers on gimp.
Google is your best friend for this.
My only tips are layers, layers, layers, more layers, etc. XP and when making a new layer put it to transparent, then multiply each time. Fool-proof method.

but,
I'm afraid our comic types are very different so this may not even be useful.

cool alright.. I am just not learning how to use the layers and all that. By the way, I like your comic, its been on my favorites for a week or so now. :D

You use gimp, but do you work in lYNIX or Windows? becasue I seriousely can't find a driver for my tablet willing to wrk in LYNIX. it's reather annoying becaseu Corel Painter is SERIOUSLY not for this kind of work lol. it just isn't a comic making piece of software but it's all I have T_T

ninja3
You use gimp, but do you work in lYNIX or Windows? becasue I seriousely can't find a driver for my tablet willing to wrk in LYNIX. it's reather annoying becaseu Corel Painter is SERIOUSLY not for this kind of work lol. it just isn't a comic making piece of software but it's all I have T_T

What version of Painter do you have? 'Cause I do all my comics, sketch to finish, in Painter IX. I don't know why, but it just suits me - the only thing it's not good at is speech bubbles/text, but I manage alright anyway. :P

ninja3
You use gimp, but do you work in lYNIX or Windows? becasue I seriousely can't find a driver for my tablet willing to wrk in LYNIX. it's reather annoying becaseu Corel Painter is SERIOUSLY not for this kind of work lol. it just isn't a comic making piece of software but it's all I have T_T

What distro are you using? My tablet works fine in ubuntu.

My tablet works with Sidux. I think I had to change a few things in the config file, but that wasn't too difficult.

You use gimp, but do you work in lYNIX or Windows? becasue I seriousely can't find a driver for my tablet willing to wrk in LYNIX. it's reather annoying becaseu Corel Painter is SERIOUSLY not for this kind of work lol. it just isn't a comic making piece of software but it's all I have T_T

Painter is probably the best coloring software on the market because it's the only one that actually renders brushes realistically.

As far as shading goes, one technique is to shade and color and two separate layers. Your shade is gray (vary the opacity based on how dark an object is) and then merge the two layers together to get the finished piece. That way you don't have to worry about selecting darker shades of specific colors. It gives your art a more bold look rather than the bright and saturated look of most cell shaded comics.