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First open your black and white image, it might be a good idea to create a duplicate layer so you can swap between the... How to Improve the Definition of Line Art in Photoshop

First open your black and white image, it might be a good idea to create a duplicate layer so you can swap between the two later and see what a difference you have made.

Now select the upper layer and choose Image, Adjustments, Levels. This will bring up Photoshops levels box that shows you a graph representing the input levels of each channel, going from dark on the left to light on the right. If this is line art, it’s likely you are looking at high levels at each end, with some low spikes and waves in between. Under your graph should be three sliders, from left to right they are black, grey and then white.

Line Definition will make your comic stand out.

Line Definition will make your comic stand out.

The Grey slider represents your mid-tones, so try sliding this a little to the right, you should see the mid-tones of your image get darker, slide it to the left, they get lighter. For nice print quality, slide the grey slider to the right until any larger areas of black are well defined as one flat area. This has taken all the mid tones of your image and made them a little darker, without messing around too much with the dark tones, so you should still have good definition in any darker lines.

Now take the right hand white slider and experiment with moving it to the left. Notice this will also nudge your mid-tone slider along with it, so it lightens the light tones and the mid-tones at the same time.

It can help to zoom in one area that has both white space and finer dark lines, then by adjusting these two attributes you can get a print quality image, improving the definition of the lines and achieving flat white paper in even the murkiest of scans.

[Images via crystalxpRuss Payne]

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