Extracting Lineart with Krita

I've been lucky enough to collaborate with artists and art estates over the last few years. One thing I've done quite a bit is digitally coloring lineart. The first of these was Stripes! by David Wolfe which I colored in Sketchbook Pro on my Surface Pro 3.

I've colored several books with Brenda Sneathen Mattox, including one of her lovely brides, which was colored in Procreate on my iPad.

You can see these and more collaborations (as well as my paper dolls) at Paperdoll Review.

One of the challenges with coloring projects is how to work with the lineart. The obvious answer is to set lineart to Multiply on one layer, and color underneath it. And that's often ok. But other times, I need to have more flexibility. Sometimes I go through the somewhat tedious process of masking away the white of the page but I leave the white within the lineart. It takes time but it's worth it when I need to color, tab, and layout. I like to have my line art for each individual outfit organized into groups in Photoshop: lineart on one layer with colors in layers under that (often in a sub-group) and then tabs, also contained in a group.

It sounds WAY more complicated than it actually is! 

I've been looking for a better way to extract lineart and I think I stumbled upon a great shortcut in an app ("program" for the elder millennials and older, like me!!) called Krita. 

Krita is an open-source art app available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. Yes, even Linux! What that means is it's FREE! I'll admit, I don't know much about it because I'm just starting tinkering with it, but what I've seen so far is pretty great. In less than a minute (LITERALLY), I can extract line art onto a transparent layer.

I'm using the Tamara the Ballerina freebie from Paperdoll Review to test this out. If you also end up coloring this, send it over to Jenny at Paperdoll Review (info@paperdollreview.com). She'd love to see it! 

Anyway, I grabbed the PDF from Paperdoll Review. I was able to open the PDF directly in Krita without going through the process of extracting the image in Adobe Acrobat, so that was already a time-saver. Not every art app can directly open a PDF. Just open Krita, go to File>Open and search for your file. 

Once open, go to Filter>Colors>Colors to Alpha. You'll see a pop-up color picker. I don't know what that does yet...I just leave it on default. Click Ok and you'll have black lineart on a transparent layer.

Here's a close-up at about 200% zoom. Look at how great that is!! It seriously took longer to write about it than it did to do it. Maybe there's an easy way to do the same thing in Photoshop but I haven't found it yet. I've tried using Channels but that just doesn't quite work for me. There are still some stray marks and some of the paper texture is still visible if you look really closely. Overall, though, I think this might become a regular part of my art arsenal. And for FREE! I cannot emphasize that enough! Digital art should be accessible and apps like this really help level the playing field.  

Will you try Krita? Should I color in this lovely lady and learn how to use Krita at the same time? The answer is OF COURSE I should, so stay tuned for that. 

And thank you to Paperdoll Review for this beautiful freebie!  Happy coloring :)

 

Morgantown 2025

What a fun time! The Morgantown paper doll party was a blast! This year's theme was Think Pink. I drove down on Thursday to visit with Jenny and a bunch of other early birds. Friday was a day spent out & about with the actual party on Saturday.

 

Jenny and I shared a table. I didn't have a lot of new art this time. It's been a bit hectic lately but I do have some things in the works...! I never take enough pictures at these events - I'm always busy catching up with old friends and making new friends. This time was no different! 

I was asked to design the souvenir doll, which was great fun! Jayne Keller created a black & white coloring sheet as well as the dress-a-doll. Linda Ocasio wrote up a very nice essay on the color pink. The whole day was very well organized and oodles of fun. 

Each table at lunch had a lovely centerpiece designed by Andrea Johnson. I was the lucky winner of the one at our table! How fantastic is this?! 

I'm not a big collector, although I always seem to come home with treasures! Working from right to left here's what I picked up. First, Laura and Sara had a lovely tribute for Ralph included a reprint of one of his paper dolls for all of us. Kwei-Lin had a funky and fun freebie sheet as well as a coloring station. Next, is a Peck-Gandre Alice in Wonderland. I have a growing collection of Peck-Gandre/Peck-Aubrey paper dolls that I wanted as a kid and never got! The artist, Linda Peck, has a website where she sells digital downloads. In the back row, I found two "around the world" themed paper dolls: Children 'Round the World (reproductions are available at Paperdoll Review) and Dress Up for the World's Fair. Next, a really cute book of School Children, with six dolls. In front of that, two pantine/jointed dolls by Mercury Nightstone, who joined us for the first time at the party! And finally, the souvenirs in a cute bag. 

 

I also have a Golden Magazine in excellent shape from the freebie table and an immaculate copy of Dolls and Doll Houses from 1959. I love paper doll how-to books and kits. Despite the fact that the paper doll section of this one is slim, I still needed it! 

Let's take a closer look at some of these fun goodies! 

This is the back and front cover of School Children from 1975. These dolls are delightfully adorable and retro and I am in love1

A close-up of Nancy, one of the six paper dolls on the back cover.

The interior has this great grid layout on every page. It's so simple but so clever! It feels more like a 1960s book than a mid-70s book so maybe it's a reissue. Regardless, I love this style! 

Next up, Dress Up for the World's Fair.

This book commemorates the 1964-1965 World's Fair in New York. I immediately loved the cover! The typography, the art, the layout - it's all terrific. 

The dolls are Peter and Wendy. Is that an accident or a reference to Peter Pan? Either way, I really like this art style as well.

I love the detail in all of the world costumes. Each page also includes photos of actual buildings or exhibits from the World's Fair. Even the handwriting is wonderful!

And finally, a quick peek at the Golden Magazine.

I haven't seen many Golden Magazines. There were before my time! But every one of them is full of amazing illustrations. I would have LOVED this as a kid! 

 

Mother's Day is this weekend, so here's a "ham" loaf recipe! As far as vintage 60s recipes go, I've seen worse!  It's kid-friendly for sure.

 

And this amazing calendar at the end!

 

Oh, and one more thing...

 

I know she's a bit shiny, but Mercury's alien doll and No AI Art sticker both have a home on my cork board! Fabulous!