Adding depth to line artwork by digital stippling—a step-by-step guide to the method

• Published in: Organisms diversity & evolution Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 327 - 337
• Main Authors: Bober, Simon, Riehl, Torben
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.09.2014; Springer Berlin Heidelberg; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Automation; Biodiversity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; computer software; Developmental Biology; Evolutionary Biology; Illustrations; Libraries; Life Sciences; Macros; Methods; Methods and Applications; Plant Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography; Reproducibility; scientific illustration; Shade; Shading; Software; Taxonomy; texture; Shading; Systematics; Digital inking; Stippling; Illustration
• ISSN: 1439-6092; 1618-1077
• DOI: 10.1007/s13127-014-0173-7

Vector-based software has revolutionized scientific illustrating and is well established in taxonomy. However, simple line drawings lack depth information. Shading techniques, such as stippling—the application of dots to generate shade—are the methods of choice for simulating shade, structure, shape, and texture. In this paper, a step-by-step guide for digital stippling is presented. Manual stippling offers great flexibility to achieve highly realistic results. A round brush is applied to the line art by tapping. To drastically reduce time consumption and generate homogeneous tinges, a semiautomation was developed: the smallest units of symmetric stippling patterns are stored in a brush library. Using macroinstructions (macros), such stored raw patterns are converted into symmetric repetitive patterns. This way, stippling can be applied quickly and evenly across large areas of the underlying line drawing. These methods come with all the advantages of vector illustrations, such as high scalability, reproducibility and easy correction of strokes that have turned out imperfect.