Apr 27 2009
Adobe Photoshop Tip– Comic Art Effect — Photoshop Action
If you enjoyed our Comic Art Effect tutorial, you’ll love The MacMerc.com Comic Art Effect Photoshop Action — all the fun of the original, with much less work for you.
The effect is slightly different than the one detailed in the written tutorial and had to be dumbed down for automation’s sake. But, I think you will agree, it still looks pretty slick. Download it and give it a shot. It should work with Adobe Photoshop 7 and above for Mac (or even PC). If you have any trouble post a comment below.
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Jul 11, 2010 @ 04:26:29
Hi there, I just downloaded this but I have no idea where to put the files! I looked in Plugins>Effects but that didn’t seem to be the right place.
A little help?
Jul 11, 2010 @ 10:10:43
I get this a lot.
It’s not a plug-in, it’s an action, so check out the actions palette. It should be in there.
Jul 11, 2010 @ 19:21:02
Let me know if you need any more help.
Jul 15, 2010 @ 11:24:19
And.. once i´ve put the file in the action pallete how does it work?
Jul 16, 2010 @ 16:21:14
Basically, you open an image suitable for comic-book-izing, select the action in the palette and click the play button. I should probably put together a quick tip to explain it in more detail with screenshots, but until then search on Google for using Photoshop Actions and I’m sure you’ll find the information you’ll need somewhere.
Sep 16, 2010 @ 16:09:20
I should start saying that the ACTION script works basically wonderfully on my PC with Photoshop 7 (German version).
However, when it comes to the “Background copy” part of the ACTION script, a problem arises as the script later on trusts in the English wording “Background copy” but the German version of Photoshop automatically uses the German equivalent for “Background copy” which is “Hintergrund Kopie”.
So, when the ACTION script later on refers to “Background copy 1-5″, it can not find them under their (automatically by Photoshop generated) German names (“Hintergrund Kopie 1 to 5″).
Well, I solved the described problem for the time being like this:
When the ACTION script reports the problem, it pauses the ACTION script and asks what to do next (continue or halt):
1) I click “halt (the script)”
2) I open up the LAYERS pane and rename the German expressions “Hintergrund Kopie”, “Hintergrund Kopie 2″ and so on back into their English equivalent “Background copy”, “Background copy 2″ and so on.
3) I then press the play button again in the ACTION script window and the work of the script continues flawlessly.
I just wonder how to save the changes to the ACTION script so that I wouldn’t have to do the renaming trick over and over again, everytime that I load a new photo into Photoshop.
Sep 16, 2010 @ 16:19:30
Besites, I just wanted to mention…
1) …that I unpacked the ACTION script into some arbitrary folder of Windows Explorer,
2) …that I pulled the ACTION script over to the ACTION pane of photoshop (with the mouse button down) and dropped it onto the ACTION pane.
That was it about “installing” the script.
VIDEO: How to use Actions in Photoshop | MacMerc
Sep 17, 2010 @ 07:15:14
[...] So I did. [...]
Sep 17, 2010 @ 07:23:34
Iwonder, you’re going to make me do a video on how to make Actions now, aren’t you?
If you already know how, the trick is to replace the English-specific commands with ones you’ve recorded yourself. If you don’t know ho to do that, I guess I need to set up the video camera.
I won’t be able to do it right away (I just posted a video on how to use Actions…I don’t want the site to turn into “The Comic Art Effect Site”) but I promise to get to it—it’s actually a very good thing to teach and/or learn.
RickMacMerc recently posted..VIDEO- How to use Actions in Photoshop
Dec 13, 2010 @ 07:29:22
Hi Marc (sorry, my english ist not the Best)
Thank you, it´s a great Aktion and makes a lot of Fun.
What i want to now ist:
What Size has the picture of the Woman, to be so rich in Details.
My pictures more looking like pictures from Roy Lichtenstein
Thanks
Dec 16, 2010 @ 17:16:05
I don’t remember—that was a long time ago. Unlike most tutorials and actions, this one actually works quite well with images that have been enlarged in Photoshop. Increase the image size and try the action again.
May 13, 2011 @ 17:08:02
Hello,
great! Does it work with photoshop elements as well?
Thank you for your answer.
Regards
Gabi Nensel
May 19, 2011 @ 18:46:09
If you know how to install an action in Elements, I believe it does work. But I also wrote a tutorial especially for Elements.
Jun 02, 2011 @ 13:39:13
Hi Rick, I have downloaded your Comic Strip Action (thanks), but I can get it to work. It’s loaded in my actions pallet, but when I push run a message reads: layer not available. Can you help? Thanks D
Jun 07, 2011 @ 22:00:39
Flatten the image first.
Jul 10, 2011 @ 12:38:29
OMG! I love this! I just photographed my nephew’s 4th brithday. He’s really into super heros and I had this idea to create a comic book for him from the photos. This will help me immensely!!! The effect is awesome! I’ve tried it on a few photos already, and the results were consistently terrific. Thanks so much!!! And in case anyone was wondering, the action does work in PS CS 5.1.
Jul 14, 2011 @ 10:59:17
Thank you for creating this! I am throwing a superhero birthday party for my son and am making the invitation. This worked great on a photo of him!
Jul 14, 2011 @ 11:18:31
Awesome, Kristi! If you join the Facebook page, be sure to post a pic of the invitation. Thanks for the comment.
Jul 28, 2011 @ 12:14:13
Hello,
Thanks so much for the great effect! Unfortunately I am having an issue. As the action is progressing, I keep getting pop-up boxes that say “The object Background layer is not currently available.” every time the action gets to a step where it has to do anything with a background layer.
I am trying to use it on a flat, normal photo. Any advice?
Thanks!
Jul 28, 2011 @ 12:22:47
Is it totally flattened? Or is it just one layer? You may need to go under the Layer menu and select Flatten Image.
Keep me posted.
Jul 29, 2011 @ 06:44:06
Thanks for the tip!
Flattening it seemed to do the trick, now it runs all the way through the action without stopping.
Though now I’m having another weird issue – for some reason “Background Layer 5″ has these thin horizontal grey stripes running through the entire photo. Not sure why, but if I just turn off that layer, it still looks pretty comic-y overall.
Jul 29, 2011 @ 07:11:05
The stripes are there for shading. In an ideal situation, an image will have dramatic contrast of colors and tones; if so those lines will accentuate the shadows. If the image is a bit “flat” or just dark, the lines will add nothing. At least you can experiment and turn them off.
Enjoy.
Sep 16, 2011 @ 09:50:08
this is a great action but i only got to use it once, now when it is running it keeps popping up saying this background is unavailable or the move option is unavailable.. i deleted the action and re downloaded but it keep doing that, any suggestions?
thanks!
May 09, 2012 @ 22:14:02
Thanks for making this Action available to download for others.
For those having errors, try either making the image larger in size, or clicking the “Background” layer and converting that to it’s own layer.
Jul 22, 2012 @ 15:35:44
I am using Photoshop Elements 6 and this action is working and goes through all the steps, but at the end the POP up box says “that’s it, your comic art effect is complete” the only option is a Stop button. Then it reverts back to the original photo, the effect can’t be saved. What should I do?
Jul 22, 2012 @ 16:29:57
No promises, but give this a try: DOWNLOAD
Jul 26, 2012 @ 18:15:43
Thanks, but unfortunately this new download is not compatible with my Elements 6. any other ideas?
Aug 05, 2012 @ 12:14:12
Same thing for me as with Marybeth. Action finishes (looks great, btw), but then when you hit Stop, it totally reverts to the original image.
Aug 05, 2012 @ 12:31:34
I wish I knew about this problem years ago when I made this available. The trouble now is that I don’t use that old version of Photoshop anymore. I’m not even sure which version it would have been. And, even if I did, it wouldn’t run on my machine. I think the best chance you have is to find someone who uses an old version of Photoshop (not Elements). In Photoshop, this plugin is an Action and is editable. They will be able to take the “Stop” out and re-export it for you to use in Elements. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.
Aug 05, 2012 @ 20:55:18
Thanks for getting back to me. I will try to do that,