Review:

Does anybody remember Deleter's Comicworks? That $100 piece of software championed as a comicking workstation? At one time, if you wanted to use screen tones in a comic, you either had to shell out gobs of cash for this piece of software, which boasts 240 screen tones, or you had shell out even more gobs of money for real tones imported from Japan. (And then you had to buy books to learn how to apply the things!)

The most expensive part of comicking was the toning, and most of us, yours truly included, threw up our hands and said, "I already have Photoshop! I'll just fudge it with some grey shading and bootleg tones." Only, eventually we had to print the comics we made, and those toning methods didn't look so hot on paper. (ulp) What's a girl to do?

Luckily, Computones is on the scene! Computones are digital screentones you can access a filter in your favorite imaging program! What kind of programs can use Computones? Here's a list:

• Photoshop 5.0/5.5/6.0/7.0/CS
• Photoshop Elements 1.0/2.0
• Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.0/8.0

Each Computones book comes with a disc packed with 100 useful tones. Installation isn't too difficult, and the user interface is well designed and easy to grasp.

The book that comes with the disc tells you not only how to install the tones, but it also gives detailed instructions on how to make brushes with which to hack, slash and etch your tones. Sweet! The book even shows you the very basic methods of toning, like how you make shadows by overlaying the same tone in a slightly shifted position. Plus, you can invert the colors of the tones, essentially creating even more tones than the ones it comes with.

It's an awesome toning starter book, but there are a few hiccups that kept me from giving it an outright 10. The first is that there is a glitch in the disc. The serial number provided doesn't unlock the disc. You have to get the correct one here. The second problem with this book is that some of the instructions for making etching brushes have been translated poorly. You can usually figure out what they're telling you to do, but one of the brush tutorials is so mangled that the pictures don't even match the text. I still have no clue how to make that brush.

The second book in the series makes up for all these shortcomings, though. Not only does the serial number work, but the translations are smooth as silk. It's got a slightly different selection of tones, too, so you can expand your library as you learn to tone.

I definitely, firmly and unabashedly encourage anyone serious about comicking and/or drawing manga to buy this book and disc set. It's a cheap, never-ending font of tones. It pays for itself within the first few tones you use! Plus, beautiful toning, something uncommon in American comics these days, can make your work look that much more professional in a portfolio or when submitting to an anthology.

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