Purpose of screen tones?

[marygold]

I have always been curious, do screen tones (the textured pattern kind, not the templates of cities, flowers, etc) serve any technical purpose (like with printing) or is it just an art technique to show value? What are it's benefits?

[frostdrive]

My guess is balance. And it seems hard to do. You only notice the effect it has when it's not right. Which happens I think in the majority of black and white comics that aren't like professional. Doesn't make a comic horrible if it's not balanced but certainly adds more appeal.

[bear1]

Tone user here
They serve the same purpose like coloring or greyscale does, balancing panels, off setting foreground from background, add texture, help the story telling ect.

It’s just up to the taste of the artist if they like to use it or rather go with other techniques
Personally speaking I find tones a lot more appealing than grayscale, don’t ask my why but the overall look is just prettier to me. It always reminds of old manga I used to read as a kid

Besides that, I’m a traditional artist and love to hold a finished piece of art in my hands once I’m done.
For me tones are a safer alternative to add a finishing touch to my comic than greying areas out with washes or markers.
If you screw up with tones you can peel them off and start over again. While correcting mistakes done with brush and ink is a lot more difficult.
Only downsides tones are pricey and quite time consuming. (But so is coloring too, right? )

[IdiotWithPencil]

before it was for cheaper comic printing since black dots= less ink usage in colours, now it's just a quick and speedy way of making a comic or to give the air of old manga comics and the like =P

[Menbung]

Just to add something more to what has been said about screntones.

They also can make the drawings look more organic, since they mostly have a texture. Is not the same to add a flat grey color to a drawing than to add a screentone with some kind of texture to it.

Obviously both can go wrong or good, but generally using only greys can make the drawing look a little flat, instead, using only screetones you have that extra layer of texture that digital colors don't have =] .

Not saying one is better than the other, both have pros and cons.

[IdiotWithPencil]

using only screetones you have that extra layer of texture that digital colors don't have =] .

this is soo true -.- I use mostly grey scales with a noise filter for just this exact reason, also normal screen tones look weird in a pc screen (burns my eyes man .) if done wrong =/ much easier to just texture the greys