Removing speech bubbles from comics

[EveryFairyDies]

Hey all!

I'm still currently experimenting with the many wonders of the program that is Photoshop, but there is one thing I can't figure out on my own.

I am a huge comic book fan, and constantly see so many fantastic pics that would be excellect as backgrounds or other graphics if only that damn speech bubble wasn't in the way!!! I've seen heaps of pictures on the web where people have scanned in the images and somehow taken out the bubbles and colored in the background, thereby avoiding leaving a huge white gap. I've even seen this done to pictures where the text is on top of a character, not just a simple background.

Does anyone out there either, a) have any idea what the hell I'm going on about, or
2) have any idea how to do it?!?!?! Oh, how easy life would be if only I could get rid of that evil speech bubble!!! Please, lend a hand and restore my sanity? Or at least stop me from punching the computer monitor in frustration (I go through more monitors that way)!!!

Thanks a lot,
~Every Fairy Dies

 

[Erik]

Please post an example. Some bubbles are over a part of the drawing, and that means drawing skills are needed, but over a monochrome background it's easier.

Scan your image
Save it
Take the eyedroppertool and click with it on the background colour
This way that colour is automatically taken as foreground colour.
Now with the lasso tool draw a rough selection around your bubble so that it is colpletely inside your selection.
Then press Alt+Del and the selection is filled with the background colour, so that the bubble disappears.

You can also do this on a separate layer, but in this case, I don't see any use for that.

 

[wbiss]

Welcome to the forum EveryFairyDies!

Erik has outlined a very basic method IF the speech balloon is on a solid background.

However, as he says... if you want to "miraculously" make the speech balloon disappear from a graphics intensive (busy) background, it's going to take some effortwork and skill on your part to fill in the blank space by either:

a) cloning the background
b) recreating it through some drawing/painting skills
c) combination of both

[shhh] PS is great, but it really sucks at reading your mind and filling in the blanks on a vast area of empty canvas!