Kirb wrote:That's a very spiffy inking job.
Must have taken a while to ink, no?
Thanks, Kirb...actually, thanks to everyone for the kind words on this piece. It took about 12 hours to ink it. Usually it takes me between 6 and 8 hours to ink a page (10 at the outside most), so this one was pretty labor-intensive.
Keffria wrote:How long have you been in the webcomicking business?
I've been illustrating professionally since 1989, mostly RPGs and stuff like that. I started trying to break into print comics in 2000 and have been doing <b>Athena Voltaire</b>, my webcomic, since September of 2002.
Smight wrote: what size is that?
It's on 11" x 17" bristol board with a live area of 10.5" x 15.5" or so.
yeahduff wrote:I would say you ink more like an etcher than a painter. A painting would be more gestural with looser brushwork. There's be more evidence that this was a drawing. With yours, everything's very precise and detailed, and the layers of darkness mimic the stages etching, allowing the important foreground bits to get super dark and defines while the background is fuzzier and lighter. It's very impressive, particularly with a brush.
I'm sorry, I wasn't clear in my definition of "painterly." I was thinking more in terms of applying painterly concepts like soft edges, a central focus and other areas fading into less defined softer focus, etc. Again more of applying a certain painting concept rather than applying technique.
The technical application definitely owes a bit to etching, as well as pen and ink work. I've been studying <i>Franklin Booth: Painter with a Pen</i> by John Flesks and trying to apply some of his hatching techniques. Lots of bold clusters and varying line weights to achieve some of those painterly qualities.
yeahduff wrote: I don't quite understand the technique, though, in how it differs from dry brush and what advantages it has over it.
I don't know that split-brush is necessarily a <i>different</i> technique than drybrushing; I see it as a sub-category. I applied the following techniques in the piece:
Phalanx wrote: You mean something like this?
This is a great example of applying painting technique to one's drawing. Everything is still defined by a holding line but graduated tones give the form weight and a sense of mass.
Mr.Bob wrote:Yes. With a painting I'd expect the strokes to be much more looser and flowy. How exactly did you ink before?
Again, I don't want to bog it down into a symantic discussion, as there are a <i>million</i> interpretations about what can make a drawing more or less painterly. Hopefully, I've clarified what I was going for. Me no good with words...me draw pictures
As far as how I usually ink, the main figure still has a lot in common with my normal approach: a traditional comics line. I'm just trying to add a few more arrows to my quiver.
chibiartstudios wrote:You know... Looking through your stuff there is one comment I could make in that your characters faces could be a bit more expressive. But that's really nitpicking... It's like saying something is a 9.5 but could be a 10.
Tell me about it! Expressive faces are <i>hard</i>! There are so many subleties that a single misplaced brushstroke can turn an innocent-looking child into an axe murderer. Slowly, I'm starting to get it. It's a helluva process, but what else do ya got to do with the rest of your life, right?
chibiartstudios wrote:Are you selling books?
Not yet. The cover is for a proposal that we'll be sending out to print publishers that we hope will yield us a deal. Until then, the comics can be found at AthenaVoltaire.com and at ModernTales.com .
Again, thank you to Kirb, tarotreader3, christwriter, Keffria, Smight, Humbug, yeahduff, Driving Without Pants, faub, Stephen Henderson-Grady, chibiartstudios, Ping, Mr.Bob and PeppermintAfterlife. Thanks for not only taking the time to look at my stuff, but also to comment on it. It's a nice feeling to be welcomed in a forum of one's peers.
--Steve
PS: Anyone wanna send me the code so that by button will show up as a line?
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