first time inking

DemonLamma · Post by **DemonLamma** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 7:13 pm

so, i was able to outline the picture and ink the clothes, but how would i go about doing the hair and face.

btw i am inking using only a gel pen.

what i mean by first time inking, is taht this is the first time ive done more than darken the pencil lines.

Keffria · Post by **Keffria** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 7:31 pm

Personally, I'd probably leave it the way it is. It's very easy to over-ink something and make it look too "busy".

I suggest going with what you have for now; print out several copies of it, and practice inking the face and hair so that you can get a feel for it without destroying good sketches. Being an inking "newbie" myself, I find this to be educational. (Though predominantly frustrating; inking is so hard to do *well*!)

Faub · Post by **Faub** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:42 pm

I've inked the last three pages of my comic with a brush. It was a totally new experience for me and it's been quite a bit of fun. I would suggest trying everything you can get your hands on. Gel pens, technical pens, microns, sharpies, brush and ink, crow quill pens, anything. For as hard as it is, it can be a lot of fun. I wouldn't worry much about destroying your pencils. You CAN make more of those.

DemonLamma · Post by **DemonLamma** » Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:52 pm

faub wrote:I wouldn't worry much about destroying your pencils. You CAN make more of those.

aah thats why i love tracing paper and copy machines.

Caduceus · Post by **Caduceus** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:04 am

Hey, you can just draw more too. If you drew it once you can draw it again.

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:12 am

I've always inked my pencils directly on the same piece of paper. Yeah, I've screwed up pictures before, even comic pages, but that's what I have white-out for

.

The more practice you get, the more confident you'll be, and with confidence comes fewer mistakes.

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:15 am

Wow. Your work looks better inked. You may want to consider investing in photoshop and using that to fill in the large black areas. Doing them by hand leaves a texture that I disslike. Filling it in with photoshop saves assloads of time and looks great.

For the most part I say practice. Make sure to practice changing the line width alot as that is a big thing that will improve your stuff.

Good job.

DemonLamma · Post by **DemonLamma** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 12:34 am

oo, once again a simple trick has avoided my mind. need to try that sometimes. well i think Paint shop pro can fill in empty areas almost as good as photoshop(wich ive never even had teh opportunity to even touch before)

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 10:16 am

Yup. Also try shrinking it by 50%. You'll see the bumpy line edges go away.

RadPal · Post by **RadPal** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 2:38 pm

<3 Shrinking

Yeah, always draw large and resize small, as a habit

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 3:00 pm

Gel pens are nice, but for drawing you could try Microns (smoother lines I think) or Uniball pens.... My personal favorites. Of course.

Jen_Babcock · Post by **Jen_Babcock** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 6:37 pm

I recommend micron pens over gel pens as well. I also think you should try experiementing with more varied line widths. Looks good so far.

Smight · Post by **Smight** » Mon Jan 31, 2005 2:24 am

faub wrote:I've inked the last three pages of my comic with a brush. It was a totally new experience for me and it's been quite a bit of fun. I would suggest trying everything you can get your hands on. Gel pens, technical pens, microns, sharpies, brush and ink, crow quill pens, anything. For as hard as it is, it can be a lot of fun. I wouldn't worry much about destroying your pencils. You CAN make more of those.

I'd like to echo this. I started wuning gel pens then I started inking with a dip pen and really liked it because it gave a different feel to everything and it made inking a thing of it's own and not just tracing. my last comic I did completely with a brush and had alot of fun doing it. It's always good to try and have a variety of tools at your disposal instead of just the one you decided was good enough.

Theamazingsquad · Post by **Theamazingsquad** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:01 am

Although it's fine to say 'try using everything you can get your hands on', dont forget that unless you know how to use them, you might be dissappointed with the results. If you switched between pen types at first, to get a feel for them, then down the line use a brush, you might be okay, but I wouldn't recommend swithcing straight from gel pen to brush.
I used a brush to ink my comic for a while, but I hadn't had any experience or training on how to use it properly, so it actually looked pretty terrible. Check it out yourself and you'll see. I think that unless you're competent with your drawing tools, I wouldn't bother using them. I quickly reverted back to pens...

Endless · Post by **Endless** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 7:51 pm

I tend to prefer microns for inking, then I scan into Adobe Streamline, which cleans up my lines quite nicely(and converts in vectors), then on to photoshop for colouring and shading. I'd post some examples, but I recently lost all my data on my storage hdd (had been too long since I backed up, got too lazy, prompted me to order a dvd burner though).

these are things I've already posted online
not the best examples, but its all I've got til I get more things rescanned and recoloured

this is right after scanned and first layers of colour

and that's after a little work, mostly having fun with it (notice the messed up shadow on the sheep)