Well, it had to happen. I made a tutorial.
Almost everyday people ask me for tips on how to ink because they some how
assume I know what I'm doing. Then someone suggested I made a tutorial...which
is extra work...and I take pride in my laziness. However, it's a lot easier to
just give someone a link than to explain the same stuff over and over again. So
here it is.
I'm going to attempt to be as thorough as
possible and over explain the process I use when I ink a page and most
importantly: WHY. First I'll show you the basics such as line weights and then
take it into a grueling step-by-step process of inking an actual sequential
page. If you don't fall asleep half-way through reading this, I have surely
failed. ;-)
Chapter 1: Line weights and you.
Line weights are important to any inked
piece of comic art. When used properly it can give the drawing more depth...when
implemented properly. The thicker the outline, the more an object or character
stands out. This only works well if objects in the background have a
considerably thinner outline however. Why is this? Well, look outside your cave
opening. Focus on a nearby object such as a rock or the opossum you killed the
previous night. Now, notice that since your eye has that object in focus,
objects in the background appear less prominent making your dead little friend
stand out from everything else. Below we have a nifty little example of this.
On the left you'll
see...a figure...in front of a background. Yeah, you can make out what the
person looks like...but there are areas where it's not as obvious where
she stops and the background starts since both her and the background are
in focus.
Now, if we were
actually standing in front of her and our eye focused on JUST her...the
background would look like this. See how she just...SPRINGS to LIFE?
Almost like you could just reach out and touch her. Many good
photographers will use this effect in the same way by fiddling with their
f-stops. Gives it a much better look. Now, you may say, "but Dash, when
the black and white art is colored the objects will pop out, too...and I
can be lazy with the inks!!! YAY!". Well, here's a tip. Never depend on
colors to save your artwork. Wait. I don't think it has sunk in.
NEVER DEPEND ON COLORS TO SAVE YOUR ARTWORK! Sure,
the colors will separate the objects from the background...but colors over
good art make a better and more professional looking final product.
Which version do you
think has more depth to it...? Uh huh...that's what I thought.
Now, you may ask
yourself what all that up there has to do with line weights. Simple. To
achieve the same illusion with lines, you've got to put thicker outlines
on objects that are closer to the reader so that their eyes focus on that
more than on the background.
"Ok...but what's this crap I hear about varying
my line weights? Can't I just make it the same width around the whole
object?" Sure you can...but this will make the object or character look
flat and that would defeat the purpose. Typically with varied line weights
the thinnest part is nearest to the light source in the drawing with the
thicker parts furthest from the light source.
On the left, I have
some circles drawn. Notice in the second picture, we've added some varied
line weights. Makes them look much more three dimensional than the ones in
the first picture.
Notice the thin parts of each circle is thicker
than the previous. Same with the thick parts of the circles. That's
important...so don't forget it.
Let's throw some really
thin lines in the background to make the circles look even more 3D.
