How to ink like an idiot

<table width="75%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" bgcolor="white"><tr><td height="121" align="left" valign="top" bgcolor="white"><img src="images.deviantart.com/shared/2…" alt="" / ></td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px; vertical-align: top;">This is a tutorial on how I personally go from a concept sketch, to a finished ink piece. A lot of people have asked me how I ink, so this is pretty much here to explain a few things. DO NOT follow these directions exactly…you will end up with a big mess.

I am by no means a professional inker and I pretty much make it up as I go along. But this is here just to give you the basic idea of how I ink... very differently than most people. I hope this helps some people out in the long run.

</td></tr><tr><td align="left" ></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">Strathmore Bristol Vellum, 11X14 or bigger:
This stuff is great, and cheap…most inkers don't use it because of the rough texture, but it gives me the exact effect I want. There is another type of Bristol Vellum somewhere out there by AquaBee, but I think they are out of business now. If you find this paper, USE it … it's really amazing paper.

Koh-I-Noor Rapidomatic .5mm Mechanical pencil:
I usually sketch with this, its fast, sturdy, and heavy. I guess it's a drafting pencil, but it gives me the lines I want.

Brushes (varying sizes, usually 0/3 and 6):
If I had money, I would buy real sable brushes, but I don't, so I am stuck with synthetic. I don't buy fancy brushes at all, because I go through them so fast…but synth. Sable takes ink well, experiment around if you have the money for it.

Higgins Black Magic Ink:
This stuff is my god. I usually let it sit out with the cap open for a few days before using it, it makes it real think, and real nice for brush work (especially dry brush). It's cheap, dark, and permanent.

Light Box:
I am a light box junkie. I hate erasing things, so if I sketch, and want a new sketch, I just trace through on a new piece of paper. It's why my transitions between pages are so so jumpy. But light boxes are SUPER expensive, so make your own! I used a big tin can, with a lightbulb in it and a piece of plexi-glass over it for almost 5 years.

But eventually I bought an actual lightbox, that has served me quite well. BE CAREFUL in making your own though…you can burn stuff really easily (ie; plexiglass, paper, hands, etc)

Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser:
They are big, tough, and never get really dirty. These things are intense, and have been known to even erase black magic ink.

Sakura Waterproof Micron pens:
these are cheap, and stupid. I use them to draw borders, and letter things. I just have like one of those trusty 6 packs. I also use the thicker pens to sketch a lot.

PaperMate Liquid Paper:
yeah…uhh, it's just whiteout. Just plain ole' whiteout.

2" Artist's masking tape:
Self explanatory.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">This is the stupidest step, I gotta say. This is my "concept sketch" step. These sketches are never well worked out, and almost always done in class, on a train, or on a bus. And are drawn everywhere, napkins, notebooks, etc. They usually contain stupid things, like homework assignments and stupid cartoon drawings of myself feeling sorry for myself.

I did this one in the middle of my Writing Workshop class, with a Micron 08 pen. Just figuring out perspective, anatomy, and foreshortening of the anatomy for the figure. This was based loosely on a girl that was sitting in front of me at a diner, though I never saw her face…so improvisation came into play. ANY anatomy class will pretty much tell you to begin drawing figures using simple shapes, like I have done here. But proportion is another question entirely, I couldn't tell you how to draw in proportion if I wanted to…it just kinda works out for me in the end to look decent.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr>
<tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">After the "concept sketch" I decide if I like it or not, and if I do I slap it down on a lightbox and redraw it to see what I want out of it. This sketch usually starts spacing out objects, figuring out texture and dark spots. But it is still always sloppy, and never really explains anything.

You can see here that I worked out the hair a bit more, and was working out the foreshortening of the arm too. But other than that it is still very very loose.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">Once again, we go back to the lightbox, and do some drawing. This is where the drawing really comes together. I worked out all the proportions, and dark areas. I also drew in the box around the piece with a Micron Pen (I don't know why I like boxes so much, so don't bother asking). You can also see me putting more detail in the foreground than the background, trying to bring out depth, to an obviously dimensional piece. In this step I get EVERYTHING down that I want, because next comes the inks!</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">INK! Oh sweet sweet ink. Here I take a pretty small brush (0 or 1), and just pretty much layout the larger white areas of the foreground, not worrying too much about detail. There is nothing too exciting going on here…I am not sure why I made this its own step. Laying out the wide open spaces really gives you a sense of where to go next with the ink.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">I LOVE DRAWING HAIR! Pretty much what I do is take the thinnest (3/0) brush I have, and load it up with ink. I do a lot of improvising when it comes to highly textured areas like hair. I layout the dark areas first, being rather sloppy and just making sure that I fill out the dark areas, so I can remember where they are. Then I go at it with the detail…I get asked a lot "how do you get such thin lines?" well…I don't really know what to say, other than patience, and obsessive compulsiveness.

Half the time I hold my breath with each line, because the breathing out could disrupt the line…this is because I am crazy though, and wouldn't recommend this. It can lead to hyperventilation and dizziness. I try to get as LITTLE of the ink and brush to touch the paper as possible, when I am doing things like hair….it is very hard to get used to, but very helpful in the end.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">REMEMBER KIDS! Thick lines in the foreground, thin lines in the background….it gives a sense of depth (why am I telling you this? I usually forget it myself). I have no idea how to do perspective...like none. I think I was absent that day in high school or something…so I just kinda draw lines until it looks decent. The wood is done the same way as the hair pretty much…just with thinner lines, and a more "woodlike" texture (obviously). I try to make the back of the table more "busy" than the front of the table…kind of the opposite of the "thick lines front, thin lines back" idea…but somehow it works out for me.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">This is my favourite part of all of doing any piece. I take Artist's masking tape, and put it around the edges of the border, and everywhere I don't want ink to get pretty much. If I couldn't get the tape close enough to the line, I then use an Exacto knife to cut off the excess so I can get a clean line (BE CAREFUL though…especially if you are using strathmore paper, not to cut too deep…the paper is very soft, and it will be hard to ink over cut lines). After I have peeled off all the tape that I don't need, I get out one of my fatter brushes (6 or higher), and go to work. I fill in everywhere I want solid black with ink obviously, and then for where I want it "splotchy" I use the dry brush technique. Dry Brush is when you wipe off a lot of ink onto a paper towel or something, and then just lightly place it on the paper... so it gives some visibility to the white paper beneath. A lot of people have weird ways of doing dry brush... but that's how I personally do it. I also sometimes use my fingers to get just a tiny amount of ink where I want it.

I bet you're asking "what the hell are those blotches on her face!?". This is the secret to my work…THE POWER OF WHITEOUT! If I am not satisfied with the balance of contrast, as well as any point of texture, I just start lightly slapping on ink, to be corrected later. Doing this always gives a very "messy" but smooth texture…this is usually done in places where just using a tiny brush won't give the effect I want.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">You can see here, that I have stripped off all my masking tape, and filled in places I had mixed with the large brush, using a smaller brush to get more detail. I have also gone at it with the whiteout, and evened that out with tiny brush strokes (much like the strokes in the hair and wood). I also started experimenting with the smoke with whiteout…trying to see how much light I should put into it.

WHITEOUT is a very very difficult tool to use, and shouldn't be used on anything that you aren't going to scan and change the contrast on a computer program. Whiteout is very shiny, and never the same "tone" as your paper, making it very visible when you are seeing the original piece. But one good thing about whiteout is it works perfectly for covering up inked areas, and it is also very fun to do brush work over. I have been experimenting with other mediums I could use, that would match the paper better (gouache, white ink, etc.) but haven't really found anything that works any better.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">We're done! After some final touch ups with a small brush, some intense erasing, and a little tiny bit of splattering with a small brush (0/3) we are finished.

After I am done with the piece, I scan it into my scanner (usually at about 300dpi) and change the contrast until I am happy with it. Pretty much what you want to do with the contrast is to make it look EXACTLY like the actual piece of paper….lots of scanners can't do this, especially not mine. The original piece is pure white and pure black, and the scanned picture should be as well.</td></tr><tr><td align="left"></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" style="background-color: #DDDDDD; padding: 10px; border: solid #666666 1px;">I hope this helps someone out there. If someone had written this for me when I started out inking, I would have been far too happy for anyone's good. Pretty much just test things out, and see what you like…and of course practice until you can't stand it anymore. The piece that I did for the tutorial took me about 18 hours straight (minus the constant scanning)…I have the amazing ability to sit inking for hours on end, but I know a lot of people don't have this ability.

There are also some books out there that may be worth purchasing, but don't take my word for it (word up Lavar Burton) because I haven't read or purchased them. The books are pretty much "How to ink for comic book artists"…I think there are two different books, that seemed quite good. After looking through them for a few minutes, I noticed some things that I had no idea about….but uhh, don't email me and yell at me if you think you have wasted your money on these books.

Once again, I hope this helps someone out there. If you have any questions (like, serious inking questions) feel free to ask, and I'll see if I can help out there. Also if any of you out there can ink better than I and think I ink like an idiot, feel free to tell me that as well.

Special thanks:
se55- for being extremely patient.
New kids on the block- for giving me stupid step titles.

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