Sharp Inking and Effects

By Alejandro Perez Muñoz

It would be useful if you read first Max Bertuzzi' s article titled Inking, however I am still going to put up a quick overview on inking.
 

Overview

What do we need to begin inking?

• A bottle of black ink (don't be cheap on this one it is very important that it is thick, so that it inks that darkest way possible).
• A bottle of white ink
• White paper, it should be thick and should not absorb the ink.
• Two nibs (one for white ink another for black).
• Two inking pens (One for thin line [size 0.25] , the most important; and another for thick lines [size 1 or 1.2]).
• A thin paintbrush (size 3 or 4 will do).
• A glass of water and a towel for those little mistakes.

Before beginning inking you will need a drawing to ink, here is an example,
 

Note: When preparing a drawing for inking, if you have big black areas, you should enclosed them and marked the area with a cross; this saves a lot of time.
Note 2: I was very lazy and since the picture was for scanning I used thin paper, but for public presentation it is better to use thicker paper.
Note 3: The blue color is used for a triple reason, to make the first drafts noticeable, easy to erase, and most scanners can omitted it.

Next step, with the paintbrush, fill large areas with black ink, don't be to careful on this, you don't have to get to close to borders (left image). Now you use a nib and ink to complete the black areas upto their actual borders (right image).
 

Now, use the nib to do the line shading. Line shading is how comics artist do their shading gradient from dark to light is made by doing lines from thick to thin and spaces between lines from small to big. The images below are close up of two line shadings I used in this picture. They are done using the same technique: pushing down the nib a little, then quickly draw a line at the same you reduce the pressure, this should give you lines thick on a side, and ending in a point in the other; this skill requires practice. For the second type of line shading, the lines should have different directions by  20 or 30 degrees, if the angle is too big it doesn't look correct. For even more dark shading you could try placing the lines in three different directions.
 

This step is optional. When doing the contour of the drawing you could at a lot of dynamic if you varies the thickness of your lines. Again, this is done by controlling the pressure over the nib, more pressure for thicker lines. You should try to use more pressure when drawing a curve or pointy line and less pressure with straight lines. Here is an example.
 

Next, add, with the small point pen, all the lines missing. Then with the other nib and the white ink correct mistakes, and open new white spaces as you wish. Finally, erase the pencil lines and the blue color (left). Scan and correct if necessary (right).
 

Inking Tricks

1. The paintbrushes can be used for giving the idea of crawling tentacles, swirvy hair, or anything slimy. Fast and easy. Two example below.
 

2. You can use white ink to get similar effects over black backgrounds as below.
 

3. Back at the overview I mentioned that you could add more dynamic to a picture controlling the border thickness. Well with the same principle but using straight lines and peaks you get a cut-out effect, that is even more dynamic; as in the example below.
 

4. Using smaller line shading with white ink in the opposite direction of the regular shading makes softer gradient (hardly noticeable in the example below).
 

5. There are several textures that are quickier and better done with ink than with pencils.
 

	Furry Things: Since you can use white ink, you could add lights at the shadowy areas without having to leave the blank spaces (as in pencil) which is quite difficult.
	Cracks or Lightning: As seen before by pressing harder on a nib full of black ink you can control the thickness of the lines you get. By doing straight lines of different thickness and connecting them you can create the illusion of cracks; using white ink over a black background creates lightning.
	Decay on walls: Swirvy lines with nib (for the main ones) and pen (for the less important ones) can create the illusion of decay if properly use.
No Example	Shots: Either bending the nib the wrong way and then releasing or a toothbrush (not the one you are actually using) with ink, can create the effect of blood spreading around after a person has been shot.

There are others textures that come easier using inks such as water (using paintbrushes) and nightsky (Putting dots with a nib with white ink over a black surface).

There are more tricks for inking but I think these are the most important.
 

Inking Tips

• If you can imagine a shadow, then it is correct. The more dark areas a picture has the more powerful it seems.
• You may use correcting fluid over ink to correct mistakes you had made.
• Try as many textures as you may when inking, if you discover a new way of doing a texture, it won't only be simpler but also more beautiful.
• Never underestimate the use of white ink, although it is not always necessary it is helpful to get your work done faster and better.
• Practice, practice, practice. Specially line shadowing, it is a tough skill but its worth it.

Well that's all. Any questions or suggestions you have about this article, or inking, or drawing, or anything you like don't hesitate, and please send them to me ( Alejandro Perez Muñoz), or leave a comment below or at my gallery here at elfwood

		Art of Comic-Book Inking Art of Comic-Book Inking by Gary Martin Steve Rude, Paperback, 109pp. [More info!]
		The Art of Comic-Book Inking Vol. II. Gary Martin's The Art of Comic-Book Inking has become an industry-standard how-to guide for ink artists, but Gary hasn't been resting on his laurels. [More info!]

FARP Article Guestbook Date Name Comment   16 Jan 2008 Reiva kumar Loading... Nice, informative article. Thanks 31 Jan 2008 Viksen Loading... Yor english is pretty bad but the article is good. 1 Mar 2008 Cry_mockingbird Loading... he say after writing yor... 21 Mar 2008 Michelangelo Loading... Thank you very much. 29 Jun 2008 Holly JimbobJaroo Holdsworth Loading... This was very helpful, thankyou. Actually, your English is fine. In fact, it’s great. Ignore Viksen. Ha! ’Yor english is very bad’ Just shows how much you know. 26 Aug 2008 Jako Loading... this really helped me with my drawing! Thx again! 31 Mar 2009 Jilian Loading... hey.. excuse me.. I can draw.. but my problem is I don`t know how to post my drawings online so that everyone can see them.. that`s all thanks ^_^ 31 Oct 2009 Anon. Loading... i liked this tutorial on inking. You cornered some of the important areas that makes this art medium really work and stand out. Most of the artists who ink all agree its both the most dramatic and time effective method to bringing out a picture. the main example you used was excellent - using a male figure instead of your usual female ones was a touch i liked. The only downside i see to this tutorial was the fact the example images you used didn’t quite fit their boxes, and as English appears to not be your first language (assumption taken from your profile - nice gallery by the way ^^) your delivery is absolutely fine. perhaps you could go into more detail about other shading and highlighting techniques? Not signed in, Add an anonymous comment to this guestbook...     Your Name: Your Mail: B I U URL ? Click here to write something! Post Message!    Private message? (Info)

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