I Think I'm a Better Inker
I'm a "tight" penciler. When I'm doing the pencils for the comic strip, I make sure to draw every single detail that I want inked. This allows me to have a pretty good idea of what the finished strip will look like before I start throwing inks on it. Some people don't like to tight pencil - they're "loose" pencilers. They just swipe out sketched panels and do most of the dirty work in ink. I guess it helps make the inking process feel less like "tracing" and more like "drawing". I don't trust myself with an ink pen. When I'm drawing with a pen I try to draw like I would with a pencil, and the results are usually horrendous.
The problem I have with tight penciling is this - a lot of my best drawing occurs during the penciling stage, but when I go to inks I tend to lose a lot of the vibrancy of the pencils. I think it's because I ink much differently than I pencil. Penciling is fun and spontaneous! Sometimes I get into a zone and I can kick out a stack of brilliantly-penciled strips in a short amount of time. The inking process is much different. It's slower and more precise. I have to plan ahead for each stroke, and I try to keep a much steadier hand in order to get the line I want. So a lot of the spontaneity of the penciling stage gets lost in the precise control of the inking stage.
However, lately I feel that my inking is starting to look better than my pencils at times. And that makes me feel great! For instance, when I was penciling today's strip I was NOT in a zone. I wasn't enjoying the drawing process, and the pencils were kind of a chore. That happens from time to time. So when I was done penciling, I stared at my comic thinking how I could've made it look so much better. Unfortunately (or fortunately - depends on how you look at it), there's not a lot of time to make edits when you're drawing a daily (or semi-daily) comic strip. So I swallowed my pride and started inking. When I finished inking, I was surprised to see that the strip actually looked better than when it was in the pencil-stage! Granted, it's not the most ground-breaking artwork I've ever created, but it's not something I'm ashamed to put up for your viewing pleasure, either!
Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. You know, you work on this stuff for 3-plus years and it's exciting when you notice any kind of improvement in your technique. :)
- Wes
The problem I have with tight penciling is this - a lot of my best drawing occurs during the penciling stage, but when I go to inks I tend to lose a lot of the vibrancy of the pencils. I think it's because I ink much differently than I pencil. Penciling is fun and spontaneous! Sometimes I get into a zone and I can kick out a stack of brilliantly-penciled strips in a short amount of time. The inking process is much different. It's slower and more precise. I have to plan ahead for each stroke, and I try to keep a much steadier hand in order to get the line I want. So a lot of the spontaneity of the penciling stage gets lost in the precise control of the inking stage.
However, lately I feel that my inking is starting to look better than my pencils at times. And that makes me feel great! For instance, when I was penciling today's strip I was NOT in a zone. I wasn't enjoying the drawing process, and the pencils were kind of a chore. That happens from time to time. So when I was done penciling, I stared at my comic thinking how I could've made it look so much better. Unfortunately (or fortunately - depends on how you look at it), there's not a lot of time to make edits when you're drawing a daily (or semi-daily) comic strip. So I swallowed my pride and started inking. When I finished inking, I was surprised to see that the strip actually looked better than when it was in the pencil-stage! Granted, it's not the most ground-breaking artwork I've ever created, but it's not something I'm ashamed to put up for your viewing pleasure, either!
Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. You know, you work on this stuff for 3-plus years and it's exciting when you notice any kind of improvement in your technique. :)
- Wes
Labels: Randomness
posted by Wes at 1:48 AM
13 Comments:
Just curious, what's your typical process? You don't need to go into the tiny details.
7:20 AMPencil, ink, scan, upload?
I read a handful of web comics and the styles vary greatly. Some look like they're done entirely w/ vector graphics, and some very clearly show someone's hand-drawn work. Some of them even show signs of both. I've read a few that draw everything out in pencil, then scan in into illustrator or some other adobe-ish price-prohibitive software, and ink/color/etc it all using a digital pen system. I tried using a consumer level pen (graphire) before, did NOT improve my artistic abilities much, but I'm more of a doodle in the columns of my paperwork artist, and don't really aspire to to a format larger than 1 inch by however long the legal pad is. You have that thing we call 'talent', and the constant work is improving your skills. you might benefit from some new digital toys.
I've played with the digital toys, and I don't really like them. I could write a paper on all the reasons I prefer hand-drawing my comic as opposed to drawing it on the computer.
12:02 PMThat's not to say the computer is handy. I own a Wacom tablet and I use it to color large art pieces, but I don't use it for the strip.
Here's my process in a nutshell:
- Letter and draw comic in non-reproducing blue pencil (that way I don't have to erase my pencil lines)
- Ink with India ink
- Scan into computer
- Add grays and format sizes for books and web in Photoshop
And that's that.
- Wes
Interesting. I enjoy your blurbs on the creative process, particularly on the mechanics involved. I've always daydreamed of having my own strip, but I lost my talent due to college and corporate America. Maybe I will give it a go again one day, drawing and guitar. Stupid stubby fingers, a plague on thee.
12:17 PMBtw, I called Emaline in a bikini after reading Wednesday's strip. Internet high five!
12:22 PMCall me Ricky Bobby, cos That. Just. Happened!
camper
Shake and bake, Brian. Shake and bake.
12:30 PM- Wes
Fascinating. I love hearing about this stuff. I've noticed an uptick in quality to your inking lately Wes, and it's nice to know I wasn't imagining things.
6:31 PMI'm with you on the anti-computer inking thing. I get accused of inking on the computer sometimes (I don't know what strip those people are looking at), but I can't work a wacom tablet for anything other than coloring to save my life. Nor would I want to.
Keep up the great work. I can't wait to see where this storyline is going.
Okay Brian, we need you to predict that it's actually Emaline's evil twin from a parallel universe. ;)
9:57 PMI find that because I'm a starving student with no money for high priced cosmic-gadgets, my art has improved. I'd love to be able to mess around with tablets and photoshop, etc. but in the end, I just appreciate some fine hand drawn works.
3:43 AMEnaline will be repentant of her past actions, Steve will roll with it and realize out how much he cares for (loves?) her, and Celine Deion will sing "My Heat Will Go On" in the background (why people consider this a love song and not check the lyrics, I do not know). Hold me, Jack, never let go!
3:04 PMI am still waiting to see Steve without the knit cap.
Oh! Go back, WAY back to when he first met Emaline in the comics. I don't remember the number, but he takes off his cap for like 2 or 3 strips.
6:55 PMI highly recommend going through all the comics if you haven't. My wife and I started last sunday, and we couldn't stop until we were done. I think we blasted out 6 hours of our day reading every one of 'em.
Wes!
10:17 PMDidn't you once publish a pre-ink piece of art for us laymen.... er... laypersons to see how a straight-from-yer-brain sketch looks like? I'd love to see some pre-ink artwork!
J.D.
12:35 AMHey Wes, what is the name of the non-reproducing blue pencil that you use? What size are the panels that you draw your strips in? Did you create your own font? Let me know if I'm being too nosy. Really enjoy the strip!
My pencil is just a regular old Pentel 0.7 mechanical pencil. I took the graphite lead out and replaced it with 0.7 non-repro blue lead which I've only been able to find at bluelinepro.com. Check out the site for all kinds of great comic drawing gear!
6:03 PMThe strip is drawn 4 3/4 inches tall by 16 inches wide. I usually divide the strip into (4) four inch panels or (3) 5 1/4 panels (I have to fudge it a little on 3 panel strips).
I don't use a computer font. I hand-letter everything. I'm hardcore like that.
- Wes
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