Friday, August 22, 2008

CLEAN-UP (Inking)






Hi Everyone,

I  picked up a great  book on inking called  THE ART OF COMIC BOOK INKING.  Interesting read, and it has a great chapter on cartoon inking (which is posted above).  I think it will help the members who are going to give inking a try with their Blair lessons.  

I've also received some emails asking for technical help with ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR.  Trying to answer these questions has made me realize that we all share the same frustrations. I'm going to open up the comments to discussions of your techniques and tips for this often times difficult software.

Have a great weekend,
David Omar

P.S. Added some new links for inking techniques.  Have a look.



5 comments:

David Omar said...

ILLUSTRATOR METHOD (Wicks for Candlesticks)

I scale pencils into a 8x11 document to fit my brush settings. If it's too big my brushes might not ink the right weight.

I have 7 custom ink brushes (BRIAN ROMERO TECHNIQUE)
smallest=1 point diameter
smaller=2 point
small=3 point
medium=4 point
large=5 point
larger=6 point
largest=7 point

I usually use large, medium, smaller (for details)

I use the customizable buttons on the wacom for my undo, select, and delete, and magnify actions.

I still have trouble with erasing points, anchors, and all the techno babble like LIVE PAINT. I used to correct all inks and color in photoshop. Though for John's assignments he prefers illustrator files so that's where I'm at.

Please share some of your techniques no matter how miniscule. It might turn out to solve someone's problem.

-David O.

James said...

I finally got around to drawing. Late night drawings are usually my favorites, but none of 'em were turning out good. I'll try again later tonight. Post some of 'em too, I need a little feed back.

When I draw the eyes the look a little buggy and less life like than Blair's. When I brought it into photoshop and did the alpha layer comparison it was the right size and everything, but it just didn't look right. Any tips?

PJS said...

haha, that book is pretty cool!

James, for me, I think the best way to get life in the eyes is to draw them quickly & spontaneously - but with solid structure.

PJS said...

I never thought about scaling the sketch, good idea!

I usually have 7 or 8 brushes too, but mostly use; 1.5, 2.5 and 4. Come to think of it now, I guess that doesn't allow for as much contrast in size for the thick lines and the thinner lines. I'll hafta experiment.

David Omar said...

John K. suggested I look back at the finished inks and play with the strokes. You zoom out and see what doesn't read. You select that line and change the stroke around. Like a 1 point could be raise to 1.5 to bold it up.

-David O.