My First Inks

[daweir]

Huzzah! This is the first time I've ever actually finished a piece. There are a lot of things wrong with it, but I wanted to share it anyway. I think I did a fairly good job varying the line weights, and my choices are fairly appropriate, for the most part. I missed a few spots, and will be fixing those, but over all I'm happy with it.



Please, be honest. Don't just blow smoke. I want to learn so that when I work with an inker I can truly understand and appreciate the work being done.

So, without further ado:

The original, done by Andie Tong ( http://www.digitalwebbing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89463&highlight=classic+x-men ):
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5884/2506/1600/classic_x-men.jpg

My inks:
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i162/theHushTx/xmen.jpg

[VANDAL]

Okay,,you traced it,,,it was tight pencils to begin with so this isnt such a bad start. HOWEVER,,,what you failed to do was give this piece LIFE and that is your job even when following the penciller's lines very closely. Variate your lines and always make sure they end up SHARP. This will take time and confidence to achieve. In short these inks look just as flat and dull as the pencils do, (no offense to the penciller because he DID do his job). These inks look like they were done in pen so let me suggest you learn the brush and quill before you just trace lines with a pigma marker. This is a pretty good penciller and his lines are easy to follow but he does rely on a good inker to liven things up.

[daweir]

If possible, could you give examples of how you would achieve your suggestions?

I tried varying the line weights, and thought I had done so, but apparently there is not enough variation to be noticed. For example, I tried to vary the line weight between Iceman's hand and the ice as it bursts forward to form his slide, and I tried to use heavier lines on the gloves and boots than on the sleeves and pants.

One thing I would probably do a little different is make the line of Iceman's back a LOT thinner, save for the thickest part of his back, near the neck. Have it start thing, get thick, then thin out again.

Keep in mind, I really don't know what you folks know about inking. I write scripts. The purpose behind this exercise is to learn more about inking for when I DO work with an inker, so I understand more what I'm looking at and can be more aware of the process. In other words, I need specifics or I'll have NO idea what you're talking about.

Thanks!

[Erick Cruz]

Im not an inker, but as a penciller i know what an inker brings to the table, or should i say drawing, anyway when "line weights" are mentioned it's not just about making outlines thicker, you have to know how lineweights work to give the drawings 3-dimentionality.

For instance, figures (or objects) that are closer to the viewer (foreground) usually have thicker line weights all around than those figures in the background. From there you have to vary those lineweights to get that 3-d look.

Let's take Cyclops for example:
Say you use a #2 brush to ink his figure outline, but his head and right knee are the 2 most closest elements to the forground, so those elements should get slightly thicker line weights than the rest of his body. Maybe by using more of the tip of the brush or by switching to a #3 or 4 size brush.

Now Angel and Iceman who are in the background should have thinner lineweights than Cyclops, Jean Grey and Beast, problaby done with the tip of the brush to get a very fine line, or with a quill pen.

so basically any object that is closer to viewer should have thicker lines than those that are farther.

This is a good piece for a begginer because
1. There is no crosshatching
2. There are no energy fx/textures that need rendering.
The ice could fall into #2 but the way the penciller drew the ice it didnt require much decision making from the inker.

hope i could help.

[Mecha]

Vandal, try to be nice and helpful :P Devon's an ink noob. He didn't trace over it exactly because I can see where he attempted to create weight in some places. And you can do perfectly fine with pens (with enough skill you can replicate quill as I've seen a couple of Marvel inkers do). You need to explain what can be done to correct mistakes as part of the critique. It's also a good thing he stuck to the pencils as a beginner and didn't try to change things or add things that aren't there, because he doesn't have the experience, skill, and knowledge to do that yet. Like he said, he's a writer and this is his first attempt.

What can help is a simple point that I did make to Devon earlier (much like Erick's critique above), to remember that what is closer to you is usually made up of heavier lines, while what's farther away is lighter. Lineweights comes after depth, because if you concentrate on lineweights first, you'll have dynamics without depth. And Devon didn't understand at the time that when differing lineweights to create the dynamics needed to give the lines life, it changes within the lines and not just from one line to another. Adding weight to curves and more so to the ones coming towards us gives it the energy it needs to bring the figure up off the page.

An example is adding thickness to the lines of Iceman's arm to his hand but thinning it alternately after every curve. And still making sure that Cyclops is heavier than Iceman to make it seem he's closer to us, adding more weight as well to his head which is tilted towards us in front of his body, his fist that is coming closer than the rest of his arm, and the leg that is coming up towards us. The rest of it follows pretty much in the same stream. And it may be best to work from back to front in terms of background and foreground, or the other way around. That;s a good way to make sure that you've created a good depth and separation.

I hope that was in depth enough :) Devon you can bug me on MSN for more if you want too ^_^