Inking Part II

Well, this is it: not just part two of my inking lesson, but the final installment of this column.

“What?” you ask, “No final lesson on computer coloring?” No, I’m afraid not—and I’ve got a number of reasons. The most important is that there are already tons of online resources on this topic (and I’ll list a few at the end of this lessons), but also I’ve found that artists’ computer coloring techniques are very idiosyncratic and highly gear-dependent, which doesn’t make for a lesson that’s broadly applicable. And, honestly, I feel among comics work that’s in color, in the vast majority of it the coloring really adds nothing to the story other than a bit of eye candy—an in some cases is even detrimental to the clarity of the storytelling. Unless your life’s aspiration is to be a colorist, learn the basics thoroughly, then dig in to computer coloring on your own terms.

So, inking… In the last lesson I began a tools-oriented discussion of inking and covered page preparation, panel borders, lettering and dialog balloons, so let’s pick up from there. Now that you’ve got all of this done, you’re ready to start in on the panel artwork proper. As mentioned in the last lesson, the “best” tool with which to ink is whatever tool gets you the look you’re after and as a result most artists use many different tools. (There are of course exceptions; I’ve heard that Mark Schultz inked “Xenozoic Tales” entirely with a #3 watercolor brush… and nothing else.) The two biggies in the line-making department are the brush and the crowquill (or nib). I’ll start with the brush.

I’ll bet those early 90s Image Comics guys would debate me on the subject, but as far as I’m concerned, if you want to ink comics you have to learn to use a brush. Period. The quill alone won’t allow you the range of line thickness that the brush can bring to a page. A good #2 or #3 brush can produce a line that varies from a hair’s width to close to a quarter of an inch… and all in a single motion if you’re good. Make no mistake, though, learning to use a brush to ink is difficult and takes time. I recommend an odd approach: start by using a brush for everything except inking for a while. Use the brush to write down phone numbers, put together the grocery list. Why? Because I’ve seen many folks new to the brush give it a try once on a piece of artwork they liked, have it turn out terribly, then abandon the brush forever. To use a brush well you need to teach your body how to use it and that just takes time and effort.

Anyway, brushes used for inking are generally #2 or #3 round watercolor brushes. The most important feature to look for in a brush is a nice, tight point. If you’re looking for a high-end brush (these are usually made of sable hair) you should be allowed by the store to dip it in water, run it across some scrap paper to make sure that it doesn’t “split” when used, then “flick” the brush when done to make sure it re-points properly. If there’s an “industry standard” brush, it’s the Windsor & Newton Series 7 sable brush, but in my experience these brushes often have split points right out of the box, and are thus useless. Not good considering what they cost. The best brushes I’ve ever used are made by Rosemary & Company in the U.K. and, although they’re hand-made and shipped from overseas, they’re actually cheaper than an equivalent Windsor & Newton brush—and a much better brush to boot. When just starting out, though, there’s no need for a fancy brush. Decent nylon/natural bristle blend brushes can be had a Michaels and A.C. Moore for a few dollars and work just fine. (My first graphic novel, “Farewell, Georgia,” was inked entirely with these cheap brushes from craft stores!)

A #2 is probably your best bet (although I use a #3 and #4 since I work a bit bigger than most folks.) You can see some brushes in the photo. The upper #16 (oops!) in the image points to two of the brushes I use for inking. #1 is a bin of some old and/or cheap brushes that have lost their points. I use these for filling in large areas of black or for working with watercolors and washes. It’s very important to take good care of your brushes or else they will lose their points very quickly. This means rinsing them out in clean water as you use them—and you can see a vessel for precisely that at #20 in the picture. This particular rinse vessel has a coiled piece of aluminum in its bottom which allows for easier rinsing of the brush and also prevents the point of the brush from smushing flat if you leave have to leave the brush in the water for a minute. When you’re done inking you should wash the brush thoroughly in cold running water with brush soap or a mild hand soap and be sure to get any and all ink out of it, paying special attention to the area where the bristles join the handle. I good sable brush should be conditioned a couple of times a year with some regular old hair conditioner. They should always be stored and transported such that the bristle area is suspended and not mashed up against anything. In the picture you can see an inexpensive metal brush box at #18 that has two slinky-like things running horizontally across its interior. The brush handles can be wedged into these springs, which keeps the bristle areas of the brush off the floor of the box.

I usually begin by doing all the brushwork in the panel. For me, this means all the thick lines that are on organic objects—people, plants, animals, etc. The lively line of a brush, with it’s ability to got from thick to thin and back again, lends character and warmth to these sorts of objects. I then go in and get any needed smaller lines on these subjects with a crowquill. A crowquill is just a metal nib that fits on a handle (or “staff”). It creates a line with variable width, much like a brush, but its thick-to-thin range is much smaller. It’s easier, though, to learn and control than the brush and it’s really good for detailing organic forms in areas that would be difficult with a brush. The “lower #16” in the picture shows a staff with a nib in it. There are a bajillion different types of these little nibs, but the “industry standard” seems to be the Hunts 102 nib. I personally find that nib a bit stiff and use a 107, but you should buy a few and experiment to find out what you like best. Thankfully they’re pretty cheap—usually around $1.00 each.

A few hints for brush and quill: First, be careful when using the quill; it lays down quite a “bead” of ink and this takes a while to dry. It’s really easy to do some work with the quill, move to another area of the page, and put your hand right down in the middle of some still-drying ink. You can’t see it in the picture, but I have a hair dryer near my drafting table that I use to dry areas of quill ink before I move on to other areas of the page. Also, the quill has a particular orientation in which it needs to be held. It should always be pretty much like the picture below—you should always be seeing that little hole in the top of the “barrel.” And, very important, both the quill and the brush work by being pulled toward down/backwards toward you and should never be “pushed” up the page. Not heeding this will result in broken nibs, ink everywhere, etc.

(pic via Cartoonist Dave Cooper)

Both the brush and the quill require ink to work of course and what kind of ink you use is up to you, as long as it’s black and waterfast when dry. I have a giant jug of good ink (#6 in the picture) and also keep a bottle of Higgins Black Magic (#4 to the left) on hand as well. Black Magic supposedly used to be a good, solid black ink, but if true once, it sure isn’t anymore and this stuff is only now good for thinning out other ink that’s gotten thick via evaporation.

I recommend not dipping your brush or quill directly into your ink bottles. First off, this is a bad idea since you can’t see where the ink level is and so you’re likely to get either way too much or not enough ink on the implement in question. Secondly, the mouth /opening of ink bottles is pretty narrow and the interior is always coated in semi-dried ink, which you will most certainly get initially all over your inking implements, then inevitably all over your artwork. To get around this, pour your ink into a small shot glass or—what I use—a glass eye washing thingy, which you can get at your local drug store (#19 in the picture). It’s got a wide mouth and you can always see where the ink line is. As the ink gets thicker from being left out as you ink away for hours and hours, you can just add little dashes of the Black Magic to keep it nice and fluid.

Once the foreground objects are done, move to the background. For this step, I usually switch to a smaller brush (usually moving one size down) and wind up using a bit more quill to get details. I’ll use the rapidographs for inorganic objects like buildings and machinery, but they should be used very sparingly; their “dead” non-varying line can make a panel look lifeless and flat in no time (unless you’re Hergé, that is). I recommend avoiding microns for any of the in-panel artwork. They don’t penetrate non-photo blue pencil lines very well and, as a result, will often rub off when you go to erase your pencil lines post-inking.

And what of mistakes? They’re gonna happen for sure, so be prepared. I keep a rag (#21) nearby for anything that spills in my work area and for anything that needs to be touched up on your artwork, use some white ink (#7) applied with a brush. So as to not mess up my good brushes, I keep an old brush specifically for applying white corrections. You can see it at #15 in the picture, marked with a piece of tape around the handle to identify it. This white ink usually takes two applications to really cover up a mistake, but once dry it can be inked over with a brush or quill or pen. For bigger areas I use white gouache (#10) applied with the same brush. It can’t be worked over as well though.

So what’s next? After the ink’s fully dry, just erase! I use a “magic rub” eraser for this and brush the eraser dust off with a drafting brush so that I don’t smear my gross greasy hands across my finished artwork. Hint: if you have a cat don’t get a natural hair drafting brush because your cat will find it and start carrying it around. Then again, this is pretty funny to see, so maybe do get one if you have a cat.

And that’s that. You’re done. Give your artwork a final look over to make sure that you haven’t missed any areas that need to be inked, then go relax!

Oh, yeah… Those promised links to some computer coloring lessons. Here are two of my favorites:

Cooper, Step by Step

Digital Comic Coloring by John Rauch

Happy comics making!