14 replies to this topic

[IcedEarth]

I'm working on some artwork and I want to begin inking.

My lines always looks scruffy and never nice and crisp. I don't know if this is because I don't have a steady hand.

Is there any tips to getting crisp and smooth lines?
Would it be better to ink in Illustrator or any other program?

I'm using the brush tool in Photoshop with a Wacom Intuos 4.

[sarah.]

Have you tried using the pen tool > stroke > simulate pressure?

I found this tutorial on DA that looks quite helpful, but I'm sure if you take a look you might find something better.

http://browse.devian...ineart tutorial <- Might help you

[Burd]

I use default hard 4px round brush in Photoshop for inking at 300% original size. Once it's resized down to original size, it's very crisp :3
Personally, I find that 4px is the most comfortable for inking, since Photoshop's brushes are all really soft and their flow isn't the same as some other programs' brushes: 3px is too soft and the flow is not high enough, even at 100% Flow, and 5px is incredibly hard to control.

*If you have a heavy hand, adjust your tablet's settings to decrease pressure sensitivity; if you press hard and don't have a steady hand, the lines come out scruffy-looking + require a lot of erasing to clean up.

I have an extremely steady hand, but that only comes in useful when I'm inking slowly (eg. intricate shapes. More often than not, I actually just use Pen Tool for those shapes rather than inking by hand. In case you don't use Pen Tool - it's almost exactly like Bezier Tool in Corel programs and MSP. Here's a tutorial for it.) So... having a steady hand only really comes in to inking if you prefer to ink slowly.

Faster inking results in smoother lines; I don't trace my sketch precisely, but rather 'redraw' the whole thing, using the sketch as a guide. If I try to 'trace' my sketch exactly, the result looks very scruffy and somehow artificial. My sketches are really clean, and I sometimes actually just clean up the sketch to use as lineart instead of inking it >w<

Inking with a sketching motion may also result in the lineart looking scruffy; have you tried one-stroke inking?

Recommended programs for inking:
If you don't feel like resizing / prefer to keep one working size, try SAI and openCanvas. I use them to ink different sorts of pieces - SAI is good for elegant lines, oC is good for action pieces, and Photoshop is good for bold lines.

[IcedEarth]

Have you tried using the pen tool > stroke > simulate pressure?

I found this tutorial on DA that looks quite helpful, but I'm sure if you take a look you might find something better.

http://browse.devian...ineart tutorial <- Might help you

Yeah the pen tool does my head in. I can't use it for what I'm inking.

Those look good, thank you so much I'll check them out.

I use default hard 4px round brush in Photoshop for inking at 300% original size. Once it's resized down to original size, it's very crisp :3
Personally, I find that 4px is the most comfortable for inking, since Photoshop's brushes are all really soft and their flow isn't the same as some other programs' brushes: 3px is too soft and the flow is not high enough, even at 100% Flow, and 5px is incredibly hard to control.

*If you have a heavy hand, adjust your tablet's settings to decrease pressure sensitivity; if you press hard and don't have a steady hand, the lines come out scruffy-looking + require a lot of erasing to clean up.

I have an extremely steady hand, but that only comes in useful when I'm inking slowly (eg. intricate shapes. More often than not, I actually just use Pen Tool for those shapes rather than inking by hand. In case you don't use Pen Tool - it's almost exactly like Bezier Tool in Corel programs and MSP. Here's a tutorial for it.) So... having a steady hand only really comes in to inking if you prefer to ink slowly.

Faster inking results in smoother lines; I don't trace my sketch precisely, but rather 'redraw' the whole thing, using the sketch as a guide. If I try to 'trace' my sketch exactly, the result looks very scruffy and somehow artificial. My sketches are really clean, and I sometimes actually just clean up the sketch to use as lineart instead of inking it >w<

Inking with a sketching motion may also result in the lineart looking scruffy; have you tried one-stroke inking?

Recommended programs for inking:
If you don't feel like resizing / prefer to keep one working size, try SAI and openCanvas. I use them to ink different sorts of pieces - SAI is good for elegant lines, oC is good for action pieces, and Photoshop is good for bold lines.

I've never tried sizing the piece down, I can imagine that would make it look real nice. I had no idea people do that.
Thank you for those tips, I will try them out.

I never tried on stroke inking, I find it hard lol

Have you got any examples of how your inking turns out?

Also, SAI and openCanvas are those vector based programs?

[Burd]

I've never tried sizing the piece down, I can imagine that would make it look real nice. I had no idea people do that.
Thank you for those tips, I will try them out.

I never tried on stroke inking, I find it hard lol

Have you got any examples of how your inking turns out?

Also, SAI and openCanvas are those vector based programs?

No problem :3

Just think of one-stroke inking like a second sketch XD It'll be much easier after you start.

I'll PM you some examples in a sec.

Nope, all raster

[IcedEarth]

I'm trying it now. It's coming out scuffy lol I'm going to keep working on it to see how it comes out, I'll clean it up after.

Thick bold lines with sketchy strokes kinda looks cool.

Okay, awesome!

BTW, this is what I'm inking.

[Burd]

I'm trying it now. It's coming out scuffy lol I'm going to keep working on it to see how it comes out, I'll clean it up after.

Thick bold lines with sketchy strokes kinda looks cool.

Okay, awesome!

BTW, this is what I'm inking.

Sketchy+painterly = 'in' right now I'm thinking of trying to lineart with the painterly brushes in PS.
Great, can't wait to see the end result

[IcedEarth]

lol I'll post it up after.

BTW do you use shape dynamics on your brushes?

[Burd]

If I'm aiming for smooth lineart, I have all jitter settings and min. diameter set to 0%

If imitating a dried out marker (good for thick lineart if plain lines are too boring), I'll experiment with changing the Texture settings / enabling Dual Brush.

I leave all other brush settings as default.

[IcedEarth]

Cool, that's what I'm using right now.

Instead of using the eraser to taper lines, I've got my line art on multiply and I'm just pressing x to switch to white and tapering my lines like that.

The inking could be better/cleaner but...

Final outcome:




Final ink:

Spoiler

Close ups to appreciate line art:

Spoiler

[Liesa]

I usually work with the pentool for my line-art.
http://popo-licious....orial-159940230
Here's a nice tutorial on how to get perfect line art with a little practice.

[Burd]

This turned out great !
I like how you 'shaded with the lineart' in a couple of areas.

[Turnip]

Whoa, that looks great! ^^

Also really, all you need to do is practice lots and get your hand more used to it, it'll get steadier eventually! Zooming in is always the best thing to do ^^ I zoom in by around 150-200% and just go from there! With lots of ctrl z-ing of course, heheh~ But whatever you do, if you want to do inking in as your naturally would and get delicious pen pressure which isn't "fake", don't rely solely on the pen tool D: I've heard that once you get used to it, it's kind of hard to stop using! Eeeepp..

Good luck with your arts

[IcedEarth]

Thank you guys

Turnip, yeah I didn't use the pen tool lol I kept the inking sketchy but it could have been neater. Thank you for the tips

[WMGTea]

Using either the brush tool or pen tool will yield good inking results. If you're going for strokes with various stroke weights though, the brush tool will do that better.

Oh, and if you're able to, start with a canvas size 4-5x bigger than usual. Then shrink it down so that any miniscule errors will turn into clean lines.

Having a steady hand is one thing, but the sensitivity of digital tools will always find a way to mess things up a bit.

Edited by WMGTea, 11 June 2012 - 06:33 PM.