[Rob M]

Hey guys, I was just wondering how you get your line art to look so crisp.
This may be a stupid question but I've never taken ANY art classes, so things which might seem obvious to you, may not be to me.

The reason I adressed this question mainly to Jaochim, is because I first started thinking about this when I saw a pic he'd done of a guy in a cockpit.

I noticed how the lines were all very crisp and unwavering.
Thats my biggest problem, when I draw something freehand, the lines dont seem to have a solid feel to them.

I hope I havn't been to vague.
Responses are appreciated.

Thanks!

[Rinaldo]

It comes with practice I think. I've noticed that my lines have been gettng a bit cleaner(although nowhere near as good as Joachims of course). as you get more confident you don't make so many mistakes. your hand gets steadier as well.
There may be things that you can do to help, but I'm not really sure.

[Rob M]

Back up to the top with ya!

C'mon folks, is it that hard to help out?

[A. Mount]

I'm man enough!!

In the comic industry, as I'm sure you know, we see an awful lot of pencils. Some are clean, many are not, a few are awful and it has nothing to do with experience, but with how you draw. Granted, your hand does know what its doing better as time progresses, but that still will not change your style. Jae Lee's pages, for instance, look like they've been hit (several times) with a graphite bomb.

So how does comic art look clean and crisp every damned time?

Why, thankyew Captain Fanboy for asking. This is where the pros of the industry come together and thank.... their inkers...

By the way, Chris, I jack off to Soul Saga.

Shut up! Back inside my head now!! That's not true and you know it! What you do in there is not my business.

Good. Well. As I was saying, inking may not be the way to go for you digital colorists because of the fact you mask the lineart so much. But, if you follow that line of reasoning, why bother having clean lines in the first place?

A.

[Rob M]

Thanks Mount!
I was doing some expiramenting earlier.
I drew some line art very lightly then inked it with the one ink pen specifically for drawing that I have in my posession.

Then I scanned it and went over everything in color, I also darkened up some of the lines and used photoshop to strighten a few things out.

However, I think it's my lack of any particular drawing technique that screws me up.
In my mind the lines look fine in pencil, but when I ink it, going over the lines exactly, it seems to lose something.

I really should get into some art programs at one of the local colleges.

Here is the inked version:


See how the lines arent very straight or solid? Well, the waviness has to do with the fact that I was laying down when I was inking it. Not the best position to draw in since it put presure on the arms.

Anyways, I scanned it much bigger than it's shown here. This pic is 20% of the original size.

Now, here's my pathetic coloring.


I tried to straighten things, but I dont like the result.

*sigh* Any things you can see that I have done obviously wrong?

Thanks again!

[Kaiju]

Yeah.. you should use a ruler or a french curve when you are trying to clean up technical drawings. If you are just using PS then you should try working with the line tool. Makes a ton of difference on mechanical drawings.

[Rob M]

Kaiju, thanks for the advice.
I will have to pick up a french curve soon. I always mess up on the curves.

I did use the line tool some, so it's not quite as wavy as it could have been.

Keep the advice coming folks, I REALLY appreciate it!

[Rinaldo]

I think while the suggestions that have been given are good they are just workarounds of sorts.

I think that pic of Joachims was just pencil. it's about learning to control the pen. inking and penciling are one in the same in many respects. A lot of really tight stuuf is done without drawing aids. it's faster and gives you more control over your drawing. If you use french curves you'll be there forever trying to get the right line. just draw the fucking thing.

Try doing things like drawing long straght lines close together. lots of them. do all sorts of practice things.
It's not just about drawing it's about everyhting. motor control. it will reflect in your painting, drawing, inking, everything. It's good to get control of your materials.
If you want to do very mechanical things, like diagrams for car manuals then go with your elipse templates and curves. you might want to use them for a few things but it's slow.

[Rob M]

Wow, thanks guys!

Rinaldo- I agree, I do need to work on better control when sketching. I just might try sketching some mechanical stuff from manuals.

Joachim- That did make sense...I think.
heheheheh
I really appreciate your suggestions. I always like to check out your work.
You, Francis, amd Micke are some of my favorite artists on the board.

I think in my case, I may just need to keep at it until I find something that works for me.
Do you mainly sketch in pencil then just keep going over it, and refining it until it's dark enough?

Thanks again!

[Joachim]

Oh, I have been away for a few days...so haven't been here to answer your topic
Uhm, me clean lines ?? Well, I don't feel that my lines are so clean, but if you say so..... uhm.... ..-vortx has clean lines in my opinion
Well, I do many times struggle to keep my sketches as clean as possible. That doesn't mean that I sketch clean, but try to make things clear on the second sketch. Actually, I don't worry about making them look clean but, but what I think you should be more conserned about than making them look crisp is that never hide anything in a wabble of lines just so that people can't say like "that hand is wrong"..etc just because it's not clear enough. Don't know if you get the point. But, personally that's my biggest goals, because I don't want to hide anything because I can't draw it, so then I rather prefer to sit and work on the same area over and over until I get it to look right, if that is what it takes. Because then you learn to make things you have in mind more than easily slip into the same things you've done before and know how to sketch up..things gets easier ever time you try. Once everything is clear on the paper, even though it's rough, it's easy to make a clean sketch on top, because you don't need to invent any new lines.

I don't know if this made sense ? But, what I'm trying to say is that I don't think that it is some technique in that matter, it's more of what kind of attitude you have when sketching. Do I want hide or simplify things I struggle with or do I want to never give up and fight to get things clear.
A very good example of this is figure drawings. People very often make the hands as boxes, skip doing the face or just do a ball with crossing line showing where the eyes should be....and removes the feet...even though there's time for more and they even shadow the body before doing the face.. Then, it will take much more time to learn how to do things and therefor when sketching it's very easy to just wabble areas that is hard.

Did this make sense ? This is just my points of views.

ALso, what Rinaldo says makes a lot of sense in a different way. -that's more about learning to control the pen..as he said motor control...which is also needed of course. But that is something that comes with a lot of drawing....like everything else. It's hard to go on snowboard in the beginning, later it's easy, but you will automaticly "drive" more elegant the more you do it. But, to learn how to jump and do tricks, you must dare to dive into that, which is more about opening new areas....just a comparison, this is how it is with everything I guess
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Joachim's Place


[This message has been edited by Joachim (edited November 17, 2000).]

[jedite]

I think one of your problems is that your are
drawing your lines to slowly. In order to
get rid of that wavy feeling you need to draw
your lines very quickly. Try drawing a few
lines with out even thinking, just try to
keep them fairly straight and do them as fast as possible. After doing that you will
probably see how much more confident those
lines are as compared to your slow lines.
Of course the problem with drawing quick
lines is how to control them. One of the
exercises my drawing instructor had me do was
to draw 2 dots and try to connect them as
quickly as possible. She had me do pages and
pages of these lines, and it really seemed to
help me out.... so I hope this helps you too

[Rob M]

Great suggestion, Jedite!
Thanks. I will try that.