I sketched this page out pretty quickly yesterday, did a quick ink job with my ink-filled Niji and slapped on some color in Photoshop. Writing out the scene definitely gave me focus, although the real test will come on the next pages since they will have more varied content from panel to panel.
I inked the Labsquad page with new ink-filled, Niji waterbrush pen. I hope it lasts a long time. The time I save not filling up the brush is worth the 7 bucks I paid at Ye Large Arte Store Chain. That pesky last panel (where did I put that thing …)
Last night, I spent a couple of hours inking the Labsquad page that I’ve been posting in stages. I scanned it and have been laying the the flats (all except the last panel which needs to be redrawn. I had toyed with the notion of digitally inking in Illustrator, but you can’t beat the immediacy of hand inking.
I used a Niji Brush pen filled with Rapidograph ink. We’ll see how long it lasts before it gets too crusty to work (so far so good). The brushpen allows me to work pretty quickly since I don’t have to continually dip into an inkwell. Filling up the brush pen is a little messy. I haven’t found a way to get the ink in without wasting quite a lot of it and staining my hands black.
This image is a partially inked rough of a splash page for the Labsquad story. I don’t know if I have come to a style that I can consistently produce, but I figure if I just keep drawing, eventually something will gel
While I was out and about I grabbed some prismacolor markers and made a sketch of what Panel 7 of the Labsquad page (June 18 post) might be. The story is free form at this point. I made a cleaner sketch in Photoshop and here’s the comparison of the two. I need to rework a few things on the page before I ultimately ink it. I’m also not sure if I am going to color it but I’m toying with a 2 or 3 color/tint version.
A Sharpie Sketch of the ill-tempered mechanical member of Labsquad. I’m still working out some of his design (mostly his hands). For more fun robot sketching check out Matthias Inks Blogspot.
I pulled out my lightbox. I don’t often use it but I know it’s a vital tool for a lot of artists and, specifically, comics professionals.
The benefit of the lightbox to me is clear: since the basic composition has already been worked out, my attention is geared on refining, cleaning and detailing without distraction. In the past I have sped over background details, but with the lightbox, it’s like coming to a fresh drawing instead of feeling like I’m beating a dead cat.
I went ahead and scanned the page in, cleaning it up a bit in Phostoshop. I’m going to print out another copy to either : 1) clean up still further, 2) use as a basis for hand-inking 3) practice ink 4) some combination of the above. I think I’ll also take one of the panels and do some digital inking, for practice and comparison.
Here is a page of a story I’m developing in a, shall we say, organic way
I began drawing in one of my 9×12 sketchbooks at some point in the past, but never finished laying out all the panels (even now one is in the process of being finished). I decided to go ahead and sharpie-ify/brushpen the finished panels. I wanted to add a mid-tone so I pulled out one of my trusty, nearly-out-of-ink, markers. It gave a nice dry-brushed, 20% black look.
I then scanned the page and blew it up to 11×17 (ish).
Here’s a quick little sequential page I did in Illustrator featuring one of my Labsquad characters-Bunsen. I roughly sketched on a half-sheet, scanned and then went to town. I primarily used brush and pencil tools. I did use the ellipse tool a few times, but I attempted an organic look versus a smooth vector style. The fact that I can’t angle the page (like you can in Painter or in Photoshop with actions) adversely impacts my ability to make smooth and clean lines. Because of this bummer of a reality, I’ve decided to embrace the clunkiness and see where it takes me instead of developing an ulcer.
