Penciling and Inking
Hello there!
I thought it might be fun to do a little step-by step walkthrough on my drawing process.
I don’t have a funny title because I’m not trying to make the page look bad this time. This is just about how I draw!
I don’t have too much to say, really, so let’s get going!
Your cranium must be proteicntg some very valuable brains.
Stunning work!
What kind of ink and brush do you use?
I learned that pencilers who do their own inks use blue lead for the roughs–something I’ve tried myself–so that after inking, they just scan in greyscale and they save time on erasing/erasers. Is that something you’d recommend?
For this project I’ve just been using Pigma Micron pens (in the .03, .05, and .08 sizes) and a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen with Rapidograph Ultradraw ink.
I wrote this about four years ago or so; since then I’ve switched to a blue pencil and it is absolutely something I’d recommend. I use the Prismacolor Colerase pencil in light blue (which, oddly enough, disappears better than non-photo blue when I scan.)
Les. This looks great. What are the measurements of your actual panel borders? My best guess is an inch on the sides, an inch on the bottom and a half-inch on the top? Am I close? How wide are your gutters?
Also, when you scan with blue pencils these days, do you just scan as an RBG and remove the blue, or do you still scan in grayscale?
Wow, replying kind of late, but here are the answers to your questions:
I draw this comic very large. The pages are 18×24 inches, with two-inch margins on the sides and bottom, and an inch and a half at the top. The final live area is 14×21.5 inches. The horizontal gutters are either a quarter inch, or, for the center one, a half inch. I just eyeball the vertical gutters, so they’re all over the map.
When I work with blue pencil the scans are even easier. I scan in grayscale, and the scanner doesn’t pick up the blue at all. I find the Colerase light blue works slightly better than the non-photo blue.