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Traditional Art Week

Foreword

Hello everyone, welcome to my traditional lineart tutorial!

Some people prefer blending the lines with coloring but I like having strong and bold lines in my drawings. In this tutorial I use the so called one paper tactic, which means that you don't need multiple papers for sketching and inking or a light box for transferring your sketch because everything happens on one paper.

Here are a couple of finished works where I have used this lineart method:

So how does it work and what kind of materials do you need? Let’s have a look!

Materials

Paper
Preferably use rather thick paper (the paper I use is 160 g/m2 ) so that it can handle erasing. Also remember to take into account what kind of tools you're planning on using for coloring; if you are going to use watercolors or markers, choose your paper accordingly. Copying paper is not good for drawing.

Pencil
You also need a good graphite pencil for sketching. HB is a safe choice because harder pencils might leave scratch marks on your paper if you press too hard and softer ones are difficult to erase. I use my very old but trusty HB mechanical pencil with 0.5 mm tip; its tiny tip is ideal for details and it is easy to erase!

Marker
A necessary tool for inking is of course a marker or multiple markers. You can also use liquid ink if that's your preference. I am using Pigma Micron ink with 0.1 mm tip because it is awesome for details, it dries fast and it can handle water if I want to use watercolors afterwards.

Eraser
You also need a good eraser to erase the sketch after inking. I am not that picky with erasers; whatever makes pencil marks disappear works for me.

Extras
Not necessary but recommended: a piece of scrap paper.

Those are all materials you need in this lineart method! Below you can see a picture of my materials:

Step by Step

Sketching
Pick your subject and start sketching! You can plan your sketch on a scrap paper if you want but I am usually lazy and start drawing on the final paper right away.

What you need to keep in mind while sketching is that you do not press hard with your pencil. Start drawing with very light strokes and when you're happy with composition and anatomy you can start refining outlines and details.

At this point you don’t necessarily need eraser at all if you keep your lines very light because you can just draw over them. Use eraser only if you mess up badly because every time you erase there is a chance that you end up ripping your paper surface or smudge lines.

It is useful to keep a piece of clean paper under the palm of your hand while drawing so that you don't smudge your drawing paper and lose the lines you have drawn.

Here is the sketch I am about to ink. It is a bit messy but has all the details I need for inking:

Credits: A stock picture by BHP-Stock for a pose reference

When using references, always respect the stock providers rules and credit them.

Inking
After your sketch is finished, it is time to grab your markers! Just start tracing the sketch you just drew. Copy the lines you want to show in your final drawing.

Draw over your pencil lines with marker.

You can use also different colored inks, for example you can use grey marker on the background to soften the objects that are further or use the colors you're going to use afterweards when coloring the lineart.

Here are couple of works where I have used different colored markers. In the first picture there are colored lines for flowers and leaves and in the second picture the dragon's lines are drawn with black and the landscape with grey marker.

When you have traced the sketch, let your drawing dry a bit. Time depends on type of ink you have used.

After the ink has dried, it is time to erase! Gently erase the pencil sketch. Be careful so that you won't rip the paper or smudge the ink. Smudging shouldn't happen if you remembered to let your drawing dry.

Remember to keep your eraser clean!
Otherwise it can leave ugly marks on your paper that are not easy to remove.

After erasing you can congratulate yourself, you're almost ready! But not quite yet because if you look at the sketch, it looks a bit plain, flat and boring:

Not quite there yet - let's do some enhancements!

This is the fun part. Grab your marker again and start defining the lines. Add thicker lines on those parts you want to highlight and details on those part that seem to need them. If you made mistakes during the first inking round, here is your chance to try to fix those.

Draw the lines again but this time vary the thickness of them to make them look smoother.

Don't be sad if your lines are not perfect at this point; little mistakes can be hidden while coloring! For example gel pens and acrylics come handy when little enhancements are needed.

During the inking process remember to keep your goal in your mind. How are you planning on coloring your artwork? If you will use only flat colors you might want to add more details and maybe even some shading during the inking process. If you are going to add details and shading in the coloring phase, you can leave your lineart more simple. Even if your lineart is going to be a guide for coloring, it will also be a part of your artwork and should not be neglected or rushed.

Ready to be colored!

Discuss!
Do you prefer drawing linearts or blending them with coloring?
What kind of tools do you use for drawing lineart?
Share your best tips for drawing traditional lineart!