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kitton — Traditional Ink Tutorial
Published: 2007-08-04 13:14:57 +0000 UTC; Views: 32525; Favourites: 502; Downloads: 678
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Description
Phew, this was a long time in the making. I kept getting so many requests for an inking tutorial! It's no wonder there aren't very many good ones out there, it was the most difficult tutorial I've written yet. Even when I read through it now, I don't think it's completely concise OR clear. But it's better than nothing.I covered a bunch of techniques ranging from the very basic to the fairly intermediate, so I hope everyone who reads it gets something out of it.
Some people also asked for a digital inking tutorial, which will not happen. I do not ink digitally, only traditionaly! Let me know if you have any questions
!The rest of my tutorials: [link]
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Comments: 121
This is one of the most helpful and well written tutorials I've found so far ^^ - thanks!!
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Hope you get some use out of it, then!
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Umm... I have a problem.
When I do my linearts they come out kind of cruddy.
See.[link]
I only used one pen and it looks horrible and how can you cover up mistakes?
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I think it's because you don't use fluid, smooth lines? I try to keep my pen on the page, and not to "retrace" lines I've alreayd drawn unless I lift the pen, consider it, and draw over an existing line with another smooth, fluid line. Does that help?
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What types of pen are good for beginners?
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I have no idea... I think pens are more whatever works for you? I still recommend Microns, but maybe a 01 becaus a 005 may be a bit thin? I also like cheap Bic Pens, but they have a totally different style and feel to them, so it depends on what you want to do with your pen!
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Nice tutorial! I am always struggling with line quality and line width. I think I need to look at some marvel comics or something and really practice XD
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I do love inking, it's one of my favourite parts of a piece. I have no idea why ;_;
Anyway I hope this helps 
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Kat, thanks for the great tutorial, I will definitely try inking. And, sorry if this repeat is annoying, thank you for the other tutorials. I like it how you describe good thinking and attitude before describing the correct to-do's.
Regards,
Anton
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Thanks for the kind words
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Ooh, this is really really good! There's a lot of info in this; I may even try traditional inking sometime soon! I used to traditionally ink all of my stuff and scan it, but now I just scan a sketch and ink/color over it. Wonderful job on this!
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Your welcome~ Digitally inking is a great technique, too! I just prefer traditional
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Mmhmm; digital can be a pain sometimes, though. I'm not sure how to explain, but it just can be sometimes! A nice change of pace would work well for me; inking is a nightmare when it comes to my images.
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awwww 
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Mmhmm~
Oh gah, that's terrible! You should open up a fund; my tablet is like, the thing that makes my life twenty times easier. ._.; It was a nightmare using the mouse!
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sometimes I let the ink for the last thing, after paint the draw, specially when i work in traditional way.
Normally when I ink I don't paint over, at least not traditional. I didn't read it yet, but I will, with a lot of attention. THanks for making another tut to help the others artists.
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No prob! Lots of artists don't ink and I see nothing wrong with that! Sometimes not inking has glamorous effects and if it's your style, kudos to you! However, inking is my specialty
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Mmm.. this is a good one. My inking is poor, due to the fact that I try to speed through it to get the the fun colouring bit! Nah, well, yah, it's partly that, but my hands seem to shake when I lay down the lines, even though I concentrate really hard on not shaking. I'm sure more practice could help. It's especially difficult when I'm trying to do loooooong lines.
I prefer using nibs and ink to do the outlines, but I'm not so experenced, and have some mishaps to learn to avoid. I used to clean my nib part way through, but one time, I didn't get all the water out of the pen, and it BLOBBED on my almost finished page! 
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I love hearing about artists' techniques. Thank you for sharing.
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I think they are fun to make anyway
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Awesome tutorial I'm gonna start inking one of my drawings using your tips.
Thanks
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Hope it helps 
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- woah ! >.> you've been traditionally inking the whole time??
i thought you were a digital person >.<
im so glad you submited this.. now i knw i dont have to only digitally ink my pics >.> yours were so clean and proffesional looking!
^ ^so useful..
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Thanks! I actually NEVER digitally ink. Except for the most recent pic I entered cause it was pixel art hahaha! I only do traditional ;; I think digital is a pain!
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the traditional way is so much easier 
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Yea! I'm totally always turning my page around to draw from different angles and stuff
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pshaw? i thought you could? 
i knw its like 2million x easier >.> w/ out it tholol
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Rotating a canvas isn't the same as rotating a page and positioning your body around it and stuff though ;; just so much more natural and comfortable, I mean!
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yeah, i noticced that when i was inking uhm...when was it..........................this morning XD
but i was getting a little lazy w/ it...i was so excited to see it finished..* i have a new fine point marker>W<*, so the lines werent as perfect as yours are >.> lol,, but i knw ill try harder/ be more patient w/ it next time
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awwww I don't know how I do it AT ALL. Lately my hand is so so shaking... but it seems to be ok somehow :0
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that's what was happening to me! i thought i was just not used to the marker or something...maybe i need to sleep or eat something...>.>
its most likely stress related
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I really like your analysis of line weights. I hadn't thought a lot about that, but it's a subtle way to turn a coloring book page into really neat line art.
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Yea, linear weights is my main focus. I think it really sets the standard for good lineart... but that's probably a stylistic thing, as well!
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Ooh, very handy! I pretty much ink like that anyway, but its still nice to see someone else's approach
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Very nice tutorial. I think it's great because it is informative about what makes a good inked picture and it doesn't just provide a simple walk through that doesn't discuss much. I dunno if that was clear. And the layout and colors are pretty.
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I actually dislike step-by-steps. I guess they have their purpose, and other people seem to like them, but I usually only extract one or two actually useful things from it anyway. So I thought I'd cut through the BS and just try to focus on the useful things
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Oh god.
I love you.
This is such a helpful tutorial! I'll practice right away! <3<3<3
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Glad it helps
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I like the tip on the negative space. Not everyone pays attention to such a detail, but it really helps bring objects into the foreground.
And might I throw in an extra tip?
Whenever I go to ink something, I usually don't like inking on the original sketch. So I scan in my sketch in Photoshop and then I change the pencilwork to light blue or light grey, then print it out. Once I'm done inking, I rescan on grayscale so the linework is much easier to clean. Of course, the alternatives are sketching with colored pencil or getting a light table.
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Hmm that's an interesting tip! I do love just inking on my paper though.... I kinda like to feel the slight indent of the pencil and stuff.... but that's a good one!
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I think that there will be a great many people who will find this little tutorial of yours very helpful to them. I'd be a fool not to place a favorite on this in the hopes on of those such individuals comes across it as one of my favorites and thusly aids them. Thanks for sharing.
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