How to Draw Comic 101: Inking Tools

Inked comic show up better for printing or scanning. Furthermore inking adds another element of style to your drawing. If you read Manga, you would probably noticed that typically boys comics are drawn using bolder and thicker lines while girls comics are drawn using finer and thinner lines. Inking style can convey impressions like strength, energetic, feminine or simplicity. What you need to keep in mind is that comics are inked so it is easy to read. As long as your comic is easy to read, you're on the right path.

What you will need for inking are black ink, dib pens, technical pens, brushes, tissue paper and whiteout or white ink. You may need rulers, splines and some cotton wools.

For ink, India ink is nice, though it’s impossible to find where I live, but you’ll want waterproof ink that’s not too runny. If your ink bleeds excessively creating ugly lines or smear, you can leave the inkbottle open for few hours or over night to let it dry up for a bit. Too dry ink is difficult to use, so judge accordingly.

There are varieties of pen nibs you can choose. I suggest find one that you like, they differ from nib to nib and from brand to brand. This will be your main instruments so pick ones that will fit your style, give the best result and comfortable to work with. When you’re trying them out, be aware there are some break-in period for them nibs so don’t judge too quickly. Typically, the break-in period is after two pages worth of inking. Also new nibs maybe covered in oil to protect them, you may need to get some lighter to heat up the tip for a bit. Note that this process is very quick, don’t put the nib over the fire for too long or you’ll destroy it. In addition, nibs don’t last forever, with used the lines produced by them become thicker so used them accordingly. So make sure to clean them after each inking session to maximise their lifetime.

I typically use the Nikko Spoon pen. It gives smooth lines than the rest while still easy to control. For technical pen, I use Rotring Radiograph from my days of tech drawing, but I tried those disposable ones and they’re good enough for comics. Similar with pens, brushes are chosen according to preference. Though their use to fill blacks, you can ink with brushes too, for example Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comic strips are skilfully drawn using sable brush. Similar with pens make sure to clean those brushes after use too. The rest of the items are self-explanatory. So next instalment in ‘How to Draw Comic 101’ will be ‘inking tips’, please look forward to it.

How to Draw Comic 101: Preparation

You have drawn your comic and satisfied with the result but it is full with pencil marks, smears, extra lines and all sorts of other things that dirty up your hard work. Not too mentioned it may not be on the ideal piece of paper to ink on. What you need to do is get a paper that suits your inking, a light table and a non-photo blue pencil. Lines drawn by non-photo blue pencil will not show when photocopied. When you get comfortable with drawing your comic you can start from this step. If not you will make too many mistakes and you will find that it becomes difficult to ink your comic.

Clip your comic and the fresh paper of your choosing together and place them on the light table. Now use the non-photo blue pencil and trace your comic with the help of the light. This will be your template for inking, so try to keep the lines as clean as possible so you do not make any mistakes when inking.

I normally go left right top bottom, so I do not miss anything. It is good to keep to something systematic because you will be doing lots and lots of this. Peak through as needed. If you are into animations, the process is similar but you do not trace but draw the next key frame using the reference frame, if you draw enough of this you can flip the pages and watch your animation. I must admit I like animation more than comics but it is too time consuming and CG are more popular now days. Enough sidetrack, once finished you are ready for inking. Next instalment of ‘How to draw comic 101’ is inking. Please look forward to it. Thank you.

How to Draw Comic 101: Introduction

I often get questions on how to draw comic. To get started is actually very easy. All you need are a pencil and a large piece of paper. I myself prefer at least 2B pencil something soft and dark are easier to work with, for paper anything large will do, I like A3, but even A4 will do, since you can tape them together. Since this is your draft you do not need to use better paper, so photocopy paper will do. However, if you are going to ink on this get some of the heavier variety paper that absorbs inks better.

Before you start drawing, have an idea and do a small sketch using stick figures for every panel to work out the kinks in your comic layout. Workout the speech bubble, sound effects, character actions, rough environment. It should look like a thumbnail of your comic. Make sure the each panel is balance and easy to follow.

For beginners, the easiest way to get started drawing is to place dots on paper and connect them. Placing dots will make you more aware of space available. This way you can gauge how things are going to look, it will help you visualise the arrangement better. If you do not have good hand-eye coordination for drawing, connecting dots will train your coordination so later you can control your hand to draw what is on your mind.

When you are drawing pivot at the elbow instead of the wrist. This is why you want large paper to draw on. Small size paper will make you pivot at the wrist. Drawing on an inclined instead of flat surface also help. Since we are not working with canvas, we have the luxury to rotate the paper. Rotate the paper as needed to make your life easy. Use any aids you deemed necessary, straight lines use ruler and curve lines use spline. Draw as many guide lines, as you need. Use eraser when things are getting too messy.

For every panel, there is a best order to draw them. First, draw the panel borders if any. Second, draw the speech bubble and/or sound effect text if any. Do some rough lettering to make sure everything fit. Then draw the rest. With this order, you do not waste time on unseen things.

Once finished, you have completed the sketch of your comic. Next instalment of ‘How to draw comic 101’ is going to transfer your sketches to better paper ready for inking. Until then have fun drawing.