Inking tools - let's brush up...

[pauljholden]

(See what I did there? Puntastic...)

Ok, in response to an email, here's my tool of choice:

I use a Daler Rowney Sapphire Brush (series 51) either a size 0/10 (if I'm feeling confident and it's a good brush) or a size "2/0" which is what I'm favouring right now- they're "rigging" brushes - designed to paint rigging on paintings of boats, so long and very, very fine. I've met people who get the heebie jeebies just looking at them

I tend to tell people to buy a bunch of brushes and try them out - John McCrea once recommended (and gave me) a brush that was also a rigging brush, but it was so long that I just couldn't get my head/hand around it and threw the brush down in dispair never to pick one up again for a couple of years.

===

Now, I do a fair bit of digital touch up - adding borders, sometimes throwing some effects down, etc, but, for the most part the brush is the only thing I use when I ink a page - (dipped in indian ink). Sometimes I have good days and sometimes bad days. On the bad days I hit the dip pens...

Ok, what you got?

-pj

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Pre digital I used to use Windsor and Newton Cotman brushes series 111 about size 3. It's a very small, thin brush for detail and some lines. Trouble was I had to keep laying paper down to stop smudging my work plus I'm certainly not the steadiest of hands.
The brush tip kept fraying too despite me cleaning it.

I used cheaper cryla brushes but the digital world of Photoshop and particularly Manga Studio helped a lot to lose the un-intentional wobbly line effect that seemed to dog my work.

All hail the pixel God!

[radiator]

How anyone can ink a whole page with brush alone boggles my mind! Comic panels - especially 2000ad pages which tend to have more panels per page than the norm - are very, very small, something you can't really appreciate if you've never tried to draw one, and I just can't get my head around how people get a thin enough line out of a brush - I can't get a straight line using a brush either.

I also find maintaining brushes a nightmare - now matter how carefully I look after them, they somehow lose their point within seconds!

I tend to use a brush pen to lay down all the large or curved lines in a drawing (outlines etc) then do everything else with fineliners. I've never found a perfect method for inking, but I tend to prefer inking rougher these days (rather than aiming for a slick effect) so it seems to work for me. I always have to do quite a lot of cleaning up in Photoshop, though.

I bought Manga Studio and a Wacom recently, so I'm going to have a crack at digital inking at some point.

[pauljholden]

I keep a jar of water which I use to rinse the brush in - it's stinking, I rarely change it. Then I dry the brush on either a piece of paper or some tissue - using paper I twirl the brush into a point as I'm drying. Occasionally I twirl the brush in my mouth to make a point. My brushes seem to last forever, despite what I see as very poor treatment.

Inking with brush and ruler : Hold the ruler on its edge at an angle off the paper (so, looking side on it looks like this: / ) then, rest the brush on the ruler and pull the brush towards you slowly and steadily using the ruler to keep the edge straight. The lines won't be precisely straight, they actually end up a little wobbly but much more interesting for it.

(I should really make some video of inking again at some point)

-pj

[Peter Wolf]

Thanks for starting this thread as i ink with brushes.

I am not sure where to start other than after trying out numerous makes and types pf brush i have finally settled on ProArte Renaissence Sable brushes and they are far far superior to every other brush i have used.This was the make of Sable brush that was for sale in my local art shop but i daresay that any other make of sable brush is just as good.Kolinsky Sable brushes are apparently the best but i havent tried those out yet.

I have been on a learning curve and since switching to these brushes about 2 weeks ago my inking and brushwork has visibly improved or is improving all the time.

I bought 3 brushes that are size 2 , 00 , and 000 which are very small sizes but so far i have only used the 000 size and i havent even touched the others and after inking about 8 seperate pieces that are in various sizes and mostly copied panels the point of the brush has not worn out in the slightest wheras any other kind of brush would have become unusable by now.

I also use Windsor and Newton Black Indian ink as it is shellac based and dries very fast so on smudging as i am left handed.

I have found that copying panels that are inked with a brush is a really good way to learn how the various tecniques and just keep doing it and doing it.I copy Belardinelli as i love that style of inking plus i am a massive fan of his work.

Its fucking difficult and i use the F word because it is by far the most difficult thing i have ever learnt but the more you do the better you get even though the learning curve is painful and involves lots of repetition.I am used to using paint brushes as i have done lots of painting and i can do signwriting so perhaps that helped a bit.

[Peter Wolf]

I have tried using a ruler on its edge to guide the brush to ink straight lines but i find it awkward and unwieldy and sometimes it slips which is a pain so my solution to this is to cut a length of 1" square timber to about 6 or 7 inches and flatten off one of its edges so that rests on the paper which will give you a left and a right side that clears the paper and gives you 2 edges to run the brush up and down.

[SuperSurfer]

I'm at a bit of a loss with inking. Way, way back I used to use Rotring and Staedtler pens. I don't have the patience for that. Then I switched to brushes. I bought some brush pens recently but I don't like the feel of them as I like the resistance of pens.

At the moment I'm most comfortable with Photoshop and Wacom but have to resist zooming in too much and overdoing it with details with the tighter stuff – and curves can be a pain.

Must keep experimenting but I'm just not finding the time lately. 

[uncle fester]

Having recently invested in a couple of brushes and ink, (but missing this thread completely), I'm off to try PJ's brush-with-ruler tip as it sounds like the sort of thing I could use a lot. Cheers PJ!

[Adrian Bamforth]

Brushes and ink / dip pens way to volatile! I spent too many years trying to get them to see things my way. Brush pen, Edding pens and makers every time now.

[pauljholden]

HAH! Lack of volatility is EXACTLY why I prefer indian ink/brushes/dip pens - anything put on the page with those tools will stay black, whereas markers/pens/etc have alarming habits of colour shifting and doing all sorts of horrible things...

-pj

[Paul_Ridgon]

I always preferred pens, just regular fine tip pigment markers.  I had to almost draw each image twice, having to sculpt the defining lines and then fill them with solid black.  Since getting my Wacom and Photoshop, I've never looked back, being able to have the flexibility of a brush but the feel of a pen.  Takes a good bit of getting used to, especially working exclusively in PS, but no danger of spilling ink, water and no mountain of eraser dust.  Not for everyone but I'd highly recommend it.

[davethomson]

I used to use Rotring pens and a crow quill for all my inking purposes until I got so frustrated with them clogging,spattering and breaking. I knew it was time for me to go digital when I was using more whiteout than indian ink.

I have experimented with loads of programs for my inking. I gave up on Corel Painter due to it being horribly unstable though it did have some nice inking brushes right out the bag. I really like Photoshop for its inking though the line quality suffers on resizing for print output. Ian Sharman told me very sternly that I should use Illustrator and from a few early experiments (including my art comp entry). I am quite pleased with it though it does require a good bit of fiddling to make it all work.

[Paul_Ridgon]

What version of Painter were did you use Dave?  I did my first pro digital inking with Painter and it worked really nicely for me. I use Photoshop now tho because I can do everything there.  Manga Studio has a really nice set of tools and has something of a more natural feel to it, not to mention that auto smoothing is awesome.  Can't get on with inking in Illustrator.  Vectors are great for some forms of art, particularly a cartoony style, but I'm not keen on it for a more harder edged comic style.

[radiator]

The thing with digital inking is that it can often look very synthetic, especially when you see it on the printed page - inking by hand on the whole looks a lot warmer and more natural.

I've got the basic version of Manga Studio, so one day I'll give it a go and see if it works for me.

[davethomson]

Phantom - I used versions 8,9,10 and 10.5 of Painter. I loved the free rotating of the canvas though Painter seemed to crash on me quite a bit and set me back more than a few hours work. I'm still figuring out Manga Studio as it comes highly praised but after messing around with the brush tool in Illustrator I'm hooked.

I agree with Radiator that digital inks can look synthetic and that is something that you have to consciously try to avoid (I'm still trying).