LINE ART / INKING

 

Using digital ink is a specific skill that is EXTREMELY under-discussed. I wish there were many books on the subject, but most of them are (in my opinion) limited and not that practical for making comics. If you think I am wrong, feel free to send me suggestions!

 

One day I would like to write a whole course on inking, but today I am going to discuss what I think are the ESSENTIAL FOUNDATIONS for a great inking result for your comic, manga or illustration.

 

These tips I am sharing in this tutorial are what I really WISHED someone had taught me as I was learning to ink comics / manga, but many of these ideas I had to work out myself through trial and error, and looking at how other artists approach inking. So I hope this tutorial helps you, beginner, amateur or expert, to boost your inking skills and fast track some great results! Note: this tutorial will not discuss how to draw, it's about how to navigate the inking / line-art process itself.

Set Up

For inking comics in Clip studio, definitely start with a fairly large document if you are creating for comics. I would recommend at least 350dpi for the resolution, and at least A4.

 

A good rule Comic / Manga artists usually work at least 141% of the size the they will be printing at. For example: if your comic is being printed on A4, create your artwork on a A3 document.

 

This is my current page set up for US comic size pages:

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ADJUSTING THE PEN PRESSURE

 

Another fairly important setting to set up in your Clip Studio application before starting is the Pen Pressure curve.

 

Go to [CLIP STUDIO PAINT] menu > [Pen Pressure Settings] to open the [Adjust pen pressure] dialog box.

 

How you set this setting really does depend on your weight of hand while you draw / ink. Some people need the pressure curve to be very sensitive, and set it to a lighter setting:

 

Or if you want the ink to only be thick when you press hard, change the pressure curve to a harder setting. You can click on the 'Stronger' or 'Lighter' to adjust the curve in increments:

Choosing the right brush for inking

Choosing the right brush, for me, is essential to getting a good result when inking in Clip Studio. But please note, there is no one brush to suit everyone, you need to find the right pen tool in Clip studio to suit you and your style.

 

In this tutorial we will be exploring the following 6 Pens for inking. 4 of them are free, and 2 of them you will need to buy if you want to use them:

To download the first two brushes Rubin 01 Natural Ink and Rubin 02 Bold & Thick, which I created blushes proudly go here:

We will also be using the Textured Pen and the G-Pen, which are default brushes. These should already be avalible by default in your pen tool settings. To add the 'Textured Pen' and 'G-Pen' you can reload them from if you can't find them [Add from Default] :

2 other brushes Darcy Lite and Fat Pocketbrush pens

(Note: these are optional and not necessary for this tutorial)

 

If you are interested in buyer some quality pens for inking, let me recommend and EXCELLENT brush set by GlowingRaptor.

 

These brushes really changed the way I ink and I think a lot of users would appreciate. For a small cost of $5USD you can get the full set of 42 inkers. They are really excellent, and I use some of them in my professional work:

If you do get this set, I highly recommend 'Darcy Lite' and 'Fat Pocket Brush'.

Testing your inking pens for use

Now we have our pens loaded, I highly recommend testing the pens out to decide which one you would like to use.

 

But first a few notes on adjusting the Pen Tools from the Tool property panel:

 

Brush Size: This is very important to adjust and tweak. Comic and Manga artists use different size pens to get different lines, and you need to do the same when you are inking. I usually fluctuate between 0.5-1.5pts

 

Anti-Aliasing: This setting has to do with the grey scale tone in your brush stroke. For monochrome (one tone of black) manga or comics, you will use the first setting, which has no greyscale tone allowed. But for most projects we can use the second setting (below) which is the generic edge to your brush.

 

Stabilization: Depending on what tablet / stylus you are using to draw on, and how smooth you want your lines to be, adjust this setting to make your lines smoother. I really like this setting, but be careful not to overuse it, or your lines will look too synthetic, not natural.

Also, with any brush you can adjust the TIP of the brush to suit your needs, to make the stroke more textured, or a different shape, in the [Sub Tool Detail] setting for your brush.

 

1. Make sure you duplicate your Pen brush first, so you don't overwrite the original setting (in case you make a mistake during your adjustments)

2. Then go into the Subtool setting, here:

In the Brush Tip setting, many brushes use the Circle shape as the base shape for the pen.

I often find the circle is too round, so you can select a new brush tip shape by clicking on {Material}, then click the {Add} button and select a new tip from the library, which is a collection of the default shapes, and any shapes that have been imported in your brush/pen tools or other tools. I selected this triangle shape here, to test out how 'Rubin 01' works with a different shape tip:

As you can see, this triangle shape produces a interesting textured feel to the edge of the line:

Now if I select a round but textured tip instead, we get this second result, slightly less ragged, a nice textured feel that is natural and organic:

Testing your Pen tools

I highly recommend you test and adjust your inking pens before you start inking your next project.

 

I have created a very simple sketch below which I have used to text my 6 pens I am demonstrating in this tutorial, feel free to download it or draw your own to follow along.

 

Basically we are wanting to look at how the pens react to:

• Hard straight lines (starts in my sketch)

• Soft round lines (clouds in my sketch)

• Varied weights and shapes (girls head in my sketch)

 

Below is the sketch I have used to text the pens, feel free to use it, or create your own:

• To use this image above as a test for your brushes, download the above image and then place it in Clip Studio, with layer opacity set to around 35%.

• Then create a new layer above the test layer, and let's begin!

 

Testing the RUBIN 01 Pen.

 

Now we can go ahead and trace the underlying sketch image, with confident, fast strokes. This is what I did with the Rubin 01:

 

Observe closely how the hard edges and lines render as you draw:

Then observe how the Rubin 01 pen works on round shapes. Notice the texture of the line which is quite natural, and the tapering of the line from thick to thin:

Finally explore how this brush works on a subject, such as a face, to get a general feel for the brush:

Testing the RUBIN 02 pen.

 

This is the test I did with the Rubin 02 Bold&Thick:

1. Check how lines render as you draw:

 

2. Check how the pen works on round shapes.

3. Test the pen on a complex structure (face):

Testing the TEXTURED PEN (a Default brush)

 

These are the result for the Generic Textured Pen. Notice how the line width is more controlled, and how the lines work differently to the previous examples.

 

1. Check how lines render as you draw:

2. Check how the pen works on round shapes.

 

3. Test the pen on a complex structure (face):

 

Testing the G-PEN (Default brush)

 

This is one of the most widely used pen brushes, and is highly recommended by many users. Personally it's not my favourite pen, but it definitely can create some nice clean lines! Here are my experiments, please follow along to text the pen yourself:

1. Check how the lines work with this pen:

2. Check the round shapes:

3. Check the complex shapes:

Testing the DARCY LITE Pen (from the Glowing Raptor Ink set)

 

I really like this brush. It has just the right amount of natural organic texture, and is really easy to control. I like how it works in curved shapes. Check out my examples below:

Lines:

Curves:

Complex shapes:

Testing the FLAT POCKET PEN (from the Glowing Raptor Ink set)

 

I like this pen for it's variety and texture. Its actually way more versatile than it seems, but the result is always going to be quite rough. The stabilisation really helps keep this pen from going out of control, and I highly recommend you have a play around with it!

 

It produces very organic straight lines:

And same goes for the round shapes, like these clouds:

You can also use it for complex shapes, but it does take some getting used to!

I used the FLAT POCKET BRUSH to create this illustration:

Now we have tested out the 6 brushes (or 4 if you didn't try the Glowing Raptor brushes), we can go ahead and discuss the Inking process for comics and manga! Exciting!

The Inking Process

Onto the exciting part, that actual line art / inking process.

 

To start with, we need to talk about the underlying sketch and pencils.

I used to rush this process but rushing straight to lineart, for me, is a BIG error.

 

The old saying goes 'a house is as strong as it's foundations' and this goes the same with line art - if your sketch is not good, if you haven't through about layout, movement, structure and form, your line art will not be good either. It's something beginners often forget, and even more experienced artists can fall into the trap of not completing the foundations before going to the final lines.

 

So my recommended process is this:

 

1. Start with a very rough sketch, thinking about movement, action, shapes and impact on the viewer. Don't be afraid to get messy. Don't be afraid of the eraser, rubbing everything out and starting again at this stage.

 

At this point you need to forget details and focus on the big picture. This is also where you can exaggerate your forms, think about perspective and foreshortening, etc. Ever wondered how your favourite artist came up with that amazing pose, or layout? It most definitely started with a very good, rough sketch.

2. Defining the large shapes.

On a new layer above your rough sketch, define the most important shapes. Think about angles of the forms and getting everything looking nice and solid. This is the second level of the drawings foundation, and where you make a lot of the decisions for the overall form of the character / scene.

3. Final pencils.

This is final step of the under-drawing for your lineart is time to get more finished with your linework. Think about movement of the line and where the black areas will be. You can get into details here, the more thought and work you put into the pencils, the easier your inks will be. Think about texture and shade, rendering and shadows.

Lower your pencils to about 40% opacity, and we are ready to start the lineart / inking:

Inking step 1: Direction of stroke and outlines

Take the pen brush you have decided to use (I used the Rubin 01), and we can start inking. First a few notes about getting good strokes, using LINE DIRECTION.

 

LINE DIRECTION

You may have noticed, but the speed and direction you move your hand when creating lineart differs significantly depending on how you move your hand.

Here are some general rules about hand movements while inking:

 

SPEED

• Moving with swift quick strokes usually produces a better line. This is tru for Digital as well as Traditional.

• Sometimes you need to slow down to achieve good hard edges.

• Don't be afraid of the undo tool, work on a stroke until it is correct.

 

HAND MOVEMENT

• Pull your straight lines

• Push your curves

 

 

 

EXAMPLE - PULLING STRAIGHT LINES:

An example of how to pull lines with the ink pen:

EXAMPLE - PUSHING CURVED LINES:

I always find it easier to push the curved lines away from me. This produces a smoother result and its easier to control the weight and shape of the curve as you draw.

Here are a couple of videos to carefully examine how you can push your curves to create that perfect line:

Once you have gotten the hang of pulling and pushing your lines, you can go ahead and do the whole outline and main linework of your illustration:

Here is the video of part of my inking. Remember to use relatively fast strokes and rotate your canvas to help you with your inking:

These are the final outlines, now onto the next step.

Inking step 2: Building texture with your lines

We currently only have the outlines of out drawing, but we need to build form, and texture in our inking. Its important to think about the shapes as 3d object, otherwise you will gat a very flat, incorrect-looking finished illustration.

 

See the diagram below. Each object should be imagined in your head as a simple 3d element, either a rectangle, sphere, cone or in the case of the foot & leg, cylinders:

See below, the chest area is also a cylinder:

Add in small lines to describe texture in the clothing, in the same direction as the form.

In most elements, the best rule of thumb (which I wish someone had told me when I was starting out with comics!), the textural lines will follow the form of the shape.

 

See how the muscle texture on the shoulder of the character follows the form of the curve of his shoulder:

The same applies to clothing. The folds of the clothing will also follow the form and movement of the underlying objects (in this case the leg):

Continue adding in details, thinking about the underlying forms and textures of the surfaces, until you are finished.

This is my drawing with all the form lines and texture added. Don't worry, we can always come back later and add details:

Inking step 3: Lineweight

We have filled in our outlines, but it's a bit flat. Add some line-weight to make the drawing feel heavier and more visually impacting.

 

A basic rule of thumb is that the top of the object will have lighter weighted lines in comparison to the bottom of the object:

This is a closer image of what I did in terms of lineweight at the bottom of the leg:

Line weight can also be applied in the smaller forms and sections, such as clothing folds. The bottom of the curve here is heavier than the start and the end. The ends are thin and the middle is thicker, creating a taper effect.

A video of the inking process varying the line-weight:

Here is the finished result of the leg:

Inking step 4: Spotting the blacks

One area of inking that I have really struggled with over the years, that I wish there was more resources and tutorials about, is spotting the black areas in illustrations. Some artists, like Jeff Smith, are excellent at selecting their black areas. I tent to be too cautious, but am trying to use solid black more confidently.

Check out Jeff Smiths website for more examples of his amazing inking skills:

 

Anyway, to spot your blacks, there are a few tips I want to share with you.

 

First, make sure your pencil sketch notes where you want solid black. Some artists mark these areas with an 'x' in their pencil work. An easy way to decide where to place your black is to try to spot where the shadows might fall on the forms.

Some thoughts on shadows - the closer the object casting the shadow is to the below object, the more aligned the shadow will be. See below:

Here are a couple of videos of my 'spotting' of the blacks:

Here is my final result for the inking of black areas in my illustration:

We are almost there! I am liking how my lines are looking, and the movement of the character hasn't be reduced from the pencils to inking process (this is something that can happen quite easily if you aren't careful!).

 

Let's add in some final details in Step 5 and 6.

Inking step 5: Textures

This final stage is definitely optional, but we are going to briefly discuss texture-making with your lineart to produce different results.

 

Adding extra texture into your artwork, in addition to the basic texture needed to define the form (Step 2), is optional. It really depends on your style and your desired result. for example in manga Blade of the Immortal or Akir has a lot of texture included in the linework, but manga by Clamp, like xxxHolic, has almost no texture - just nice clean lines.

I sometimes like to use texture to achieve a special result, for example in this piece I did for inktober a few years ago:

But sometimes, you want almost no texture, like this illustration I did of a tiger-man:

So in summary you can make a personal and stylistic choice in how much texture you want to bring to your final illustration.

 

There are many, many textures you could use to add to your illustration, but I recommend three textures that I commonly use and are easy to handle.

 

1. Dots. These are easy to apply and can be used to make an object more solid and to add details

 

2. Small varied, straight hatch marks. These can be used to define form.

 

3. Curvedhatch marks. These can be used to define form and the shape of a surface.

Inking step 6: Effects

Now we have a more or less finished illustration, we can add in some effects.

 

There are hundreds of different ink effects you could add in to your illustration, such as overlay textures, speedlines, sound/text effects, etc.

 

But for this illustration we will apply an ink-splatter effect.

 

First select the airbrush tool, which is super useful for effects, and select the droplet tool (Default):

You can adjust the particle size (how big each droplet is), the particle density (how many particles spray at a time) here:

Gradually add in black splatter to your illustration:

Now select the white colour and add in some white splatter over your blacks for an organic texture:

The final image

And we are done!

 

Here is the final image:

And here is another version I did for fun! You will notice I used different texture and effects (impact lines) to achieve a different result.

 

I hope this tutorial has helped you select the right brush, develop your inking gestures and boosted your inking skills! I'd love to see what you come up with, and feel free to ask any questions in the comments.