Comic Strips - Any One Can Make It (Part Four)

In the last issue we have been taking about and going over the process of making simple drawings. But we must understnd that drawings alone can’t be that solution for the professional comics making. For they have to finally go for print and all sketches don’t look the same when they come out as print. It  gets complex to controll the quality, if we directly send in the sketches. So, to be assured that it’s all perfect and equal in quality there comes in a procedure called “Inking.”

Inking the Sketches

The thing is very simple but yet complex as it decides the final look of the drawing or the sketch. It’s very very important to master this skill for the person who is into inking professionally. As it almost holds a a very important role to play.

Not all comics are colourfull, many of them are in black and white. Yet, it looks very beautiful and amazing. A very good example is the “Walking Dead series” by the Image comics. It’s completely in black and white, yet you can’t get your eyes off it. Making the graphic novel, comic book or a simple strip in black and white has it own pros and cons. It gets you away from the people who looks for a coloured book (kids) but it reduces the cost and the time to make the book. And if you are working alone as a one man army, it’s is quite helpful in many ways.

So, now it’s time for less talk and more work,

Figure 1 This was made out a the movie poster “The Whistle Blower”

This simply can be called a doodle to show how a inked artwork looks like, although it’s not purely inked for it has the grey tint running all over it for giving the extra information’s of light and shade. A good inking work only has the same tone black ink running all over the illustration.

Now when you have the idea of how the inkling looks like, questions would arise how to do it? What are the tools for it? Now it’s has a different answers for different people lets go through it :-

Professionals

They use a pen like tool called the Inking Brush. It’s just like any regular fountain pen like thing but has a tip made out of fibers to give it a feel and working capacity like a like a brush. Mostly black inks are preferred and are available at any good stationary shop.

Rookies and Hobbyist

We just try out anything available, pens, pencils, watercolor or whatever is nearby. It looks exactly the same. But, as Inking brushes are designed for the purpose, thus it saves a lot of time and is comfortable to use. Some hobbyist use it for their work as it isn’t costly.

Me

The illustrations you see here are made out digitally on pen tablet. It a bit uncomfortable and hard to control the strokes but it does the job for me.

Figure 2 Made out of the movie poster "Fame High” with only inking lines !

So, friends! Use whatever you want and however you want. Who knows? You may invent a method to do the inking job more easily. Keep experimenting and making lovely comic strips and share them with friends. As we say, anyone can make it !

by Simmi Singh simmi@fagangstuffs.com

Part 001 | Part 002 | Part 003 |

Part 004 | Part 005 | Part 006 |
Part 007 | Part 008 | Part 009 | 

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