Here, at the Alliance, we have covered a lot about marking, branding, drawing digitally, etc.. and one comment I remember reading was: What about the old ways?
Well, here’s an article from the old guy. Just wanted to share my “new” Old School Process I am doing for my comic, The Drunken Fools.
Yes, you read it properly, my “new’ Old School process. I just went from inking digitally to inking the good ol’ fashion way. Why? Well, first, I was already sketching old school. Although, I did add some “structure” to my process. When I was inking digitally, I felt like I was not “connecting” with my own art. I’m using an Intuos Tablet, which means, I don’t see my hand while drawing. By having my face so close to the drawing canvas, I feel like I am “in” the drawing. No, I’m not drunk or under the influence of NyQil.
Anyway, here’s how I proceed nowadays:
Drawing Table:
This is my drawing table, a very nicely done portable table my dad made a few years back. It’s big enough to draw on an 11″ x 17″ bristol.
This is an homemade table by my father. A bit small, but it is enough for a 11" x 17" canvas
You can see more about this table by clicking here
Sketching:
Tools:
- 11″ x 17″ Srathmore Bristol Artboard
- 2x 0.7mm Mechanical pencils:
- one using Pilot’s Color Eno Soft Blue leads
- one with HB Graphite Leads
- Erasers
- Coffee
I LOVE sketching with the Blue Leads. They have a soft texture and it makes it easy to play with different shades of the color. But these leads (see picture to the right) are tricky if you start getting a darker effect with it (which I tend to do…). It may end up challenging when scanning as the scanner may pick that as a black feature.
Inking:
Inking done using combo #1 mentioned below, which is to Ink over the Sketch Artboard, using a Lightbox.
Tools:
- 11″ x 17″ Blank Strathmore Bristol Board
- Pigma Micron Pens, using Micro Pigment ink, with sizes from 005 to 08
- Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen, one reguler, one Big Brush
- A Light Tracer II Lightbox by Artograph.
- Vodka Red Bull
- Sketch with both Blue and Graphite pencils (as described in the Sketch section above). Once done with the Sketch, I would use a blank Bristol board and Ink on it, using a Lightbox. See picture on the left
- Sketch ONLY with the Soft Blue Leads and Ink over it, on the same Artboard.
I ended up using the combo #1. Why?
- As mentioned in the sketch section, I tend to darken too much my sketch with the Blue Pencils and some of it was picked up by the scanner and interpreted it as being a black. See the picture below
- Blue Art on a light box, with two bristol board is hard on the eyes, almost impossible.
- I’m too scared to ruined the original sketch if I’m making a major mistake while inking.
Click on the picture for a larger view. See the result if I Ink over the Blue Sketch(using the Eno Leads) and scanning it black and white. Notice who the strokes are thicker and less clean? Maybe I would avoid this by ether slacking on the pressure I apply on the leads OR use a REAL Non-Photo Blue pencils, but I'm a mechanical pencils fanatic and I have yet to find the proper leads for them.
Next Upgrade?
While my table is great, it is not the ideal. It’s a bit small, and I could use more room in order to be comfortable. Also, the Lightbox is TOTALLY weak for a 11″ x 17″ canvas. I can manage, but I need some serious athletic skills sometimes. So I am now shopping for a full drawing table with a glass top, allowing me to put a lamp below the table. See image below, a bit pricey, but I feel that would make a perfect Christmas present, to myself! 
My next purchase?
What’s next?
Stay tuned as I will offer you a tutorial, next week, on how to properly scan a large artboard, such as an 11″ x 17″ piece on a standard flatbed scanner!
Antoine Gagnon always had a passion for cartoons. In his early teenager years, he started to draw but stopped at some point, without really being good at drawing, for obscure reasons. 18 years after, he’s back and rediscovered a passion long gone. The Drunken Fools online comic is actually Antoine’s first attempt at drawing and is inviting you to live the evolution of his style over time.
I have a tip that will get rid of those blue-lines!
- Scan your page in full colour.
- In Photoshop, convert the file to CMYK colour.
- Open your Channels palette.
- Click on the Cyan channel.
- Select All
- Delete everything in the channel.
- Repeat the process for the Magenta and Yellow channels.
- Click on CMYK when you’re done.
Now the only thing that remains is the black from the scan. You’ll notice that it looks washed out and grey. At this point, select Image > Adjustment > Levels and increase the amount of Black with the black slider, and darken your greys with the grey slider. You’ll notice that your line work wont get fuzzy or thick due to the outside edge pixels being a solid black.
Make sure the inks are on a separate layer, set them to ‘Multiply’ and lock the layer.
Convert your file back to RGB for screen to colour, or keep it in CMYK for print, and you can colour in a layer underneath the inks and you’re set!
I recently switch to 100% digital but when I was doing everything on trees I was able to get rid of the blue simply by selecting the color range and deleting. You had to make some adjustments before doing so to make sure the blue sketch lines were as opaque as possible without effing up your black line art.
Neat table! I recently switched from digital to traditional too and have been going through a similar feeling out process, so it’s cool to see how someone else is handling it.