An Inking Tutorial for a Friend

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There are basically two approaches to inking: a "draftsman" approach, and a "painter's" approach. The draftsman approach is concerned with portraying space and volume through line weight. The painter's approach is concerned with portraying light and shadow to delineate volumes. However, in both cases the job of the inker is to make clean, legible artwork. It should be suitable for mechanical or (now) digital reproduction, so the finished product is as neat and understandable as the output permits.

I may be rash, but I am assuming the reason you are concerned with inks is that you want your art to be read clearly, and the story contained therein to be understandable, yes? It is unprofessional and non-commercial to ink in a deliberately sloppy or indistinct manner -- leave that to the amateurs and the experimentalists.

Above are some drawings reproduced from a book I continually recommend: "The Art of Comic Book Inking," by Gary Martin & Steve Rude, from Dark Horse Press. The users and details of the style are in the caption, but basically on the left is the draftsman approach to the inks, and on the right is the painter's approach. Both are done off the same pencils.

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