How do you ink?

[VIIStar]

Koh-i-noor Rapidograph .13 and .18 on smooth Bristol transferred from the sketch with cotton drafting paper. Tone added in Photoshop, because I’m too poor to buy as much as I need. ^^;

[NakedElf]

I'm ghetto – I use ballpoint. :oops: Tablet and CS2 for coloring and lettering.

I actually like crappy ballpoints for certain things--you can get a variety of line widths out of them by varrying the pressure, they're a little bit blendable... They don't work well with the way I color, but they have their uses.

[Anarchist]

i have most of my artwork as pen/paper non computer etc, but the comic i have on comicgen is entirely wacom digitally inked.

[VinnieD]

I'm all about traditional media. I make use of pens for ink and pencils for shading. This method is a bit more forgiving than using screentone or ink brushes for tone, while it gives me the line clarity and control of ink.

I'm quite fond of hand drawn inks. it gives everything a more real and organic look, that conveys more than can be done by just CG.

When I do make use of color it's a question of what I'm using it for as to what I use. My comic is sort of Noir styled with primarily grays dominating the image with occasional splashes of color. If I'm doing something large I'll break out the markers and color by hand. With small specks and light sources though i usually just airbrush in a separate transparent layer.

So things like Nailbat's red eyes are done on the PC, but scenes like Penny appearing in full color, are marker.

I actually like coloring both ways, but for AntiBunny I think if the color is a major part of the image, it should match the look by being a very organic hand drawn image.

[Bustertheclown]

Traditionally a manga is done completely by hand old school pen and paper style. This includes manually cutting out the shape of tone and pressing it on to the page. Physical sheets of tone are effectively erasable texture material with a sticky back side. To apply it old school you need to acutely cut it out. Combined that with having to produce the page entirely on a single sheet of paper and then factor that you cant make a major mistake or you ruin all your work. For all those reasons I do mine digitally and they are none the worse for ware, although I still have a long way to go.

I know. I like Zip-a-Tone, but that's just me.

[Jackhass]

I know. I like Zip-a-Tone, but that's just me.

I've never been able to find the actual stuff...I'd love to fiddle around with it.

[Moonshadow]

It's interesting seeing all the ways people work...

I thumbnail in ballpoint first on script pages, then on a separate thumbnail page... then on a third page I do the pencils using a non-photo blue for undersketching and graphite for the actual sketch. That gets lightboxed onto heavier paper; I just switched my inking from Zig pens to a wonderful cartridge brush pen, with a nib pen and the 01 Zig for some detailing, and I love it! After that, I toss it into Photoshop for coloring/toning and doing the panel borders (because not only do I hate carrying and using rulers, but I'm wonderful at injuring myself with them).

[Aiken]

In the past I was somewhat terrified of using inks and destroying my pencils. However since my pencils are usually quite neat (after some heavy duty erasing) i'd just play with the curves and levels in photoshop. (Terrible habit I know)
Now, since my dad got me a copy of manga studio debut, i've started to do all my comics completly digital. If you look closely in the comic you may notice the transition from crappy lines, to good ones.
After I set up the panels and linework in manga studio, I bounce it over to photoshop to add colour and effects.

[Turnsky]

i digitally ink nowadays, it gives me a margin for error, plus it enables me to play around with the lines to a degree.

my poor tablet's seen better days, too.

i can produce in a purely digital format, though.

[Perk_daddy]

I'm old school pencil and marker; occasionally I'll whip out the nib pen. The only thing I do on the computer is the coloring, in GIMP.

[RobertBlake]

I know. I like Zip-a-Tone, but that's just me.

I've never been able to find the actual stuff...I'd love to fiddle around with it.

As would I. But alas, the stuff is damn near impossible to find.

[Jackhass]

I know. I like Zip-a-Tone, but that's just me.

I've never been able to find the actual stuff...I'd love to fiddle around with it.

As would I. But alas, the stuff is damn near impossible to find.

And likely not getting any easier with the move to making the dot patterns on computers mostly.

[Bustertheclown]

I've never been able to find the actual stuff...I'd love to fiddle around with it.

As would I. But alas, the stuff is damn near impossible to find.

And likely not getting any easier with the move to making the dot patterns on computers mostly.

Techniques don't go away because of technology, and neither do the supplies that are necessary to those techniques. Sometimes, however, they do go a bit into hiding, makings one dedication to his craft that much more rewarding. (at least in my opinion, what with "suffering for your art" and all)

The screen tone selection at the Blue Line Pro website.

[RobertBlake]

As would I. But alas, the stuff is damn near impossible to find.

And likely not getting any easier with the move to making the dot patterns on computers mostly.

Techniques don't go away because of technology, and neither do the supplies that are necessary to those techniques. Sometimes, however, they do go a bit into hiding, makings one dedication to his craft that much more rewarding. (at least in my opinion, what with "suffering for your art" and all)

The screen tone selection at the Blue Line Pro website.

Now I just need the money.

[TheSuburbanLetdown]

I still have some zip- a- tone. I got it as a gift from someone, and I have yet to use it.

[Ataraxia]

You can get zip-a-tone at nearly any art supply store here in Korea. Does anyone know where I could get some nice computer screen tones for The Gimp?

[McDuffies]

Try drawing zip-a-tone dots manually, like I do.

[Moonshadow]

I've heard there's a lot of downloadable tone patterns out there, if you substitute "Gimp" with "Photoshop." I also understand that Gimp can still read them (I think they're just defined patterns for use with the paint bucket/fill command; I don't use them myself.)

I personally mainly use the tones that come with the "How to Draw Manga Computones" books, which install as a Photoshop filter pack. If Gimp can use Photoshop filters, they'd probably work too, but cost about $20+ per book/CD set. (Last I checked, there are five of them; all five include basic tones, it's only the "special" ones that change between volumes.)

[Jackhass]

As would I. But alas, the stuff is damn near impossible to find.

And likely not getting any easier with the move to making the dot patterns on computers mostly.

Techniques don't go away because of technology, and neither do the supplies that are necessary to those techniques. Sometimes, however, they do go a bit into hiding, makings one dedication to his craft that much more rewarding. (at least in my opinion, what with "suffering for your art" and all)

The screen tone selection at the Blue Line Pro website.

Cool, thanks for the link!

[Tarts]

I basically draw comics on a long piece of lined paper, then I take a picture of it with my phone, transfer it to my computer, then I use what you people call a "curve tool". *laugh*