Little Red, sleeping away

Here is where I was a few days ago with that tree problem:


and here it is today:


I just printed it(non photo blue) onto bristol board, and I'll be inking within the next couple days. Any thoughts before I hit it with the inks?

Basic Inking Process Tutorial

I just posted this tutorial on deviantArt, and now I'm sharing it everywhere else:



STEP ONE:
To start, I draw out small sketches on a page in my sketch book, trying out various ideas. Once I have something I like, I scan it into the computer at a high dpi (600dpi or so), and reprint it at a much larger scale. From there, I can retrace it onto a clean page in my sketchbook and refine the picture, fixing mistakes, and adding details.



STEP TWO:
Now with a better pencil sketch, I scan it into the computer once again, and convert it to a faded cyan (called non-photo blue or non reproductive blue) in Photoshop. To do this, I convert the image mode to Grayscale, then to CMYK. Then I go to Image>Adjust>Channel Mixer. From here, I leave the Cyan Output Channel untouched and move directly to the Magenta Output Channel. I drop the Magenta level from 200% to 0%. Next I move to the Yellow Output Channel, dropping the Yellow level to 0%. Then finally I move to the Black Output Channel, dropping the Black level down to 0%. You should be left with a Cyan image. The next step is to change the layer opacity to 50%, so the Cyan isn’t so intense.From there, I print it onto bristol board. This way, my pencils are left untouched by a possible ink mishap, and my pencil illustration is perfectly replicated onto illustration board without blemishes like heavy erasing or pencil smudges.



STEP THREE:
Here, I begin my inking process. I use Higgins Black Magic Ink, and two Connoisseur brushes http://connoisseurart.com/, one small and one fat. I also use two kinds of Bristol Board. I use Strathmore 300 Series 9”x12” vellum Bristol Board for Illustrations like this, and Canson Fanboy 10”x14.25” Manga Art Boards for manga pages (or Comic Art Boards for comic sized books). I prefer vellum to smooth because it grabs to the pencil pretty well, but its only a personal preference. I also enjoy Canson Fanboy’s Art Boards because they come bluelined with rules for panelling and marking bleed room, safe area, and actual page size.



STEP FOUR:
I decided to scan this at about 80% complete. If you notice, there are a couple inking errors, but I will fix them with acrylic titanium white paint when I am finished. At this point, everything has been done with a brush, but now I am going to use a Micron Pen to ink her fine hair lines, her eyes, and the fringe on the cloak/serape. I have left these specifically because I will be using a french curve for inking the hair lines, and circle templates for the eyes. I am using a pen for the fringe because they are so small, I don’t trust myself completely yet with a brush to get all that line work done without making a fatal mistake so close to the final product.



STEP FIVE:
Finally done with line art. I scanned it in at 1200dpi as bitmap, which removes any of the non photo blue that can still be seen. From here, I’ll convert it to grayscale, and rescale it to 300 dpi at the correct size it will be printed at. With just some minor cleanup of stray spots of black, the image is now ready to be colored!!



STEP SIX:
At this point, I’m sure everyone has a grasp on the actual digital coloring process in Photoshop.

So, this is my Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding Hood), which I am planning on making a manga sized comic book. If I can work fast enough, the book should be printed in time for the Spokane Comic Convention, May 30th, 2009.




MY TOOLS:
Okay, here’s a run down of the most basic tools that I use. First off, I have a set of Speedball nibs and nib holders, and I’d use that over the Micron pen that I used for the fine lines before. The ink in the Microns pulled up slightly when I did some erasing, and its just not that strong of a pigment compared to the rest of the inked page. Next, I have a wrist rest for a computer mouse. This elevates my hand when inking, keeping me from dragging my palm into fresh ink. Next to that, I have a Gerber baby food jar. I use that for my water. I am currently using Higgins Black Magic for my ink, it looks very dark when I am done inking. I also use a metal lid from an energy drink can to dispense my ink. I can use the dropper in the Higgins Black Magic, and drop a few drops in the lid, and I can visually see how far I am dipping. If you dip too far with your nib, ink can soak into the wood of the brush and start to ruin it. Secondly, I don’t have more than a few drops out at a time, which is better than an unopened bottle of ink that could cause major damage if spilled. Lastly, I have my brushes and Bristol Board, but I’ve already mentioned the product names.

I hope this tutorial gave you a basic understanding of my process, and maybe you learned something that can help you excel with your art.
-Jesse 1/24/2009

School Daze

First, my daily art:


On break at work I cleaned up the page, spotted some more black onto Robin's coat which I think really helped. Then I did my usual fun coloring out of boredom. Its nice to have colored pages in a sketchbook, its more striking, even if my coloring is pretty flat. It has been a while since I used colored pencils, I need to get into a rhythm before I start getting too creative.

Now a more imperative topic. School started today... Oh the horror. I could not fall asleep for the life of me last night. If something important is happening the next day, I can't sleep. Anyway, I woke up and got online to check out my online courses. Health and Astronomy. My Health class doesn't seem too bad, but my Astronomy seems to be a nightmare. I will have to be extra organized and assertive to accomplish my classes, art, and everything else I want to happen this quarter.
My Astronomy teacher wrote a novella worth of information. The syllabus, an intro letter, discussion questions, a lecture, this week's agenda. It was a lot. I just read through it and my eyes are bugging out. I had to write notes on just what he expects each week from me! Tomorrow I have to get up early to pick up my books, my financial aid check, and a parking pass just in case I need to do something on campus. I'm frightened by the amount of work this teacher is demanding. I am very interested in Astronomy, but I am hokey pokey about my pace. Maybe I need a fire under my ass to jump start my mindset back into a school sort of pace.

In other news, I totally forgot my Spanish Instructor's birthday party. We are good friends, and hang out a bit outside of classes. I have been so bogged down getting over being sick, kind of feeling in a rut, trying to get art ready for a few events, and mentally preparing/fearing school. My mind was elsewhere all weekend, I totally forgot it and I feel horrible. After I am done posting this entry, I will be drawing her a birthday card. It will be personal and it will mean a lot to her. I also packed up my guitar and a folding music stand. For her belated present, I am going to play a couple classical songs. I was also wanting to paint a sign for her class as a surprise. She just got a new office for her school, and needs to decorate. I am going to hand paint her Spanish class sign, I think she will like it. Unfortunately, do to time constraints, it won't be in her hands until probably next week.

Last bit of info. Last night, during my insomnia, I watched the very tail end of a PBS program. There is a black scientist guy I see all the time on tv. I've seen him on Conan O'brien talking about astronomy, he gets so excited about it. I've seen him interviewed on news networks, he's somehow some kind of big science geek. Anyway, he had some show on, and he was talking about the evolution of writing. I would have LOVED to watch the whole program, history is awesome, especially about things I am interested in. Anyway, he started talking about his crow quill pen (basically the same thing I use to ink, but I use steel nibs rather than an actual cut feather tip). He said that if he is going to write something important like an article or a speach, he uses a crow quill pen. Each time he dips for new ink, he gets about six or seven words before redipping. He states that this process gives the piece a cadence feel to his writing, he thinks a lot more, and there is a unique thoughtful flow that is lost in the 'now now now' technology of a keyboard.
I really think he stumbled onto something so true. Even when I use a brush to ink, I am so much more thoughtful with each stroke. It is so different, and has a more organic flow than any pen.

Okay, enough yammering. Time to draw a Birthday Card.

Doodling and La Bamba

I think I mentioned this before, but I bought a new sketchbook. This book is just for me to practice 100% comic stuff. I want to have nice complete work in it, inking, colors, panel layouts, whatever.
So, while watching La Bamba, I drew up this:


All using the pentel brush pen. I haven't erased pencil marks yet because its still too wet to brush an eraser over. Approximately 45 minutes all together. Another thing I am trying to do is loosen up and have fun, when I participate in the 24 hour comic day, I don't want to stall and just stare at a blank page. I did a lot of that last year. I notice if I start doing something, anything, it makes it easier to keep going.