Inking
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Background
Inking within itself is an artistic ability. Many view the process as simply tracing, but there is an entire line of work within the comic/graphic novel universe. An inker will refine the rough graphite lines of a penciler, giving a smooth, flowing interpretation of a penciler's sketch. Some famous inkers include... Scott Williams -best known for his work with Jim Lee (award-winning penciler) in DC Comic's Batman: Hush; currently inking All-Star Batman and Robin with Jim Lee.
You = Inker
Because most of us do not have professional line artists under hire, we must do the inking ourselves. This more akin to professional manga artists that typically pencil, ink and color their whole piece. There are several processes and tools to employ when generating quality line art.
Tools of the Trade
Pens/Markers
The popular choice for beginner artists. Special thin-tipped pens can be purchased at office supply and art stores. Thicknesses range anywhere from .01 mm to 2mm. There are also inking markers made to imitate brushes. These may be an expensive buy for some, a Sharpie® Ultra Fine Point marker is an alternative choice. (A warning concerning Sharpies: there may be an undesirable purple tint to lineart when scanned in.)
Brushes
More difficult to master, some professional inkers use thin brushes for a more natural feel.
Crow Quills
The old school style that is still widely used today. Crow quills are difficult and tedious in use, not at all for beginning artists. The sharp points have a tendancy to tear computer paper, and other low-grade media.
Ink
If using brushes or crow quills, India Ink is the professional (and traditional) choice. Other, less expensive, black ink will do nearly as well. Experiment with different types.
Pencil
Some artist feel that the color produced by a graphite pencil has more organic look. A mechanical pencil with .5mm or .7mm lead is recommended, but just about any pencil will work. (The idea behind using mechanical is simple: they stay at a constant, sharp point.) As for lead type, if you go hard, the line will be firm but difficult to see; if you select a softer lead, the line will be darker but soft lead has a tendancy to smudge.
Software
Many computer programs can digitally simulate professional inking. While tracing your work in your favorite Photoshop-type program may work, it is not the best route. Using a tablet can produce crooked, uneven lines in Photoshop, and if you use a mouse, heaven help you. Quality line art on these programs takes a larger chunk of time, but is quite possible. Several vector-art programs, such as Flash and Adobe Illustrator, will take your uneven tablet-drawn lines and smooth them out. They create anchor points on a line that can be stretched and manipulated, along with handles that change the curve of the line. There are options to vary the width and brush stroke. Line art produced in these programs is smoother and more stylistic. These are not entirely without their faults. Trial and error is key.
Adobe Illustrator CS2 includes the cheapo option of "Live Trace." Live Trace can take a sketch, inked work and other media, and generate quality line art. The whole process is infinately tweakable. The program claims to be able to go from a sketch, straight to line art, but this only works well if you are an extremely neat and tidy sketcher.
Process
Pen and Paper
Direct
Ink directly on your sketch with a pen/marker/brush. Make sure all the ink has dried before erasing your pencil marks. Scan in the computer.
Pros: Simple and easy; doesn't require much time;
Cons: The lineart may have eraser smudges; you have one shot at getting it right; you lose your orginal sketch;
Tracing Paper
Tape a piece of tracing paper or vellum to your orginal sketch. Tracing paper can wrinkle and scan unevenly. Vellum is the higher standard, but it is expensive. Trace lines with a marker/pen/brush. Scan your image into the computer. (For some scanners, you may have to place a blank sheet of paper behind it so that the tracing paper scans in white.)
Pros: produces neat lineart; if you make a large mistake you can start over with a new sheet of tracing paper; saves the oringinal sketch
Cons: tracing paper may scan unevenly; vellum is expensive
Digital
Photoshop
Scan in your lineart and load it into Photoshop (or some other similar software). Create a transparent layer above your sketch. Carefully go over your work with either the paintbrush tool or the pencil tool. A line drawn by the paintbrush tool fades slightly on the edges, giving the stroke a more natural look. The pencil tool produces a clean line with a more pixel-like flavor. (A way to tell the difference between them is if you filled in (paintbucket) an area of paintbrush lineart, a whitish halo would rest between the fill and line. If you repeated the process for a penciled piece, there would be no halo.) It seems most artists prefer using the paintbrush for its softer appearance, even it they have to take the extra time to color under the lineart as opposed to into it.
Pros: solid, pure black lines; option of line art in colors other than black; completed lineart is ready in format to be colored; you can use the heavenly UNDO key
Cons: tedious; some angles are awkward on a tablet; not for mouse users
Vector Art
Upload your drawing to a vector art program such as Flash or Illustrator. Using the pencil tool, you can trace your lines on a seperate layer. The trick is to work one stroke at a time. Visualize where you want your strokes to begin and end. The program will smooth a line and add anchor points to it. You may grab an anchor point and drag it around to change the stroke's length and direction. There are also little handles on each point that can be turned or extended to alter the curve of the line between two consecutive anchor points. It takes a while to get the hang of this, but when learned, you can generate flowing, stylistic lines.
Pros: incredibly attractive lineart; the UNDO button; infinate ways to vary your strokes
Cons: takes a while to get used to; there are a long of weird sorts of quirks to worry about (example, if you draw a line in Illustrator close to another selected line, the two lines will join into one, effectively screwing up your two strokes.
However if you double click the brush tool in Adobe Ilustrator you can set it to automaticaly de-select each line after drawing it. These lines can be later tweaked by using the line selection tool.
Live Trace
The only reason to buy Adobe Illustrator CS2. Scan in your work and load it onto Illustrator. It helps to have dark lines, smooth lines or a manually inked piece. Select the image and click the "Live Trace" option. Lineart will be rendered from preset settings. The think about Live Trace is the "Live." Your orginal image is still under the line art, fully intact. This way, you can alter the trace settings off your original image. Additionally, if you own Adobe Photoshop CS2, Illustrator will automatically detect any changes in the original piece. Say you erased a line in Photoshop CS2 (must be CS2 version) and resaved the image. Illustrator would send you a blurb asking you if you wished to update your lineart. If you choose to, the line erased in Photoshop will be depleted from your line art. A hole panel of options allows your to tweak your line art to perfection.
Pros: lighting fast; high quality work; infinately variable
Cons: it's package deal: you get a lot of inking you like along some parts you don't like;
In-Depth Tutorials
Drago's Inking tutorial! All art ©Drago (Jasmine Hopkins) 2009.
A unique inking process created by Shard that combines classic and ditigal inking. This article is particularly helpful to those that do not own tablets and desire attractive line art.
Other Resources
http://evilgeniusanimations.com/other/tutorials/TutorialList.htm
