Lousy_Day

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but I think a grounding in physical mediums is beneficial as it is much more unforgiving and teaches an artist to be much more disciplined leading to fewer mistakes and therefore less time wasted. I think starting off the bat in digital for a new artist is a silly move as it leads to alot of laziness in the creative process. a computer is just another tool, a very versatile tool but you should still need to know what your doing before you proceed to using it for everything.

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While I think I agree, I am not sure if it will be true for the new generation of artists growing up today, for whom computers are a very natural part of their lives. I am sure there are kids whose first drawing was done on a digital paper with a tablet.

I got to hear Andrew Jones speak at a conference last year. (Silly me didn't know who he was back then, and didn't bother to get an autograph.) He talked about his godson to make a point that children don't have preconceptions of what they can or cannot do. They just pick it up and start doing stuff without you expalining how it is supposed to be done.

It is true that people with strong traditional backgrounds tend to have more success with digital art than new artists starting out digitally. But it may be because of the fact that they are already proficient in one medium that allows them to adopt quickly to another medium.

I learned to draw on paper, but I mostly learned to paint on my computer. When I do a traditional painting (which isn't very often, because I am a lazy [censored] who doesn't like to get his hands dirty), I have to think about how I paint on my computer, then find ways to do it on paper/canvas. "I want to lower the opacity...guess I should thin it down with water." Stuff like that. I can probably do a better job than someone who has no experince painting, but would it be a good reason for that person to learn to paint digitally first so they know what they are doing when they paint traditionally?

I do agree that the ease of fixing a mistake on a computer can be a downside for beginners. Many times you will already have undo'd before you had the time to struggle with and learn from your mistakes. On the other hand, it is also easier to experiment with and thus make more "mistakes" quicker. So if you learn to learn from your mistakes, you will have learned more in a shorter amount of time.

Back to the discussion of comic art once again, does anyone else find it interesting that Asian comic books aren't colored? I see how it cuts down both cost and time, but I wonder if there are other reasons? Maybe it is seen as sort of a continued tradition of eastern watercolor/ink paintings? Also the subject matter can be anything really, and usually NOT about superheroes in tights.

Some of the latest posts (special thanks to LJ, John, and Zekiran) answered a lot of questions I had.

There seems to be another "discussion" going on, which I also find interesting. Maybe there needs to be a distinction between Comic Art and Comic Style. Comic art is simply what you find in comic books, the sequential illustrations, and even the cover. It usually deals with the superhero subject matter. The creation process, while there is one that is typically used in the industry, does not define what comic art is. If someone took the time to make a comic book filled with 100 pages of pastel paintings, it would still be considered comic art.

Comic style, however, is defined by the black lines most people associate with comic books. Therefore, you can have comic art that is not in comic style, and non-comic art in comic style.

Inking(black lines), then, should not be overlooked in creation of a comic style piece. It was established that going through the three specialized stages was the most efficient way of creating a comic book in a timely manner.

So my clarified original question is, if a single artist were to do a Comic Style piece, from start to finish, digitally, would it still be the most efficient way to go through the three seperate stages?

I have been wondering about that, because I see the term "digital inking" all the time here and on DA, as well as WIPs of these stages, whether a piece was done traditionally or digitally. Talking about digital pencils and inks as seperate stages sounded a little arbitrary to me, as one "brush" could be used to do everything. It also seemed that the flexibilities of the digital media eliminated some of the limitations that necessiated these stages, as you could make your "pencils" as permanent as your "inks", and your inks could be as easily modified as your pencils. Maybe I am just getting too caught up with the terms, and should view them as loose and final sketch.

Anyway, what I wanted to know was if people take advantage of the digital medium to blur/merge the stages, and it looks like they do indeed, which can be something as simple as adding accentuating lines or details after or as you color.

Thanks all for insightful comments and examples. I am learning a lot, even with (or perhaps because of) the arguments. I will chime in before it turns into a flaming war and the thread gets locked. I am still trying to organize my thoughts, but I have a clearer idea of what I am asking. I will clarify my question in my next post when I focus on the digital medium.

But first, I will summarize what I have learned so far about conventional comic art to refresh my understanding, and so everyone is more or less on the same page. Please correct me if I am getting it wrong.

Pencilling, inking, and coloring are three specialized processes involved in creation of comic books. These stages, where different artists are responsible for each stage, were a byproduct of the comic book industry where the creation process was optimized for speed and efficiency. So these stages in turn became associated with the comic style art.

Now things start to get a little confusing for me. Artworks missing the signature black outlines (thus having skipped or maybe painted on top of inking), such as that amazing Alex Ross cover, are not comic art in the strict sense of the term, but rather illustrations with fantasy/superhero theme.

I can see where inking is an important and necessary step in the traditional method. If you started applying color over pencil lines, you won't be able to see your lines pretty soon, and what you can see may get smeared. It is also convenient to have clean lines if it will be colored by another person.

I also understand inking/pen drawing is can be an art form in and of itself, and it takes years of hard work to be truly good at it. Those examples LJ showed are a proof of that. But I think those were meant to be finished drawings, not an intermidiary step meant to be colored later. You wouldn't want to do too much with inking so there is room for color, not to mention it would take too long, as it is a painstaking process. A side question, when an artist colors over another artist's linework, do they preserve 100% of the inking?

Is the purpose of inking simply to provide clean, dynamic, and well-thought-out lines to work with, or something more? Someone mentioned composition, but I think you'd already have most of that worked out in the pencilling stage. It is hard to imagine a poorly composed pencil sketch turning into a compositional masterpiece after inking.

I will take a break now, give it some more thought, and move on to the discussion of comic art as it relates to the digital medium. I am aware that my paragraphs don't flow very well from one to the next. I am just having trouble organizing everything into one cohesive piece.

Happy birthday!

My penguins would love that MM set.

Just missing Aprosaath and Alex, I think. Hopefully they haven't forgotten...

I was intrigued by the discussion in Dispari's thread, but I didn't want to threadjack, so I am starting a new topic.

I am aware that most artists (and collectors) here gravitate towards the comic style. As a comic artist, what does digital inking mean to you? Is it an absolutely essential step in creating a comic art, or a vestige of the past, a habit that merely carried over from the traditional era? It sounded like for some, it is an expected/required stage, while for others it could easily be skipped.

As for me, I don't have a set stages or workflow that I stick to all the time, which could be good or bad I guess. I might start with a sketch, start by blocking in with shapes and values and sketch after, or don't sketch at all and add detail as I go. I have been painting in grayscale first for a few months, but now I am starting to use color from the start.

But my opinion and the way I work is irrelevant in this thread, because I don't know much abou the comic style. I am just curious what comic artists think of digital inking (and working with clearly defined stages for that matter), because it is always interesting to learn how other artists work, regardless of style and medium.

TA said use the dev names instead, if you read a few posts down the first page.

Happy Birthday!

Here's my usual setup. The portrait mode on my screen took some getting used to, but now it feels natural. The orientation depends on what I am working on. If I am painting a standing human figure for example, it is more intuitive to have the screen upright. I also like it for multitasking because I can have two full-width windows.

Thanks VexXxa for the great article.........on me!

Welcome back! Good to see you again.

Only 8 days? Time flies... I lost interest in doing a full poster with Rikti Invasion going on, because Positron never replied to my pm. I understand he is a busy man, but I don't want to spend many hours painting his character if he can't take five seconds to say thanks. I had two more teasers planned, but whatever. If I sound upset, I am not. I think what I will do is go back to my original poster and spend some more time on the helmet.

I love yours, Juggy, btw. Simple and efffective. That kid is a nice touch.

Larissa Rasputin in Corpse Bride style.

Happy Birtyday! Here is Larissa in Corpse Bride style since you liked my Corpse Bride studies.

Happy Birthday!

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if ya want pvp, you might want to go to freedom. I believe the only real active night for pvp is fight night at the arena.

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Yah I'm thinking of moving there. This place is full of people that can't let go of the past, and as a result, seems a bit desolate.Ahem.

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Boo, I was hoping Sirens pvp would pick up again. I love pvping there, as well as several of my SG friends. I saw Shadowfact in Sirens a couple of weeks ago. He said his friends made him come back from Freedom.

I haven't stopped playing since August 04, and if they offered lifetime subscriptions back then for $200-$300, I wouldn't even have considered it. It was hard enough to convince myself to go for the 3 month plan instead of monthly. I had absolutely no idea I (or anyone else) would still be playing almost 5 years later.

Thanks! I just didn't want to be the third person with a Positron poster this month, not that anyone accused me of anything last month.

Wow, you are on a roll! Keep it up!

Positron teaser

I don't think this will be my final entry, but it will do for now.

Nice marker experiments!

I have a set of 24 ShinHan twin markers. I haven't used any other markers, so I don't know how they compare. I am a marker noob, so I wouldn't know the difference anyway.

I brought my markers to life drawing once. While I am fumbling around, not sure what color to use where, this guy walks in late, sits next to me, and starts doing these amazing drawings with just 4 markers. It was the first time I saw someone using markers there, too. That was a couple of months ago, and I haven't touched my markers since. To think of it, I also haven't been to life drawing. To be fair, I think he had markers dedicated for skin tones, but it was so embarassing, lol.

I just saw this, and thought I'd post the link for inspiration.

The Best Posters of 2008

I think Technical Issues section will probably be a better place to ask.

Wow, you pulled all those names off the top of your head? Who the heck is Hero 1? Do they have a new Statesman now that Jack is gone?

Fair enough. Where can we find the real names of the devs?