20 INK Tips for BEGINNERS!
Summary
TLDRThe video script offers an insightful guide for ink drawing enthusiasts, presenting 20 valuable tips to enhance their artistic skills. Starting with the importance of a well-worked-out sketch before inking, it moves on to techniques like using a light pad for sketch transfer, varying line thickness for visual impact, and practicing line tracing for confidence. The guide also emphasizes the use of different pens for detail work and the significance of muscle memory in creating fluid lines. It delves into ink wash preparation with a watercolor palette, choosing the right paper weight, and utilizing rendering methods for texture variety. Artistic advice includes focusing on contrast to direct the viewer's attention, using silhouettes effectively, and employing white ink for highlights. The script concludes with the recommendation to document the finished ink drawing digitally, either through scanning or photography, ensuring the artwork is preserved for future reference.
Takeaways
- 📝 Complete your sketch and make a tonal thumbnail before inking to minimize decisions during the inking process.
- 💡 Use a light pad to transfer your sketch for a clean line art without pencil marks on the final paper.
- ✍️ Employ a mix of thick and thin lines in your line art to guide the viewer's eye and add depth to your drawing.
- 🖋 Practice tracing lines to build muscle memory and steadiness for confident strokes in your final drawing.
- 🎨 Use a watercolor palette and eyedroppers to mix ink washes, and create a swatch key for easy reference.
- 📄 Choose a paper that is 140 pounds or heavier to prevent buckling when using ink washes.
- 🔍 Use different rendering methods in ink to create varied textures and make objects appear distinct from each other.
- 🌿 Master dry brushing to produce various textures, which is especially useful for natural elements like fur and grass.
- 🛠️ Utilize frayed old brushes to create a unique scratchy texture that can add a natural touch to your ink drawings.
- 🌈 Leave a puddle of ink wash on the paper to create a dark rim effect for interesting textures and patterns.
- 🖌️ Apply wet-on-wet techniques for soft gradients, particularly useful for creating lifelike rosy cheeks.
- 🎭 Focus on contrast to direct the viewer's attention to the focal point of your piece.
- 🐾 Use silhouettes effectively to show what's happening in your piece without relying on busy line work.
- ⚫️ Don't be afraid to use very dark or black values and use white ink for line art over black shapes for added impact.
- ⭐ Use white ink for specular highlights as it's easier to add them at the end rather than leaving white spaces.
- 🌌 Create lineless shapes to recede in space and use hard versus soft edges to set objects further or closer in the composition.
- 📷 Make a good digital record of your completed ink drawing, using a scanner or a camera with natural light for the best results.
Q & A
What is the first tip the speaker gives for ink drawing?
-The first tip is to work out your sketch as much as possible before you start inking, making artistic decisions ahead of time and creating a tonal thumbnail to guide the ink application.
How does using a light pad help in the drawing process?
-A light pad allows you to see your sketch through the paper, enabling you to trace the line art without touching a pencil to your final piece of paper, which is especially useful when transitioning from digital sketching to traditional inking.
What is the significance of using a variety of thick and thin lines in line art?
-Using a variety of line widths helps to create different effects, lead the eye around the drawing, and control the order in which the viewer sees different elements of the composition.
Why is practicing tracing lines before starting the final drawing beneficial?
-Practicing tracing lines helps to build muscle memory and a steady hand, which is crucial for creating confident strokes that follow the sketch, ultimately improving the technical side of inking.
How does the speaker recommend mixing ink washes?
-The speaker suggests using a watercolor palette and eyedroppers to control the amount of ink and water, making a swatch for each shade and creating a key for reference.
What type of paper is recommended for ink washes?
-A paper that is 140 pounds or heavier is recommended, as it doesn't buckle as much when water is added, making it easier to create clean line work.
Why is it important to use different rendering methods in ink drawing?
-Different rendering methods allow for the creation of various textures and can make objects in a piece look distinct from one another, even if they share similar tones.
How does dry brushing create different effects in ink drawing?
-Dry brushing involves applying a brush with pure ink directly onto the page without water, which can create different effects based on the amount of ink left on the brush and the pressure and motion used during application.
What can a frayed old brush be used for in ink drawing?
-A frayed old brush can be used to create a scratchy or dry brush texture, which is particularly effective for rendering fur, grasses, feathers, and other textured elements.
How does leaving a puddle of ink wash on the paper create a unique effect?
-Leaving a puddle of ink wash on the paper results in a dark rim effect as the pigment collects at the edge of the puddle, creating a unique texture and pattern that adds dimension to the artwork.
Why is it recommended to make a good digital record of your completed ink drawing?
-Making a digital record of your completed ink drawing is important for preserving the work, especially since ink drawings can be delicate and prone to damage. A scanner or a good quality digital camera can be used for this purpose.
Outlines
🎨 Ink Drawing Preparation and Techniques
The first paragraph emphasizes the importance of preparing a detailed sketch and tonal thumbnail before starting to ink. It suggests using a light pad for transferring sketches and recommends a variety of pens for different line widths. The artist also discusses practicing line tracing to build muscle memory and the technique of using a pulling motion for fluid lines. Mixing ink washes with a watercolor palette and eyedroppers is also covered, along with the importance of using heavy paper for ink washes to prevent buckling.
🖌️ Advanced Ink Application and Texture Creation
This paragraph delves into advanced ink rendering methods, such as using different ink application techniques to create varied textures. It highlights the use of dry brushing to achieve various effects and how to utilize an old, frayed brush for a unique texture. The artist also shares a tip on creating a dark rim effect by leaving a puddle of ink wash on the paper and discusses the importance of using a small amount of pressure and frequently reloading the brush for even ink washes.
🌈 Artistic Approaches to Ink Drawing
The third paragraph focuses on the artistic side of ink drawing, starting with the use of contrast to direct the viewer's focus to the focal point of the artwork. It discusses the use of silhouettes and the interplay between light and dark shapes. The artist also explains how to use white ink for line art over dark shapes and for creating specular highlights. Additionally, the paragraph covers the concept of lineless shapes receding in space and the use of hard versus soft edges to suggest depth.
📸 Preserving Your Ink Artwork
The final paragraph stresses the importance of making a good digital record of completed ink drawings. It suggests using a scanner for high-quality reproductions or a digital camera with a tripod and natural light for capturing images. The artist shares personal experiences with different tools and invites viewers to share their tips and experiences in the comments section.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Inktober Challenge
💡Technical Side of Inking
💡Light Pad
💡Line Art
💡Practice
💡Ink Washes
💡Heavy Paper
💡Rendering Methods
💡Contrast
💡Silhouette
💡Digital Record
Highlights
The importance of completing the sketch as much as possible before starting to ink to reduce decisions made during the inking process.
Using a light pad to transfer the sketch onto the final paper without the need for pencil marks.
Employing a variety of thick and thin lines to create dynamic line art effects.
Practicing tracing lines to build muscle memory and steady hand for confident strokes.
Mixing ink washes using a watercolor palette and eyedroppers for precise control over ink consistency.
Selecting a paper weight of 140 pounds or heavier to prevent buckling when applying ink washes.
Considering a watercolor block for sketching to prevent paper buckling during painting.
Utilizing various rendering methods in ink drawing to create diverse textures and effects.
Mastering dry brushing techniques to create different textures and effects with minimal ink.
Using frayed brushes to achieve a unique, natural texture in ink drawings.
Creating a dark rim effect by leaving a puddle of ink wash on the paper.
Achieving even ink washes by using a small amount of pressure and frequently reloading the brush.
Employing wet-on-wet techniques for soft gradients, particularly for effects like rosy cheeks.
Enhancing the visual impact of an ink piece by concentrating the greatest contrast on the focal point.
Using silhouettes effectively to guide the viewer's attention and show what's happening in the piece.
Overlaying white ink on black shapes to create line art and enhance the visual appeal.
Using white ink for specular highlights to avoid the difficulty of leaving white areas in the initial sketch.
Creating depth by using lineless shapes that recede in space.
Manipulating hard and soft edges to control the perception of distance and focus in a drawing.
Making a good digital record of completed ink drawings using a scanner or a camera for archiving and sharing.
Transcripts
hey everyone a couple months ago I
finished the 2019 inktober challenge and
now I'm coming back with 20 new ink
drawing tips I made one of these last
year after the 2018 challenge and I have
a whole bunch of new tips for you so
without further ado here's 20 tips for
ink drawing these tips are gonna be sort
of in the order that I use them as I go
through a drawing from sketch to finish
so if you want to take notes then
they're roughly in the order that you
might use them in alright my first tip
and probably the number one
recommendation I have for anyone who's
getting going with ink drawing is to
work out your sketch as much as possible
before you start inking I found that
early on the less decisions I had to
make while I was inking the better I
wanted to improve on the technical side
of inking the actual application of ink
to the paper so I decided to make all
the artistic decisions ahead of time
down to working out the sketch pretty
completely and making a tonal thumbnail
that showed me exactly what shade of ink
wash I wanted to put where alright tip
number two is once you've got that
sketch pretty figured out use a light
pad to transfer your sketch you can buy
one online for like twenty to forty
dollars or you can even make your own if
you have a glass table and a light light
pad or a light box allows you to see
your sketch through the paper so you can
trace the line art without ever having
to touch a pencil to your final piece of
paper I love this method because it
allows me to sketch digitally print out
my sketch and then ink it traditionally
right away I like sketching digitally
when I want to try out a bunch of
different ideas or use the liquify or
transform tools to edit my sketches
alright tip number three is to use a
variety of thick and thin lines when
you're creating your line art I use a
lot of different pens to accomplish
different line art effects I use the
super fine tip zebra brush pens for big
impactful sushi lines and important
areas of the drawing like the outline of
a character's face or their lash lines
on their eyes I use a couple different
sizes of micron pens to do fine detail
work and technical drawing and then I
try to use a combination of the two a
combination of the thick lines and the
thin lines as well as lines that go from
say
to thin or thin to thick to lead the eye
on the drawing and control the order
that the viewer sees different elements
of the composition creating these
confident strokes that follow the sketch
that you've laid out can be challenging
so tip number four is to practice
tracing lines before moving on to your
final drawing I use a pencil to create a
variety of big fluid energetic lines and
then go over those sketches using the
different pens this creates muscle
memory and a steady hand this is a
process that takes a lot of time and I'm
far from perfect but I noticed that
every time I do this exercise I get a
little bit better and a little mini tip
when I'm tracing really big lines that I
want to feel fluid I use a pulling
motion I pull with my entire arm almost
my entire body even not just the wrist
this is a technique that also takes
practice but knowing how to do it really
pays off number five use a watercolor
palette and eyedroppers to mix your ink
washes I control the amount of ink and
water that I drop into each little dish
and then I swatch out each shade and
make a little key for myself and if you
think you might get confused try putting
your palette right onto a piece of paper
and making the swatches right next to
each dish mini pit number one use the
exact same paper for your swatches as
you're going to use for your final piece
because different papers absorb ink
differently and many tip to wait 15
minutes or so after you finish swatching
because your ink washes tend to dry a
little bit lighter than when you put
them down tip number six use a paper
that's 140 pounds or heavier if you plan
to use ink washes I'm a fan of the
arches hot press watercolor paper I buy
the pads of nine by twelve paper
whenever they go on sale for about
sixteen dollars but there's lots of
different brands hot press and cold
press are both good a heavy paper
doesn't buckle as much when you add
water and it's easier to create center
line work with two if you plan on
sketching directly on to the paper that
you're going to be using then my tip
number seven three you
to consider trying a watercolor block
these are glued or on the edges and they
help prevent the paper from buckling as
much when you're done painting you just
take a knife and unglue the sides if you
need to transfer the sketch you can do
what I do and tape the edges once the
line arts finished and if you want to
get really fancy you can stretch your
paper but I never do that Frank drawings
there's lots of tutorials on YouTube for
stretching watercolor paper though if
you want to try it a little mini tip for
this make sure you use painters tape
when taping your edges and pull the tape
up slowly to avoid tears alright getting
into the meat of an ink drawing now my
tip number eight is to use all of the
rendering methods available to you ink
is such a diverse medium there are so
many different ways to create lush
textures using different methods of ink
application for example I can achieve a
medium grey with a wash
with some scratchy dry brushing with
pointillism with cross hatching the list
goes on and what I love about that is
that I can make two objects in a piece
look totally separate from one another
even if they're similar in tone tone
meaning like the level of darkness the
shade and I do this by varying the
method of ink application jumping off
that last point tip number nine is to
learn to make lots of different effects
with dry brushing dry brushing is when
you take a dry brush you don't add any
water to it you dip it straight into
pure ink and then you apply that brush
to the page you can create different
effects based on how much ink you leave
on the brush you can wipe a lot of it
off for a light ink load or leave most
of it on for a heavy ink load the
motions and pressure you create when
applying the ink also impact the results
you can create lots of different
textures this way in this clip I'm using
a really light dry brush over a piece
that already has washes applied to add a
little bit of texture and variation to
the tone and create a more realistic
appearance of fur on this box
I used dry brushing in this piece to
make the plant textures those grass
textures on the undead plant creature
I used that same technique in this
creature here and also on the fur on her
jacket and for her hair you can make
lots of different hair textures as dry
brushing like I did the hair with dry
brushing here too with like lots of
little round circles using a really
light ink load you can get a great
effect another dry brushing technique
and my tip number 10 is to use a frayed
old brush to create a scratchy or dry
brush texture when I realize I've
destroyed a brush by accident by leaving
paint or glue to dry on it I'm always
pretty down about it but since I started
ink drawing in 2018 all of my destroyed
brushes have a new home in my ink
drawing tool kit frayed brushes are
actually really fantastic for fur
textures grasses feathers rosy cheeks
add ink to the brush white most of it
off same as before and you're good to go
different types of bristles will create
different textures so you can start a
little collection but when they're
afraid they just add that little extra
bit of randomness that looks really
natural and something like fur here I
used the same frayed old acrylic brush
it's a size zero acrylic brush that got
absolutely destroyed by some glue I used
a lighter include for the belly area and
a darker ink load for the back but yeah
just one brush for this whole piece here
tip number eleven is to leave a puddle
of ink wash on the paper to create a
dark rim effect this is one of my
favorite ink wash techniques when a
puddle of wash sits on the page the
pigment collects to the edge of the
puddle and you get a really fun dark
rimmed stain on the page which can be
used to create all different types of
textures and patterns and feels really
unique to kind of these like watery
mediums like ink and watercolor you can
also let it dry halfway and then blend
some of it out like I'm doing here for
for other effects you can use this to
create all sorts of different textures
and here's how it looks like when it
dries you can see that sort of dark Ram
all around the edges with the lighter
interior that is kind
unique to watercolor and ink and watery
media like that
I used it here in this piece so that I
could add a lot of interest and the
sense of additional volume to the cloth
here while really just applying one flat
ink wash that creates more dimension you
can see here how it dried I really like
how this effects looks on things like
clothing so on the flip side of that
don't make a puddle if you want an even
ink wash if you want a really even ink
wash load the brush with the minimum
amount of wash you need to fill the area
and practice using a small amount of
pressure and reloading the brush often
to avoid puddles and if this is
challenging for you then you can try
filling in shapes on a practice sheet of
paper to try to get an even wash before
moving on to your final line art another
technique to mention and my tip number
13 is to use wet on wet to make soft
gradients for something like warm rosy
cheeks wet on wet can be the best method
to get a soft bleeding gradient so you
wet the area first with a thin layer of
water careful to only wet where the ink
should bleed - and then you lightly tap
the ink wash where you want it and you
let it bleed out on its own alright
getting out of the pure technical side
of things and moving into the artistic
side of things
contrast is your best friend and an ink
piece that's my tip number 14 try to
concentrate the area of greatest
contrast where you want the viewer to
look first aka the focal point once
you've figured out your focal point
design the rest of the piece to support
that focal point lead into it and never
overpower it in order to do this I
usually put my darkest dark right up
against my lightest light and a detailed
impactful area of the piece then I
neutralize the rest of the image moving
outward continuing off of that tip
number 15 silhouette is your other best
friend and controlling these these two
elements really carefully is to
we're super-important putting a light
silhouette against the dark shape or
vice versa is a really powerful way to
clearly show the viewer what's happening
in your piece without needing a ton of
busy line work here in this piece you
can see how I use the dark to silhouette
the boys face and this one I use the
dark to silhouette silhouette the light
puppies face and in this one I am
actually doing a dark silhouette on top
of lighter backgrounds tip number 16
remember you can use white line over
black shapes just like you use dark
lines over light shapes don't be afraid
to go to a very dark or even a pure
black value this is where ink shines use
a white ink with a little brush to
create line art over a black shape my
favorite brands are delete or - white
ink and kotake white ink and I'm using a
size 0 faux sable brush you can also use
a white ink pen such as a signal uniball
white pen if your style is more rendered
and less graphic try using a white rim
light to render a dark form or a black
form alright continuing with the white
ink theme my tip number 17 is to use a
white ink for all your specular
highlights trying to leave little areas
white is a huge pain things like I shine
metal highlights and these stars here
are really easy to create with white ink
at the end here I'm using the signal
uniball white pen to draw on all these
little stars it would have been way way
harder to try to leave that white than
to just add it in at the end tip number
18 is lineless shapes will recede in
space this is something you can use to
your advantage here in this piece I've
created three levels of distance and one
drawing the dog closest to us is in the
full range of value with lots of dark
darks and that brings it forward the
second dog and the person are in a
limited lighter value range and they're
set back by this smoky atmosphere
they're still fully lined though and
that keeps them in the mid ground the
fire has no line art and as a result if
falls back in space and becomes a
background element little tricks like
this especially when you plan them from
the
getting can really help a piece come
together tip 19 is to make use of hard
versus soft edges as a continuation of
the last point fuzzier line art created
with a brush or smudged while it's still
wet will appear to blur you can use this
effect to set objects further or closer
in space the hard line art will appear
to come into focus and will seem
important next to fuzzy edges this is
another method you can use to design
your focal point and set back the rest
of the drawing oK we've gotten through
19 ink tips together your drawing is
finished the last thing that I want you
to do am i step number 20 is when your
ink drawing is complete make a good
digital record of it if you can afford
it a scanner is a really valuable asset
the one I have was about $200 it's an
epsilon perfection the 600 photo scanner
and it will last me for many years but
luckily you don't need a scanner to make
a go copy of your art if you have a
digital camera the best way that I've
found a copy using a camera is a tripod
and natural outdoor light and if you
don't have a digital camera just make
the best use of your phone put your
drawing on a flat surface by a bright
window and nice morning light these
photos that you're seeing now we're all
taken with a samsung galaxy s 8 and
natural window light all right I just
finished editing that video I'm feeling
pretty happy with it I feel like they're
all things that I would have really
liked no sooner that would have like
help me move quicker would have improved
my speed and quality if I'd known them
earlier on so hopefully you enjoy the
tips let me know in the comments if you
implement them how that goes for you and
also feel free to leave your own tips in
the comments I'll definitely read them
and like upvote ones you see that you
like I'll try to put another one of
these videos together in the future I'm
always discovering new stuff with ink
that I want to talk about just because
it's such a versatile medium for like
appearing so simple at a first glance so
yeah subscribe if you want to see more
and I'll see you guys next time
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