How to have Better lines?

CPY 2017-01-01 18:53:50 UTC #1

I've been practicing for a while. I know there is no miracles or short cuts but I don't feel my lines getting better.

As in:

I feel I could create nicer lines with pencil than the tablet pen ...
Is there a way or certain setting that I'm not doing right?

Pls help.

Down_the_Rabbithole 2017-01-01 18:55:11 UTC #2

Honestly, yeah. It is really hard to get nice lines.

May I ask what program you're using. I might be able to help.

Evan 2017-01-01 19:07:17 UTC #3

Improvement is a slow process. I would say to keep practicing until you feel that your lines look good. While there are probably settings that can improve your lines, a steadier hand is probably more effective. The pacing at which you draw your lines can also be important.

Luminosophy 2017-01-01 19:22:54 UTC #4

You need to see each individual line as it's own artwork. This means paying close attention to all "bumps" and "lumps", stray "hairs" and so one before you move on. It should always look as though it were drawn with a ruler or a curve tool. This means lots of practice drawing free hand shapes, so you can understand what a perfect curve may look like. Because you're going to be using one tool to draw the line, and an eraser to 'shape' it. The lines you have have two issues:

For one, they're not perfect curves. Their directions taper in and out in odd places while trying to describe what should be a single conforming shape. Secondly, there's no line weight variation. The outer most curves are the same weight as the tapering ends, which makes the drawings look flat and one dimensional.

Line weight gives dimension in many ways. For example, making it heaviest on the curves of of a (realistic) mouth line and thinnest at the edges and middle, implies extra shadow if you're using flat colours. It also helps imply texture and distance. Objects closest to the viewer have the thickest lines, while the furthest objects are thinnest. A wine glass is a thin material, so very thin line art while still adding a small amount of weight to the bulge in the glass will aid in the illusion of translucency when adding colour. The book pages you have there are a thin material, so I'd be using lighter lines, while using heavier ones for the spine of the book because it's a harder material.

Shark 2017-01-01 19:26:44 UTC #5

Actually I don't see much difference in the lines in those two drawings. You probably think the pencil drawing is better because with the pencil you can give that "scratchy" look to the drawing without ruining it, while with the tablet pen you're obligated to sharp/hard lines

maximumthemokona 2017-01-01 21:15:33 UTC #6

I actually think your tablet lines look pretty good.
Personally, I have a pretty firm hand when drawing on paper but my tablet lines look shaky all the time.
If smooth lines are important to you, you might want to look into a program that has some "stroke stabilizer" feature. For example, Krita, Manga Studio, and Sai have it. It will automagically make your lines smoother, although it can get pretty imprecise at times (Krita's is monstrously slow on my PC so I gave up on using it...)

lunaartemisasama 2017-01-01 22:16:13 UTC #7

I like to practice using ink and a brush.

I think it is more about security, instead of small traces, try to do a long one in one go. But I am still learning...

gateofselidor 2017-01-01 22:55:44 UTC #8

The trick to smoother lines is to draw them faster, but it takes some practice to be able to get the right curve when you're drawing quickly. Don't be afraid of using the eraser tool to clean up errors. Make sure you've set up your tablet and your brush to work with pressure sensitivity, that way you can get a nice taper at the end of your lines (lift away from the tablet as you reach the end of the line instead of coming to a stop before lifting the pen).

spadesart 2017-01-01 23:54:31 UTC #9

It's all practice, I always get questions on how I make my lineart so clean but it took me literal YEARS (and sai's stabilizer, finally worked my way down from the s-7 function to 15 for lineart) to learn how to get nice lines. The eraser tool is your friend? Want hard corners? check this out

Pressure sensitivity is also your friend, depending on the program you're using, Photoshop can use the path tool to make smooth lineart (but I highly recommend trying to figure this out freehand, path tool would be a last resort) and simulate pressure with it. SAI has a vector layer function that can help stabilize your lines and then go back and edit them if you messed up (it even has the ability to edit the pressure effect too) If you have to, manipulate the size of your brush if you can't get the thin/thick lines you need for your art. I do highly recommend trying out SAI for lineart, it's great for that if you're not using it.

CPY 2017-01-02 14:01:12 UTC #10

Hi,

I am using photoshop.

Down_the_Rabbithole 2017-01-02 14:05:35 UTC #11

Hey! So am I!

The tool I found that best helped my line quality was Lazy Nezumi Pro. Granted, it costs $35 and it only works on Windows as far as I know. If you can, give it a try. This program changed my line art forever!

CPY 2017-01-02 14:08:42 UTC #12

Thx, appreciate your help
That's something I need to look into... lines thickness and materials.
I guess it's back to practicing for me.

CPY 2017-01-02 14:10:35 UTC #13

Thx, I still think my lines need improvement but I just don't know how.
I'll go download SAI and try it out.

CPY 2017-01-02 14:20:28 UTC #14

Uh, what is s-7 and 15?

Anyway, I'll download SAI and try it out while of course continue practicing.
and probably experiment with the pen setting a little more ...

thx

spadesart 2017-01-02 15:33:30 UTC #15

whoops it's sai's stabilizer

S-7 is the most intense version of it and it's really slow, 15 is still relying on the stabilizer really heavily but it's what I use for sketching and lineart, it's like a really fast version of s-7

bsienk90 2017-01-03 17:58:07 UTC #16

what tablet are you using?

I mean honestly, it just comes down to practice. I've been using a digital drawing tablet since I was 17....so that's almost 10 years practice. And when started I had to get really tight sketches and get REALLY REALLY REALLY zoomed in for details and I also rotated the screen (Rotate View Tool (R) in photoshop). So, for example if you were drawing a arm but it's at a weird angle, I would rotate screen so I could draw it straight down, bc it's easier to pull the pen straight down then it is to draw at an angle.

Also the faster you work, less lines you produce and longer strokes you use, the smoother it should look. Also practice you're line weights and look at other comic work and see how they weight their lines. A lot of times you can use a larger brush with the pen pressure and do small strokes to add up to a smoother look.

Also photoshop didn't really work for me when I was starting out because i just didn't understand the program and that's when I went to SAI. That helped me be able to jump back on Photoshop for some reason. SAI feels more natural. You can also download more brush looking PSD brushes, sometimes that helps. Depends what you're trying to accomplish.

Now being professional and out of college I jumped onto a Tablet Monitor and drawing directly on the screen does make it so much easier but I'd conquer what you're doing now before spending 1000s. It's not so much the program or tools you using as it is how you're using the tools.

And one last tip, layers are your friends! When I draw my comic I have a rough outline sketch, rough sketch, lose sketch, tight sketch and THEN I ink. I usually end up with about 5-7 layers before I even ink anything in the computer but I'm drawing directly in the computer now.