Let´s talk about Linework, outlines, ink

[abigaillmartin]

It’s fun! You should try it!

[allenT]

I'm fixated with Unipin pigment pens (black ones) for its quick dry pigment ink & pen nibs which I can control some degree of line weights. I use those for inking.

[jwabeasley]

Fascinating! Do you do the grays by hand as well?

[allenT]

No gray inks though, they're digital screentones if you're refering to my comicpages.

[IndigoShirtProd]

When I first started as an artist, which was in childhood, I didn't have access to digital materials so, of course all of my work was traditional. I was about in middle school when I really started caring about line art and, at the time, all I really had access to was ballpoint pens. It wasn't until high school where I got my first "real" sketchbook and purchased a 4 pack of Faber-Castell liner pens. I was so excited by the purchase and it motivated me to be more particular with how I went about lining my sketches. Now, I had always "worked" digitally as I used MS paint with a mouse, but in high I also had an IPad that I downloaded a few drawing programs on. With the Ipad, I didn't have a pen, so I had to use my finger to draw.

I got an actual drawing tablet in college and there I started experimenting with line thickness, shape, etc. And that's when I started my comic. I still kept drawing traditionally in my sketchbooks, but instead of the Faber-Castell pens, I switched to using Sakura Pigma Micron fineliners, of which I still have many. So, I was working in digitally and traditionally for a few years. Kept trying different media traditionally, colored fineliners, dip pens, but digitally I settled on using Firealpaca/Medibang for most of my digital art. As of now, the marker pen is my favorite brush in Firealpaca. As of now, I'm more inclined to draw digitally with thin, clean lines and traditionally however I feel since I don't really make finish work, but sketches with ink.

[Azifri]

The way I do the lines depends on the project.
For Terra Prima I do lines digitally in Clip Studio paint, using a 3px round brush with no pen pressure; this because it's a long comic that I'm trying to produce consistently over time, so I decided not to do line weights to save some time.
For short comics (<10 pages) or standalone e illustrations, if I do them digitally, I use the G pen in CSP or some other brush I feel like trying out, but it's usually only one for the same project/image. If I work traditionally, it's often an ink pen, but I've also played with fountain pens and markers.
And for the few animations I've made I use vector lines because it's easier to adjust details this way.

[kyupol]

It's a lot like Adobe photoshop. I was using version 7.0 and CS1. Yes. Those apps from the early 2000s on a windows 7 laptop

I came off a long drawing hiatus and my laptop was in storage and had to dig through a lot.

So I searched for drawing apps. Tested a few on my phone. Ibis was the easiest to use (in my opinion because it's so close to photoshop in it's interface)

[beebutterbee]

My first drawings of characters and comics I did in pen. I did not do an underneath sketch I just went straight for the drawing with pen? Idk why i decided to do that lol, I still sketch that way too, with just a crappy ballpoint or sometimes a nicer gel pen, the energel’s are nice and smooth and come with affordable refills! Also I can give the empty cartridges to my dad for him to use in his kit bashing diorama stuff, so I don’t mind going through a box of them.

For more finished works, I will draw a sketch underneath. For traditional I find that colored pencil looks better under marker, and I like the sketch showing through a bit. I tend use a burgundy or other reddish color for the sketch. I do not really erase, as I don’t find I need to, even when I do graphite drawings, it’s rare I erase anything? Digital I think I erase more, I guess with traditional I can’t erase because I draw so deeply into the paper. The line is there once it’s there

And to ink, I used to draw with either microns or Copic liners, but lately I’ve been using the gel pens because they feel better to draw with! And the tip is metal so it doesn’t fray, which works well with the pressure I put down on the pen when drawing. I would actually recommend gel pens instead of felt tip liners like microns, for anyone that has more of a heavy hand when drawing

When I draw digitally, I now use procreate but I used to use my cruddy economy Wacom tablet and photoshop. I prefer procreate, not because of the app itself, but drawing directly onto the image/screen works better for me than the separation between blank tablet and screen above. I use a variety of brushes, but I tend to pick ones that mimic traditional mediums. I use a lot of brushes from True Grit Texture Supply! Their brushes are available for multiple platforms too, not just procreate. The brushes feel very smooth too, and more natural to use.

Sometimes I use traditional line art, and place it in the drawing program, turn up the contrast in the image, then set its layer to “multiply” so that I can color underneath. That technique is super fun!

I also just use MS paint, an emulated version of the 90s one, and find the simplicity fun and freeing! The lineart is how I start to the drawing, and slowly build up color around it, since there are no layers.

[BoomerZ]

First off, damn we have some old heads in here. Nice to know I'm not the only one over 40.

I started with pencil and Ko-i-noor pens for the ink. Great pens but if they got clogged they are a pain. In college everything was photoshop, which I never really liked. After I found Clip Studio Paint I never used photoshop again. It's a better drawing program, which is what I do mainly for a living. I dislike vector art as it doesn't do line weight well and makes art look like "clip art" to me. As for brushes in clip, Real Pencil (for pencil sketches) and G-pen are literally the only two brushes I use for the most part. After I purchased a Cintiq I rarely draw traditional now. I could never draw on a pad well (drawing down while looking up screwed with me bad) so in college where we had Cintiqs, it sold me on them.

To your last question about vector, it's great if you are a perfectionist and lines must be a certain was. You can literally screw with them for ever to make them perfect. I personally like the randomness of your hand movement and line weight. Most webcomics are vector now, that is why the lines are exactly the same many pix wide throughout the stroke. If you like that look, then vector is the way to go. You will also not lose quality resizing like raster does (which you most likely already know).

[Caro]

I ink traditionally after years of attempting digital on and off. When I was younger I was truly convinced I had to draw digitally if I wanted to draw full time. But I only managed to go full time when I settled back into drawing mostly traditional!

I used to use a G nibs, Hunt 102s, and a Pentel pocket brush pen with a very fancy expensive ink I loved, then I briefly had a fountain pen that I filed to fit a G nib and that was neat for on the go drawing.

But I honestly prefer the look of a pretty dead line with my work so I just use Faber Castell PITT pens but I’m thinking about switching to a rapidograph or an isograph because I keep buying these pens in bulk and its just such a HUGE bummer when I get a defective batch. Last week I went through three PITT pens in one sitting because the tips just very easily broke off. And I’m not a very heavy handed person either.

[LunarScyphozoa]

I use Procreate, and the Dry Ink brush. My comic pages are 2100 x 3150 pixels across (I compress them before uploading), and my brush is usually at about 2%, though I can go down to 1 if I need to draw a very small shot.

The stylus I use doesn’t have any pressure, so I achieve a thicker line variation by going over it a few times: it adds a sketchiness I find I enjoy (do miss the pressure sensitivity of my old pen though) and gives me a lot of control. For hatching I set it to be a smaller size, lasso the area I want to fill, and just scribble all over.

[vapidink]

My fav pens to write are Pilot Precise V5 needle point pens which are actually pretty good for inking. Lately I've bought some nicer pens for sketching. I also bought some cheap Miniso markers for shading and they work well enough.

For digital I switch it around all the time. I'm using CSP, so I like to play around with the many, many brushes I download. The more common ones I use for linework are Lineart Pencil, YO2I pen, and if I'm sketching I might use the Icicle Pencil. Basically, just whatever works on any given day. I don't use vectors because I don't really like how they turn out. The control, texture and line variation is worth the time and discomfort to me.

[RED-VELVET-CUPCAKE]

I use Bic ballpoint pens for lineart. Usually black ink, but sometimes I use blue.
I like them because they're cheap. But also they write smoothly and go over pencil sketch lines well. Occasionally I'll do lineart with a fine point Sharpie as well.
Then I add watercolor, and marker details over it.
Recently, I tried Sakura Gelly Roll pens for highlights with white ink. I've really been liking them.

[Shanny8]

I have Procreate on my iPad but I dont like it...the brush engine feels way loose and I dont care for the interface as well; it looks simple but it doesn't work for me.

[Lensing]

I never got used to my Ipad. I had a Wacom companion 2 and it was great to draw on it when I´m on
the road.

[Shanny8]

I never got used to my Ipad

Partially this as well...I kinda feel like I need a larger working area, but I'm trying not to spend $1200 on a 12" iPad.

Thinking about trying out the XP-Pen magic tablet- it's 12" AND about $500(also android based).