Problems with my line art

[ameoname]

@joannekwan Yup ^ö^ It's just way easier for me that way.

I heard about the two types of artists in a dreamworks interview about the art department. There they strictly classiefied their artists as "the line artsts" and "the painters". And they said, some artists have a better feeiling for shapes than lines, usually the painters, though you can be good at both of course. Since then I found numerous artists admitting they struggle with outlines and although they could've tried honing their skills, it was so mucheasier to them working with shapes that they abandoned traditional outlines. If you know the video game Metal Gear Solid's artists Yoji Shinkawa, well he said something similiar in an interview. He said as soon as he took a brush in his hand it felt like a natural extension to his body. With pens it felt like scratching. So he listened to his instincts and stopped working with pens and what is typically percieved as outlines. But he still does have lines and a line quality right?

I just want to mention the possibility of exploring the full scope of possibilities here! Try out different tools and mediums. Find out who you are and embrace your unique talents ♥ It might take a while but it's easier when you don't work against your natural abilities.

[spadesart]

paint tool sai is great even if you're just importing it for lineart alone. it's really smooth and has a stabilizer so if you can't fix anything with your current program try sai.

[theeternitycode]

Same advice as other commenters. Sai has a great stabilizer and there are versions you can download free. I've always gotten great lines in comparison to programs like photoshop.

[Menbung]

I agree, as with everything, tons of practice, but to add something Im just gonna paraphrase master Asano Inio and master Marko Djurdjevic on this one, embrace your shakiness, your line art mistakes, those little bumps and interruptions of your strokes (lines), those little things are what make lines organic and realistic, sadly digital lines can turn out a little inorganic and generic.

Everyone can make a perfect line using digital tools, such as stabilizers, rulers, vectors, ect... those shakes and bumps on your lines are you as an artist, basically only you can make 'em, so embracing a little of them makes the diference.

Oo.oO

[JessJackdaw]

Wow! Thanks for sharing that! I honestly always feel like doing linework has always been difficult, but just working and sculpting out a painted shape comes more naturally to me.

Also, do you have any video breakdowns of your work? XD I'm curious how you achieve that awesomely unique woodcut style.

[ameoname]

Happy to hear I'm not the only one here ^ö^ I was actually determined to push myself and draw RAVEN KING in thin lines, but not only did it take forever, it was no fun and in the end the characters didn't meet my expectations. Here's a panel (you probably recognize it from the webcomic ) with Yoni in thin lines:
To be honest I think a lot more people would like to see the comic in this style and it was hard for me to admit I'm, well, not good enough to pull it through. This kind of panel would take me 8-12h (for one goddamn panel!!!!) With my current style this would take ca. 1h!
I could've forced myself and trained for years to get a good line quality down but the time efficiency is just too tempting XD It's so much more natural to me to be messy (>_>)"

Unfortunatelly I don't have a video breakdown of my process right now :/ It's not as easy as it might look and I did all kinds of studies beforehand (like the ones I mention further down this paragraph). There are a lot of things you have to consider with my style, that you wouldn't have to in a clean lines style. It has more freedom but that freedom leaves you with a lot more choices (more choices = more wrong choices available). Someday I'll make an in-depth video about it. Right now a video would take up too much time ^^"

But as a general tip, if you're a shapes person, start focussing on how bodyparts form rhythms and shapes. Focus on how the outlines can be interconnected to each other (look at the right arm in the gif below). Start seeing everything in big masses including the negative space, which you can later on cut out (that's a big part of my style!)

Also try using training techniques that focus on shapes only: like cutouts or using ink blobs starting with the whole shape first (you actually DO look at the outlines ONLY first, contrary to what you would normally do when constructing the human figure).


The ink blob technique really helped me by the way! You can pick any movie you want, pause frames and pick parts to render with ink. In the image above I layed in the lighter tone first and only then did I add the features.

I hope this helps you! I'm sorry I can't offer you more right now ^^" Just pick up a brush and start blobbing! See if it's more fun than pencils Just experiment!

PS: Gottfried Bammes has some very good shape seeing exercises in hie books on anatomy! The cutout ↑ is one of them. If you can get your hands on one of his books, that'll be money well spent.

[Kamikaze]

I...cheat and use the pen tool in photoshop. >_>;;;;

[jonufele]

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