Should I ink my drawings or not?

[Kalyisbored]

So...I started drawing my webcomic and I don't know if I should ink the pages or not.

In September, I'll have to study again and I won't have as much free time to draw (I'm drawing the chapters "in advance" now to release them in September but I'll have to draw new chapters at one point)
So, I'm trying to find the "better" way possible to draw, so that there's not suddenly a big change in the quality of my webcomic.

On one hand, inking takes a lot of time (and my hands starts hurting eventually) but I like the results, and it makes the coloring easier, expect that I have to had the shading (which I didn't do yet on the example below). On the other hand, the drawing looks "softer" when I don't ink, the coloring takes more time but if I do the shading using pencils, I won't have to do it by computer

Here is an example of an inked drawing:
And here is an example of a drawing I didn't ink:

(Those are still drafts, but you can get an idea)

So my question is: which one do you prefer (looks better)? And if you have any advices, I would love to hear them

[marygold]

I don't really know the full definition of inking (is it to just make lines bolder?! But the first one does look better. I do full color, so I completely understand all the time consumption and hand hurting (sucks a ton). When Imm under oressire I just do one page a week and send a message to my readers explaining why. That way, the pages look great and your readers know you're working hard! Hope this helps.

Also if you ever need to take a break, either to completely rest your self or make buffer pages, never be afraid to do so! You need it!

Hope this helps!

[shazzbaa]

There is no "should"! There isn't a right answer! It's about what's best for you and your work, and only you can decide that. ;u;

That said, I find the pencil drawing to look less finished. And it's not just that everything's not coloured in yet -- it's more that the pencils are so light that it looks like you plan to paint over the pencil later, so this is just a rough indication of where everything goes. I think you could make pencils work, but they'd need to be darker and stronger, especially if you're not gonna add any shading in the colours. They need contrast!

(here's some coloured sketches from my tumblr -- these are just sketches, so they're a lil messy, but hopefully you can see what I mean about contrast: [shaded mostly with colours] [shaded mostly with pencil] )

[Shanny8]

You dont have to, but with some people's work an inked finish adds more definition. Some artists can render with pencils tight or defining enough that they dont need inks to complete it. There is also the matter of the coloring style, and how the final results look to you. If you you're okay with it, then go for it.

[TrustyShamrock]

yeah i like the way it looks more with inking. and i bet peeps would be ok with slower updates if they get better lookin pages C:

[Kalyisbored]

Wow! Thank you all for your answers I didn't expect people to answer so quickly, that's awesome!

@marygold It helps a lot, if I don't have time, I'll do that. It's better to have quality over quantity. Actually, I'm building my stack of buffer pages now (I didn't know what it meant at first haha). Thank you!

@shazzbaa I see what you mean. And after you commented, I realized that my scanner makes the light shading I did disappear (and on other drawings too). Like you said I need to make it way stronger to see some nuance. I'll try and see how it looks and then compare it with the inked version

@Shanny8 I agree, that's what I like with the inked version.For the moment, I'm still thinking but even if it takes more time, inking makes it look more finished

@TrustyShamrock True, it's better to privileged quality over quantity. Thank you!