Traditional or Digital Inks?

[eschaefges]

I did my entire graphic novel "A LEGEND (of some sort)" (PLUG launching next saturday on this very site END PLUG) in traditional inks with a Pentel Brush Pen - and while it is fun, it is messy, and i make a ton of mistakes. And I spend a lot of time on corrections. I don't think i'm good at it, even after 200+ pages. An old sample:

Whereas I just switched from Photoshop to Manga Studio 5 for drawing two months ago, and I love their brushes and sensitivity - maybe it's that i had an old version of Photoshop (nonCS 6), but this one blows it away. I get the line variation i want but it stays smooth and clean.

Recent digital example:

So I am trending toward digital inks, as it goes faster and cleaner for me. For my second graphic novel, I may do some form of 'loose sketch in MS5, print it in faint blue line, do detailed pencils on paper, scan that, then do inks and colors digitally' - i have seen a few other artists do that to keep their style consistent but also clean. Not sure if that will save time or not, though... I guess I'll know in a few months when i start drawing the next one!

[Stellamari]

I like digital inking because it's more economical in the long run. I am a self taught artist and started off as a traditional artist with pencil and paper before trying my hand on pastel, charcoal etc. It proved to be too expensive to maintain back then so I switched to digital inking.

[zoonland]

I always ink traditionally. I give my best with it, and I feel that it's easier for people to notice my personal spin.
I fix little mistakes with Photoshop, using a Wacom tablet. But I think I'll never switch completely to digital.
I like to have originals that smell of ink and feel the strokes on the paper under my fingers.

[ZelEnkora]

i prefer drawing on the paper and coloring on my tab! i find it easier to draw on the paper with my G-pen!! but traditional coloring is outta the question for meh

[yosarian13]

I'm totally old school when it comes to my lines, I ink right on top of my pencils. I've tried digital but have never finished a single drawing that way. I'm so much faster with traditional plus there's a tactile thing of the feel of the paper too. But as far as colors and lettering I'm digital all the way.

[iestavien]

I do digital inking. I love it.

[Eaters_of_Flesh]

I love my undo button to much to switch to traditional inking

[wendoabuto]

I'm glad you brought this up because I've found it an emotional/mental struggle rather than a physical one from my own experience developing my web comic. I did all my initial work traditionally before I switched to digital and then I took forever to publish my work because I kept switching back and forth not really satisfied with the final artwork. I later settled on inking my work digitally but that was after I got a vote of confidence from looking at other artists' digital works e.g. Skottie Young who sometimes uses Sketchbook Pro to do his inking. I now find it a lot more efficient. I think I had an emotional attachment to the traditional method and that is what made it hard for me to change even when it makes more sense cost-wise and time-wise to work digitally. I still believe that the best quality work out there is traditional but I don't let that hold me back anymore from producing my work. Instead, I try to focus on the storytelling aspect of my work because in the end that is what readers will relate to and I believe that is the foundation of good comic. I now use Sketchbook Pro for all my inks and switch between Pro and Photoshop for colouring but I am open to go back to inking using brush or pen when I can afford it.

[carodoodles]

I truly do love traditional works and admire traditional artists. But oh man I stink at traditional. I makes mistakes all the time which is annoying because I'd have to scan then fix it in photoshop, while with digital art I can just press ctrl + z and done! That's why I love using Kyle Webster brushes- they do have an amazing look for digital.

Interestingly, in my class at CCS, majority is traditional artists. But several does do coloring using ps. Only one classmate and I both are hardcore digital artists (meaning we do everything a-z digitally).

[Kayke]

That is interesting! When I went to Uarts, I would say most people used a mix of traditional and digital techniques (myself included) with only a few people being 100% digital or 100% traditional. I always think it's really cool how different artists' techniques can be even when they're in the same program.

[wendoabuto]

Checked out the Kyle link you provided! The brushes look really good! Thanks!

[SpavVy]

I'm a traditional inker, I just love working with microns and dip pens. I prefer coloring digitally though, I think it's a lot more fun and I don't have to worry about screwing up on color and I can experiment more.
I have a lot of drawings that are full digital as well but I find my traditional line art to be far more superior.

This isn't the full picture but it was inked traditionally and colored in both MS5 and Paintool Sai

[guitarmaster330]

I used to draw and ink traditionally. But because I erase so much my drawings would often come out looking messy. And with traditional inking my lines would sometimes come out wobbly and unclean. And If I messed up it usually meant I'd have to start all over. I do everything digitally now. When I mess up inking I can erase instead of starting over. Saves alot of time for me.

[garretgalligher]

I would say I've been going mostly digital. But halfway through my series I got pretty frustrated with Inking in Photoshop, so I started working more recently with the Sketchbook app on my Samsung Note 8. Definitely not a professional setup, but I at least feel a little bit more in control of the lines.

Can't say which one I solidly prefer, but I'm starting to dip back into traditional....so hopefully I can find a happy balance between the two mediums!

*Also, when you were working digitally, do you ink in Photoshop, or is that an Illustrator thing? Clean, crisp lines seem to be harder for me to replicate with Photoshop... perhaps I just need to work on a steadier hand!

[matsuikenshin]

I'm actually quite weird in a way since a lot of people are one way or the other. So to answer your question, I prefer to ink digitally. Funny thing is I can't sketch at all on the computer and I am also very bad at traditional inking... I end up drawing traditionally and then bringing it into the computer to ink. I'll always practice traditional inking but digital inking is what I lean towards

[Kayke]

When I ink digitally I draw in photoshop! I've never been good at doing anything other than design stuff in illustrator, it always ends up feeling really stiff to me?

[matsuikenshin]

I find that the pen tool in illustrator is really good for tracing lines but if you wanted to change something it is harder than changing it in manga studio

[garretgalligher]

Huh... well, then it's probably my hand. Goes to show I have a long way to go in improvement!
Thanks for getting back to me about that!

[phillip000515]

I honestly ink digitally than traditionally. While my traditional ink is better pretty much the reason I'm inking digitally is because I just wanna get better at it on the digital side of art. I'm getting used to it but I find it fun.

[GFalconDX]

I've always preferred digital inking because it's easier to correct if I made a mistake. But I am also good at traditional inking just in case if I need to ink a pencil drawing at a convention or if I am doing a traditional drawing.

Here's some examples of both digital and traditional inking that I've done. The 1st image is digital, while the 2nd one is traditional.