Inking my work and PULLING OUT MY HAIR

[AlskaNoelle]

I'm two hours into inking this piece via the pen tool in Photoshop. I've tried all kinds of different tools and techniques, but I had to face the facts: I suck at inking. So I fake it with the pen tool. To me, inking is like a long, decaying rope bridge, swaying wildly in the wind as it is suspended over a deep trench, separating sketches from coloring and finished pieces.

I can't be the only one who hates inking my work, right? And the fact that it's so necessary as a comic/cartoon/manga artist just makes it that much more frustrating. Are there people out there that actually enjoy inking? Why and is there a part of your process that you do hate? I want to talk about this before I fling my tablet out the window like a frisbee.

[ASHLEYASDFGH]

I love inking! Maybe it's because you are using the pen tool? Is there a reason you are using the pen over the brush? Are you using the pen so that you can produce a vector artwork?

[AlskaNoelle]

I use the pen tool because it provides me complete control. Like I said, I suck at all forms of, I guess you could call it "freehand" inking. The pen tool is the best way I've found so far to produce nice line art that doesn't look like a first grader did it with their eyes closed.... gonk

[ASHLEYASDFGH]

Awww well I have no help to offer for Photoshop... I was gonna say use the brush tool and do it by hand!

I use Illustrator, it offers slight smoothing, but I'm not a fan of "computer generated" lines... such as bezier tools and the pen tool in photoshop. They're hard to use and produce line art that's toosmooth... know what I mean? ;P

[AlskaNoelle]

Oh yeah, that's what I hate about the pen tool in Photoshop too, aside from being tedious, of course. The lines are so perfect. Not ideal if going for a dark, gritty look. But if I use the brush tool or any sort of traditional inking, my lines are sloppy, uneven, course, and ugly. D:

It really ruins my piece. I mean I work so hard to get the sketch right, I hate ruining it by traditional inking. But what I do like about the pen tool is that I can keep widths consistent and can get tiny little details into my pieces. That's nice. smile

[drifting classroom]

I like inking and I have to do it everyday. But I also don't work digitally. I just don't like the way it makes my lines look.

For my recent work though, I've been trying to minimize everything. So i've just been using this one cheap pen and cheap sketchbook paper. Usually I only use gnibs and brush pens and smooth bristol.

I love comics, I draw comics, but I can't get into a lot of digitally drawn stuff.

[cellohell]

I like to ink but I treat it as if I'm sketching still so... I dunno I don't like line art that's looks too perfect, so I'm fine with it being messy. I do use photoshop with the brush pen. maybe find a brush setting that you really like? or practice inking by hand. it sucks when you mess up but that happens when you first start out. just draw something else and do it again x: and after you mess up so many times you're not gonna care if your lines are the way you want them to look, lmao.

[El Diablo de la Luna]

I thought this was about tattooing emo

[Nikit Iume]

If Photoshop isn't working for you I recommend trying an art program with auto smooth features like ArtRage or Manga Studio. ArtRage is my personal favorite for digital inking.

If you need a free program to work with them get FireAlpaca.

[AlskaNoelle]

NetoSB

Sorry! But ya know, my issues inking is probably why I never even considered tattooing as a career choice. I erase to much! Can't do it!

Nikit Iume

I tried MangaStudio. I actually bought it just for the inking feature I had heard so many good things about, but it didn't work out for me. Even with the auto smoothing, my lines were very jagged and I kept, for whatever reason, going way off my sketch. I get so frustrated with myself! stressed

I like working digitally when inking because it gives me the ability to erase my line if I ******** it up, which I often do when traditionally inking, but I think the ultra smooth and kind of slippery texture of my tablet throws me off a bit.

So I painstakingly use the pen tool. It takes forever and the lines are a little to perfect, but I feel better about the end result than the end result of any other form of inking.

[El Diablo de la Luna]

no worrie
we can always laser it off
xd

[Kaiser-chan]

I hate inking. The only thing that has made me able to do it isn't even skill or patience - it's a tablet that's also a screen. I switched entirely to doing traditional inking and only did digital when I wanted to hate myself for a couple hours and invent new swear words until I got a Surface Pro (mostly for digital plein air and to have a photoshop-capable laptop), and finally understood why people fork out the big bucks for stuff like a cintiq.

I wish I had actual advice people could use, but damn does the ability to see my hand actually help with lineart. Not one bit with painting (if anything I find it annoying), but with stuff like lineart and coloring inside the lines and all it's become an unexpected boon.

[00_Jackie_Lantern_00]

Photoshop is known to have a kinda sucky ink thing. The pressure from the pen is like....SUPER sensitive and the lines look steady. I think SAI is the best program for line art, because it has a steadier that you can adjust the level on.

[Nikit Iume]

AlskaNoelle

NetoSB

Sorry! But ya know, my issues inking is probably why I never even considered tattooing as a career choice. I erase to much! Can't do it!

Nikit Iume

I tried MangaStudio. I actually bought it just for the inking feature I had heard so many good things about, but it didn't work out for me. Even with the auto smoothing, my lines were very jagged and I kept, for whatever reason, going way off my sketch. I get so frustrated with myself! stressed

I like working digitally when inking because it gives me the ability to erase my line if I ******** it up, which I often do when traditionally inking, but I think the ultra smooth and kind of slippery texture of my tablet throws me off a bit.

So I painstakingly use the pen tool. It takes forever and the lines are a little to perfect, but I feel better about the end result than the end result of any other form of inking.

I have another idea. What about working with a style that doesn't require inking? I'm seeing quite a bit of Photoshop artist who work with a cartoon style that color on top of the sketch instead of inking. Brittney Lee is the best example of an artist who uses that technique. If something is not working out for you, try to experiment with something different. I hope that helps.

[Edge-sama]

I love to color and sketch on Photoshop, but it isn't the best tool for inking. Manga Studio and SAI are better for that job (I use more MS since SAI doesn't handle well big archives like A3 for some reason).

Have used these brushes? - https://frenden.myshopify.com/products/manga-studio-5-brush-super-set (there's some for Photoshop too).

Something I have done as well is inking traditionally. While it might sound stupid, it helps your pulse to ink digitally as well :3