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Inking Lessons with Dan Prado- first thoughts

I had my lesson with Dan Prado the other night.  Dan is a member of Crime Lab Studios which is a pool of inkers that do work for comics from Marvel, Image, as well as independent projects.

We took the first twenty minutes or so of the lesson to go through some of Dan's work and we discussed the business in general.  Dan brought over some pages that he had printed off in order to allow me to ink on them as well as he had purchased some supplies for me (part of the initial package of lessons I'm getting from him.)  My first thought as I'm going through his portfolio was "oh my god I'm so out of my league here!"  Dan is an AMAZING artist and has been inking for close to ten years.  I have traced a few of my drawings with a micron... there's a huge difference.  I think I've TOUCHED  a quill or a brush with ink once each in my lifetime.

Fortunately once the actual lessons started, the pace was a little more my grasp.  The good news here is that we focused on things that are hard to get from a video tutorial - such as how to hold the quill so that it FEELS right.  How to land ink, how to adjust your quill's weight, etc.  I also liked having someone there to give me immediate feedback and show me what he was talking about by demonstration.  I think inking is going to be one of those things where I can get a lesson, go off and work on it for a few weeks, then get another lesson to get to the next level.  Because I have a basic art background myself I understand how to start with what Dan has shown me so far and then keep the momentum going when he's not looking over my shoulder.

So what are my first thoughts?  There are a few.  First off, I do NOT draw in such a fashion that makes an inker's life easy.  Using a lot of gray shades on my drawing make it difficult for an inker to translate into inks. So as I draw moving forward I have already noticed myself leaving visual queues in the work on how I want it inked, such as line weight, or using hatches in my sketch vs shading with the pencil in order to cue how I want the inks to look.

One of the next huge "aha" moments for me was a very simple thing that I just did not get.  People these days RARELY ink over actual pencils.  I've seen pros such as Jerzy Drozd demonstrate the technique of scanning a pencil image, and printing it out in blue line so that it can be inked over.  I had no idea that this technique was so widely used.  It makes perfect sense, don't get me wrong - it's just not something I thought to much about though.  Having had an opportunity to ink over a bristol bard printed with blue line I can tell you that it's definitely the way to go.  First off you don't have to ERASE your pencil which can be such a pain in the ass and messy.  Secondly YOU DON'T HAVE TO ERASE YOUR PENCIL which means you still have an original pencil sketch that you can sell if it's sell worthy (or do whatever with).  If you were to somehow obliterate your page by spilling a bottle of ink on it, then not all is lost...etc.  How did I never understand this?  Well having gone to shows I've seen plenty of artists selling pages that had both pencils and inks on it.  Perhaps some of the more traditional pros do it the old way, but once I get a printer I don't think I ever will again.   The only time I can see doing it the old way is if you were wanting to produce an original inked work to sell.

The next thought about inking is as much as it will help to ink actual images (my own or others) I need to be just sitting down and inking abstract patterns.  I'm not suggesting that holding your quill a certain way will make you a professional inker, but it does appear that a fundamental aspect of inking is getting a strong feel for how to use the quill or brush, how to make it comfortable in your hand.  Dan and I discussed this during our lesson quite a bit and this morning he sent me some exercises to work on in order to get started.

I'm extremely happy with how the first lesson went, and what this will mean toward my accomplishing my goals.  Dan is a GREAT guy, very friendly and easy going (you should definitely friend him on Google + or check him out on Facebook - search for prado inkworks).  Although initially I felt a little bit intimidated by how amazing this guy's skills are, I was happy that we were able to focus on the fundamentals to get me started.  I'm looking forward to the practice I'll get in the weeks to come, and I hope you will offer your feedback along with Dan as I explore this aspect of the journey.

Today I went to Starbucks (sketchbook)

If you ever decide you need to get a better handle on people's butts (and I make no apology for that statement) then you should definitely hang out at Starbucks, especially behind the drink pick up counter. I filled nine pages of my sketchbook this morning and here are some examples. I plan on inking some of these later to get some practice with the quill.

Changing focus a little

The goal of this blog was to draw daily, and for the most part I have been, even when I don't post the drawing results. Some days I find that I just don't have the time or ability to complete the "drawing exercise" for that day. So starting tomorrow I will be posting my sketchbook for that day at least, even if I don't do the exercise. I probably won't get too much done tonight because I'm starting my lessons with Dan Padro. In general (and since were on the subject of daily drawing) I'm finding that I'm seeing vast improvement already. Even if you look at just the first weeks drawings vs the second week's you can see a difference. I think the reasons behind this besides the obvious "practice makes perfect" also include that I'm drawing things outside of my comfort zone. I'm drawing from reference more, I'm drawing things I don't like to draw, and I'm inking more of the pieces to give me practice in that area too. So as much as I can, I'll draw from the proposed outline that I post every Wednesday, but there will be days for whatever reason that I can't get to them. I still think posting regularly will be a good way of showing what I'm working on and showing the improvement in my technique, even if it's just the page from my sketchbook that day. Thanks for following along! I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Burnside Tales - The Walk

just a quick sketch of the Burnside Tales crew. I think Julius is mad because I put him in back (I didn't mean to Julius, it was an after thought!!!)

Tuesday's Terror - Scorpialien

Tonight's Tuesday Terror is The ScorpiAlien

Monday's Mug - Crystal Hughes

Famous Friday: Cars from Entertainment

Yawn! OK… just finished today’s drawing exercise, the General Lee. Cars are also a tough subject matter for me as they combine strong elements of shape, clean lines, angles, and perspective. I don’t think this experiment turned out all that bad considering I inked it as well (if you can call that inked) and it was my first time drawing a car in like ….forever.

Think Ink Thursday Jason from Friday the 13th

Remember that joke in Chasing Amy? About how an inker is just a tracer? Anybody who has paid any amount of attention to comic art knows this isn’t true. Inking is it’s own art form and an amazing one at that. Tonight’s exercise – to ink Tuesday’s Terror turned out pretty puke-o-matic. In fact, I don’t really feel like it’s finished, but at the same time I just don’t want to continue much with it. It is what it is. The good news is that in February I’ll begin studying under Dan Prado who has inked for Image and Marvel comics among others. I’m hoping to get a lot out of that time including how to use better inking tools (such as nibs and such) as well as how to make better decisions when figuring out lights and darks. I’ve always stayed away from making bold decisions about blacks and shadow. I think that some time with Dan will be very helpful in this regard. OK – I have to START Friday’s Famous: Cars from Entertainment and it’s 9pm PST. I guess this is a good exercise in why not to get behind.

Wednesday’s Wild Card: Breakdancing Jesus

I am really enjoying these drawing exercises- they force me to not only draw something outside of my comfort zone, but they force me to draw something complete. It’s too easy for me to leave dozens of half started concepts in my book, but with these exercises I feel the need to complete them. I’m very happy how Breakdancing Jesus turned out. The inking wasn’t bad either! There does need to be a bit of clean up on the paper (a spot of sugar free skinny hot chocolate?).

Weekly Drawing Exercises for the week of 1/29

Sunday’s sketch: still Life Monday’s Mugs: Google + profile pics Tuesday’s Terror: Alien (From the Alien Movie franchise) Wild Card Wednesday: Band Poster Think Ink Thursday: Inking Monday’s Mug Famous Friday: Famous Hands from Literature Super Hero Saturday: Dr. Strange

Tuesday’s Terror: Jason of Friday the 13th

I had a good time with tonight’s drawing exercise, and quite frankly I think it’s one of my best drawings in a while. I feel like the sketches the last two nights have been warm ups and tonight I kicked it into a higher gear. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot that I need to improve in this picture, but I’m feeling much better abut how this turned out then Monday’s and Tuesday’s exercises – and growth is the goal of this blog. Tonight’s sketch is going to be Thursday’s inking exercise, so be sure to come back and see how it turned out.

Monday’s Mug – Steve Workman

I’m horrible with representational drawing…. and so I chose my brother in law to be my first portrait. Don’t worry Steve, when I become a talented artist I’ll hit it again. Here’s the sketch, along with the source material… Please feel free to offer critique and feedback. I know his eyes didn’t turn out well, and in general the pencil strokes are too quick and strong. It ends up looking more like a doodle then a sketch. EDIT: I think after reviewing this more, the reason why I'm not comfortable with it is the size that I've drawn it in. I'm not used to drawing faces at this scale and it tends to magnify the mistakes and make my pencil strokes more visible - something to think about for the future.

Sunday's Sketch - Street Scenes

When I sketch, I’m not looking to be exact, rather I’m trying to get a feel for a scene… a feel of it’s shape. Here are two quick sketches of street scenes I found off the web.

Drawing Exercises for the week of Jan 22

Sunday’s sketch: Street Scene Monday’s Mugs: Google + profile pics Tuesday’s Terror: Jason from Friday the 13th Wild Card Wednesday: Breakdancing Jesus Think Ink Thursday: Inking Tuesday’s Terror Famous Friday: Famous Cars of Entertainment Super Hero Saturday: Batman