Any Advice for Inking/Steady Lines?

[JegoLego]

Hey art masters! I've been having trouble making steady lines that look natural and not shaky. I've noticed that some pro artists don't use lines that stay a certain width (some might be thicker, or some might change from thin to thick and vice versa), any advice on that as well? Will I need to change the way I hold my pen? Some tips on how to practice inking would be great as well!

Thanks! :3

[Vaer]

Hi @JegoLego! Hmm... I am in NO WAY an 'art master' but I guess I can provide you some tips that helped me.

Depending on what program you are using you could try messing with your pen's stabilization settings. Just don't over tweek it or you'll get some unsightly lines.

As for thick and thin lines, that will depend on your tablet and pen and if they support pressure sensitivity. (More pressure more thickness and vice versa.)

Oh... and Undo is your friend. Keep making strokes and Undo it until it turns out how you like. Time consuming, but it works for me.

Your arm and wrist motions are important as well. Just practice strokes. (Curves, straight lines, etc.)

 

I don't know if this helps. Maybe a more learned artist can come up with better advice.

[Saxon]

@JegoLego  Could you please post examples of your work in order to help the rest of us comment on your technique?

[Xaende]

You might try a very small paintbrush and ink (traditional), a higher-end art tablet (computer), or something like this:

http://www.jetpens.com/Sakura-Pigma-Brush-Pen-Black-Ink/pd/2366

[willow]

If you're using a tablet, the best way to keep your lines steady is by making quick, broad strokes or movements instead of either a series of small ones or one continuous line. As far as changing the thickness of the lines, just change the size/width of the pen. It works best if you use a size that's either a few points bigger or smaller so you can tell there's a difference

If you're doing traditional, you can generally do the same thing in keeping your lines steady or you could try changing the way you hold your pen, but you obviously can't just change the size of your pen that readily unless you get those fancy inking pens. Instead try changing how hard you press down on the paper

[Vallium]

ah yes, a thread I can use. I too suffer the shitty line syndrome

[JegoLego]

3 hours ago, Saxon said:

@JegoLego  Could you please post examples of your work in order to help the rest of us comment on your technique?

I generally try to avoid using lines since they do end up wobbly or sketchy

Shading could use some critique as well lol

[Saxon]

I think I will reiterrate what previous users have said. If you select 'pencil' in the 'brush dynamics' window then the line of your strike will vary as a function of the pressure you put on the tablet.

Varying line thickness is all well and good, but it's also important to know when and why you're choosing to vary thickness, so you may not see any immediate improvements in the quality of your illustration.

 

I think @Hewge could probably provide much more useful advice, because he draws in cartoony style and has a popular following.

 

[Tsuujou]

I'd like to say that if I'm not adept at lineart, I've been studying it and scrutinizing my own for long enough to offer some assistance. Though I'm sure some stuff has been mentioned by other users.

First and foremost, if you have a program that enables the use of a stabilizer such as SAI please do not be afraid to use it when necessary. I know a lot of persnickety, elitist idiot artists who would yell at you because god forbid you used a tool provided in your software like everyone can afford a Cintiq. But there are proper times to use everything and if you need a stabilizer because you have a lower fidelity tablet or genuinely shaky hands, do it. I typically use a stabilizer in SAI when I need to make larger, broader and simpler strokes with precision. An example would be the tufts of hair and the ears here.

One thing a lot of artists won't tell you upfront that I had to be told from certain masters and learn on my own is that lineart isn't fast at all. DO work to get faster, but it's a lot of clean up. It's a lot of meticulous detailing. Even for simple drawings. Much like pixel art, every adjustment and line placement should be deliberate and thought out in a way that can discern material, edges, and even shadow. An example would be her glove. The lines are very thin, almost transparent and break up at the ends to show it's a soft sort of fabric with no clear shape as it folds with her fingers and palm. (Unfortunately, I'm at a detriment working in SAI since small details become pixelated unless you work at ludicrous resolutions so things start to look fuzzy.) Line breaks like her eyelids are also used to show where a "shadow" is at it's heaviest and where an area is most exposed to the light.

But moving on to what would help you...
Personally, I think you've hit the ground running! I've seen muuuuch dirtier from people who pretend they're masters and don't ask for help or attempt to improve. The strokes making the mouth thin out from the center and gradually thicken outward which makes an indication of shadow where the corners of the mouth show you're already aware of what I explained about. If anything, I'd say really thin the "min size" of your brush, or your program's equivalent setting, and refine a bit. There's some jaggedness in the lining of the eyelids and the nose that could be tightened up. I would also say that where your lines thin, they could stand to go a bit thinner to the point that they taper at the tails like the eyelashes I've done in the example above. Try it and see how you like it.

An exercise to improve your line art would be to warm up every day for 10 minutes just repeatedly drawing circles, squares, triangles, and various lines (if traditional, use pen and fill the page). Each shape should be a single stroke and you should work to get them as perfect and clean as you can. This will improve your hand eye coordination over time.

If you use SAI and would like my line brush, here are the settings.

[JegoLego]

@XoPachi holy shit thanks for that input, that's exactly what I was looking for (no offense to others, loved your input as well <3)

However, I don't use SAI. Instead I use Manga Studio 5 and a Wacom Intuos (not sure which version). MS5 does have pen stabilization and I use it a bunch lol. I'm not sure if it has setting for minimum brush size, though I can find out tonight.

About drawing shapes in one line, that's probably where I really suffer, especially circles. I'll definitely be practicing that. I'll try my best and practice drawing every day, I feel super motivated to do so now.

[Tsuujou]

Another thing that's very important is to have a good underlying foundation to work on, a strong sketch to follow. Nothing finalized or necessarily clean, but something that you can line over clearly. You can just go straight into the lining, but that takes years of dedicated practice to be able to simply...do. 

[Gamedog]

i use SAI

stabilizer tool and long strokes

im also VERY heavy handed to the point that my hand cramps up in minutes, so that helps

[Chrysocyon]

I'm no master with ink either, and I usually work with pen and paper, but here's a few general tips that I find work for me:

For smoother curves, try to draw within the natural bend of your wrist, which can mean rotating the canvas around to a more comfortable angle. MS5 has a function for this and I also set up hotkeys for it and constantly spin the canvas around when I draw digitally. Also when drawing curves, I find it's best to draw them pulling towards your body, following the curve of your hand as it bends inward.

For straight lines, you want to do the opposite and push away from you as you draw the line, and shouldn't move your wrist and instead draw moving your whole arm. It takes a lot of practise to get really steady, and doing regular exercises can help. I usually do them on paper and fill it up with parallel lines, angles, shapes, curves, circles, et cetera. This can help improve eye-hand coordination too.

And lastly, go slow, very slow, and be intentional about your lines. It might seem easier to do quick stokes, but learning how to draw at a stable pace will give you much more control and steadier lines in the long run.

[Shex]

I used to put a sheet of paper on my Wacom Intuos and it helped to stabilize a lot! 

My new one has a rough surface already, that does the same thing. 

 

I also used Photoshop a loooong time, until they introduced the CC versions, and I used LazyNezumi (https://lazynezumi.com/) with it, it is an AWESOME tool for smooth lines, lot's of settings and functions, you might want to try the test version :>

 

If you want to change the line width with pressure, make sure you have the driver installed and check the wacom settings, you can change the pressure there to make it harder or softer, and set pencils to change size according to pen pressure. 

 

Maybe these simple things help :>