(Untitled)

[roboticonograph]

Here's the inked version of the drawing I posted, in case any of you feel like doing your own colour job. (I'm experimenting with finer lines than I usually use so it's not great, and I'm not happy that the black marker bled so much, but you know. It's all about the process.)

Comments

[roboticonograph]

I first learned to ink using a brush, and then graduated to a standard point dip pen. My junior high art teacher (who was super old-school and kind of a drill sergeant) felt it was absolutely critical for me to learn this way before graduating to a drafting pen. At that time I was pretty set on having a future in comic books, so I never even touched a rapidograph until I graduated high school.

But to answer the question you actually asked, this was done with Staedtler Pigment Liners. I got hooked on them when I studied theatre design in university. I like to work small, and I love how precise and neat they are, and how quickly they dry.

My plan was to shade this in with black and grey markers (I have the 24 set of Chartpak greys) but as you can see the black marker I used to fill in the skirt bled quite a bit (check out the tips of Tony's fingers) because it's a sketchbook and not meant to take that much liquid.

I hate copying onto bristol because I find I never get an exact reproduction, and if I'd known this was going to be a finished piece I would have drawn it on bristol but I didn't... sigh.

And just now I started colouring it in pencil crayon and feel like I just fucked it all up anyhow. Awesome.

I think what frustrates me most about my art is that I used to be a lot better at it.

[neptunesubmerge]

That first paragraph has lots and lots of words that I have no idea what they mean. I am going to go Google rapidograph.

I use Prismacolor fine tip markers to ink and basically hate them. Asked what you used because I should probably find an alternative. I used to use something else when I drew regularly, but that was years ago and I don't remember what anymore.

I hadn't noticed the bleeding, but now that you mention it, I see that the texture on the skirt that I like so much is the paper's texture brought out by the marker.

I'm sure you did not fuck it up and whatever minor imperfections you see are completely invisible to anyone else.

I think what frustrates me most about my art is that I used to be a lot better at it.

Same here.

[roboticonograph]

I recommend the Staedtler Pigment Liners 150%. They're relatively inexpensive (as art supplies go) and they are so clean and sharp and perfect and love love love. My favourite feature about them is that they are waterproof and so I can paint over them.

I always hate to be a snob about art supplies because I've always felt that the tools should be secondary to the level of skill you bring to them... but then again, it really is amazing what a difference it makes when your pencils are sharp. You know?

Coloured version is up. Pepper doesn't look quite as glowy on the page as she does here. :P I'm really pleased with how her top came out, though.

[neptunesubmerge]

LOVE the color! It makes everything pop so much! Colored, Tony seems so much more disheveled than he did in the line art, with his shirt open til the arc and the tie out of sorts. Those things were there, but the effect was less, I think. My attention was drawn more to their faces than the overall image before you colored it. Her top is great, but so is the shading on Pepper's arms and her blush.

TL; DR Everything about this is perfect!

[jackwabbit]

As someone who is challenged to sketch anything more than a stick figure (though I can make rudimentary anatomy things sensible on paper most of the time), this comment flies over my head at warp speed and I am simply awed by the fact that anyone can make such things as this.

Thanks for sharing.