Gadzooks! Do my eyes deceive me? Actual artistic advice hacks for a dime budget, that go beyond the typical 3 of: "Use reference, practice a lot, don't stop believing in yourself!"...What a fantastic feat!
I give you MAJOR PROPS for addressing knowledge geared toward TRADITIONAL ARTIST! It's the digital age so the traditional way of doing things seems to be slowly fading away. I love paper and pencil, digital drawing doesn't give me the same thrill that actually creating on paper does. So thank you for thinking of us traditional artist!
Old comment so sorry for bringing this up, but the old ways aren't fading as much as you think. If you want to be part of a movie pipeline, or video game then yes you need digital skills (and not just photoshop either since z-brush is basically a must at this point for concept artists),but if you want to be a fine artist then you NEED to be good traditionally.
also a good tip for people doing watercolors and inks: instead of buying expensive ceramic palettes from the popular brands, thrift inexpensive ceramic plates/serving dishes with lots of wells in them like the kind they used for sauce and party foods. You can get them for less than $0.30 usually and they're easy to clean, non-staining, and rust proof unlike plastic or metal palettes
Also, id you have a plastic pallette, you can sand the surface with some medium grit sand paper (220 and up) to make the surface hold the water and stop it from forming small droplets on the surface. This makes it muxh easier to mix coulours and see your results.
Serkworks Art Labs I used to flip my exact blades like you mentioned also got a couple deep pressure thumb cuts cause I forgot I had flipped the blade. Very painful trying to draw after that so try keep your caps maybe color coat them with some fluorescent plastic paint
Why don't you concentrate on your medical field... Otherways you are going to kill someone without getting proper rest....take care.... Ok guys .. Soo if anyone sees this guy in a drawing class just kick him out okk... ...
Top tip if you want to use your iPad as a lightbox: Go into Settings > General > Accessibility Turn on Guided Access (you only have to do that first part once) Now, go into Google and look up 'white' and bring up a random plain white image. Press the Home button 3 times quickly, which will turn on Guided Access. Choose the option to disable the screen. Use your iPad as a lightbox and when you're done, simply press the Home button 3 times again to use the screen like normal! This makes it so that the screen won't start shifting like it usually does if you accidentally poke it through the paper. Plus, it means that if you're tracing a digital sketch or something it won't move around whilst you're drawing.
i've developed a workflow of penciling traditionally but layouting them digitally since that's where i always have troubles with. It helps since I don't need to pencil within the panels. Then i print the draft layout and ink from there via light box
I think i got my light table for only a little over 24 dollars or something and it`s more like a pad that you can bring with you anywhere. Get a light pad everyone, they are much cheaper!
Sounds like a good deal. I would recommend people do the same, but in a pinch if you happen to find yourself without your light box a window will do just fine.
An old school tip for you along the lines of masking tape behind the ruler. On your circle templates, to keep the ink from smudging tape pennies to the back side. Same for triangles.
I find that clear plastic rulers are much more useful for art than metal or wood because you can see what’s underneath and it’s much easier to position it on the page.
More hacks; non photo blue doesn't show up on a scanner, so you don't have to erase your pencilling, plus it's easier on the eyes. If you do want to erase your pencil lines after inking, please, for the love of God, use one of those brown art gum erasers, as they do not dull the ink. For removing eraser dust, or even those little microscopic bits of graphite, use a drafting brush. If you're eraser is too big to erase what you want, use an eraser shield. If you want to make a comic book with only graphite, no ink, consider using charcoals, as they cast no shine, where graphite does. White highlights can make or break great artwork, so most people use "the white gel pen" for that. Go to any arts and crafts store, and ask for "the white gel pen," and they will give you the same one every time, but "the white gel pen" is not archival, so one might want to consider using white gouache, which is archival. Micron now has a 003 size, which is .013 mm wide at the tip. It's excellent for really subtle shading, but if you have figured out how to change the inks in a micron pen, do not use the fw pearlescents, which should look better at this size, but the particulate size of the pigments is .014, which is too big to fit through the nib, so it will seem like the trick doesn't work. Touch alcohol markers have a higher concentration of alcohol than copics, so they blend more easily, but they therefore have a lower concentration of pigment, so the colors won't be as vibrant. If you alternate between the two brands, you will get a wider variation of color, with greater ease, for about 80% of the cost of the equivalent with just the copics. Thi down your inks with water, and you get a better variation of value, and use walnut oil based oil paints, because they do not yellow through the ages, like linseed oil based oil paints.
Thanks! That is all great advice and I use many of the same tools and techniques. I do think this falls more in the category of using the correct tools properly than as art hacks.
I think you got all the big ones, Scott. Funny thing, I think panel borders are actually the only thing I'll consistently use a ruler for. Anything else I'm just as likely to draft freehand, and usually ink freehand as well. Tend to have fewer smudging issues in general, though. The ink in my technical pens is just less thick and viscous than what I often see you use, and it sets very quickly; I don't normally have trouble unless I brush it immediately (so the trick is left at just pulling my ruler away). Gridded rulers are really nice for doing right angles, though, and I have paper/cardboard blanks to draw around when I just want to block out my working space on larger sheets. It's not the most elegant option, but hey, when you just want to do drafts on your commute, it makes it fast to get a few pages ready to work on.
I think how much or how little you use your ruler comes down to personal preference. There are some artist I admire who are super technical and every thing that is non organic is drawn with a ruler, then I see other artist who I really like who's every line is drawn freehand and the effect is awesome. I think I'm somewhere in between.
Nice tips, thanks. 2, I do slicing while drawing faces down on a light table. Tape the papers together, cut halfway, tape over the cut and continue to the end. The papers stay put all the time. 3, I do lightly proportion outlines on the paper and flip it on a light table, then I do the actual sketch on the backside with corrections. Then I flip it again and erase the thin outlines on the first side and ink it correcting again. ( Or flip the paper again and again doing corrections as long as needed before inking. ) This eliminates skewing and no heavy duty erasing is needed at all, also I don't have to use eraser on my inked work. For lettering I put a squared-paper on the light table and place the drawing over it. While sketching it's also handy for getting things vertical and proportions right on buildings etc.
Lots of good tips, I've used them all! One useful tip that wasn't mentioned is to do panel layouts small to nail the composition, then enlarge them at a copy store (divide the size you want by the size of your small comp, move the decimal two places stage right, and there's your enlargement percentage for the copier) and, with your pencil held sideways, put a layer of graphite on the back of the enlarged copy. Flip the page, tape it to your board and use a ballpoint pen to go over the lines of the copy. The graphite on the back will transfer the image nicely. I've used variations on this for years. I prefer this method to a projector because it feels more natural than trying to draw vertical. Another useful tip that folks are constantly asking is, what size are comics drawn at? Traditional should be 10x15 or something real close. Use 11x17 paper and do a quick 1/2 inch on each side and 1 inch top and bottom. There's your 10x15! (Digital go twice the size of whatever your final product is, and go 300 dpi)
Thanks Michael. Those are great tips. I’ll have to try your transfer method. And I agree that drawing vertically is difficult and uncomfortable, at least for me.
I like the ruler tip and the idea to let my ink sit overnight to thicken it. Some of the other tips weren't very helpful though. Personally my solution to a pencil nub is "buy more pencils."
Yeah, some of these tips people already know or there might be better options. But even if you get a couple new tips from these I’ve done my job. Hopefully it was worthwhile.
I made my own guides for making the traditional blue line borders on 11 x 17 Bristol boards. I sacrificed two authentic Blue Line boards by cutting along the lines and saving what essentially is a frame, one for outside bleed edge and one for the inside. Then I made a board with two raised angles adjacent from one another that boarder 11 x 17 just as a mount (you don't need it though) so if I have an 11 x 17 sheet of stock Bristol board or one made for water color I can turn it into a blue line comic sheet by laying in the mount, laying the thick inside frame in, trace the edge, then the outside frame, trace it, now I have a traditional comic page that shows the bleed lines that are normally on a "blue line pro " sheet. It's way cheaper, saves you the time of having to measure all that out, and it is an alternative if you want to use a different canvas for your comic other than bristol.
Just masking tape wouldn't always lift the ruler enough for me to prevent smudges. I usually paste a penny under each end of the ruler and secure them with masking tape. As for lightbox, there are some very inexpensive USB powered LED light pads you can find on ebay at less than 15 bucks. Here's another one: If your printer can take bristol boards, you can make the borders of the panels on the computer and print them out, so you don't have to use rulers for that, and they will look perfect!
Oh, and one I like to do a lot: If you wanna get a focus lines effect like they use in manga, put a flat top thumbtack on the centre of the panel with the pin facing upwards and secure it with masking tape. then just use it as the focus point, just easily rotating the ruler around the pin!
Wouldn't mind at all, man! In fact, here's another one: When you're in a rush and want the ink to dry faster, just hover the page near the light bulb of your desk lamp for a couple of seconds, the heat will dry the ink immediately! (Just don't hold it for too long if you don't want to burn the page, lol!)
Great video! I liked the ruler bit and cutting out the faces for corrections (all of the video was good, but those were my two favorites). I'm curious about the lettering. I would have liked to see more about the lettering. I think you may already have video on that so I will check it out (assuming I'm not mistaken). I'm thinking about hand lettering my comic, but I'm not sure either.
Pentel Clic-Eraser stick type erasers are available in every office supply store and lots of other general retailers and they make great pencil extenders. Just slip your pencil in the opposite side of the eraser part and you can use it to hold your pencil. If you like, you can leave the eraser in and have a gigantic eraser on the back of your little pencil.
Also I use White Acrylic for Whiting out My ink mistakes. It works as good as white out, can clean brushes easier, and If your buy flat sealed Apple barn. It is thin enough yet opaque enough to hid ink mistakes.
I actually use a few of these methods. Also, it may sound cheap, but I like to draw may character's faces on sheets, in different sizes and angles. Mostly to save time, use those with the lightbox to keep a perfect consistency with everything. It works with poses and dynamic movements. Just to have everything you could need on file to just pop out and redraw. Removes the stress a bit.
An idea for the splice: Instead of splicing along a straight line, follow some of the curves in the drawing ... along the edge of an arm, a building, etc. The result will be a far less visible splice.
Another good way to check your drawing is turn it upside down. It's amazing how easy it is to spot problems in perspective, proportion, or composition that way.
Tip #1: GET TAPE All the other tips: Tape is awesome. Use tape. But no in all seriousness these are fantastic hacks that I'd never have thought of before. Thanks a bunch for this video!
You can make a 24x36 light box with 3/16 in. thick acrylic sheet, foam core board, and a battery-powered LED closet light for around or less than $50 total in materials.
This video is old but I have my tip for a light table 4:57 What I do is taking off the glass from a portrait (a big one if you have) and put it on top of two columns of books (like, 2 books and 2 books on a table) and them a put my cellphone in between them with the lantern on. That's it! A on budget light table! 😁
Serkworks Art Labs ... I use these clear circles or squares from Scotch called "Restickable Dots." They give the perfect amount of lift & as their name implies, they're re-usable, for those whom might not have a dedicated rulers for inking. ;) Try them you'll like them I bet. As to the sticky spray, I just tried it, using a cut out, with a ruler & xacto knife and it worked great! Next up, is tracing the comic letters for a more hand drawn look. I have good hand writing but, I'm not a writing specialist. Great tips. Thanks again for those tips and thanks for the reply!
Serkworks Art Labs ... also, (this is kinda off-topic) but, like you, I enjoy working in the traditional method even though I do have a Wacom, all the art software you could need and a expensive self-built workstation. That said, scanning and printing is something I still use often these days, even though I'm back to drawing & inking traditionally. This is especially important because thought I own every Copic marker out there, it's far cheaper and faster to color on the computer. I only do a base color with markers and paint with covers. That said: my all-in-one is starting to go. I know the ideal setup is to have your own printer and scanner separate however, I don't have the room right now, unless super worth it too. I Any suggestions for a printer & scanner or ALL-IN-ONE? I scan far more than I print. I sometimes don't print for months at a time (ink always drying up). Those knew printers and all-in-one's with "ink wells" ... do you happen to have any tips on them? Perhaps a future video? ;)
Awesome ideas - One I use a lot is BlueTac. Great for sticking down precious items like vases to surfaces (solves that annoying cat and kids problem :P ), but its also great for art for sticking down ink caps, pencils, or paper to the desk. Also works just like a kneaded eraser for removing graphite. Stick it in the end of a ruler to pick up fallen pens or in your ears to block out noisy disruptions. Just don't use the coloured stuff in your ears as it may leave 'SpiderMan Blue' residue in your ear-hole - like it did to me once :D
Yeah I always spill my ink. Oh your pro white tip also works for your markers. If they start drying out you can prolong it's life by taking the cap off and putting it felt down into a glass of water for a bit.
If you have a shallow but wide transparent box with a flat bottom, they work as great light boxes. I’ve found that drawing on windows/monitors is awkward and tablets often shift the screen, but I bought a cheap box with a flat bottom and it works great
Great tips! I'm also a traditional comic artist (beginner) and maybe this tip I come up with can be helpful. When I want to show a character in the same position in two panels but with a slight movement on his hand or head (or eyes etc.) on the second panel, instead of trying to redraw a perfect copy I use rice paper to draw the character from the first panel and then add the movement I want on the copied character for the second panel, then I put indigo paper and the rice paper with the drawed character on top of the comic page. Now the adjusting can be a bit tricky but again if you have these light tables you would see where you'd have to put it on top. By me such panels are usually the same sizes so I would draw the character together with the panel and when I copy it I always leave a part of the comic page panel protruding so I can level it up with the panel of the rice paper one, cuz I only use so much indigo paper as needet for the panel and not a whole sheet to cover the whole page. Of course I try to push lightly cuz the indigo paper is basically a sheet soaked in ink, so if I get it wrong I will have to white it out. Might not get a 100% perfect copy but still better from what I will do on hand alone.
Very interesting technique. I haven't used indigo or carbon paper in ages. There are a number of instances where you want to use an almost identical panel or have only a slight variation that this would be helpful for. I usually duplicate it in Photoshop because I color and letter digitally, but if you are going to do everything traditionally then in indigo paper transfer is a definite option.
Yes, I wouldn't imagine doing this if I had the chance to do it digitally but by fate I would say, I do my comic books all out dtraditional. I guess the desire to pull off an effect like that brought me up to such an idea, haha XD
For people traveling. The common water bottle is also what I use for inking and water colors. Really useful art tool to have for the traditional birds of flight! :3
Great tips. I use the metal bottle caps from beer or other drinks. I place them on an old speaker magnet so they stay put and this makes it less likely for them to be knocked over. I also mix a little ammonia + water in an old ink bottle and use this to water my ink. It helps it flow better than just water alone. The last thing is to tape up the grip of brushes or dip pens to get a better grip. You can also use pencil grips if you can get them to fit.
Useful vid, thanks for making it! Btw, Huion makes some great inexpensive LED light tables (starting at about $30 on Amazon). I have two and highly recommend them. Since they are LED, most are much less than half an inch thick and incredibly bright.
I was going to put the same comment :) there is a bunch of different brands already, it goes in between 15$ and 30$ generrally. They are light, easy to carry, they are powered by USB, so you can use either a laptop/computer or a classic phone charger to power them... they also have adjustable brightness!
No lightbox? Scan and mirror your pencil work, print, then use tracing paper with an HB grade pencil to transfer a clean light graphite layout to your bristol. After inking it lifts beautifully with an eraser and little pressure.
I got some of those hacks under my belt :) I like the bottle cap ink well idea. One nice trick is to add a little alcohol (91%) to thin ink and to help it dry a little faster, just a few drops. It kinda makes your ink smell a little boozy though...
Thanks, those were great tips! I especially want to try the lettering trick, since I've been wanting to either make a handwriting font or to improve my handwriting (it's terrible), but your lettering guide works both for both digital and traditional!
One thing i did with ink was Instead of me getting a eye dropper for My ink, I actually found a cheap bottle of instant glue from the dollar store, that had a long tapered nose with a cap on the end, and i actually bought it and took it home, and I quickly opened the bottle and emptied the glue into the trash (btw do not pour into sink or toilet, cause that could clog things) and I ran water into it quickly and washed it thoroughly and cleaned nose of it. And I poured all My ink into that. So I have both a ink container and eye dropper that I squeeze into a bottle cap or water color pallet cup
As for the table light: I use a clear portfolio that is box shaped and the flashlight on my phone. It is another inexpensive way to create. However I draw on a small surface. That fits on my lap. XD
Yes, you really should, beyond just saving time (and by time I mean like 50%+) the results are just superior nowadays, even if you want to achieve a traditional look, brushes have become pretty indistinquishable form the real thing in photoshop etc. You just have so many more options, so much control,, and the ability to basically fix anything , at any time.
Thank you for the tips. Actually I had to discover all these by myself but at those times there was no such useful videos on youtube. :D Tip No: 12, I usually do that with photoshop. It is more safe and does not damage the original art work. I'd like to add a few things if you won't mind: - Beside an eye drop, syringe is also useful. (Actually my dad was working in health sector so it was easy for me to get my hands on syringes lol ) - Watercolor palettes are pretty useful if you are using 50 shades of ink. :) Like, if you are using lavi technique you can create a nice tone scale on palette. - If you have a large size art work (let's say 35cmx50cm) and an A4 scanner, you can scan the different parts in 3 times and combine them on photoshop. - I also paint the large black areas on photoshop, it works for me for time saving. - And my last, not tip but an advice for whom do not know anything about sofwares. Basic knowledge of Photoshop will help you a lot. And again, thank you so much for the tips.
Thanks. I had to learn a lot of this the hard way too. Thanks for the tips. I may mention some of these in a follow up video. I use a lot of these digital tips as well, but wanted to stick to just traditional tips for this video.
It could be the green lab coat (Dr Forester) It could be the janky homemade sets and props. I would love to get some robot puppets as well., maybe someday. MST3K is definitely a major influence. I'm glad to see you made that connection.
It's more than the set pieces and Forester coat actually! Something about the mannerisms makes me feel like Invention Exchange should be happening. MST3K is one of the few shows I watch (I'm not a TV person at all) and it always inspires me. What's your favorite episode?
So many good ones but I think my favorite episode would be Mitchell. I'm also partial to Laser Blast because I saw it in a drive in theater when I was a kid and remember it being so bad even as a kid.
I still need to see those two! My favorites are Time Chasers, The Giant Gila Monster, and Hercules Unchained. Funny you saw Laser Blast in a drive in as a kid, I saw a VHS of Hercules Unchained in the library once after having seen MST3K's take on it and I cringed so hard...
