How to Make Comic Art

Inked comic illustration

Comic art is a combination of pencil drawing and inking to create the visual basis of the comic book and comic strip. Learning to make comic art requires the patience to develop the skills necessary to both draw and ink to bring to life the comic art on the page. While it can take some time to develop a personal style with your comic art, practicing on a regular basis can help you develop your skills as well as your own comic art style.

Things You'll Need

• Pencils
• Eraser
• India ink or
• Colored markers
• Sketch paper

Instructions

1. Sketch your initial image using either a number two pencil or a graphite pencil. This phase of the comic art process involves capturing the details of your subject, whether you're drawing a superhero, an animal, a person or simply a scene. Begin the sketch in light pencil.

2. Make adjustments to your sketched image, darkening the lines and the details as you reach the look you're after. Once you begin the inking phase, you'll have some difficulty making changes to the initial sketch, so this is the time to perfect the illustration.

3. Ink the illustration. While it appears on the surface as if inking the illustration is a simple matter of tracing over your initial drawing, this is far from the truth. It can be argued that inking is the phase that brings the illustration to life. Inking is the act of applying India ink to your comic to bring out the shadows and thicken the details. You can also used color markers for this phase.

4. Apply the India ink slowly over the entire image first, making sure that each and every line is finished with the ink. Next, apply ink to portions of the image that require depth and shading. Apply the shadows with angled strokes. How much ink you add depends upon the look you're after. Applying the ink in random strokes adds less shadow detail. If you want deeper shadow or more definition, apply the ink until it's solid. You should also apply ink around any facial features or clothing to lift them away from the page.

References

• DragonArt: How to Draw Comics
• YouTube: How to Ink a Comic