How to Ink Drawings
Pencil drawings are easy to correct, but do not scan well and are prone to smudging and damage. To preserve pencil drawings or to finish them for scanning or coloring, professional artists use a technique known as inking. Different pens and inks are used to ink drawings, with the choice generally coming down to the artist's preference; brushes and india inks are used by some artists, while others choose basic ink pens that use a freely-flowing ink such as gel or felt tip pens. Multiple pens or brushes of different sizes may be used to create more dramatic effects.
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Instructions
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Finish your pencil drawing and erase any lines you feel are unnecessary. Keep in mind that the pencil drawing doesn't have to be perfect; you can make corrections, add shading and make other changes during the inking process.
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Use a fine-point pen or small brush to begin applying ink over the lines that make up the outline of all of your characters or components in your picture. Make smooth strokes and movements, following lines from beginning to end.
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Begin inking details once you've completed the outlines of everything in your picture. Use the same technique of smooth strokes that continue to the end of individual lines. Continue inking details until every pencil line you want to appear in your final drawing has been traced over by a thin line of ink.
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Erase the pencil lines once the ink is dry. The drawing may look whitewashed afterwards due to there only being thin black lines remaining, but the shading and bulkiness of the drawing will be added back in with further inking.
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Switch to a larger-point pen or slightly larger brush. Begin accenting the key lines of your characters and objects by going over the existing thin lines with the slightly thicker ink lines. Key lines include portions of the outline you want to draw out, areas that have small amounts of shading beneath them and any other lines you want to separate from the rest of the drawing.
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Use additional pens and brushes to add accents to key lines as desired, thickening them for dramatic effect or emphasis. Don't increase the size of your pen or brush drastically when picking a new one, since this can create lines with too much accent that won't look good when surrounded by the other lines.
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Add shadows and dark areas where they would naturally occur, using either solid black to fill the area or small strokes that you can thicken as needed by going over them again. The type of shading that you use is determined by your art style and personal preference, so practice both techniques to determine which one works best for you.
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Continue adding shading and detail to your drawing until you are satisfied with the final result, being careful not to overdo the shading and accent detail to the point that the picture looks cluttered or difficult to understand. Just as black space and shading adds depth to an image, white space is necessary to bring the image to life. White space is especially important if you intend to scan the image or add color, as too much detail may not scan well and too little white space leaves you little room to colorize the image.
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Tips & Warnings
Mistakes in ink can be corrected by allowing the ink to dry and then painting over the mistake with white paint. Once the paint is dry you can re-ink the lines you previously messed up.
Practice inking techniques with sketches and copies of other drawings before you begin inking your artwork. This will help you to get a better grasp of how to ink and how to avoid mistakes while also preventing you from making a major mistake on your drawing project.
References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
