Heidi Black and Becca Hillburn's presentation on the basics of inking for comics. Originally presented at Hamacon with several live demonstrations.

1. INKING!
A great way to ruin white clothes

2. Paper
Every paper takes ink differntly
& copy paper (20lb, 24lb, 28lb, 32lb – also in sizes of
letter, legal, a4)
& thicker papers (cardstock/presentation paper)
& manga papers (deleter, maxon, copic)
& bristol board (canson, strathmore)
& other media/illustration boards (for wet
media/paints)

3. Inking tools – ink and nib
& the nib, holder, and ink are all separate items
& types of ink: water-soluble, india ink, acrylic ink

4. Inking tools – ink and nib
& many different kinds of nibs – drawing, sketching,
architecture, calligraphy, lettering
& drawing nibs allow for a wide variety of line widths
& sketching and architecture are good for fine details
& calligraphy and lettering nibs (a, b, c)
& most manga-ka use “g-nibs” - highly flexible
drawing nibs

5. Inking tools – ink and nib
& require a lot of practice
& not very portable
& ink does not dry fast/tends to smear
& will shred or spider on cheap paper
& often very slow process

6. Inking tools – brush
& most variation of line weight, fast filling in of black
& great for emulating sumi-e painting
& other techniques such as dry brush for texture
& can be very difficult to learn, good brushes very
expensive
& Less portable

7. Technical pens
& brands such as micron, copic, pitt, rapidograph
& lots of sizes
& will give you a consistent line weight – good for
lettering, mechanical/architectural objects
& easiest to transport, easiest to learn
& do not give dynamic lines without extra work
& some tips very fragile/easy to break

8. Brush Pens
Nylon Bristles (Pentel Pocket Brush)
Felt Tipped (Pitt Pen, Sakura Micron Brush,
Copic Multiliner Brush)
Rubber Tipped (Fude pens)
portable

9. Other tools
& ruler/t-square/triangle/straight edge
& french curves
& circle and ellipse templates
& eraser (vynl, plastic, kneaded)

10. Computer programs
& adobe photoshop – considered the standard
& adobe illustrator – difficult to learn
& corel painter – better for illustration
& manga studio – offers a lot of templates,
screentones, used by many professionals
& paint tool sai – cheaper alternative, also good for
coloring
& free alternatives such as gimp, open canvas

11. That's a lot of stuff!
Relax!
You don't need all of those things
Start simple. Find what works best for you. It isn't
the same for everyone!

12. Lets ink!