Hello! I've admired your art for a long time, thank you for posting your work and creating gorgeous stories with other creatives!
One of the things I most admire from your work is your meticulous lineart, particularly how well you capture weight in your linework and where a line should have the most impact (thin here, thick here, a little chunkier near a corner). It reminds me a little of some Albert Hirschfeld works, although you remain unique in your own style.
What did you study to have such a firm grasp on lineart?
When you feel you need a refresher, what would you practice now?
I'm motivated to have strong linework like you!
Thank you in advance for your time and any answer you can provide! :)
AL HIRSCHIELFD COMPARISON IS CRAZY AIEEEEEE MY HEAD’S GETTING HUGE
Thank you very much— I’ve always been a linework/inking-focused person growing up reading primarily newspaper comics and manga. I try every so often to get into painting and rendering but it never excites me just as much as a juicy line does. Though, sometimes I feel like my work looks like a coloring book lol…
I took a class once that gave us a few inning exercises that I found very valuable: take a rough sketch from artists you admire and ink on top of them, and/or take inking from an artist you admire and ink on top of that and try to match their mark-making. You can do this digitally with lower opacity layers, or you can do it analog with paper and a lightbox. I always recommend doing some analog drawing with ink, I feel like it always helps me level up my digital inking.
When I need refreshers I first of all look at the ink/b&w work of artists I admire and try to soak it all in. I look at all kinds of stuff— golden age American comics, 90’s manga, MAD magazine art, newspaper strips, French and Italian comics, old magazine illustrations, etc etc.
Right now, I want to study how to incorporate more heavy blackspotting (stark black areas of value that help add dimension to the art) and texture, so I’m trying to look at more art that does that well. I might also read some books as a refresher: Pen & Ink Drawing by Alfonso Dunn, The Art Of Comic Book Inking by Gary Martin, and Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu-Mestre (which is less about inking itself but about composition, which of course can aid in setting up drawings to ink).
Good luck on your inking journey!
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