#inking tutorial

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A little disclaimer: I will be showing a few images of other illustrators and mangakas to further explain something and/or provide concrete examples. I do not own them, and I’ll make sure to properly credit them!

Most of the mangas that I will mention in reference, if not all, are BL or Boy’s Love as that is also the genre of the original series I’m currently working on, so read them at your own risk! (some R-18)

Nonetheless, the focus will primarly be the techniques of drawing the hair.

Let's go!

I. INTRODUCTION

Manga hair ways of detail, inking, and (screen)toning has always been a problem for me. It’s different from normal drawing and coloring in general (or at least how I do mine), and most mangakas use very, very detailed hairstyles. Comparing those to my own art style is just depressing to look at.

Let’s have a quick example just so you can see what I’m talking about:

I repeat; depressing.

And so, I went for a very thorough research (okay, maybe not THAT thorough) to see the different ways and styles of different mangakas and artists with detailing, inking, and toning manga hair.

I’ll be using some samples I made by myself, explain each one by one, and possibly provide some samples and/or tips.

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II. DETAILING THE HAIR

The one I used for an example earlier was a work of Tennouji Mio, one of the mangakas I know with very, very complex hair detailing in her works.

Along with other mangakas I stalke–…er, researched, I’ve classified their way of detailing according to the hair strand complexity; from Level 1 to Level 3+, Level 1 being the easiest and the simplest style and Level 3+ being the most complex and hardest. I say 3 with a plus(+) because it can go even further, even to levels I can’t even reach yet (or never will).

Hair Detail Levels according to their (hair) strand complexity

– – – LEVEL 1 – – –

This is a level recommended for beginners for its simplicity. Yes, it’s a bit plain and often just the solid outline of the hair with barely any hair strands as details, but there are ways to spice it up with inking and toning (you’ll see it later). This is also most commonly used in chibi styles.

・REFERENCES USED:

① from AnimeOutLine

② from Xiataptara

③ from DragoArt

– – – LEVEL 2 – – –

This level is what I commonly see with the mangas I read. It’s also a middle ground for beginners and intermediate-level artists. It’s not too complex, but it’s not that simple or plain either. Depending on the artist’s style, the way the hair is drawn can look very complex despite having only a few drawn hair strands, sometimes are even in bundles.

The way the hair are drawn in these examples are a bit detailed compared to Level 1, but not too complex like the next levels.

・REFERENCES USED:

①Oh My Maid! by Itsuki Kaname

②Oresama Wa Koi No Dorei by Chitose Piyoko

③Recipe No Oujisama by Junko

– – – LEVEL 3+ – – –

I call this god-level style. While that may be an exaggeration, it’s just very far from my grasp to do or replicate. It has hair strands going on different directions, and sometimes even shaded one by one. Putting Tennouji Mio’s works as an exemption for the samples for this one (since I already used her work at the very first one), most of the mangakas I look up to have this style.

The complexity I aim for. But for now, I cry everytime.

・REFERENCES USED:

① Warui Koibito Ja Dame? by Mei Sakuraga

② Otona Keikenchi by Nekota Yonezu

③Love Neko by Mishima Kazuhiko

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III. INKING THE HAIR

Now that we’ve discussed the levels of detailing the hair, let’s move on with inking.

Inking the hair also depends on the character’s hair color. If it is light like blonde, most mangakas don’t even add shadows and ink them as it is. As for dark-haired characters, there are some mangakas who just fills up the hair with pure black inking, some with highlights. That said, here are some styles I gathered and some that I came up with myself with inking the hair:

Yes, I came up with the names. I really can’t tell if I’m genius or stupid at this point

Just a further explanation with the given samples I got:

USING LEVEL 1 DETAIL:

MINIMAL SHADOWS: The slightest of shading are placed where shadows are supposed to be, just to add some volume to the hair. Also called as the outline because the shadows can look like a thicker outlining on the already existing outline of the hair.

THE MINIMALIST HIGHLIGHTS: One of the easiest techniques, if you’re looking for something simple. Just groups of really small vertical lines around the hair that will serve as your highlights, viola!

SKETCHY HIGHLIGHTS: Similar to the previous one, minimalist highlights, but this one has longer lines.

SOLID BLACK FILL: When you don’t feel like detailing. Like, at all. Fill it up!

FILL WITH SIDE-TO-SIDE HIGHLIGHTS: Black fill with some highlights you can make with a fwoosh on both sides.

FILL WITH BUBBLE HIGHLIGHTS: A black fill with circles as highlights. I see this one a lot with artists who use chibi style or really, really cutesy art styles.

USING LEVEL 1 & 1/2 DETAIL:

FILL WITH WIGGLY HIGHLIGHTS: Another method of highlighting with a black fill. Am I the only one who thinks it looks like mustard on a hotdog sandwich? Or is that the growling stomach talking…

FILL WITH ZIGZAG GLOSS HIGHLIGHTS: This is mostly seen in older mangas made around the 80s-90’s. Compared to the other methods of highlighting with a black fill, this seems more…glossy, in my opinion.

HALF-BLACK FILL: It’s somewhat the lovechild of the minimal shadows (LVL1) and black fill (LVL1) technique; There are parts of it filled with black ink, but only the shadowy parts of the lower half. This can go to level 2 or level 3 territory, depending on how illustrator inks the shadows.

USING LEVEL 2 DETAIL:

FILL WITH WHITE OUTLINES: A black fill with hair strand details that are colored in white. I see this often with modern manga that are drawn digitally.

FILL WITH VERTICAL GLOSS HIGHLIGHTS: Somewhat related to the zigzag gloss highlights, this one isn’t a connected/clumped sequence of gloss placed on the middle going around the hair, but separated sections that are glossy-looking highlights placed all over it, as if highlights of different strands of hair.

FILL WITH WHITE STRANDS: It’s a black fill with some strands of hair that is colored in white, similar to the white outlines method. But instead of just one downward direction, the strands of this one goes in several directions for a bit more realism feel. Can also venture to level 3 if the direction of the strands are wild enough.

USING LEVEL 3+ DETAIL: 

I like to personally refer to these three as the “Deadly Trio“.

STRAND-PER-STRAND HALF-BLACK FILL: Similar to the half-black fill method, this one’s the level 3 detailing version of it. It leaves the upper part of the hair blank from shadows, but it’s inked strand-per-strand on the bottom parts. It just makes me go “oh no”.

STRAND-PER-STRAND LINE FILL: This is similar to the S-p-S Half-black fill, however, this one has even more smaller lines among the shading all compressed to one another to create the overall shade of the hair, and the parts where they end or aren’t present in are the highlights. It is very time consuming, and it just makes you go “why” at every minute of it...

STRAND-PER-STRAND COMPLEX GLOSS HIGHLIGHT FILL: The name’s title is enough to make you go “oh my god”. It’s pretty much a fill with the gloss highlights, but now, it’s highlighting per hair strand. Thinking of drawing a character over and over with this inking style is enough to make me cry.

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Overall, I think they’re all good techniques if used right. It doesn’t matter if it’s simple or complex, it’s still up to the artist how they can emulate the style and own it. And remember: Complexity doesn’t automatically mean good or godly, there are those who look really messy to look at. Vice versa, simplicity doesn’t mean boring, there is beauty in simplicity if done correctly.

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IV. TONING THE HAIR

The final topic of this lesson.

Using screentones in making manga is not necessary at all. In fact, there are some who just use plain inking in their work. But as per tradition, it does feel lonely without these monochrome textures for making the manga lively. For me, they’re the colors of the black and white of manga.

Some basic texture manga screentones, photo got from Akadot retail. 

Back in the days, these screentones are physical materials that you had to manually cut and paste onto the desired parts in your manga. But now, thank heavens for digital technology, you can input them just fine on top of your inked page’s layer on your software. There are still mangakas to this very day who stick to the traditional methods, however.

Personally, I use digital screentones, mainly because there are no traditional screentones sold in where I live. Moreover, I don’t have the proper equipment to use them. And as a bonus, there’s a ton resources and people on the internet that are nice enough to provide free screentones for personal use. Just look around!

V. Free Screentones!

▼ I've made a compilation of free manga screentones provided by very nice internet neighbors from old dA if you're interested! A lot if it is also what I use with my own works. ^^

Anyhoo, back to the toning techniques!

Similar to inking, really.

SOLID TONE FILL: As the name suggests, simply fill it in with one texture screentone. Voila!

SOLID TONE FILL WITH SHADING: A solid tone fill with shadows. See levels for differences in strand shadings.

SOLID GRADIENT TONE FILL: Similar to solid tone fill, but this one’s a gradient screentone that goes from the lightest shade at the top to darkest as it goes down. Perfect when you’re a ‘lil lazy for highlights or shadows.

PARTIAL TONE FILL: Like the previous partial/half-fill methods in inking, this one only fills the tone of half of the hair.

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I didn’t give much examples with toning because there is a lot, and I mean A LOT of different types of tones. There’s pattern tones, texture tones, decorative tones, etc.

It all depends on you what for, and how you’re going to use them.

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VI. HYBRID METHODS

You can combine inking methods and toning methods to create hybrids! They actually look pretty cool.

Pretty neat.

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Aside from picking what you think best suits your style, you also have to remember that different ways of detailing, inking, and toning are adapted depending on the atmosphere or mood of a scenario. I’ll probably make another separate post for that one to explain further. But for now, I hope this helps to anyone who’ll come across to this for some manga-making projects.

END.

Thank you for anyone who stopped by to read, and I hope this somehow helps. Feel free to ask me any questions or concerns. See you in the next lesson!

Mangaka-wannabe Aki signing out. 

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