Eric Shanower Inking Interview


Welcome back, Eric. We're going to be talking about inking this week. This is the part five of the course. What is your relationship to inking?


Well, for me, inking is nowhere near as difficult as penciling. The art is already there on the page, so my job is to solidify what's already been penciled, to bring out the mood and the atmosphere of the scene. And to make sure that everything is clear for the reader. As I mentioned when we were talking about penciling, my art is very tight. My pencil art is very tight. That can often make art work look stiff, very tight pencils. So when I ink, I try to keep my hand, my ink, my pen very loose to try to make sure that the pencils which could be stiff, have as much life as possible. I want the reader to forget that these are drawings. Not that I don't want the reader to admire my artwork, but the main reason is to communicate a story. I want the reader to be able to enter the world of the story, to believe that the story is happening, to forget that these are drawings on some level. And to just be there experiencing what I'm trying to communicate.


Great. So the question I have next is about tools. So, our creators are kind of using rudimentary tools, this is first comic book experience and we just, we didn't want them to get overly complicated with pen nibs and brushes. [LAUGH] But what are your thoughts on inking tools? What do you use and what kind of tools should you gear yourself around?


Well let me tell you first what I use. And, let me show you an inked page. I use two-ply, 100% cotton Strathmore Bristol board with a vellum surface. That's what I draw on. Over the years I've used pencils with a variety of different leads to actually pencil with. I currently use a Staedtler Mars F. I ink by lettering in my balloons with repediograph. For inking the artwork I use a Hunt 22 b pen nib and Pelikan India ink. The pen nib tends to spread after hours of use. So generally when I put in the new nib, I'm inking fine details like faces or hands. And then I leave the heavier lines for later, when the nib is a bit worn out. To correct mistakes, I use titanium white paint. And then after I've scanned in the artwork I do further corrections in Photoshop. I used to ink a lot with a brush and for that I would use a Number 2 Winsor Newton Red Sable. Winsor Newton is the most expensive. There are lots of other, other brands. But I don't, I haven't done a lot of brush work in the last 20 years. For the students in your program I would, my best recommendation is to practice, practice, practice whatever tools you're using. The more practice you get the more facility you'll get, the more confidence you'll get.


So, I got a couple of questions about i'm going to ask you one about lettering first, when you're inking lettering, what are the things you should be thinking about?


Well, legibility, number one. You gotta make sure that the reader can actually read the lettering. Number two, I would say is to is just spacing to get a good aesthetic look to the space between the balloon and the lettering and make sure the lettering is creating a shape, the ends of lines create a smooth, rounded shape as much as possible I mean. Actually, you're not going to be able to judge every word and every line, but make it look good.


Great. Another thing I wanted to ask while we're looking at your inked art work is, agent bronze isn't black and white and all of the pages that our learners are creating are also in black and white. How important is it to figure out light source while you're doing your inks?


Well, you need to figure out the lights first while you're doing your pencils, actually. But, light source and shading helps create the mood.


I tend to use more cross hatched lights and darks when I'm trying to create a specific mood for a page. For instance, this panel is sort of the light is coming at a sort of upward angle on this character's face and he's standing in darkness, just catching the light there. And I wanted to, that was important for story telling purposes to show that he's sort of in the shadows in the background, he's an observer of the main scene that's going on. >> Cool. The last question I have is. On the materials our students are using, they're going to be using copy paper, sharpie pen, maybe a zebra felt-tip kind of brush pen. What's your best advice for what they should be approaching right now in their inking work?


Well, as I said before, practice is the best way to get facility with inking. The more you actually do the process the more confident they get. I could say, before you touch your artwork with a pen, get some scratch paper. Do samples, that'll let you know exactly what the process is going to be like. When you sit down to actually ink your artwork, have a piece of scratch paper next to you so you can draw a few strokes on that, loosen up your hand, figure out how the ink is flowing. The best thing to do is have the scratch paper be the same material as you're actually going to ink on so you know how the ink is going to react. To the paper that you're going to be actually inking on, then start inking. When you ink, don't do a lot of little, tiny, repetitive marks, be confident. The scratch paper was to test out, do your little marks and figure out what you're doing. Be confident in your inking, be deliberate.


Try not to be heavy handed though, don't obsess over it. If you're worried about what it's going to look like when you're actually inking your artwork, start with the less important lines. Start with something in the background, or maybe part of the costume of a character that's not In the foreground then once you get warmed up, once you get little more confident you can then do the final details like faces and hands and things like that.


Great. Thanks Eric.


You're welcome, Patrick.