Transcripts
1. Trailer: Hey guys, my names is Mina. I'm a watercolor ink in other mixed media artist. Ink is a really fun and versatile medium to explore. If you want to improve your inking, learn more about the medium or an absolute beginner, you will learn a lot from this class. We're going to go in depth into all the different supplies and tools that you can use and how they all act so you can find your favorite fit. Then we're going to learn about line variation, how to do it and why it's so important. Next, we'll learn about different ink shading techniques. Now, even provide you with the worksheet to practice on. Then we'll dive into illustrative textures and patterns which you will also have access to a worksheet to create your own unique designs. We'll finish the lessons with the fun mark making exercise that will help you develop expressive painting techniques and textures. For the final project, you will use the techniques that we learn to create magical illustrations. I will guide you through the drawings that I make to help you understand how to implement the techniques that we learned into different illustration styles. By the end of this class, you will have a lot more tools and techniques under your belt and you should feel more comfortable working with ink and excited to try them out. What are you waiting for? Enroll now to start your ink adventure.
2. Brushes & Brush Pens: There are a lot of tools that ink illustration can be done with. But if I had to choose only one, it would be the traditional brush and ink. It is the most versatile tool that can do some awesome things like dry brush textures, painting with diluted ink, and even splatter. Essentially, it's great for expressive and messy paintings, more so than any other tool that I will mention. You can also create clean and perfect lines with a little bit of practice. A new watercolor brush can be used to paint with ink. My favorite brands for watercolor brushes are the Princeton Neptune brushes and Silver Black Velvet brushes. We get asides here a rond brush for a detail and a six round for larger strokes. It really is up to you in the end, and it depends on how big with paper you are working on. If you want to challenge or have a lot of experience in painting, I really recommend getting a Kuretake Kolinsky Hair Menso Small Brush. It's an amazing one size fits all brush. You can create very fine detail easily and still make thicker strokes. Any Chinese calligraphy brush will have a similar effect in most concrete even bigger strokes, but the Kuretake is the best brush that I ever used. It's a great investment, but it does take time to get used to. So keep that in mind. There are a few things you should know about taking care of your brushes. When dipping into ink, you never want to dip your brush too deep because it can damage the glue holding together the bristles. Also, never leave your burst sitting in water or you'll ruin it. After using your brush, be sure to clean it by using plain water and a simple bar of soap. Be sure to wash all the soap out and mold it back into its original shape with your fingers. If you don't care much about drivers technique or painting with diluted ink, you can just get something like this Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen. It acts like a real brush, but it is portable and you don't have to re-deep your brush and ink all the time or worry about spilling it. A real brush is still my favorite, but this is a great alternative and I use both. To refill that ink, you replace the cartridge inside. They're fairly inexpensive and one cartridge can last a long time. If you have to brush pens, you can keep one with an almost empty cartridge and use it exclusively for dry brush textures. You can also get a water brush and fill it with ink, colored ink, or diluted ink. My favorite water brushes are the Pentel Arts Aquash Water Brushes. If you're going to be doing a lot of painting, it would be cheaper just to buy one of these and real ink. You can also get brush pens with heart tips that gives you a lot more control. My favorite is a Zebra Brush Pen. If you want a simple tool that's easy to control, this is a great option. It's amazing for brush lettering. No matter what tool you buy, if you plan on working with watercolors or creating washes, be sure your tools contain waterproof ink. Now that we know a little more about brushes, let's save into some other tools you can use.
3. Dip & Technical Pens: Dip pens are usually used for calligraphy but they can also be used to make some awesome illustrations. They can create much finer detail than brushes and can make beautiful stroke variation. If you're just starting out with nibs I recommend getting the Nikko G Nib. It's easier to master than the other ones but it's not as flexible meaning you need to use more pressured to make thicker lines and it's line variation isn't that big. My favorite nib is the Brause Extra Fine 66 Nib. It's very tiny and can create the thinnest strokes but also beautiful line variation with a little pressure. It's more flexible than the Nikko G but it is harder to master. There are a lot more nibs out there and they're very inexpensive. So I encourage you to try as many as you can to find your favorite just make sure to clean your nib gently using a toothbrush, soap and water when you first get it. Brand-new nibs have an oil coating that can make it hard for the ink to flow. Also take the nib out of the nib holder after every use and clean it with plain water and a paper towel. To make it last longer be sure to wipe off all the water so it doesn't rust. When dipping your nib into ink, be sure to dip to the end of the little hole in the middle, also called the vent hole but don't dip too deep. If you do, you can make the nib get stuck in the nib holder and rust. Technical pens are not as complicated as they sound. They just have a very thin tip that can be used to make a lot of detail. There is no line variation with pressure like all the other tools I showed so far have. The most famous of my favorite brand is a Sakura Pigma Micron Pens. They're waterproof and come in a lot of different sizes. The Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens are good as well but there isn't as big of selection and size. Technical pens do not have natural line variation but it can be fake by going over the stroke. I will show you how later. They are great for hatching and stippling. I think that dip pen is the better option because it can do everything a technical pen can, and create line variation. It is more versatile but like I said before it is harder to use and is not portable. In the end, what tools you work with are up to you. Hopefully, these lessons will help you make your choice. I believe in trying out as many different tools as you can until you find your favorite. But hopefully, you have an idea of which tools will work best with your illustration style. I honestly use all of them in different projects, so don't be afraid to do the same.
4. Ink, Paper, & Misc: If you're going to be using brushes or it depends you're going to need ink. I recommend getting waterproof black India ink like this Speedball Super Black ink or waterproof Sumi ink like this Zig cartoonists ink. Both are very opaque and rich blacks, that you can use watercolors on top of once they're dry. I like to keep my ink in a little container so I don't dry out my larger batch, it also makes it easier to see how deep I dipped my brush or nip. A water container is also good to have around. I like to dip my brush into water and dry it on a paper towel. So that it's slightly damp and makes the ink flow easier when I start. You might want a pencil and eraser to sketch out what you're going to draw, an HB or any H pencil work great. You can also use any eraser. Just always be sure your ink fully dry before erasing the pencil marks. Now onto paper I do provide two worksheets that will be used in future lessons that you can print out. You can't use a brush with ink on these only technical pens or brush pens. Printer paper is not the best for illustrating on, but it is okay for practice. If you have tracing paper you can use that instead. For doodling and general use I recommend getting sketchbook paper that is at least 80 pounds. If you want nicer paper like for the final project so that you can frame it or gift it, Bristol paper is a very good fit. If you want to use washes or paint on top of your ink drawings with watercolors, you need to use watercolor paper. Just be sure your paper is at least 140 pounds. You can get hot press watercolor paper, for smoother surface that is easier to work with especially with nips. But I'm going to be using this Canson paper that is very inexpensive and it is cold pressed. Now that we have everything we need, let's set into the world of ink illustration.
5. Line Variation: Creating thick and thin lines or line variation, is an essential skill to learn and master. It's also really easy to do. Here's an example to show you why line variation is important. I'm drying the girl with the brush in the left side of her face, creating line variation, and I'm using a technical pen on the right side, so it doesn't have any. Do you see how much depth is added just from varying my stroke width? Now, let's start with the basics of achieving this effect. I gently touch the page with the tip of my brush and move it. This stroke is very thin. If you start to gently press down, it will gradually get thicker until it is very thick. Then do the opposite and gently lift off until only the tip is painting again, back to very thin. Another way to practice this is when making a never ending swirl. Draw with the tip on the way up, and push down on the way down. This is the same technique that's used in brushed lettering. Every upstroke is thin, and every downstroke is thick. With practice, you will have a 100 percent control over this effect. It can make your drawings have more depth and dimension just by incorporating it in your work. Now let's see how our other supplies to this effect. It's good to do this exercise because they all act a little different, and it's good to be familiar with your tools. We're starting out the pentel pocket brush. Notice how easy it is to make very thick strokes. This pocket brush acts just like a normal brush. It can create very dynamic and organic lines with a lot of line variation. Next is the zebra brush pen. Line variation is not as big of the strokes are more elegant and easier to control than the brush. It's great for a clean and settled line variation affects. The nickle g-nib can create very thin lines. Its line variation is amazing, but the strokes are not very thick. You can get more flexible nibs that can make thicker strokes, but they still don't compare to a brush. The nickle desk create even more elegant strokes and the zebra brush pen and is great for calligraphy. Now, the Micron pen is a technical pen, and does not have natural line variation. As you can see, I'm going back in and faking it. I can make the line as thick or as thin as I want to by drying it in and filling in with black. This gives me the most control over the look. But it is a lot more work than just having a tool that creates line variation naturally. I want to point out that the ink from the pen takes a longtime to dry. Every other tool I showed had an ink dry very quickly, but here I smudge the ink by touching it. That's because been using the nib, you're using a lot of ink and it sits on the paper until it's absorbed. If you're using the pens, keep in mind that it takes a long time to dry. That's the Micron pen. As you can see, it gives me the most control, but it is the most time-consuming to fake the line variation. But the results are whatever I want them to be. Doing this is a great warm up and it really helps to get familiar with the tools that you're using. So get out a piece of paper and fill it up with line variation practice. If you have more than one tool, try doing it with all of them. See which ones are easier to work with and which you prefer. Try drawing a small doodle without and with line variation. See how different it looks. I'd love to see your experimentation and progress. You can start your class project by uploading a picture of your line variation in experimentation practice page, and by showing what's your favorite tools are. I can't wait to see what you create.
6. Shading Techniques: In ink illustration, the white of the page is your white. You can add other media on top like this copic white ink or this union ball signal white gel pen. But it might be noticeable that you did. It's better to plan out your white areas and to paint or draw around them. By using the white media on top, is very good for small details, for textures. Shadows and highlights can be shown in a lot of ways. Old school comic artists used inked in amazing way. They created shadows by filling a large area with ink, but they would be careful to leave highlights or reflected light. It made their art very dimensional interesting to look at. You can also use the same technique in your work, by being conscious of your positive and negative space while your inking. I made this bear look 3D just with black and white. The hair looks classy by leaving highlights in the middle, and the last one is an example of how to go about if you like neat and careful designs. This method can be time-consuming and it's hard to master it first. Thankfully, there are other methods of shading. I touched the worksheet that you can download in the project section. So you can follow along. Printer paper is not good for ink illustration, but it will do fine for this practice session as long as you use some technical pen, or if you don't have one, just use a normal black pen. Hatching is basically parallel lines that can be drawn at any angle. But you must pick one angle and make sure they're all going the same direction. I don't put any lines in white. This is the white of the page. Then I slowly start to add the lines, vary wildly space at first, and I slowly bring them closer and closer together until it's pitch black in the end, if you squint your eyes, it should look like a value scale. You can always go back in and add more lines where it's missing some. I really like hatching. It's a simple way to shade and is pleasing to the eye. I want to make a note on hatching. If you want your object to feel 3D, you can practice contour hatching. This example for the first one, I use parallel hatching, and for the second, I followed the natural shape of the sphere to make it look more real or contour hatching. This is a more advanced type of hatching, and if it seems too hard, don't worry about it. But if it's something you'd like to explore, just try doing it on simple 3D shapes at first, and then you can move on to more realistic objects. To do crosshatching, first start out with normal hatching, essentially copying the rectangle on top and then you add a second layer perpendicular to the same lines. The distance between the lines is copied in the second layer because you have to keep it uniform for it to look right. It's essentially two hatching techniques on top of each other. It creates a lot darker shadows and depth and could be used to make more realistic drawings. Scribbling isn't more playful way to shade. Here are some examples of ways that it can be used. The only rule is not to lift your pen a lot. These examples came from imagination, but there are numerous ways that it can be done. So experiment to find your favorite. First, we'll leave the white of the page, then we start scribbling but wide, this is the highlights. Then a little closer until we get the midtones, and then with scribble close together and closer together for our shadows and then even closer until we get pitch black. You might need to do a couple of layers of scribbles in the midtones and the black area to make it darker. To be sure it's a gradual value scale, just squint your eyes and see where it needs more shading. This is a more fun technique that can be used to quickly do value studies or to make your illustrations more alive and dynamic. Stippling is very simple. It's just dots. You can make an area lighter or darker depending on how close or far apart they are. Some of the most beautiful ink illustrations that I've seen use this technique. If you master it, you can make masterpieces, but it is the most time consuming shading technique, especially if you're a perfectionist. I think it creates a soft to slip from all the techniques and is a great one to try out. These four are the most common shading techniques, but I left two more blink rectangles for you to fill up with your own made-up shading technique, or if you feel like you messed up the previous one, you can try them again here. For my first one, I'm using differently sized circles. Effect is similar to the scribbling technique, but I don't let them overlap in the lighter areas, and then let them in the darker. It reminds me of bubbles underwater. The next one is just short lines in different directions. I space them apart more in the lighter areas and then bring them closer until they overlap and turn black. It reminds me of stably hairs. I made these up and now I challenge you to do the same. Feel free to do the worksheet more than once. After all, the only way to learn is by doing and doing it a lot. Once you're done up to your project with what you've create is that other students can again inspired and learn from you. Now, let's learn about textures and patterns.
7. Patterns & Textures: Textures and patterns can be used to give a lot of dimension to a piece. Every pattern is a texture, but not every texture is a pattern. It has to have some order and repetition for it to be considered one. You can make illustrative or realistic textures. Most patterns read as illustrative or cartoony. The type you prefer will depend on your art style. Both can be very intricate and time consuming to make and both can make gorgeous results. Download and print out the worksheet in the project section to do this exercise. You can use technical pens and brush pens. But I don't recommend real brushes and ink on printer paper. My first pattern is inspired by bubbles. It's definitely on the more cartoony side. I use black to form some parts may contrast, and I try to keep it loose by not making perfect circles and when filling in with black I leave little bits of the page showing. Notice how I use to pitt pen to draw and the zebra brush pen to fill on bigger areas. Don't be afraid to use different supplies together. Next, I use the size zero through micron pen to make a more realistic texture. I started with the general shape of the tree bark, and draw it at an angle to make it more interesting. Then I trace over the same lines, but not perfectly. I'm not trying to make lime variation but a texture. I start adding small details and you just scribbling shading method to make it look even rougher. The next one is inspired by succulents. I start out by drawing the center of my plant, and then drawing each one. Careful not to leave any white space by making small plants in between them. As you can see the style is definitely illustrated, but it doesn't make a nice texture. For the next one I use my zero on micron pen. I start out with closed-off shapes. I drew lines everywhere around them, because there are so many lines moving in different directions without crossing. It's very interesting to look at. Again, it is something in between a pattern and a texture reminds me of hair. The next one is inspired by leaves. I start with our basic shapes and make sure to vary the sizes to keep it interesting. Then drawing the stem and plan to make somehow black stems and white leaves and vice versa. This also makes it more fun to look at. I again, use the zebra brush pen to help fill in larger areas. The result is an illustrative pattern that makes me think of falling leaves. For the next one I start with vertical lines of varying length. Then I draw a messy stars in random places and at the ends of the lines. I add more lines to make them look like falling stars. I also put dots at the end of the lines. I really like this technique to show light areas or movement. I finish off the pattern by adding a few smaller stars and dashes. This simple pattern is charming and was really easy to make. Try to play with the black and white dynamic and the smaller circles are with simpler patterns. Using simple lines and hatching, I made a geometric pattern. The next one, I use more messy lines and played more with the black and white relationship. Notice how it looks like the white is on top of the black because the black dominates. The next pattern is inspired by a wood texture. Using a simple hatching technique, I quickly draw in the texture, because lines are drawn quickly, they're not as thick and are dynamic. I also use lines and dots to add to the field. I quickly go over some parts, make it darker, and the end result looks like a simple wooden texture. I use a Zebra brush pen for the next one. For semi the general shape for the line stain, and then I filled it out with more lines. The line variation gives it a completely different look from the previous here on that I did. But it still looks like hair. Making it more interesting, I fill in some parts of black and we have a gorgeous pattern texture as a result. For the last one I use short and messy strokes similar to hatching and kept adding more and more layers. The end results looks like fur, and it was a very easy texture to make. As you can see, the possibilities are endless and I encourage you to explore and experiment to come up with your own unique designs. Try limiting yourself by making a whole work should inspire buy flowers or the sea. If you're looking for more inspiration, look at the world around you. Here's an example of the things I found inside and outside a grocery store. Textures and patterns are everywhere. Just be aware of your surroundings and be sure to take photos and store them to get inspired for future projects. I'll post the finished work sheet to the project gallery in any photos you might have found a cool textures around you. By doing this you could inspire other students and maybe inspire their projects as well.
8. Mark Making Exercise: Prepare to get messy for this last exercise. Grab all of the supplies you have and anything you think might make cool marks like an old toothbrush or a piece of paper towel. Get a blank page to work on, the bigger the better, and relax your hand and then go crazy. To get the full experience you have to relinquish all control and have no end goal in mind. This will help you understand your tools better and we'll give you awesome textures in line ideas if you're into loose and messy illustrations, it's also a great warm up. I started up and making marks my [inaudible] brush. Now I'm experimenting with what a paper towel can do. As you can see, it can make a cool grunge texture effects that can be added to an illustration. Now I am playing around with my Zebra brush pen and keeping my hand in the strokes loose and messy. Now in doodling with my pit pen, it looks like something a child would draw and that's great. This is supposed to not make sense, but look at that texture, it looks like frizzy hair. Next, I'm trying with my new pen. Its strokes also look like little hairs, but because of the line variation, it's more like clumps of hairs. Now I'm playing around with my size 0 Neptune round brush. I'm just pulling down marks and seeing what the stroke look like if I let go of control. Then here's the fun part, I'm dipping the old toothbrush into ink and making a fine splatter effect, by gently moving the bristles. I can also use it as a brush and make really cool strokes and experimenting with the angle speed and I'm varying the amount of ink and the brush. Next, I use my fingers, but you don't have to get that messy. I just love playing with ink. Next, I try out the spotter technique with my number 10 round brush, put tapping it on my finger, and that leaves bigger and more varied drops in the toothbrush. Once you fill up your page, you can stop. I actually really love how it turned out. It looks like a beautiful abstract painting, but it doesn't matter what it looks like in the end, the important thing is to have fun and experiment. You can use a lot of these techniques in your work to add a grunge feeling or to make your piece more dynamic. If you look at all these marks, they look very alive because they're made using fast and loose strokes. If you compare it to neat lines with little line variation. You can see how much energy this piece really contains. It's also awesome to create textures using something like a paper towel because that effect is very hard to fake by drawing and just using a very subtly in your work will give your illustrations a lot more dimension. I hope you decide to try this exercise if you do be sure to share your discoveries with the class. Now it's time to put everything we learn to practice by making the final projects.
9. Illustrating the Final Projects: For the final project, you'll put everything we learned together but making a few small illustrations. I want you to work small so that you can make a few in a short period of time and try out many different tools and techniques to find which one suits your style the most. Keep it playful and experiment. You can draw anything you like, but it might be more fun to draw things with details, patterns, and textures. I'm going to walk you through three illustrations that are in different styles so that you can get inspired and get an idea of how to do it. Let's get started. I'm starting by sketching out what I'm going to draw. When I sketch, I don't like to put details in, just the general shape. I like to keep it more loose for when I ink. But if you like intricate illustrations don't be afraid to make it as detailed as you want. I start with the [inaudible] immense brush by loosely inking the outline of the bird with short and loose strokes to mimic the full effect of feathers. I outlined the other parts using line variation. Notice how the bottom line of the branch is thicker than the top one to show weight, and how I leave a little bit of white in the beak to show a highlight. I continue using loose strokes and drawing the tail using a playful pattern for my imagination. I repeat the pattern on top of its head so that there's more consistency. With my brush almost out of ink, I use the dry brush texture and hatching techniques on the bird's body and give the branch more dimension and texture. I add more details and textures and use a Micron pen to draw small designs in the feathers. Now I'm using my size zero round brush to fill around it with black. I leave a few fathers white to keep it more interesting. I'm going back in and adding little dots around the outline. This adds more visual interests and texture. I start drawing in a pattern in the wings, but I realized that I didn't really like how it looked because I overdid it. So I fixed it by darkening the wing, by turning it into a texture and shading. Now that I don't need my pencil marks, I can erase them. Just make sure the ink is dry when you do this. Using a Micron pen, I go back in and add more patterns in the white feathers. I also use a scribbling shading technique to add more shadows. It goes well with this piece because it's loose and playful. The end result is a beautiful illustration with dimension, style, and a fun field to it by using dynamic lens techniques throughout the piece, it feels alive and vibrant. In this next piece, I'm not going to use as much line variation or dynamic lines. I start out by sketching the basic shapes. Then I start outlining them with a Micron pen. I play with the white and black dynamic in the sunglasses to make them look shiny. Notice how I used the Zebra brush pen to fill them in. It's faster than using a Micron pen. I used hatching on her neck and ears, and because I picked this technique, it'll be the dominating way of shading. I continue outlining and start putting details into her hair. You might recognize this is one of the patterns I did on my worksheet. When outline her hat I don't let the line touch all the way around and put dots in between them. This makes it feel lighter than the other parts of the illustration. Sometimes it's better to let the eye connect the lines. But because I didn't use this technique anywhere else in the piece it did a mesh illustration, so I did close it off. I put a simple straw texture all around her hat using dashed lines and start making the outlines of her hair and her skin darker so that the hat and the shirt look lighter in comparison. Notice how I don't outline the delicate features like the inside of her hair or her face. This is a great technique for cartoony feel with lots of contrast. You see I use a lot in stickers. I continue hatching the rest of her face wherever there should be shadows. Then I use the Pentel pocket brush pen to fill in her shirt pattern. Notice how I leave a slight white highlight on her left shoulder. Now I'm just putting on the finishing touches by adding more shading and fine details. The end result is a cartoony illustration with a completely different feel from the bird we did earlier. There aren't many dynamic lines, but there is a lot of dimension because the hatching techniques and the patterns on her shirt and glasses using positive and negative space in an interesting way. For this last illustration, I wanted to be more loose and grungy with a hint of realism. I start up by sketching my idea and I did use a reference for the boot in this one. Using my Nikko G nib, I start drawing in the boots outlines. Whenever you outline something, it tends to look more cartoony, so keep that in mind. Notice how I'm working from the left side to the right because when illustrating with nib pen you have to be careful not to smear the ink since it takes a long time to dry. I start adding textures and lose contour hatching on the boot and continue adding detail. I draw in the rest of the flowers and I black leaves for visual contrast. I draw in the rest of the boots wrinkles and continue hatching to show darks, lights, and folds. You could do the whole illustration in this style, but for this one, I decide to show our Micron pen techniques in use. By using a piece of paper towel I add a lot of grunge texture to the boot. With more ink, it's darker and denser and with less, it's a light green and more detailed. Now I'm using the Aquash water brush filled with diluted ink to define more of the dark areas. Next, I'm using almost dried out Pentel pocket brush to add dry brush textures and to shade the almost black parts. I also use it to define and draw in wrinkles. Using a paper towel with the diluted ink on it, I make more of a gray background. Now taking an old brush, I start splattering ink onto the page. I continue to add the paper towel texture, but I moved in a semi-circle to make it more interesting and to show movement. Using my number 6 round brush I outline the whole boot for that sticker effect and to make it stand out more. Then I use my size zero round brush to fill in pitch black areas and to add more details and textures. The result is very messy and crunchy, but it feels alive and it's interesting to look at. Notice how dimensional the boot looks because the texture is in different kinds of shading that we used. This type of illustration might not be for everyone, but it's very fun and freeing to do. This wraps up our class. Remember the only way to learn is by doing and to get better is to practice. So be sure to do all of the exercises and try implementing as many as you can in the final project. By trying out different techniques and experimenting, you should get a good idea of what your favorite ink styles and techniques are. If you have any questions or comments just leave them in the community section of the class. I encourage you to start a project in the project gallery and upload all the stuff you do. Also, check out the projects of other students. We can all learn a lot from each other's experiences and you can help each other with helpful feedback. So keep inking every day, and most importantly, have fun. I'll see you in the next class.
Yasmina Creates, Artist & Creativity Cheerleader
