BW Line Art

[Henry Stahle]

I am testing some brushes for BW line art in AR. This is the favourite one I use the most. With the right Wacom settings it acts very sensitive to pressure, from very thin to very broad without changing size. Just using the pressure sensitivity. Tool: Felt Pen (Art Pen) 100% Pressure 100% Softness and 0% Wetness = very hard and precise. Pure Black (and a bit off) White. I like that. (Font: Liam)

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[dpallee]

cute....I like it :D:

[copespeak]

Pretty nifty Henry. The line variation really adds to your work. :cool:

[hypotaxis]

Very clever and very well carried out.

Brett

[justjean]

Great use of the felt pen

[Steve Tiffany]

I like this a lot. Looks like a woodcut.

[Henry Stahle]

Thank you for commenting my line art test. Maybe it can be useful for some of you?

I have tried the Tools in ArtRage to get a lively and organic looking line like the ones I find in Brendan Leach (http://www.iknowashortcut.com/) illustrations. I am still looking for the best deigital tool. But so far I like the AR Felt Pen most. The Ink Pen too. but it is not as responsive as the felt pen.

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[eighty+]

Hi Henry can I join I'l l be very quiet But if I do get Rowdy you can always stand me in the corner :D :D :D :D :D :D SLAINTE

[D Akey]

I love the drawing. Very pleasing as an image and design, and the line quality adds a lot, keeping it from looking mechanical.

Thanks for sharing your discoveries with the tools as well.

[pat1940]

Always love your work Henry

[Caesar]

Thanks for the tips. You got a really excellent graphical image.

[kenmo]

Very nice....:D

[Henry Stahle]

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This drawing is made with true chinese ink, a Jajayo chinese brush on ordinary heavy grain paper. Just to compare the ArtRage FeltTip brush to a non digital, real brush.

The advantage working with digital inking are:

easy drawing white on black
the easy correction of mistakes
copy, paste, clone and trace
transforming and moving
reusing graphic objects
inserting graphic objects like patterns, textures and tones
and some more.....


But a REAL pencil, pen, brush, ink and paper is THE thing after all...

[Belvrog]

These are great Henry. Love that style.
Btw. there's an alternative nib with a spring for wacom pens.
Might be helpful for the variance you're looking for.

[Alexandra]

Great character's and line art.

[Henry Stahle]

These are great Henry. Love that style. Btw. there's an alternative nib with a spring for wacom pens. Might be helpful for the variance you're looking for.

Thanks! I actually have all types of Wacom pen nibs, but the spring nib is the one I never tried. I have to do that..:D I'll be back after testing it.
And Thanks all others for commenting my LineArt.

[Belvrog]

Yes indeed nice settings for the feltpen, thanks!! Made a little test in combination with the other nib. ( Here's the result......and if you don't like other images in your thread please let me know and I'll remove it!)

I think it fits better than the standard nib. What do you think?

[Henry Stahle]

Yes indeed nice settings for the feltpen, thanks!! Made a little test in combination with the other nib. ( Here's the result......and if you don't like other images in your thread please let me know and I'll remove it
I think it fits better than the standard nib. What do you think?

I have tested that nib and it is great! It is far better than the standard, more responsive, more sensitive... Your drawing looks just fine with the kind of linework that I like. Rough, lively and a lot of variation. A bit grungy with that canvas texture...good!

[Henry Stahle]

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Very simple line art with some colour to it...same tool...the Felt Pen , Art Pen variant...

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...and pure BW + hand drawn raster tones...and some action...

[Henry Stahle]

Hi Henry can I join I'l l be very quiet But if I do get Rowdy you can always stand me in the corner :D :D :D :D :D :D SLAINTE

Nobody puts a babe in the corner! Skål!

[Henry Stahle]

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I explore some Black and White marks (screen tones, patterns, textures) made by the one tool I use, the Felt Pen, Art Pen variant, in ArtRage...

[Henry Stahle]

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Turning Black into White in ArtRage, Quick and Easy...very useful...using a stencil...

[kenmo]

Very nice...thanks for the tip....

[Caesar]

A quite enlighting and fascinating thread for anyone, like me, loving graphical compositions and drawings!

[byroncallas]

A rewarding thread - I've certainly learned a lot from it.

[Belvrog]

Thanks much Henry for that nice comment. You added some great new paintings. I really like your work!!:cool:

[Henry Stahle]

The comic book I am planning will be based on BW Line Art + flat colours (maybe screentones). I am rigt now working on the script and trying to figure out the layout, that is why I study some possible page layout grids. I am not fond of the Marvel comics style layouts. I better like layouts like in most European comics. That is why I studied some very rectangle based layouts. And really - the limits are none...:) these are just some I made:

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[copespeak]

I love all your 'B & W marks' designs Henry. There are some great ones there! :cool:

[Henry Stahle]

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Drawing made in ArtRage while the screen tones were rendered in Photoshop.

[damasocl]

Wonderful lines!...I like it!!!

[Henry Stahle]

I am studying Line Art using ArtRage, Painter, real Pens, Brushes, Pencils and Paper. Lines are great. But it can lack some information. So I am trying to understand the relations between, Lines, Patterns, Textures and Colours. Here is some more patterns and some colours added to the Smiling Bikini Girls drawing...I find the information the colours brings very interesting...

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[Henry Stahle]

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Here is another one. First: pure Line Art. Second: textures added. Third: Flat colours (just 5 colours in the palette). Four: Added some shades using two Multiply layers (still using the same 5 colours from the palette).

[Henry Stahle]

kenmo, Ceasar, byroncallas, Belvrog, Copespeak, damasocl (i hope I did not forget someone...), thank you very much for encouraging me. I like that. Love!

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[copespeak]

The girls coloured are very effective, and I just love your little man with all the textures.... and the pencil! You are so good at it. :cool:

You might be interested in this link to Australian Poster Artist Ken Taylor, a master of simple dramatic colour and expressive line work. Driving home yesterday, I heard him interviewed, so got on Google and was blown away by his work.

I'm having a go at an eagle as I love line work. Getting the expressive strokes is the challenge.

See: http://kentaylor.com.au/illustration/

[Belvrog]

Such beautiful new paintings Henry. Love that hat. :D:D:D:D

[Henry Stahle]

In order to have a constant look of an object or of a person, I often make small models. Like this house made of cardboard. I use my camera on a tripod and take some shotf from different angles.

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This is the one I use for tracing in ArtRage

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Tracing is easy and I always get the view I want with all details in the right place...correct perspective and also lighting if I need that...

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Here is the BW sketch after tracing:

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Of course, Google SketcUp, Blender or some other 3D program can do the same job as IRL modeling. But I find this method more amusing and artistic. So I prefere modeling. Clay or cardboard and such...

[Henry Stahle]

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Trying out one tone + BW. I find it interesting to test this black and white line art + one more colour... it adds some 3D dimension to the flat line art.

[Henry Stahle]

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These are the Tools I experiment with in my Line Art exploration. The Tools are sorted the way that they interacts with the canvas grain. Far left the Gloop Tool that is most responsive to the canvas grain. The Ink Pen does not interact with the canvas grain at all. I like the Watercolor and Felt Pen most.

[Henry Stahle]

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This was drawn using the Watercolour brush on the Cockled Paper. I like the look of the lines.

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[Henry Stahle]

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Some Water Colour to my Little friend "Tipp"...

[Steve B]

Henry,
My memory is that when you do textured lineart with the Watercolor brush, you bump the res up so the tool reads as an ink tool better. Is that true? How big is your canvas here, and how big do you use the watercolor tool for the linework?

I agree that the Watercolor and Felt Pen tools are the most "realistic" IMO. They interact with the canvas texture. I guess there are comic artist out there who use Bristol board and what not, and want a really smooth line, like what the Ink Pen offers, but that could be just as easily accomplished with the Watercolor tool by just removing the canvas texture. Of course, the Ink Pen also offers smoothing, but I don't really care for that look. A bit too clean to me. I like to see the imperfections of the human hand at work when I look at a painting. That's the way "in".

It's all a matter of preference, but regardless, I like where you're going with these things.

[Steve B]

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Turning Black into White in ArtRage, Quick and Easy...very useful...using a stencil...

edit- I see that the image didn't load. It's the one from a few pages back, where you have the girl done in B and W ink and then you made a stencil to make the opposite image. end edit--

Henry, what tool are you using for the linework here? Particularly the area where the girls hair is shown with these long strokes. This kind of "dry brush" textured look comes off wonderfully, but I've found it hard to get in AR. Is it the Watercolor tool or the Oils tool, with the Loading setting turned down?

As before, it would be very informative and helpful to know how big the image is and how large of a setting you're using the tool at. Thanks for sharing these images! :)


2nd edit- BTW, the Brendan Leach stuff is great. Real scratchy and full of life. I particularly like his lettering, and how he introduces it to the website layout. Thanks for sharing it.

[Henry Stahle]

Hi Steve B,

I usually work on high resolution doing line art. 300 - 600 dpi. Sometimes less, but never less than 150, then you can see all the jaggies if you print it out. The WC brush is of no antialiasing when using it like I do. So therefore high resolution is important.

The size of the brush can vary between 10 and 20 %. Mostly 10.

Image size: A4 is a common size since my printer is a A4 printer. For comics I use double size when drawing (A3) but then at 300 dpi. After scaling the A3 to A4 (50%) the line art is as crisp as working in 600 dpi mode directly in A4.

The Art Felt pen was used in this image.

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Thanks for commenting! Hope my answers helps you understand my xperiments... :)

[Steve B]

Yeah, that was helpful, though I'm curious- if you're using the Felt Pen, how are you getting those long dry strokes in the hair? I can only seem to get that effect with the Watecolor brush, using a low Loading effect. What you've got going there is very rich and organic texturally. I really like it.,

[Henry Stahle]

Yeah, that was helpful, though I'm curious- if you're using the Felt Pen, how are you getting those long dry strokes in the hair? I can only seem to get that effect with the Watecolor brush, using a low Loading effect. What you've got going there is very rich and organic texturally. I really like it.,

Well, I dont know. My Art Pen / Felt Pen settings are: 75% pressure, 100% softness and 0% wetness. Maybe also my Wacom settings help me... the Tip Feel is set second to the left or "Firm".
I also tend to swing my arm instead of my wrist to get more steady lines. I guess you have seen this image Before from Kirby Fleischer:

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I sometimes follow his advice.

Here is another idea I am trying out: some gritty spray and gray lines for the background. I Think it can be useful.

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[D Akey]

Super.

I think line quality is like a voice in singing or style in playing a guitar. It's all about character and tone. And of course, it is interesting to match a line quality with a subject, and when coupled with the stylization of the characters you create a distinct voice.

So many drawings exist in our culture that picking one will often create associations with art that existed before. I think one style that comes to mind is the famous Zap Comix, especially the stuff drawn by R. Crumb out of San Francisco in the 1960s. It was identifiable with the hippie counter culture. It's as identifiable to me as listening to a Janis Joplin recording and those artists who try to emulate her style. Similar to Jimi Hendrix's guitar style that so many artists have taken on. And then the new artists who emulate their style then go on to new things in that direction or they keep expanding within the range the original artist did. It's like so many other areas when there's an appetite for a look, somebody will generally go there.

Yes. I agree, the animator's line (Popeye above) is an identifiable look, and it came about from having to paint within those lines for film where they needed to match countless drawings one to the next without it popping on film. It's no longer necessary to have a closed line anymore because the ink and paint process has evolved with computers, but it still is used a lot because it's practical. . . and it looks good in that it describes the form but generally doesn't draw attention away from the cartoon character. So that page with the rules shows how to make Popeye look like the way the professionals do it (and some artists aspired to be animators and had to learn to draw that way). But it certainly is not the only way. But it gives a recognizable professional animation voice that has use in other contexts.

It's delightful to experiment and catalog ways of drawing as you're doing. I'm very impressed. It's quite a gift for people aspiring to drawing to share your process.

Bravo!

[Henry Stahle]

R. Crumb...oh! yes! He is great. But my favourite artists in the american comics realm are George Herriman and Bill Watterson...they are unbeatable to me.

Here are the settings I used for the Beatnik Beagle:

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[Henry Stahle]

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By using a character doll it is easy to get the grip of the different angles of his face...so I model a clay+papiermaché figure and take photos with my webcam, mobile phone or tablet and then trace the photo in ArtRage. Easy and effective..!

[Henry Stahle]

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This BW line drawing is made using the Ink Pen. The colouring in made using the same tool. These are the settings:

[L Skylar Brown]

Wonderful way of working! I like your process. What I do is a variation similar to yours. I am classically trained in the Dutch, &/or Italian Camera Obscura way of painting. (You might enjoy David Hockney's videos explaining how mirrors & C.O. gave imagery such a boost toward total realism.) I do the same thing, just using computer tools to achieve the same levels.

[Caesar]

Since we're talking here of unique comix characters creator and artists and You displayed quite a lot of juicy drawings, tips and tricks, I would introduce one a sheer genius of fun, comix style and a legend here in Italy, Benito Jacovitty, simply Jacovitti.
In the 60ies, 70ies and 80ies, all of us read (together with many other Italian, French Belgian comics and locally made stories and drawn Mickey of Mouse) the comix of Cocco Bill, Zorry Kid etc. and pretty everybody school diary was a Diario Vitt, i.e. Benito Jacovitti's illustrated and written one.
Here's a page where I gathered few of his vignerttes that we may now easily reproduce with Your hints and lessons I guess ...

[Henry Stahle]

L Skylar Brown; yes I know about Hockney, he is a great graphic artist, I love his drawings, he made some very very fine Line Art! Ceasar; I had not Heard of Jacovitti before, thank you for letting me know. He is real classical comical cartoonist!

Here is my latest "very smooth Line Art"..:

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[watchdog]

I'm curious about your coloring technique, how do you do your shadows and highlights? The colored pieces in this thread are superb.

[Henry Stahle]

I'm curious about your coloring technique, how do you do your shadows and highlights? The colored pieces in this thread are superb.

Thank you for commenting. This is my very basic tech. But it works well in comics...

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[melisabush21]

Henry thanks for the inspiration.

[watchdog]

That's the technique that I learned as well, but I have not applied it as well as you have. I need more practice.

[Alexandra]

I love the man running, Henry. A wonderful piece-made me smile.

[Henry Stahle]

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Due to some nudity it can be seen all nude here: http://forums.artrage.com/showthread.php?45555-Like-the-emperors-new-clothes&p=456609#post456609

[AlchemyDoll]

I am testing some brushes for BW line art in AR. This is the favourite one I use the most. With the right Wacom settings it acts very sensitive to pressure, from very thin to very broad without changing size. Just using the pressure sensitivity. Tool: Felt Pen (Art Pen) 100% Pressure 100% Softness and 0% Wetness = very hard and precise. Pure Black (and a bit off) White. I like that. (Font: Liam)

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THANK YOU so much for sharing your brush tip with us! I just stumbled across this message today and it helped me immensely. I am working on some rough sketches for a Superhero story and wanted the brush to have a more sensitive feel. Here is a glimpse of a couple of very quick, rough sketches using the brush settings you recommended. I didn't have to change pens at all and was able to work quickly and freely....thank you again!

[hildee]

Such an inspirational thread. Thank you! These drawing tools made in different media are very enjoyable to work with. All the pics are superb and bring me back to my childhood when book illustrations were simple lineart and very emotive.

[Caesar]

A thread where learned lessons and enjoyable artpieces are simultaneously put on the shelf to our grateful benefit! Thank You and congrats, dear Henri!

[Pop Alexandra]

Love the step-by-step evolution of these pieces.
Keep up the great work!