[Scallywag]

I was wondering what kind of pencils, pencils, and other materials that comic book artists prefer to use? How do they get that "comic book" look?

I'm not interested in colors, just the black penciling. I'm reading Spiegelman's "Maus" and I love the lines of his drawings. Part of it is his technique and style, but a big part of it seems to be the pens or pencils he uses.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

sup

i'm in training right now to be a penciller. i use hb-2b pencils to get a non smudgy look.

i think that look you are talking about from Maus is from the inking though. it transforms pencilling and often gives it a mood. but it stems from the pencilling. so i digress.

[RAILhead]

Micron Pigma pens and regular surface Strathmore Bristol board. Pencils...the basic 2 or 2.5 Sanfords.

Inking is what gives the art a more finished look — I don’t know what you’re getting at when you say “comic book” look. And again, you cannot go wrong with Micron Pigmas — they’re the best Jerry, the best!

HTH

[Scallywag]

Originally posted by RAILhead:
Inking is what gives the art a more finished look — I don’t know what you’re getting at when you say “comic book” look.

Just what I mean, a "comic book" look. I don't mean it in a derogatory way, just in a descriptive way. Every medium has its own distinctive "look."

How does inking process work? I always thought that comic book artists finished their drawings in ink.

[Toutgood]

Originally posted by Scallywag:
Just what I mean, a "comic book" look. I don't mean it in a derogatory way, just in a descriptive way. Every medium has its own distinctive "look."

How does inking process work? I always thought that comic book artists finished their drawings in ink.

Depends. Superhero comics (Marvel, DC, etc) would often have seperate pencil, ink and color guys. Independant guys do what they want, if they wanna team up they team up.

Use whatever you're comfortable with. There's so many good pencils, pens and so on.

I use a combo of mars lumograph pencils, pilot pens, and rapidographs. With the occasional ink or watercolor brushing.

Why, dunno really, after over 2o years of drawing, that's what I like.

[RAILhead]

Originally posted by Scallywag:
Just what I mean, a "comic book" look. I don't mean it in a derogatory way, just in a descriptive way. Every medium has its own distinctive "look."

How does inking process work? I always thought that comic book artists finished their drawings in ink.

As Toutgood said, it kind of depends on what you want to do. Back in the old days, when comic companies owned all the art, the inker would usually ink right on top of the pencils — thankfully (in my opinion), this isn’t usually the case in most of today’s comics. Most artists, when they “sign on,” maintain ownership of their art, thus protecting it as an original, untouched work.

All that said, i most of today’s mainstream comics, someone will do the pencils and then the inker will either ink a copy or they’ll use a basic lightbox setup. The colorist then does his/her things and the art is done. In this scenario, the original artist has his/her original pencils — something the art collector in me likes VERY much!

For the guys do it all, many of them will simply ink over their pencils and erase the lead, then add color on their computers themselves.

Basically, it’s whatever floats your boat and where your strengths lie.

HTH,
Maury