Here are some really general pictures of my working method for doing traditional inks and digital colours! I just thought they might be interesting. I miiight try to do a more detailed walkthrough of my colouring specifically if I have the time.
There are some features intended to aid inking in SAI, but I personally don’t like them very much for a couple of reasons:
the first being that I’m mainly a painter so inking isn’t something I do a great deal of (especially not with the vector layers!)
the other being that I use lots of different mediums and programs - so things like stabilisers? They’re not very useful in the long run, being able to draw a neat line in sai with the stabilisers on doesn’t let me do the same in tvpaint, or on a light table!
I personally keep it on 0 and don’t really recommend going above 3, purely because I think it’s better in the long run to teach yourself to draw smooth lines. If you find yourself relying on them, I’d suggest gradually reducing the amount SAI smoothens your lines!
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REGARDLESS, the actual process of inking in SAI is the same as anywhere else.
If you’re finding the stuff in my inking tag a little confusing, then allow me to break down the basics those posts are talking about for you!
First, there are two things you are aiming to give the illusion of in inking whilst only using two colours: Distance and light.
Distance is the easiest to understand and show. Remember on the old windows computers how there was always a photo like this on there?
This is a great example of what we call ‘atmospheric perspective’, wherein the further away something gets from the viewer, the more particles in the atmosphere begin to filter the light and make things hazy.
Or more simply, the contrast is reduced and the colour gets closer to the sky. So, when colouring, the further something gets away, the less contrast there should be and the more it should blend in with the atmosphere. Most often this is blue, but indoor it could be yellow, or in the evening it could be red.
When inking, the way to show less contrast is to reduce the lineweight:
This is useful to remember for backgrounds obviously, but also if you’re foreshortening something, the closer something is the thicker you want to be making the lines. This post shows off this concept very well! How extremely you vary the lineweight is up to you, in this post I’m varying it a lot to make it easier to notice.
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And the other thing is shading, which you’re probably most familiar with. As things get darker, the thickness of the line should increase. To show you what I mean, here’s the same sketch but inked to two different light sources:
Looking at these two pictures, even though there isn’t really any shading you should get a sense that the light is coming from different places, right?
If you look at western comics, DC in particular and especially the ones from the last couple decades, a lot of the shading is incorporated into the linework itself.
That’s what this post is about, and it’s basically just what happens when you increase the lineweight in the shadows so much that they become the shadows, and the lost edges discussed in the post are what happen when the lines in the light get so thin they disappear.
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When you combine these two concepts, you get things like explained in this video, and this video!
As for producing clean lines themselves, you want to use as few lines as possible.
The exercise is to draw a curve (or well in this case circles) which meets three of the dots you have put down. The aim is to improve your line drawing aim, so that when you’re inking you can draw curves that follow your sketch with one line:
I hope that helps! Just keep in mind: use as few lines as possible, and vary lineweight according to the light and distance
As promised, here’s the newest (and somewhat improved) version of my Paint Tool SAI! I’ll put up a link in my description and tutorials directory, too! It’s a full and free version, so nothing is limited!
WHAT’S INSIDE:
An unholy amount of brush & paper textures.
An unholy amount of brushes, some of my mains’ settings edited according to what i use.
A few brushes with settings from my favorite artists.
And for the fellow DR-Edit/OC spriter, the custom pen I use to make my sprites. And not only that, but a small palette of some of the colors I use for sprites!
That’s it. That’s literally it.
look at all these brushes.
To install, all you need to do is unzip the .rar file and click on the application that says “sai” ! Hope you guys enjoy it!
Okay, I’ve become rather irked by how much the boobs-n-butt pose is so harped on, as if it’s some hilarious, impossible thing. These were done on a whim, so I apologize for the small/crappy photos and sketchy outlines. Once I find my camera again, I’d like to take some shots that show the whole body and how this pose actually works.
These are all practical positions, and they were all relatively comfortable to do and stay in for a good period of time. Even though the boobs-n-butt pose looks a little funny, it’s entirely plausible and anatomically correct (although it can be taken too far). So, don’t be afraid to draw it. Hopefully these photos help a little with drawing such positions!
EDIT: (again) Oh my, these notes. Well, I’m glad at least some people find these useful. Figured I’d add some drawings that show BOTH male and females in such positions.
Please read the following rules and thank you for taking your time to do it. I really appreciate it! I might add new rules if absolutely necessary in the future (also check out my PSAs if you can). And by the way, the Naruto I RP is usually 17 years old. But its flexible depending on the thread. I RP both narutoverse and AU versions of my muse. Naruto is bisexual/polysexual but that does NOT mean I ship him with everyone.
Roleplaying Rules
If I forget to reply or reply too slowly, I'm only human. Just shoot me an ask & remind me. Do not harass me for it.
If our thread is going nowhere and has nothing noteworthy taking place, I’m sorry, but I’ll probably abandon it.
I prefer not RPing with accounts that RP multiple characters.
I do not do long-term RPs unless we have communicated about the plot (which has a proper conclusion).
If I have an ongoing thread which you are NOT a part of, DO NOT REBLOG IT/RESPOND TO IT.
I'm very selective with OCs, so before you RP with me, ensure your OC is at least decently developed enough for me to get a fair idea about him/her. I can’t RP with an OC without knowing anything about them.
I will not RP via reblogged asks. You can paste my answer as a text post and reply if you wish to continue it.
Magic Anons & Ask Rules
I will not RP under an M!A for more than a week.
No self-harm, suicide, controlling others and other things I cannot do should be given as an M!A.
All asks will be replied under the M!A unless stated by the asker to do otherwise, or if it impossible to excecute the M!A at that moment.
I will respond to every ask. Please do not send the same ask several times.
