The main goal behind the exercise is to improve our drawing and tablet skills, as well as to experiment with Manga Studio which, due to its speed and and a couple key features, is becoming one of my favourite graphics apps.
I first learned of Manga Studio from a tutorial by the illustrator Ray Frenden. His inking skills are way above me at this point. In the video you can see Manga Studio's fluidity in action, but the big thing for me is being able to rotate the page as you're drawing. Saves me from the breakdancing contortions I used have to do to get a stroke at just the right angle.
8 comments:
Just remember to turn the advanced brush settings IN OUT and CORRECTION off. They kill your lines!
Thanks Ray. I think it's a confidence issue with pressure variation that I hope to overcome with practice. I noticed in the zombie hand video that you seem to work fairly zoomed-out, and with bigger brushes. I'm finding that's helping a lot as well.
I'd call it a medium-zoom level. Enough to see the total length of whatever stroke I need to pull off at the very least.
I just posted another screencast today, coincidentally. The zoom level on it is a little misleading, though. I zoomed in on the picture with the podcasting software (so I was actually more zoomed out when doing it).
It's funny, but working digitally with the volumetric lines really prepares you for real inking. You're right that stroke confidence is pretty key. Two things, I work from my elbow and shoulder more thOuch1234an wrist and I try to make the strokes quickly. I think both those factors aid in a clean end result.
The main things I need to work on ink-wise are controlling the stroke weight and picking up lines. I've been a bit obsessive trying to set up the sensitivity settings for the brushes in Manga Studio, but I think it's more a matter needing tons more practice. Pencil work comes naturally, but I've never picked up an actual ink brush in my life.
Thanks for all your advice; I've found speed is really important towards avoiding wavering lines. I'm also glad I bought a large tablet so I can take advantag of the full range of movement. Just watching your new video.
I hear you. The more space you have for long, fluid strokes, the better.
I press reaaaally hard on the tablet to get my thickest of strokes. I set my brush up like this:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1042/1433495400_7f2aed4688_o.png
I go back and forth on setting the shape to a perfect circle or slightly skewed. A slight skewing gives more of an organic look, but it does so at some sacrifice of precision.
The pressing hard tip is very valuable. I guess it's a matter pressing really hard then finding the right timing to ease up on the pressure to get a decent fade on the line. When I'm just doodling with the brush I get nice lines, but when I try to ink my pencil work I have a hard time matching them up without slowing down, and thus getting wavering lines. I'm probably being a bit to precious about the original sketch.
My brushes are pretty close to your settings, but I haven't experimented with the brush shape yet. On my next go I'll try working at 1200dpi as well and see if that helps.
Very cool. Let me know how things go! :)
This is great info to know.
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