I guess i could ask a question here since i couldn't find a mention to it, but how do you keep and mix your ink? Ive got a few inkwells and a big thing of speedball super black, and im finding it hard to get something balanced that won't clog my tools up but not be so watery while still getting a good black value. also i have some cheap lettering nibs that bent up and im looking for some good inexpensive nibs for sketching and lettering, and i figured you'd be the man with the answers.
Okay, so you probably already know this, but I want to make the point to make sure: you don't actually need the blacks on your originals to be all that black, frankly. Most people's aren't. If you go to a convention and look at people's originals, you'll be shocked to shaking at just how unsaturated and patchy their blacks are, how light the lines can be. As long as it's dark enough to be rounded up to black, it's fine.
That having been said, I bet you knew that already, and you're a guy like me who likes his originals to look good, and you want every line you draw to be a satisfying, authoritative black.
The solution? 3 bottles of 3 thicknesses. Thin for pen nibs. Thicker for the brush lines. Thickest for filling blacks. As the nib ink dries out, pour it into the next bottle over. As that one dries transfer it to the last bottle.
As for lettering nibs, I did a pretty thorough entry on those, which you'll find here: http://comictool.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-week-on-comic-tools-lettering-nibs.html
Totally unrelated, but long time reader that found a tip I thought might benefit the readers here that do use them: http://katie-can-draw.livejournal.com/545336.html
A tip on how to revitalize your alcohol based markers (Prisma in this case.) Don't use them myself but thought to pass it on.
3 comments:
I guess i could ask a question here since i couldn't find a mention to it, but how do you keep and mix your ink? Ive got a few inkwells and a big thing of speedball super black, and im finding it hard to get something balanced that won't clog my tools up but not be so watery while still getting a good black value. also i have some cheap lettering nibs that bent up and im looking for some good inexpensive nibs for sketching and lettering, and i figured you'd be the man with the answers.
Thanks for any help/advice you can give
Thanks,
GSB
Okay, so you probably already know this, but I want to make the point to make sure: you don't actually need the blacks on your originals to be all that black, frankly. Most people's aren't. If you go to a convention and look at people's originals, you'll be shocked to shaking at just how unsaturated and patchy their blacks are, how light the lines can be. As long as it's dark enough to be rounded up to black, it's fine.
That having been said, I bet you knew that already, and you're a guy like me who likes his originals to look good, and you want every line you draw to be a satisfying, authoritative black.
The solution? 3 bottles of 3 thicknesses. Thin for pen nibs. Thicker for the brush lines. Thickest for filling blacks. As the nib ink dries out, pour it into the next bottle over. As that one dries transfer it to the last bottle.
As for lettering nibs, I did a pretty thorough entry on those, which you'll find here: http://comictool.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-week-on-comic-tools-lettering-nibs.html
Totally unrelated, but long time reader that found a tip I thought might benefit the readers here that do use them: http://katie-can-draw.livejournal.com/545336.html
A tip on how to revitalize your alcohol based markers (Prisma in this case.) Don't use them myself but thought to pass it on.
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