Pens Dammit!!

So I'll be the first to say I'm not the world's greatest inker. In fact, I kind of suck at it. This is probably why I'm not inking professionally for a big comic company. I do admit that I'm not a huge fan of inked work. Sure it looks pretty, and makes your work look much more professional, but I love seeing the pencil lines. I know I've said that before. That's one of the reasons Black Hole Cafe isn't inked. Maybe it was a mistake, but I'm happy with the results.

Still, I fully appreciate the inker. My brother does amazing inks, with a very unique style. I will most likely ask him to collaborate on some stuff in the near future. Even though I don't ink my work very often, I'm definitely no stranger to it. In fact, a few of the pictures in my previous posts were inked by yours truly.

Here's a couple of examples of my inked sketches.

These were all done on sketchbook paper, so they are a little messy. If done on illustration board, they would look a lot tighter. What you'll notice is there is a definite difference in line weight. Back in the day artists would achieve this with an actual ink brush. By working the angle and the stroke... (is this getting dirty?) Anyway, by the angle of the brush they could achieve very fine lines, or broad black strokes. 

Since I don't have that kind of skill or patience, I opt for different sized pens. You can find these at any art store. Currently my faves are Premier by Prismacolor. I have, in order of size from smallest to largest, a 005, 01, 03, 05, and 08. I also use a Sharpie Fine Point for the bigger areas. Sharpies are pretty much a staple of an artist's tool kit. Here's a sexy photo shoot of some of my pens. 

give me sassy... good, now pouty, show me pouty....

As always, it's all about what you are comfortable doing. I know some artists who work almost exclusively in ink. Whatever fits your personal style, and whatever you enjoy doing is what you should go with. Go out and grab a bunch of pens. See what works for you.