41 replies to this topic

[Hysteric Polaris]

Feel free to click away if you already watch me (Hysteric Polaris @ DeviantArt). <3 I don't post anywhere else.

Last Updated Wed,9,Apr,08

GENERAL NiGHTS

• Golden Jackle NEW
• Helen Cartwright...Replaced! (comic) NEW
• Jackle RP: "Research"
• Jackle VS Chamelan (comic)
• Jackle's Casino (inspired by my Write to Jackle thread)
• Jackle's Cookie (gift for Latset for being first RxJ Fanclub member)
• JacklexReala (Bday comic for Hime Blue)
• JacklexReala (Vday comic)
• JacklexReala AIM RP NEW
• The Mad Mantle NiGHT Club (fanart for DiGi's song)
• Queen Bella and Donbalon (gijinkas)
• RealaxJackle (broken) NEW
• RealaxJackle (shirtless)
• RealaxJackle (wounded)
• RealaxNiGHTS (comic...gift for my dA friend clover-chan)
• RealaxOctopawxNiGHTS (comic...the ultimate pairing lmaoz!) NEW
• Reala & Jackle chibis NEW

REPRiSE

• Boss Fanmaren "Glayve" Conceptual Artwork (Lynn Side)
• Boss Fanmaren "Peiradaie" Conceptual Artwork (Lynn Side)
• Boss Fanmaren "Tournture" Conceptual Artwork (Tobias Side)
• Boss Fanmaren "Twahl" Conceptual Artwork (Tobias Side)
• NiGHTS Conceptual Artwork
• Reala Conceptual Artwork
• REPRiSE Cover <--link to comic provided here

Plugging Time! PLEASE VISIT AND PARTICIPATE!!!

• RealaxJackle/JacklexReala Fanclub plug!
• Reverse Fanmaren Contest plug!
• Write to Jackle plug!

[Sa-chan]

reala's physically impossible pigtails have become an epidemic.



excellent.

[Hime Blue]

Imma gonna mention again that i LOVE THiS. :3 ((This is LordBlumiere by the way.))

[KiloTango]

I like the way you've done the hair-instead-of-hats, it works nicely.

[Hysteric Polaris]

lol, HiHi LordBlumiere!! *waves* Yeh, I'm such a sucker for men in huge ponytails!!!<33 Thanks for all the compliments, guys. ;A;

[Hysteric Polaris]

If this is okay...bump. o.o

Added recent works and potential contest announcement.

[iNSOMNiAC]

I'll have to read REPRiSE when I get home, I'm at school right now.

I know it's meant to be serious and all but...


Reala in pigtails makes me laugh everytime I see it. XD

[Hysteric Polaris]

I know it's meant to be serious and all but...

Reala in pigtails makes me laugh everytime I see it. XD

rolluf wuddya mean?! don't you find pigtails badass? XDD jk Appreciate the interest! *at school too lulz*

[Meggiemaccat]

ReeRee in pigtails makes me want to giggle, too, especially with JoD mask-o-gildie-joy. ^^;

[Sa-chan]

Some people just don't appreciate true badassity when they see it.

[Meggiemaccat]

Yes, I'm sorry to say I don't, but I'm willing to learn.

[ayamemaiden]

That Queen Bella human version. Is. Awesome.

[Mayura]

Love REPRiSE so far <3 Can't wait to see more. ^^

[Hysteric Polaris]

Thanks so much for everyone's compliments so far and for reading my doujinshi! More to come!!

Reverse Fanmaren Contest plug!

[KiloTango]

Are you going to ink the comic? It's really nice, but I think it'll be stronger if you ink (and maybe tone) it.

[Hysteric Polaris]

Are you going to ink the comic? It's really nice, but I think it'll be stronger if you ink (and maybe tone) it.

It takes me a long time to ink and all I really have is regular ballpoint pens, so sometimes they end up ruining my drawings. =\ I don't like using them...and I don't know what toning is. ^^"""

[Meggiemaccat]

Toning's that special shading found in black and white comic strips, most predominantly in manga. It's consistent of a bunch of little dots that, depending on size and distance apart, makes the area they're in lighter or darker. It's either done on the computer using a special program, with cut-outs you buy who-knows-where, or... meticulously placing each little dot by hand. O----o; That latter one's not called toning, I don't think, but it's a way to basically do the same thing; I've heard it takes forever, though. ^^;

[KiloTango]

If you're worried about wrecking your drawings, and you have access to photoshop, try printing out your art in a very pale blue and then inking over that. (You can then take out the blue when you scan it. If you want I can show you how) I use this technique loads cause you can resize things if your original sketch was small or on a page with other stuff, but also you never ruin a sketch because you never ink the original that way.

It's totally worth investing in some better pens, they're not really that much and good inking can really make your art shine. Inking with a ball point can look good sometimes but it takes aaaaaaaaaages.

And yeah, Toning is putting greys on your art to make things stand out more, or be more interesting. It can be done with 'screen tone' which is the little dots, or just normal greys. (Or doing it by hand with a pen but I'd count that as a kind of cross hatching.) Because it's primarily online, flat greys might work better than actual screen tones. Toning your stuff makes things more interesting but more importantly it can help make it easier to 'read' the drawings as well.

[Hysteric Polaris]

If you're worried about wrecking your drawings, and you have access to photoshop, try printing out your art in a very pale blue and then inking over that. (You can then take out the blue when you scan it. If you want I can show you how) I use this technique loads cause you can resize things if your original sketch was small or on a page with other stuff, but also you never ruin a sketch because you never ink the original that way.

It's totally worth investing in some better pens, they're not really that much and good inking can really make your art shine. Inking with a ball point can look good sometimes but it takes aaaaaaaaaages.

And yeah, Toning is putting greys on your art to make things stand out more, or be more interesting. It can be done with 'screen tone' which is the little dots, or just normal greys. (Or doing it by hand with a pen but I'd count that as a kind of cross hatching.) Because it's primarily online, flat greys might work better than actual screen tones. Toning your stuff makes things more interesting but more importantly it can help make it easier to 'read' the drawings as well.

All I really have is MS Paint when it comes down to it...I never invested in drawing programs because it's just something I picked up to occupy spare time. I doodle when I'm bored.

Anything you can teach me would be great...something actually happened to me over the weekend that made me cry in despair...I sat down to draw p6 and when I took out the old pages, they all were smudged beyond recognition!! >< omg I was devastated DD= *cries more*

I want this to be one of my best art project ever. <3 So any and all advice would be amazing! Any inking pens you recommend? Where to buy them? How would I tone my drawings without an art program? (I guess aka how would I go about finding out what and when to crosshatch?)

[Icachan]

<butts in with arty advice>

A decent, free art program is GIMP. I haven't used it in a while, but it worked pretty good for me before I got Photoshop. I've also heard some good things about SAI, but as I've never tried it (or know if there's an english version for that matter, most of the users seem to be Japanese) I can't really recommend it. Worth looking into if you want a picture editing program with a little better range than MSPain.

Also! If you like using pencils, I can't recommend using fixative enough! D: It should be available in most art stores, and works as a coating for finished pencil and charcoal drawings. By applying it the drawing won't smudge as easily (or at all in some cases). I'd go for a low-odor kind if you can find it, some have pretty strong smells.

General tips... check out tutorials on coloring and inking, they can usually give you a good idea of how to do it. I also recommend looking at several tutorials dealing with the same subject, that way you can mix ideas and techniques to your own liking. There's a lot of them on DA for both digital and traditional art.
As for screentoning I've used Deleter Tones previously but since they are a bit expensive and can be pretty difficult getting the hang of, I recommend doing it digitally if only for practice.
Also, some comics doesn't need tones and can work with just black and white or added crosshatching. I suggest to find a style you like, and keep it simple in the beginning to get the hang of things.

Lastly... practice, practice, practice. It sounds like a cliché, it's a worn out advice, but it's also very very true. If you keep on drawing, looking at art and try to challenge yourself as an artist you are definitly going to evolve~

</arty advice>

[KiloTango]

I can vouch for the GIMP as well. I don't have it on this machine but I do on my laptop and could find how to do the bluelines thing on it very quickly if you want me to. I think it would be good for your stuff to have some more control over the levels and so on so that you can make your art look as nice on screen as it does on page.

The other added thing about using a pale colour print out of your pencils is you can also 'ink' in pencil that way, if you want.

Deleter tones are great but I suggest not using them until you've got more confidence. They're fiddly, they're slow, and they're expensive. You're better off doing stuff on the computer or by hand with some cross hatching. (Though from experience.... doing a tonne of little dots by hand is hellishly boring. Actual hatching is a better idea, but you will need quite bold, strong lines if you do that to make sure your lineart doesn't get lost or overwhelmed.)

On what pens to use, my usual go to is a set of Pilot DR Drawing pens in sizes 01, 03, 05 and 08. Though anything with a range of sizes like this will do, and if there is a Muji near you, and you're not planing to do anything with markers or paint to your drawing, theirs are great and also really really cheap (Sadly my nearest Muji closed down.) If you get more confident, a brush pen could be good. The Japanese style ones that the tip is kinda like rubber are the best if you're not blessed with insanely steady hands as they have a little less give in them and also never lose a point. Those are great because you can get a big range of different thickness with just one pen. I'd suggest getting a range of fineliners, or a brush pen and one very thin fineliner. Also if you're going to be tweaking on photoshop, I recently discovered white gel pens are a godsend cause you can re-point lines that you didn't manage to taper off in the way you wanted (or just little mistakes as a whole) and it won't show up on the the final art.

[TRiPPY]

I can vouch in getting a hold of decent fineliner pens- i used to ONLY draw in biro ballpoints (it was like my THING) and someone showed me the wonderful world of different thickness pens and how a 0.1 pen can make all the difference when you combine the lines with thicker pens. Never looked back, helped my artwork tremendously. I use Staedler(?) and Muji (they last for years too)

[Hysteric Polaris]

Wow...all these people offering advice. *u* Even TRiPPY! I feel so special. <3

I don't know if there are any art stores around here, and I've always wanted a thinner inking pen...you know, for details or small pictures? I could never really ink much because my pens are like size 8. I once found a size 5, but one of my Canadian friends has a SUPER small 1 or something! Prolly the ones you guys mentioned. That...would be super awesome. ^^

So, since that was a lot of advice, I just want to get an overall summary for myself here...you guys are recommending I download the GIMP program and buy Muji inking pens? In case I can't find any stores that sell them around here, are there any reliable sites you can recommend that sell those pens cheap?

KiloTango--about that bluelines thing you keep bringing up...usually what I do when I draw is just get the sketch out all messy, then ink over it, then erase the pencil. If I scanned it in blue and printed it, I would be able to ink over the blue, but how would I get rid of the excess sketchy lines? Could you do that with this GIMP program?

Speaking of, about how big is GIMP? Because it has to fit on my USB drive...

[KiloTango]

You should be able to drop out the blue with GIMP, yeah. Also you print out the blue really REALLY pale and so even if you weren't fixing things with channels, the black ink will be so much stronger anyway.

(This also has the bonus of not having to rub out, so you won't risk smudging ink with an eraser. Though obviously it's only good for computer coloured or black and white images

On pens, pretty much just Muji sell Muji fineliners. The Staedler ones Trippy uses are good too, as are UniPin ones and Copic Multiliners. (Multiliners come in a brush too, I've got one and it's decent) The main sizes I use is a 03 for most things, and a 01 or 005 for fine detail. Then I use a 05 or 08 to thicken some lines to add weight and form (and add more little shadows with the fine pen.)

I don't know how big GIMP is, I'm afraid.

[Nightingale]

I'm not sure what the stores are like where you live, but in case you can't find anything around I recommend Dick Blick. Their sale prices are ludicrously cheap, and even without a sale they're pretty good. Here's the pen page: http://www.dickblick...ngpens/details/ I use Sakuras, they go from 08 (huge) to 005 (so small I'm afraid I'll break it every time XD) and once they dry properly they last forever.

</butting in> ^^;

[ayamemaiden]

God I love Staedler.

[Inubu]

"Ass-Grabbin' Good Time" is my all-time favorite!ROFL!
Love the expressions.

[Hysteric Polaris]

KiloTango--I'll try out this blueline method on REPRiSEp7...but I'm not confident in my shading abilities yet, digital or traditional, since I've never taken art classes. So when I try it out, I'll only ink outlines and keep a scan of the original sketch at hand just in case the inking doesn't work out. Maybe I can post a comparison post after that and see which one you guys think I should stick to. XD As long as GIMP is under 1GB, I should be able to download it without problems...I'll do that later today then, but REPRiSEp6 or p7 may not be up for a while...it's midterm exam time. x_x

Nightingale--Butt in all you like! <3 All input is helpful!

Inubu--Thanks for the compliment. XD I love that one too.

[Amy Rose]

GIMP was 15.9 MB
(After reading this thread, I decided to download GIMP to have a look at it.)

[Hysteric Polaris]

GIMP was 15.9 MB
(After reading this thread, I decided to download GIMP to have a look at it.)

Thanks for letting me know! (Nice icon!)

[Amy Rose]

Thanks for letting me know! (Nice icon!)

No problem
(Thanks, I like making icons, but I really need to improve my photoshop skills)

[Nyx]

My favorite is 'Research', too -- the expression on Jackle's face is priceless!

As for inking, I can only give so much advice...
I've never even heard of GIMP before... Is it freeware? (And now I feel quite stupid.)

I can tell you that if you're inking on paper over your pencil lines, the grain of the paper itself can make a huge difference... I found that out the hard way... Some sketchbooks have paper that feel as thin as newspaper, others feel as thick as canvas. Try different kinds and find out what works best for you.

I use standard copy paper for everything now, it seems to work for me. Doesn't bleed too much with most markers/pens, both graphite pencils and ink flow smoothly over the surface...
Just make sure that you don't reuse paper you've already printed on, and make sure there's nothing on the other side of the paper when you scan it, otherwise you'll get all sorts of weird dots and lines on your picture that you don't want...

Good pens also make a huge difference, as people here have been telling you. You want to have different widths, hands down. While I still do traditional inking sometimes, I've found that doing it digitally is favorable because there is a magical button called the 'undo' button. I use it often, yeeessss....

Ah, sorry... Got kind of carried away, there...

A question, though... What do you use to color your art, usually?

[Hysteric Polaris]

While I still do traditional inking sometimes, I've found that doing it digitally is favorable because there is a magical button called the 'undo' button. I use it often, yeeessss....

Ah, sorry... Got kind of carried away, there... :D

A question, though... What do you use to color your art, usually?

lulz how I wish life had an Undo button. XD

Anyway, I have a set of eight Faber Castell colored pencils that I used to color everything now. I really wish I had more colors. TnT

[Nyx]

lulz how I wish life had an Undo button. XD

I hear you.

Anyway, I have a set of eight Faber Castell colored pencils that I used to color everything now. I really wish I had more colors. TnT

Ah, I see!

Have you ever heard of Watercolor Pencils? They work like regular colored pencils, but they go on paper a bit easier, and they can come individually or in tins of 32 or so...

They're called watercolor because if you put a damp paintbrush to it, the colors will end up looking like a watercolor painting. If I recall correctly, they sell them in almost any craft shop, and they're not too expensive...

[KiloTango]

Water colour pencils are great but unless you're using heavy paper or stretch it, doing the water part will also make the paper buckle. You can flatten it or pre-stretch it, but if you're doing the former, if you do a lot of wash work on it you'll still end up with some uneven-ness that can be really discouraging when you scan. (I used to use them quite a bit and it drove me up the wall.)

Good paper makes all the difference. Get something nice and thick, reasonably smooth but not shiny, and you'll be able to use it for pencils just as well as anything else.

Also, Prismacolour pencils are amazing.

[Icachan]

On the subject of watercolor pencils, I usually use them completly dry on thicker drawing paper. :3 The ones I use blend very well with eachother, which makes for great monochrome drawings. :3.

[Hysteric Polaris]

Also, Prismacolour pencils are amazing.

I've head bad things about Prismacolor markers though...most people I know prefer copic markers...how much do Prismacolor pencils run for? And how many come in a box? (I don't want to struggle with another set of 8..x_x)

[KiloTango]

I've head bad things about Prismacolor markers though...most people I know prefer copic markers...how much do Prismacolor pencils run for? And how many come in a box? (I don't want to struggle with another set of 8..x_x)

The markers aren't great. But the pencils are the same as Karisma Colour pencils here in the UK (which are no longer in production, which is so annoying because they were the best ever) just with a different style of barrel. I've not bought Prismacolour pencils, but they're likely to be a little more expensive than normal pencils but if they are as much like Karismas as I've heard then you totally get what you pay for. The key thing with them is unlike most pencils they're wax based rather than oil based, which makes them really soft, which means you get lovely thick rich colour that blends amazingly.

Another thing you can try actually, though you'd want to check your linework wouldn't get too smudged, is that a clear 'blender' marker (any brand, cheap is fine, I used magic marker ones) will blur and smooth most coloured pencils like they were watercolour pencils, but dries in seconds and doesn't distort your paper. If you can get a bottle of IPA (Isoproply Alchohol, or something along those lines, not india pale ale XD) You can refil your blender marker with that on the cheap too. I used to use this technique quite a bit.

[Meggiemaccat]

Kehe... my boyfriend recently only avoided spending $50 on his Prisma Colored pencil set because there was a sale on them at 25% off. XPPPPP *dies*

[WOLFNiGHTS2703]

LMAO @ the first 'un!