inking 101 hanzozuken style

[hanzozuken]

well this is my first tutorial and hopefully this helps some aspiring inkers out there. first of all i say all the things here without ego so dont think i have a big head. one common comment i get on my artwork is that they love my inking style so i took pictures with my dig camera along the various stages of my artwork and hopefully this helps you out with yours. first is basic tools you will need.

bristol board 2ply works but 3 ply is better
ink i use speedball super black india ink bout 5 bucks a bottle
I use a spoon nib and holder which is about 6 bucks
hunt crow quill 102 run you bout 2 to 3 bucks
brush i use a sable hair windsor newton brush 101 which is about 10 bucks
last but not least a flat surface, i have a drawing table with the surface at an angle and a lamp overhead

okay now that 's out of the way lets get to it.http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/prelim.jpg
1. i draw a rough draft of the picture to get the general space of the layout. i'm not gonna say my anatomy is good but this is to give you a general idea.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/blocking.jpg
2. next i go in a darken the details of the outside with rendering, i little ighter witht the details and so on and so forth.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/shading.jpg
3. next i go in and decide on where the light source is and fill in the blacks with pencils which give me an idea of how dark the picture looks. i personally like having high contrast pictures or at least a lot of blacks in there.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/linework.jpg
4. now i grab my spoon nib and usually i try and start in the upper left corner so my wrist doesnt touch any ink and smear it. usaully i do a good job about this but mistakes are known to happen after a while.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/outline.jpg
5. this step is usually what takes the longest and thats because i go thru and outline everything. the trick i use with long lines is to press harder on the nib which creates a smooth think line. for the shorter lines i usually do i light quick movement of my wrist which still gives it depth and line thickness variations.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/detail.jpg
6. this is my favorite step. i add the details in with either my spoon nib or the hunt crow quill. short quick lines add a huge amount of depth to a picture but then again that might be my own style.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/blackwork.jpg
7. last step is to use your brush and fill in the blacks. very easy part of the process but bewarned, make sure you know how to get a fine point out of your brush for the sharp lines of black. usually another thing i do in this step is make sure that certain areas have a thicker line to them so the viewer can tell what goes to what character.

well hopefully this helps you out below is a picture that i am in the middle of completing right now. as you will notice i have only sketched out the background while the hulk is fully inked. this is my preference because with ruler work on buildings or what not, i hate drawing a line over the character so having it inked first helps me out. enjoy and feel free to leave comments please.
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/hulkink1.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/hulkink2.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/hulkink3.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k21/hanzozuken/hulkink4.jpg

[Bracer]

Wow, Excellent Shading !
Thanks For Sharing !

[Flux]

For the buff guy I liked it when you left him at stage 1, barely inked.

That sort of pure-outline, suggestive form is very very cool and original. I start disliking it by stage 2 when the hatching begins, and the final stage when everytihng gets filled black (not exactly unexpected). Buuuut then again you're making a tutorial, and it's pretty thoughtfully written so good job. :)

[sludger]

Thanks for the nice tutorial. I dont ink myself as I find a sturdy pencil can get the job done for a more organic feel but to each their own.

[TKN]

Awesum, VERY enlightening. I've always wondered about inks, this is crazee. U got insane skillz, keep it up!! :D

-tom

[Ninken]

For the buff guy I liked it when you left him at stage 1, barely inked.

That sort of pure-outline, suggestive form is very very cool and original. I start disliking it by stage 2 when the hatching begins, and the final stage when everytihng gets filled black (not exactly unexpected). Buuuut then again you're making a tutorial, and it's pretty thoughtfully written so good job. :)

I agree 100 %. When theres not a very dark room I'm not a big fan of huge blobs of black.

You are a very skilled inker I must say.

[ShimmeringSword]

Sweet, back when I tried inking I got bad results, but now im seeing that good inking requires A LOT of good equipment, not just a decent ink pen. Well Im all digital now (or for the while) so too late to help me.
Great work. Ive always liked clean outlines with pencil cell shading, some of my best penciled people were done like that.

[hanzozuken]

maybe i'll take your crits into consideration when doing my next piece. the only thing that i find difficult with that is how to get crosshatching done if i dont use blacks cuz the style of crosshatching i use works well with blacks. i've never really done my style with just outlines in mind so hopefully my first attempt goes well, maybe i'll do a mech......

[AnimeAce]

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
I cannot pick my jaw off de floor.

[quofalcon]

This is good stuff. Thanks a bunch for sharing! I'm rather an 'inking virgin' and need his practice. How does one go about getting rid a shakey hand/arm for such matters? ;)

[akbunny]

practise :P it'll go away

[hanzozuken]

to be honest i have a shakey hand as well. my inking style reflects this considering that i cant seem to do long thin linework. but practice a lot so your wrist knows which movements get what types of lines. you'll soon see what you can and cannot do. my penciling style has changed due to this fact because i know how i can ink.

[Alex J.]

The big black guy is THE HULK lol!

[itsumoanime2]

your inking is really impressive. A lot of hatching and cross hatching but doesn't look busy at all. Nice spotting black! I want to see more of your inking style very energetic.