Inked Art: Marker advice

[Squinky]

Hi all,

First off, thanks for reading and thanks for any help or advice you can offer.

I have been doing black and white images for awhile now and have started to move into shading them with these sweet paintbrush like tipped markers of different gray shades. I am mostly happy with the outcome, but some problems persist:

1. Marker overlap: I'm not sure if that is a technical term but I get this sort of buildup and it creates inconsistent shading. I get it the worst if I try to apply the inks in a back and forth manner, less it seems if I work in a circular motion. Then again some of my shades do this worse than others, like the blueish tone on this gals clothing:

http://img376.imageshack.us/my.php?image=raventhewingedwarriorgizd4.jpg

I've been told to use Vellum to ink on, but this hasn't helped much. Any ideas?

2. I can't adjust the levels as well in photoshop when I shade. Normally I ink up a picture and then scan and adjust the levels, you know, make the white white and the blacks black....But I can't do this with my shaded images. I need to do this because sometimes my blacks are inconsistent (for fills I use sharpies sometimes, and the have a slight different tone than my other pens) and it can suck.

http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dirtyhippiefinished2kp9.jpg

This image is an example. I had to go back in and photoshop the shadow behind the characters, which kinda sucked. Any ideas?

Any info on this would be greatly appreciated. Mostly I am looking to create clean presentable art, free from these little flaws. I've been trying to figure this out on my own, but I figured this place is full of talented artists that could maybe throw me a bone.

Thanks!

[zabnat]

I don't know about the first problem. But for the second one I would adjust the color levels using curves and/or replace color tools.

[LimpingFish]

It's the paper, I would guess. The fibers absorb varying degrees of ink as you move the pen back and forth, causing some to be darker. Plus, the motion of the pen may be loosening some of the fibres themselves, causing them to clump together.

The best paper to ink on is paper that doesn't actually absorb the ink at all.

I suspect if you inked with a brush on the paper you are using, the ink wouldn't stay neat, but would bleed slightly.

If you look at artwork that has been inked on a suitable paper type (more like medium gloss card, really) you'll see that the ink is actually raised from the surface slighty.

Something like this might suit better.

To be honest, I wouldn't suggest using markers at all, if you want consistent "flat" grey/black shading.

EDIT: This would have originally been inked (with a brush) on the paper I'm talking about, before being scanned and coloured digitally.

[Evil]

I've seen some nice things from people that use markers, because typically they don't know how to use Photoshop. I'd suggest using a heavy weight paper, like a watercolor paper, where the colors don't bleed. Quality of the marker helps too. The best thing is to just not overlap, just like inking. Be confident and controlled.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Your work has improved a lot since you posted here but there are still a few anatomical issues.  The arms are way too thick (particularly the forearms) for a woman of her build and the hands are large as well.  I made a really bad edit to address some of the problems I see keeping this from looking even better. 

As far as her left side goes, I would recommend you try standing in front of a mirror without a shirt on and holding your arm up.  Even though you are a male, the slope of the underarm dips in just like for a woman and in your original it seems more like her shoulder is just stuck on the torso.

Some other things I did:

1.  Adjust the size of the shoe somewhat and make the shape more like it would be if she was resting on it.

2.  Adjusted the shape of the face.  While yours was pleasing to look at I found that the shape itself needed some work.  The lips were especially out of place I thought, and a shadow on the right side of her face would fit in with the right-front lighting scheme you're using.

I'm linking this because the edit is over 2 megs to show what I did.
http://members.cox.net/progzmax/wingwarriored.gif

[Igor]

Hello Squinky,
first i really like the new direction you are taking your illos in to (though, i must admit i was quite fond of your "rough" underground style).

I like the shading, but i can see where the problems are.. What kind of markers are you using?
If you didn't already, i'd suggest to try out Pantone Markers. They are ideal for what you are trying to achive- clean shading. The great thing with them is, they also mix a little bit, so with some practice you can get great gradients and flows.
The only downside is, they are quite expensive.
Here are 2 quick simple examples of what can be done with them, shading-wise:

http://www.bugbrain.com/igor/testpantons1.jpg

[hedgefield]

Marker overlap is a pain in the nads. I don't do a lot of shading like that -I do crosshatch or I use pencil-, but I usually had it when I marked in big black areas. I have one marker that does an absolutely fabulous job, but it's like all the moisture (apparently yellow) goes right through the paper, staining anything underneath.

These days, I almost exclusively color digitally. You should try it, since you're already scanning it in anyway. Draw the lineart, scan it, adjust the levels, copy the layer and set it to multiply, and you can color underneath the lineart.

[radiowaves]

Try using some harder cardboard. Also, you should try some non-transparent markers for some stuff. Try some touch markers or ballpoint. I don't know any brands or anything... There are barely any quality markers in the place where I live.