Here's Saka's MAG entree. Something I noticed about her's and Pat's line art... and also Dananasan's ... what these have in common is the great variation in line width, weight, stroke, and amount. Here I'll write some stuff I have discovered... as well as some questions I'd like to ask you peeps...

As for Saka's pic... I noticed that different objects have lines that thin out near other objects. What do I mean...? Here're the pointers.....

For circle one I think she thinned the line between the knuckle area and the arm area because the skin there is touching. That leads me to think that areas where there are less depth change will have less of a contour line thickness.

The wrist in cricle 2 leads me to ask, why did she thicken the line on her wrist, the one that connects to the thumb? It seems like she always thicken the lines whenever a concave shape appears. Is this for shading? Same with circle 3. Why did she darken those lines?

Circle 4 confuses me even more. How did she know to make the line of her arm thin there? I know that Saka probably learned a lot of these inking styles over experience... but I bet good money there's reasoning behind how and why she inks the way she does. The lines flow so damn smoothly and realistically, and I'm beginning to ponder why the lines are drawn the way they are.


Here's poly, being fried by something (what was it again pat?)
Circle one's thick line is most likely thicker simply because Pat wanted to show that the forearm is closer to the viewr than the upper arm. Same with the rest of the hand. Same goes with circle 2.

Another thing I've noticed, shown in circles 2 and 3, is that Pat tends to use thick lines for individual forms, and details on those forms have thinner lines. Is this because the details have less depth and therefore do not create as large a contour line?

I'm curious about circle 4's straight line. There's a curve at the end of that line, so Pat probably didn't use a ruler. If he did, did he draw that line fast or slow? Usually when I ink slowly... my hand gets shaky. But it's also risky to ink too fast. How did he do it? Ruler?

Circle 5 hair strand is interesting. Why did he choose to ink it thick above, then progressively thin the line down as it proceeds downwards (then thicken it again as it hits the bang's bottom). Is it because the form is getting closer to Poly's face, and therefore has less of a contour? Additionally... did he use multiple passes for that line or did he press hard down on the pen, then lighten it, then hard again? Sounds like a Matrix manuever... or a ninja trick.

Finally I want to ask about Dansama's inking. If some of my previous assumptions were right, then Dananasan inked that hairy wolf guy with a thick line because he is in the foreground. Shouldn't the hand be composed of an even thicker line if it follows the same rule? I see that details of even the foreground forms have thin lines, and share the same line weight as the bg's detail line weight. Wouldn't that be confusing to the viewer?


Arg.... sorry for this massive (and badly composed) post. I'm having a tough time inking "properly" with good contour... and having a billion questions running through my head I thought I'd share some of my ponderings and more immediate questions with you peeps. Thanx for reading, and help out if you can. ^_^

Flux Havoc

Edited by: FluxHavoc  at: 1/26/01 1:26:54 am

"There's an invariable rule in mens' battles. It states: 'An ugly macho guy can never beat an intelligent, slender, popular, and handsome hero.' Your death was sealed when you appeared with that ugly face." - Dark Schneider

First off... thanx for replying ^_^;;;

For some reason I've missed this part in my art education...

I think I'll go ask Saka about the lines directly. She seems to have it down to a pattern almost. And yeh... I hope Pat replies about his pic too since His lineart is always this slick, even in the sketch phase.

About Dansama's lines, I think you have a point there about drawing attention. Thanx!

Flux Havoc

ummm…I didn't learn this at all

For Pat's pic, I think he used the classic-comic inking style…like you said, the major objects have darkened outlines, foreshadowing perspectives have bold lines, and details are done in fine-tip

Of course, I don't thik I've ever heard (well, seen) Pat actually say his inking is good…although it's always much better than mine.

I've never seen Saka or Dananasan before…probably a result of my being largely absent for a month. Since I've never seen them before now, I need more time to study them to give a really good analysis.

Saka's drawing looks 100% proffessional anime. Dananasan's drawing is also very proffessional (and it reminds me of Lynx from Chrono Cross performing Dash&Slash against that Gigas monster in FF7). Those two pics are exceptionally better than my drawings, and I always kiss the better artist's ass

Man, that Schlotsky's 8" Double Cheese & Pepperoni Pizza really jump-started my brain today! Woohoo!

Gaealord Gabriel Angelo Maokai III
"Ya know, there are two types of villains. There's the ones who use brute strength to destroy the hero, and then there's the true villain, the brains behind everything… Elijah's mother, from Unbreakable
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See you, Space Cowboy...

Flux Havoc

www.skidvis.com/dojo/ is Dansama's web site. Oh, and this is a very helpful topic. I've personally benefitted from this.

Extros

-Dan Minut
dminut@animefest.com
http://www.tap-comics.com/

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