Joker Inks

Luis drew this cool Joker portrait just for me! Thanks man!

I was in the mood for some practice, and wanted to share some of the things I do. Spent about 45 min on this.
The biggest challenge when inking with a micron style pen is producing varying line width; it tends to lay a static continuous line. Understanding the importance of line width is key to inking...amoung other things! So here is a good practice you aspiring inkers, such as myself, should do!
First, choose an image you want to ink...This one by Luis is a perfect example. I printed it out large on an 11X17 page. Choose a pen....something larger than you would normally use...I chose a .8 Micron pen. That's huge! It's the pen I use for laying borders and panels. (The card edge in this is a true thickness of a .8 pen)...but that is the point of this exercise. Also a good tip is to learn how to throw fast lines with control. It will be the only way to make a finer line with a micron(...unless you use a smaller pen that is!)
Now only use that one pen throught the whole image, even the fine details. This lets you see how you must compensate for the large pen and keep things proportionate; you will have to make some lines larger than you normally would. Also part of this exercise is the ability to f**k up! Seriously, make mistakes. You need to know that even tho you are throwing black permanent ink on paper, you can still correct things! Learn what tool or way of correcting lines works best for you. I honestly was just working these lines as practice, many times figured it would be scrapped, but pulled it back (somewhat) out of the depths of despair. I use a white ink Staedtler pen tha I picked up at a craft store and find it works great.
Now, the whole point of creating line width is to add dimension and shape, as well as defining a light source. Those things make an image much more dynamic and interesting. I'm still not perfect, but continue to practice at it everyday. Remember the importance of foreshortening. Objects closest to the front are heavier and as things go further back in the image, the line becomes smaller. Shadows are heavier, while an edge that has light upon it can be thinner. Use a heavier line to show mass. Lots of ways to work these into you art, and many ways to use your own style to make it your own.
So, that's it! Just one of the ways I work on my line width with microns. Fast practice to help me grow! Not meant to be perfect, but hope it will be usefull! Thanks for taking the time to read thru this too Cheers.
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