In comics, how are action lines created?

[Ashenge]

And I mean in a wieldy sense.

http://img.onemanga.com/mangas/00000003/000188742/02.jpg

The lines are all heading to one invisible spot. I know that much. What I don't know is the process he uses to make the lines shrink as they approach. I don't know if it's manual or digital. And you see them EVERYWHERE in comics. Is it a trick so obvious and so well known that nobody ever talks about it?

Help a brudda out. D: I hope this is the right section of the forums. This is my first post.

[kev ferrara]

There's lots of different kinds of action lines. Post or link to the example you would like to figure out..

[Ashenge]

I thought I just did...

Is the image not appearing?

[Gorgonzola]

No, it's not.

But from what you described, it sounds like you're talking about speedlines. When you say action lines, I think of the cartoon shorthand for those lines you see when somebody swings a bat, or something like that.

What you mentioned sounds like a bunch of thick/thin lines converging at a point, yeah?

[Ashenge]

More or less yeah. Here. Clicky.

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/360/02/

He uses an asston of them in like every panel. That leads me to believe he has an extremely speedy and efficient method for it. And that's precisely what I wanna know.

[Gorgonzola]

There's actually not much of a speed/efficient method to it, unless he's using something like Manga Studio, which can create that on the fly. Otherwise, it's just oodles of practice to the point where he can probably do it in his sleep.

If he's doing it traditionally, here's how he's probably doing it:

-He has an anchor point, probably marked in pencil, that all the lines are going to converge to.
-Using a straightedge of some sort, he probably makes a few lines in pencil, just to see how it might look, and if he needs to make changes, he'll do that.
-He might also throw down a circle in pencil using a template if he knows where he wants the lines to fade out and stop.
-From there, he'll take some sort of drawing tool that can allow thick/thin lines, be it brush, or a crowquill pen of some sort.
-From there, it's a matter of using the straight edge to draw the lines towards the point, starting with a heavy hand and lightening it up as he gets closer to his pre-determined end.

Hope that helps!

[kev ferrara]

These might have been drawn with something like a black prismacolor and then were darkened in photoshop. Ilaekae will probably know more about this.

[Sekino]

Yukito Kishiro (Gunnm) has a short tutorial on how he creates speed lines in Photoshop.

http://jajatom.moo.jp/E-top/frame.html

Click on 'Yukito's Room' on the main menu, then on '#2 Basic Technique 1' for the straight lines tutorial and '#3 Basic Technique 2' for the concentric lines tutorial (I would link directly but it's frames so the url doesn't change for every page :().

[OmenSpirits]

^I was about to link the same thing.

[drd]

More or less yeah. Here. Clicky.

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/360/02/

He uses an asston of them in like every panel. That leads me to believe he has an extremely speedy and efficient method for it. And that's precisely what I wanna know.

Haha, I love Bleach. Great new chapter.

But anyways; I never took notice that there really were so many lines in almost every panel; they're pretty effective though.

I love Kubo Tite's art style.

[Sanny]

Manual is not that hard really, you just have to understand how ink works, i do it manually as im to lazy to scan it in and tinker with it on the computer.
Its that the faster you move a pen the less ink attach to the paper so i do so i place a ruler and hold it werry firm with one hand and rolls the pen allong it and moves slowly and speeds upp where i want it to fade out an get thinner and i can move then the ruler a millimeter to do same thing if i want get a thicker line, now if i have a object i dont want to have lines on i just do similar but have to time and lift the pen right on time.

Other is actually one i suspect more is how they are made and its a film they aply (just like the digital) on the image.

[Elwell]

He uses an asston of them in like every panel. That leads me to believe he has an extremely speedy and efficient method for it. And that's precisely what I wanna know.
I'm with Gorgonzola, it looks like freehand inks over a ruled pencil guides to me. And no matter how much work doing it that way may or may not be, it's a hell of a lot faster than actually doing backgrounds.

[pencilkiller]

Here are some scan pages from my old manga technique book collection:

http://www.pencilkiller.com/pic/line3.jpg

http://www.pencilkiller.com/pic/line1.jpg

http://www.pencilkiller.com/pic/line2.jpg

Or you can use Manga Studio to do it digitally. :P

[Ilaekae]

The method OP asked about is done exactly the way pencilkiller's first pic shows--pin in the middle, multiple lines with a true same-thickness pen like a Rapio or Leroy (or a very hard marker). Any other method is prone to too many mistakes. Of course, a light pencil area is done as gorgonzola mentioned.

The slight twist around the pin is what causes the thick-to-thin appearance, with one (of two) or the center line ( of many) being the "point." It's an optical illusion.

If you study the OP's example carefully, you can almost make out the overlapping EQUAL-width lines that make up a "single" ray.

Another way to do this on a computer is to make a very elongated triangle in Illustrator and dupli-rotate it around the "pin" center, then go back and randomly pull some of the points back to make it look less mechanical. This way, you can make one ray burst, and enlarge or reduce it as needed over and over.

It's difficult to do this in painting programs because it's nearly impossible to get any brush to come to a true point.

If you look at some old comics like Pogo or Wally Wood's stuff, you'll see the same thing done with a brush, but it can only be done in small areas. Trying to keep a brush thick-to-thin over a six-inch radius is almost impossible, no matter how good you are.

[FLenG]

I used Manga Studio for speed/action lines... lol thats the only thing I use Manga Studio for. Someone should create a filter of it on Photoshop.

[German-s]

you know, Tite Kuba doesn't do them... Mangaka have assistants to do stuff like that. Popular guys like Tite Kubo will most likely have a stable of assistants.

[idoru]

He probably employs three or four, yeah. I've never held that against manga artists, though, because A.) they don't start out with them and B.) they have crazy-insane deadlines in those oh-so-popular shonen mags. (You try drawing 30+ pages every week by yourself! Haha.)

You can to this very easily with a nib pen, I'm not sure why you'd need to laboriously go over again and again with a liner? The nib pen requires a little control, this is true, but it is well worth the efforts. You essentially just lessen the pressure on the pen as you approach the end of a ruled line, drawn as the pictures in pencilkiller's post show. You can achieve this in one of two ways: by speed (hard to control, prone to mistakes, but easier to get the pressure right) or by controlling your hand to put less pressure on the line (allows you to go slower, make fewer mistakes, but it takes excellent control to begin with). Try it out!

[Ashenge]

The method OP asked about is done exactly the way pencilkiller's first pic shows--pin in the middle, multiple lines with a true same-thickness pen like a Rapio or Leroy (or a very hard marker). Any other method is prone to too many mistakes. Of course, a light pencil area is done as gorgonzola mentioned.

The slight twist around the pin is what causes the thick-to-thin appearance, with one (of two) or the center line ( of many) being the "point." It's an optical illusion.
Sorry to resurrect such an old post, but I've been wondering. Is there a literal pin involved? Or is it just a term for the focal point?

[CCThrom]

There could be an actual pin (as in pencilkillers pic) if you don't mind pinning into your drawing board. Or it could just be a pencil mark.

[Ilaekae]

Use a push pin. The damage to your drawing board is minimal.

[shockwavecg]

I came across your answer and that was exactly what I was looking for! I never could figure out how to word that particular question about inking so people would understand what I was talking about.