About Inking

[Emerald_Mara85]

I got into inking like how the Japanese do it (G-pen, spoon and round) but I'm having some trouble...

Mainly the weather where I stay at is a more of very hot climate (normally 30C to 35C)...which dries the ink really fast and I have the clean bottle at the top very often...

I usually put a few drops of water but it still becomes thick really fast.

And putting on the air-con just dries it up too...
But then again I don't know a good temperture for ink.
Any tips for a hot weather artist for me? (India Ink)

Also I tried to do some tricks with white designer's colour.
Basically what I tried is make a couple of black lines from left to right.
And then try to use the white fluid to make a couple of lines over the black lines except its up to down.

Well, the results was unable to go white out after the 1st line...tried to dilute it but it didn't work too well either.
Do the japanese mangaka use some sort white liquid that's sorta not too thick and not too watery?

Please help me...gonna go crazy over this.

[Anid Maro]

I got into inking like how the Japanese do it (G-pen, spoon and round) but I'm having some trouble...

Mainly the weather where I stay at is a more of very hot climate (normally 30C to 35C)...which dries the ink really fast and I have the clean bottle at the top very often...

I usually put a few drops of water but it still becomes thick really fast.

And putting on the air-con just dries it up too...
But then again I don't know a good temperture for ink.
Any tips for a hot weather artist for me? (India Ink)

Usually what I do is I'll fill a very small container with some of my ink (it's diameter is about that of my thumb) and work from there while my main ink container is safely closed up and unable to dry. When I'm done with the small container of ink I'll put the cap on it so it won't dry too quick.

For a container you can check out the palettes section of your local art store. There'll probably be something there you can use (that's where I got the small containers I use for ink and my watercolor paints). If you've no luck there, you could either reuse an old ink bottle or appropriate something from around the house.

The point of the separate container is that while you're working only a small portion of your ink supply is exposed to the air. The top of my container will get gunked up, but it's not typically a big deal. Every few months or so I'll have to clean it out, but that's about it.

FYI, I live in a very dry climate that tends toward the warm side. In the worst of summer it can hit as high as 110 F (~49 C) while temperatures in the 80s F (your 30-35 C) are not unusual in all but the winter months.

Also I tried to do some tricks with white designer's colour.
Basically what I tried is make a couple of black lines from left to right.
And then try to use the white fluid to make a couple of lines over the black lines except its up to down.

Well, the results was unable to go white out after the 1st line...tried to dilute it but it didn't work too well either.
Do the japanese mangaka use some sort white liquid that's sorta not too thick and not too watery?

Not sure what you're using, but this (http://www.dickblick.com/items/00801-1172/#colorswatch) is what I typically use. I've got a bit of the gouache sitting in another one of my small plastic containers, when I use it I drop a lil' bit of water on top (only enough to soften it up, I don't want it watered down) and apply it with a brush.

Since it has to be thick enough to cover up the ink, it is pretty obvious that I've used gouache instead of the white of paper. However in reproduction it's indistinguishable.

[Kancent]

Different brands of ink dry at different paces. I've experimented with a few brands of india ink- Some turn into this thick liquid that is unusable with a dip pen if left open; others stay consistent and the viscosity tends to remain the same. I recommend Speedball India Ink(left it uncapped for almost 8 hours on a summer day, and nothing happened), though to be honest I haven't experimented with the more expensive ones.

As for applying white, you don't use a dip pen to do it. White tends to be much thicker, like the stuff in white out. Use a brush, any kind of brush (acrylic, watercolor, calligraphy, doesn't matter) and dilute it a bit with water. It works much easier that way.

[Emerald_Mara85]

THX, so much for the replies!!!

Okay I'll look for a small bottle and maybe speedball india ink.
Looks like I can't run away from mastering the brush...
Yeah the white out I use is also designer's gouache, just different brand.

Last question before shopping for materials,
Sometimes I see that manga artists in colour work and they outline their characters just like inking in manga except its in dark brown. Is the colours effecting the lines or are the lines are in some sort of brown ink or copic marker?

Thx so much once again

[Anid Maro]

Last question before shopping for materials,
Sometimes I see that manga artists in colour work and they outline their characters just like inking in manga except its in dark brown. Is the colours effecting the lines or are the lines are in some sort of brown ink or copic marker?

It really depends on how they're coloring.

If they're scanning in an ink drawing and coloring it digitally, then they could pick out the black lines and color them brown.

If they're working traditionally, then they probably didn't use black ink. There are colored inks out there that may be used instead, or perhaps they used an opaque paint (like a brown gouache) and brush "inked" it.

If they used water soluble india ink and colored the inking with a water based media (e.g. watercolors), then it's possible that the paint mixed in with the ink and really did change its color.

Now I have no idea which, if any, of the above methods were used by the artists you're talking about. That's just what popped into my head for what I might potentially do to get colored outlines. As is typical in art and life, there's more than one way to get to the same place.

[Ilaekae]

A waterproof brown ink was used. It made the line work a bit warmer and less intrusive/obvious, especially when the art was a human figure. It's a trick that's been around for decades, if not centuries (remember the old master's drawings and painting guides in sepia?)...

The same trick was used by storyboard and advertising layout artists on tight comp layouts to prevent the client from using the layouts as art, saving them money. In the US, the typical client associated black line with FINISHED EXPENSIVE work and a different color line (warm gray or brown) with something meant to be an unusable cheap layout only. It pays to understand how the thieves at the client end of the business think...and use it against them or to protect yourself.

[Emerald_Mara85]

Thx so much!

For a long time I did think it was some sort of brown ink but I couldn't find anything resembling that in my country.

Looks like online shopping for me...curse the shipping costs.

Thx for the online store site, I was looking for one but none was as extensive as this! You guys made my day.
:D