Any tips for digital line art?

[Onylex 2,837]

So umm I tend to have a hard time doing line art and I was wandering if there are any digital artist here that could give me a pointer or two when it comes to doing so. (you don't have to be a digital artist to reply though) 

 

Iv tried doing line are in Photoshop, Paint tool Sai and, Manga studio 5 but I cant quite nail it the way I want to. Any tips will do at this point, I think I more or less just need some insight on what I might be doing wrong or could be doing right. 

 

~Thanks in advance!

 

Edited August 16, 2015 by Onylex

[SFyr 1,982]

I suppose the biggest question is, what are you going for? I've done line art a few different ways, but I've admittedly been looking into something new recently, as I'm finding something different might be good to play with. But yeah. What are you going for, and what are you having issues with?

I'm not the most experienced person with this, but I've dabbled for quite awhile in art stuff. 

[Violyre 32]

Just don't worry about getting the lines all perfect in one go; usually what I do is make a bunch of lines for one curve (for example, if I'm making the neck, I'll do it in three different parts) and then erase the bits that poke out where the lines cross, and then smooth it a little more. I don't know how to explain this any better, so let me know if you need any pictures of this. 

 

Also, changing my pen brush settings in SAI a little bit seemed to help. I usually only keep my stabilizer at 5, and make the minimum brush size a lot bigger, like 60%, so the brush doesn't taper off a lot, and change the quality to 4 (smoothest). That helped me on the lineart for the picture I just finished, and I think I'll keep it that way for a while. If you could be a little more specific about what you want to change or fix about your lineart, I might be able to help more your lineart looks great to me already but I get that sometimes people just want it to look the way they see it in their heads, not just make what other people like 

[Guest]

I suppose the biggest question is, what are you going for? I've done line art a few different ways, but I've admittedly been looking into something new recently, as I'm finding something different might be good to play with. But yeah. What are you going for, and what are you having issues with?

I'm not the most experienced person with this, but I've dabbled for quite awhile in art stuff. 

 

Just don't worry about getting the lines all perfect in one go; usually what I do is make a bunch of lines for one curve (for example, if I'm making the neck, I'll do it in three different parts) and then erase the bits that poke out where the lines cross, and then smooth it a little more. I don't know how to explain this any better, so let me know if you need any pictures of this. 

 

Also, changing my pen brush settings in SAI a little bit seemed to help. I usually only keep my stabilizer at 5, and make the minimum brush size a lot bigger, like 60%, so the brush doesn't taper off a lot, and change the quality to 4 (smoothest). That helped me on the lineart for the picture I just finished, and I think I'll keep it that way for a while. If you could be a little more specific about what you want to change or fix about your lineart, I might be able to help more your lineart looks great to me already but I get that sometimes people just want it to look the way they see it in their heads, not just make what other people like 

 

Well, I guess you could say that what I'm going for is more of a smooth looking line style in that, its more of an over inking.

I often times find myself leaning more towards art styles that have "cleaner" linearts but still hold a "weight" to each line. An example of this would be something like manga inks.

 

Manga inks tend to have a variation of line thickness and weight while still maintaining a cleanness to it.

 

At the same time though, I try to make the lines something that I can use as a guide or reference to color filling the image.

Draw a circle > Outline the circle > Select the space inside of it > fill the circle with a color. 

 

I hope that makes since...   

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

I dont know if im even helping, because im not really that experienced  but i simply draw lines on normal paper with an pencil, than redraw the lines with a marker, erase the pencil lines, scan the picture to my computer and then let Adobe Illustrator redraw the lines with the Comic setting.

 

If that information helps you in any way 

[Antidaeophobia 299]

So umm I tend to have a hard time doing line art and I was wandering if there are any digital artist here that could give me a pointer or two when it comes to doing so. (you don't have to be a digital artist to reply though) 

 

Iv tried doing line are in Photoshop, Paint tool Sai and, Manga studio 5 but I cant quite nail it the way I want to. Any tips will do at this point, I think I more or less just need some insight on what I might be doing wrong or could be doing right. 

 

~Thanks in advance!

 

I use gimp, I set my ink pen to 1.0, speed 3. I use the path tool and set it along the lines, Instead of the default setting, I use 'Stroke path with paint tool' and set it to my ink pen and 'emulate brush dynamics'. This gives my line a smooth appearance, but tapers it at the end like a real pen. If you don't want to taper, remove the emulate brush dynamics. The speed can be increased in number to create a thinner line. The best thing you can do, is fiddle with the settings to what you want. I make a layer just for line art, so my original image isn't contaminated. This technique is available in Photoshop too, as Gimp and PS are very similar. 

Edited August 29, 2015 by Antidaeophobia

[Forward Bias 47]

With a little information about what it is you don't like about your lines I may be able to provide some guidance about what you might do to improve them. That said, I know for myself, the biggest things that have mattered in the art I've looked at where smoothness (drawing with the arm rather than the wrist,) and modulation (having a good mix of both thick and thin lines in the appropriate places.)

 

Regardless, I'd recommend looking at some digital process inking tutorials such as the one at http://picolo-kun.deviantart.com/art/Inking-Tutorial-546935392

 

In unrelated news, I love the Pinkie Pie in your initial example.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Forward Bias