It Was Supposed To Just Be The First Sketch And Thats It - Blog Posts

A while ago, I was asked about how I do my line art. I screenshot my process to explain it. I'm glad to share my knowledge, and I hope this can inspire you. I want to emphasize that there is no "right" or "wrong" way. This is just how I like to do it.

Anyway, every drawing of mine starts with a rough sketch. My beautiful babies, Crystal and Clem, will be helping me demonstrate.

Some sketches are rougher than others, but I have a lot of experience with drawing Crystal and Clem so it doesn't take much.

Depending on how I want a drawing to look, I may use different pens. The one I am using here is called "Technical Pen" and it is the one I use 90% of the time. I will go around and outline anything I want bolded. The lines here aren't as thick as I usually go, but it's the same concept.

I will decrease the size of the pen and start to fill in some details. I usually tweak it as I go, fixing errors, and smoothing out the lines. In casual drawings like this, I'm very loose about it. There's no science to it, just go with the flow. (AAH INVISIBLE EYES)

Then, I will decrease the size once more and fill in tinier details (pupils, hair, clothing folds, etc.)

With drawings that include writing, I'll use a size like I did in step 3 (not too thin, not too thick.)

Now you can brutalize lines the Terra way.

Of course this isn't the ONLY way and every drawing I do the lines a little differently depending on how I want it to look. Here are some other pens I use:

Technical Pen - This is an all-around pen for me. It's straightfoward and reliable.

Brush 4 - No, really, that's what it's called. This is good when I want to have very thick, bold, textured lines. I sometimes use Pencil 6B for hatching with this if I want it to have a sketchy look.

Inking Pen - I also call it the "Bobby Pen" because I use it frequently when drawing Bobby. It's good for when I want to make a sketchy, rough, unstable-looking drawing. It's also very good if I want the lines to look very sharp. I'm still experimenting with this one.

Pencil Pal - This one is reserved for whenever I make drawings that (somewhat) resemble traditional art. I usually only keep to one width with this one.

And there you have it.