Ink on bristol board (with digital color), 11 × 17″.
This is the final installment of my 3-part series on inking (here are parts 1 and 2), but that doesn’t mean there’s not tons more to say about the craft. Having said that, talk is cheap — there’s no substitute for actually doing it (or at least watching someone actually doing it). That being the case, I’ve put together a 1-hour inking demonstration that features fundamental mark-making, brush dynamics, and the thought process behind some of my choices.
It’s a long video, so feel free to skip around. I talk for most of it (trying to channel my best Bob Ross) but there’s a substantial audio delay in some parts. My apologies. If you make it all the way through, but still have questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments section. As I said, there’s quite a bit more I could say on the subject — hopefully that will eventually coalesce into a future post.
Paolo, thanks for sharing your talents as usual. May I ask how the digital composite image of the buildings was developed? I can tell from your pencils that you filled in/deviated from the digital composite to form the background the way you wanted it. But where do those digital buildings come from? Google Earth? I'm just curious how you tackled that complex background. Your work is great. Thanks for your time, -Brandon
Man Paolo thanks so much for taking the time ( and Money) to put together a video showing us your inking process. It's quite remarkable that you would do that for everyone and I wanted to make sure that you knew this was an extremely generous thing you did .
I'll think of this as our collective Christmas present from Muddy Colors — This is above and beyond the call of duty, Paolo; thank you so much! I won't be able to watch the video 'til I'm home from work tonight, but I'll look forward to it 😀
My pleasure, Brandon! The buildings are, indeed, from Google Earth. The extra details were gleaned from pics I found online, as well as Google Street View. When I sketched the page out (the last pic) I was already looking at Google Earth to get a sense of the space.
Thanks, Chris and Bill! I figured there was only one way to really show how the deed is done. Now that I know I can make these videos with my phone, the barrier to creating demos are much lower.
Wow! Great post! Thanks for putting the video together. Love how candid you are with your process. very insightful and useful. Makes me want to ink something!
I don't mean to turn this into a tech blog, but I just figured out the problem on Chrome: I had third-party cookies blocked. Not sure if it could be the same thing with Safari, but it worked for me. This was bothering me quite a bit as I was having the same problem with YouTube comments.
Fall GuysonTimelapse of my latest Musicscape!For guitar nerds and Beatles fans, this Musicscape not only celebrates the instrument's role in musical history, but also shows how art can bridge pas…
Paolo, thanks for sharing your talents as usual. May I ask how the digital composite image of the buildings was developed? I can tell from your pencils that you filled in/deviated from the digital composite to form the background the way you wanted it. But where do those digital buildings come from? Google Earth? I'm just curious how you tackled that complex background. Your work is great. Thanks for your time, -Brandon
Man Paolo thanks so much for taking the time ( and Money) to put together a video showing us your inking process. It's quite remarkable that you would do that for everyone and I wanted to make sure that you knew this was an extremely generous thing you did .
I'll think of this as our collective Christmas present from Muddy Colors — This is above and beyond the call of duty, Paolo; thank you so much! I won't be able to watch the video 'til I'm home from work tonight, but I'll look forward to it 😀
Generous and thoughtful post Paolo. Thanks for your time and insight. Really great stuff as usual.
My pleasure, Brandon! The buildings are, indeed, from Google Earth. The extra details were gleaned from pics I found online, as well as Google Street View. When I sketched the page out (the last pic) I was already looking at Google Earth to get a sense of the space.
Glad you liked it, Ray! I was literally just at your blog this morning checking out your latest work. Awesome, as always!
Thanks, Chris and Bill! I figured there was only one way to really show how the deed is done. Now that I know I can make these videos with my phone, the barrier to creating demos are much lower.
Wow! Great post! Thanks for putting the video together. Love how candid you are with your process. very insightful and useful. Makes me want to ink something!
Thanks, Howard! I'm nothing if not candid.
Thanks for the helpful info, Paolo 🙂
Some bug has prevented me from commenting here lately, but now that I've switched browsers may I say again how I look forward to Paolo posts on MC.
Thanks, Adam! I have to use Safari for comments. Chrome doesn't work for some reason.
Weird, it's been exactly the opposite for me.
Looks like we need to combine our “powers.”
I don't mean to turn this into a tech blog, but I just figured out the problem on Chrome: I had third-party cookies blocked. Not sure if it could be the same thing with Safari, but it worked for me. This was bothering me quite a bit as I was having the same problem with YouTube comments.
Thank you very much. One of the best inking demos I've seen so far. Thank you for taking the time to explain things.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching.