skyline??

[mike@af]

Looking good...It amazing how fast you go through these shirts, well I guess because its your living its fast.

[lemorris]

Actually Mike this picture is just for this forum. Sometimes you gotta step away from the daily grind and have a little "you" project. LOL

Sorry if this is getting long but one of the things that has always upset me about books and stuff is the lack of detail.

Anyway here we go with more.



First off here's a shot of my studio from my wife's side. We are still unpacking from our recent move so I don't wanna hear about the mess.



I laid out the stuff I use for inking on my table. You can see the Don Edwards CARtooning book in the picture. I saw some stuff I thought I'd try on this piece. It's an ok book. Small, not much detail...ok.

You can see my ellipses and french curves (sweeps to you old schoolers), and my drawing taped to a board.

I actually taped a piece of illustration board down first and then tape my line drawing on top of that. I like to feel the surface as I'm inking it helps me with control. If the surface is too hard I lose my feel and start gliding all over the place. It's a matter of preference.


This is a picture of the french curves and a few straight edges I'll use. There's one curve that's missing and I really like it, but I always lose it. I have been finding it and losing it for years. When I go to start a piece I'll look for it for a few minutes. If I don't find it, I call it fate and move on. If I do find it we dance and hug and all is right with the world until I lose it again.


Here's a shot of my microns on the left my ink and dip pen in the middle and then I have a ultra fine flair, a regular flair, an ultra fine sharpie, and a regular sharpie.


For this part of the demo we'll do a wheel. I find the ellipse that best fits my line and I make a dash next to each little mark on the ellipse. These indicate major and minor axis. If this was a realistic drawing I would want the minor axis to be aligned with the axel shaft on my car.


For a cartoon I can have it where I want it as long as I have the attitude I want. Using my tech pencil I connect the lines. This is important because now I have guides to follow as I line up the smaller ellipses.


see?


I also take the time to use a little transition curve (vital!!) to pencil in my wheel well. I go right back and ink this area after I pencil it. When working with curves you may find yourself having to rotate and shift the curve position a lot. After I get the pencil in I ink right away because I remember what I just did.


see? I freehand a lot of the lines as I'm going along. After drawing this car 4 times I have a good feel for the lines so it's easier. (Another advantage of tracing, or transferring your image a few times.)

Another thing I have found is that when I ink using a tool like a french curve or ellipse the line is a certain thickness. When I ink freehand I tend to be heavy handed so my line is thicker. Taking that fact into consideration. I ink against my tools using a .03 micron, and lines that I freehand I use a .02. They come out pretty consistent that way...for me anyway.


Now it's like a coloring book. When I was inking the lines I left little "X's" where I wanted solid black. Now I go in and fill those areas in.


Normally I would ink everything and then erase but for this thing I wanted to show you a clean tire, but not erase all my other lines. That's where the eraser shield comes in. It's a handy little piece of something with holes and shapes cut out of it. You can use the eraser shield to protect areas you don't want to erase.

Oh...I use a white and a kneaded eraser.


Finally I have a tire inked. I threw in some little dashed lines on the bottom side for effect, and I may go back in and thicken up part of the outside, but I'll see how I feel once the whole car is done.

Next we'll do a body area.

-Lemorris

[mike@af]

I love those pictures you just posted, especially of the wheel (it helps a lot). Where'd you get all those templates? I need to check my art store. I bet you have at least 100bucks worth of templates, they are what 8bucks a pop?

BTW: We have the same pencil.

[Howielong]

Nice work. I could never draw that good.

[lemorris]

Cool, glad you dig it Mike.

The main template set is made by Berol. They go up to 2" and they are in 5 degree increments starting at 20 degrees and going up to 60 degrees.

I got'em when I was in art school. (note I married a classmate so I got twice as many supplies).

You can find a set online or go to a store that reproduces blueprints. They may have some to give away as many people don't use them anymore. If you go to your local art store and don't see them ask the counter person to break out a catalog, and order'em for you. Cost?

Well you get a deal if you buy an entire set. There are 2" to 6" templates as well. Another place to pick up cool supplies is estate sales, and through word of mouth. Somebody always knows somebody who used to be an artist and they want to unload their "crap". I find jewels in other people's crap.

wait...that didn't come out right.

Oh wait...that didn't either.

oh well.

-Lemorris

[lemorris]

Yes you can Howie.

I didn't start trying to draw until I was 21. I started watching a kids drawing program on PBS and just jumped in.

Practice - Practice - Practice

This is a great place to learn. That's why I come here.

-Lemorris

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by lemorris

Somebody always knows somebody who used to be an artist and they want to unload their "crap". I find jewels in other people's crap.

wait...that didn't come out right.

Oh wait...that didn't either.

oh well.

-Lemorris

I my make some with a CNC machine, its good to have connections. Get some styrene and machine them. 3 templates for about 3bucks...that works.

[Howielong]

i thought you were going to say practice practice and more practice. Yeah i just don't draw anything. Never have the time.

[lemorris]

Dude!!

I'll send you some specs and you can machine some french curves that match Thom Taylors!! I can provide the patterns.

Man!! I have been looking for you for 3 years!!

Do you know how to "route" them? I( think that's the term.) So there's an inking edge?

If you do PM me. I'll pay you cut.

No joke.

-Lemorris

[lemorris]

I smell what you're steppin in Howie.

Fortunately I go to work and get paid to draw, and then I come home and relax by...ummm drawing.

No one beats time. His long game is too awesome.

-Lemorris

[Howielong]

Originally Posted by lemorris

I smell what you're steppin in Howie.

Fortunately I go to work and get paid to draw, and then I come home and relax by...ummm drawing.

No one beats time. His long game is too awesome.

-Lemorris

Im yeah. you got me.

My one friend is a great drawer of anima. His stuff is great looking.

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by lemorris

Dude!!

I'll send you some specs and you can machine some french curves that match Thom Taylors!! I can provide the patterns.

Man!! I have been looking for you for 3 years!!

Do you know how to "route" them? I( think that's the term.) So there's an inking edge?

If you do PM me. I'll pay you cut.

No joke.

-Lemorris

I need to talk to the guy I work with over the summer. I need to double check and see if he has the bit to machine them.

For the inking edge, I think I know what you mean. I might be able to get them have an overhang. I would need to get a special bit for that, or machine the bit to.

[Jeep_Rubicon]

I never knew there was that much involved in inking a wheel!!! Your a real pro!
keep up the good work

[lemorris]

Thanks Jeep_Rubicon,

However I hesitate to use the word pro. We're all students of the game. We're just at different levels.

It really doesn't take a long time to do. It seems long and drawn out as I'm trying to be very detailed, but I can go from sketch to fully inked car in 4 hours or less. It's just practice that's all.

-Lemorris

[Jeep_Rubicon]

true, true