Livengood Inks

[livengood]

DISCLAIMER - This is the first piece I've ever inked with a brush and the first piece I've inked in 6 years at all. Please be constructive, I know I have years of improvement ahead of me

So, 6 years ago I freehanded the pencils from a Stuart Immonen Superman cover, and 6 years later decided to ink it.

I pretty much just did this to get the feel of using a brush. Feel free to leave honest, constructive criticism. This is the first of three that I did recently, so your input will taken the 4th piece and beyond.

Also, does anyone have any tips on adjusting the blacks in a scan so the are consistent? Thanks.

Tools - #2 Richeson brush and Higgins Black Magic Ink (yes, I've already ordered my W&N S7 #2 brush)

[jimmyt]

His Buckle is missing!
But seriously Jerry, Very good start.

here are thoughts,

First thing to ink is body outlines completely, this does three things.

1 - you will be sure the form is correct and concentric (artists sometimes are off.). so make corrections at this stage so you don't regret it later. Look at it upside down.

2 - you go from a thin weight on the furthest parts to thicker on the parts that are closer to you. This pops the figure a bit 3D. Start THIN.

3 - you find your light source. Many artists use either to many light sources, or do not denote one, so you must figure out where and what source to use (do not use to many because the figure and surroundings become to confusing.).

By doing this you weight the Dark side of the figure (making the figure bolder on the dark side even more.).

Start thin if you don't want the figure to BOLD.

Use a tech pen if you are not comfortable with a quill, on supermans Chest patch (Same for Batman) so the line is a consistent weight.

Use the brush to either pull out of the black, or into it for, Shading lines. Try to keep shading line consistent on seperation on each page, and proportionally smaller as you go further away on the figure (one of the trickiest parts of Inking.

That said, if you use Black Magic, you must shake the crap out of it before each use, or you get grey Magic.

When you scan set the Twain program for a higher contrast to make it dark.

Levels and curves settings will adust it as well in photoshop.

I sometimes stat my page if there are to many dark pencil lines or the artist used 300 or lower crap paper to draw on.

Paper is your friend so try always to stay on 400 or 500 kid finish (vellum) 2ply. it is 100 tight rag and does not bleed as well as allows for the inks to be much darker and flows easier.

Anyway you did OK for a new Inker and should be doing well after some practice.

I started on ridiculous pencils the were way beyond me so try sticking to people that are not so Jim Lee.

This draWING was good but do panel pages to challenge you. Hopefully I will have some pencils for you guys up shortly.

I am still whacked out with 14 pages left under the wire so for the next week I will be to tied up to scan them up.

See you soon,
Jimmy

[livengood]

I can't believe his buckle is missing.

Jimmy, thanks so much for taking the time to write all this. It makes me wish I would have done one piece and waited to do the other two, so expect all the same mistakes on the Daredevil and Wolverine pieces I'll be posting.

1 - you will be sure the form is correct and concentric (artists sometimes are off.). so make corrections at this stage so you don't regret it later. Look at it upside down.

You called it, I did this in sections, not the outline.

2 - you go from a thin weight on the furthest parts to thicker on the parts that are closer to you. This pops the figure a bit 3D. Start THIN.

You sure you weren't here watching me? I was trying to go from thick to thin and wasn't getting the result I wanted. Thank you. It also didn't help I was using cheap brushes that I bought 6 years ago. The first brush was curling badly at the end and the second was splitting a lot. Ugh. My W&N should be here tomorrow.

3 - you find your light source.

Yeah, I totally ignored this on the first three, will start using it though from now on.

You are right on about the paper. I don't even know what stock this is, but it's cheap. It came with a inking start up kit that I got about 6 years ago, and the quill chews it up, even with light pressure. After I get through this batch, bluelinepro.com will be my new best friend.

I started on ridiculous pencils the were way beyond me so try sticking to people that are not so Jim Lee.

Ummmm, yeah, did I mention I tried doing a David Finch piece for my third piece? haha.

Again, thanks so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I'll post the Tom Lyle DD I butchered soon, that way you can just copy and paste your responses from this one, lol.

Jerry

[livengood]

This was done the day after the Superman piece. #2 piece overall. This is a Tom Lyle Daredevil that I own, done on blueline of course.

Same tools - #2 Richeson brush and Higgins Black Magic Ink (yes, I've already ordered my W&N S7 #2 brush)

The feathering is horrible, I know, that will my main focus for a little while. I think I tried 3 different techniques on the piece, so it's very inconsistent.

[clockwerkj]

Best advice, just keep doing pieces to build up muscle memory. Try inking stuff thats already been inked by a pro you admire. then look back at what they did. It's like checking your answers in a test at school.

[livengood]

Thanks Jay, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Luckily there is a ton of stuff out there to practice on, I just wish all the fun stuff I ordered would get here so I can start up again. Happy New Year!

[livengood]

Well, since I just found out that my new supplies won't be here until Friday, I thought I might as well post my 3rd piece.

Well, I jumped in the deep end and tried this David Finch Venom vs. Wolverine piece.

The big problem I found with this piece was the feathering. I tried using a Hunt #102 quill, but with the cheap boards I have, it tore it up and made them bleed, so I really messed up on Venom's fingers and Wolverine's claws.

This was a fun piece, but I really should have used a printed reference of the pencils, as both Venom's and Wolverine's faces didn't turn out like I would have liked.

I also need to practice patience on the feathering, I tried to do it quick and it looks really sloppy, especially Venom's knees.

Tools - #2 Richeson 6228 Brush, Hunt #102 Crow Quill, Micron Pigma Pen #01, Higgins Black Magic & Speedball Super Black

[livengood]

Well, here is piece #4! Constructive criticism and suggestions encouraged!

Pencils: Randy "Rantz" Kintz
Inks: Jerry Livengood

So, of the 4 pieces I've inked now, this is the one I did the most prep work for, even if you can't tell. About halfway through inking this piece, I was getting really frustrated with using the brush and consulted my Gary Martin book and realized that I was using an effective grip, so half the piece looks pretty shaky (even more so to you pros.)

I am happy with the piece as long as I don't think about the line weights, which I know aren't consistent. I could have used a bunch of white out to try and fix it, but I'm leaving them in there to chalk up as learning experiences.

Tools - W&N S7 #'s 1 & 2, Speedball Super Black Ink, Staedtler pens, and crappy paper.

[jimmyt]

Very Good Jerry! Cape around front should be a bit bolder, but the cartoon style is wonderful.

Jimmy

[LeviS]

Hey Jerry
I see that your from Washington, are you going to make it up to the Emeraldcity comicon this April. There's a going to be some great inkers there this year, Fridolfs, Owens, Gaudiano, Vines, Palmiotti, Randall, and last but certainly not least Bob Layton. You should go and pick these guys brains. I'll be there as well artist alley tables A18-20, with a group called the sketch crew.

[livengood]

Nope, I'm not going to be able to make it to the Emerald City Con this year. I live on the Oregon/Washington border, so it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive to get up there and then there's motel if I want to go both days, and since I've been laid off for 5 months now, that's not an expense I can really justify. It really sucks too because I haven't gone to the ECCC in over 15 years.

I was hoping to at least make it to the Portland Comic Book Show, since it's less than 15 minutes from my house, but I went to check the website today and it's been taken down. I'm really hoping it's just temporary.