Hatching (digitally?)
1yr
Dwight
Hello, here's an attempt I did today. I usually don't do digital, as it just feels wrong. But I got a tablet with a pen (for school) a couple of months ago, and figured why not try it. I wasn't sure how to shade digitally, so I've been trying hatching with mixed success.
Looking at it now, I can see the facial features are melting off, and my avoidance of doing portraits is really showing. I usually don't expect anything good on digital, so I sort of skip a lot of construction and just get to the fun parts.
But my main question is this: why does the hatching feel so messy? The only "teaching" in crosshatching is the David Finch Proko video (maybe I should rewatch it, as it's more relevant now) and looking at Loomis' figure drawings (once again, probably should relook now that I've tried).
But until then, any thoughts? Any tips? I always forget I can flip the canvas and use layers, so I'll try to keep that in mind for the future.
(Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNjkPMsbvTs)
Edit: I've found a place to start learning digital shading (this post by Steve https://www.proko.com/s/vg1f), but my question still stands.
- Dwight
1yr
Hey Dwight,
This is cool reference, and your drawing is pretty good. I can see that you were having trouble with the inking, and digital can be hard if you don't have the right brush.
What you have here is what is called a "dead" line. It has no taper or bounce, it is the same all the way through the stroke. There is nothing wrong with that, Gary Frank does this kind of inking amazingly. It does require an understanding of how you create different values with line, something I think you are struggling with here.
When I ink, I use a brush that is pressure sensitive for opacity and thickness. That allows me to use it more like a brush.
To create different values with ink lines, has to do with the closeness of the lines. If the lines are very close, you get a dark value, if far apart, a light value. This can also be achieved by crossing lines over each other in different directions.
I did a quick sketch to show you what I mean, I hope it helps :)
Dwight
1yr
Hey thanks Steve! I'll try this out and see what happens :)
Just a quick follow up question: When I was looking at Gary Frank's art (as well as what I remember of Finch's video as well), it seems like they have completely black regions, and only use hatching for half tones.
In your example, you also have dark shapes, but with clear brush strokes. Do you think there's any difference between the two? Like maybe solid shapes is more comic?
Regardless, I appreciate the feedback.
Dwight
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