HOME | DD
cmykenna — Illustrator Inking Tutorial
Published: 2011-06-17 19:42:14 +0000 UTC; Views: 16362; Favourites: 270; Downloads: 387
Redirect to original
Description
I've had a couple requests for a tutorial showing my inking process in Illustrator, so I put this together real quick.I do most of my work digitally these days, but I have a somewhat shaky hand when it comes to inking with a tablet. Illustrator has some features that help compensate for this and get closer to the fluidity and accuracy you would have on actual paper.
I've also included some extra steps for those of you who have Flash as well, as it offers a convenient way to clean up your lineart so you can work more loosely in Illustrator.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Edit: I should also mention, a Wacom tablet (or other drawing tablet) is required for pressure-sensitive inking in this tutorial. If you're using a mouse for your inking, then I'm afraid the pressure sensitivity features won't work.
Related content
Comments: 33
Thanks for posting this! Very helpful.
I'm currently running into an issue where the start of every line I make is a giant dot, and THEN the pressure sensitivity kicks in and I get my nice smooth lines. I was hoping something in your tutorial would solve the issue, such as fiddling with fidelity settings and whatnot, but unfortunately not.
My tablet and pen tool work fine in other programs, Flash, Photoshop, etc. but not in Illustrator. Phooey! I'm thinking it's a conflict between AI's software and my tablet drivers. Will have to do some more research.
ANYWAY! Thank you for sharing your methods with the rest of us!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Do you have a Wacom? Sometimes certain driver versions can be wonky, and either updating the drivers or rolling back to an earlier version can fix the issue! When I'm having a weird tablet problem like this, I try googling it and normally there are at least a few other people with the same issue and (hopefully) one or two with a solution. I haven't had this specific issue with Illustrator before (and actually haven't used Illustrator in years at this point) but I hope you get it resolved soon!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
This one's an off brand, Monoprice? Spent some time Googling the issue, updated my drivers, restarted the PC, all without much luck. So I gave up, and went back to inking in AI, figuring I'd just smooth out the blobs in PS or Flash, and then all of a sudden the problem disappeared. SIGH. Haha
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my comment! I appreciate the help.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ahh I've never used one of those, only Wacom. Glad the issue resolved itself though!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Thanks for making it simple for us illustrator-challenged types.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is very helpful! I'm trying to teach myself illustrator for school and I find it really difficullt.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Quick question: Since I ink my work traditionally, could I be able to apply this by live tracing? Although it gives that ''digital inking'' result I want, but everything is broken down to pieces.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Possibly? I haven't used the live trace tool much but I have heard some people say it works well for them.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This comes in handy, thank you for posting this!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Just bought Illustrator and really looking forward to trying this out, thanks so much for sharing your tutorial!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
and finally!!
the perfect tutorial for my shaky inking C:
THANK YOU!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Oooh, I will in theory have Illustrator and Photoshop soon on my new laptop so I may try this out
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Great post but is it not best to use the Blob Brush which allows for erasing (no need for editing in Flash)?
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Thank you for a great tut! What version of Adobe Illustrator do you use?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
this is really great it help me alot really great job on this
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Ha! I tried it once, because I really hate Illustrator (it's something fro mour past together.... Complicated relationship...) and LOVE FLASH. L.O.V.E.!
The thing is that I thought to myself that it was a crazy thing to do. For me flash is the best because I can work better on lines I mean we can stretch, bend, and for me is easier than any other tool (PEN TOOL, I still can't deal with it, it's so complicated....) But the problem is that, it may sound philosophic, lines at FLASH have no character, I mean tehy are simple straight lines. I'm using brush, because they get thin and thick and have lots of personality. But still too much.
Tha thing is that PEN TOOL is the halfway point between artistic and objective )am I too crazy?) so in orther to get a remarkable inking we need to use it.
I really like your tutorial.
The point is: training, training hard and using PEN TOOL all the time. There's nothing else to do.
Kisses, and thank you!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
There have been a lot of improvements in the more recent versions of Illustrator I think. It allows for more control and you can grab and adjust lines more intuitively like you can in Flash.
I don't really think the pen tool is required to achieve remarkable inking. Plenty of artists ink with paintbrush tools, many without any sort of smoothing features at all! For those of us without Cintiqs who produce somewhat less accurate linework on a tablet than on paper, a little smoothing is helpful, but you don't necessarily need to rely on something as mechanical as the pen tool, as this tutorial demonstrates. For what it's worth, I almost never use the pen tool for anything!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
yes, i've one. But if i want to ink with the pen tool, can i simulate the pressure?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh, that I'm not sure. It's been a while since I last played around with the pen tool in Illustrator. I find it easier to ink with the paintbrush.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
one Q, when i star inking, i select the inking brush, but the paths doesnt have the preasure variation, Why?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Are you using a Wacom tablet? I probably should have mentioned that's required for pressure-sensitive inking.
If you are, did you make sure you set the brush options so that diameter is set to Pressure?
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
This is helpful! I ink in PS and I have Illustrator, but have not learned how to use it yet. This tutorial gives a good incentive to give it a try.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0