Fancy Comic Book Inking Easy To Do For Animation Now

I always admired the way guys like Shane Glines, Bruce Timm, Joe Sinnot and the Harvey Comics inkers could wield a brush. I never had the dexterity to use a real brush with ink myself.

But once I got a Cintiq and started inking on the computer I found programs that allowed me to do the thick and thin styles I like so much in Comic books - and without the mess.

I started first with Illustrator -which was a bear to learn. Now I'm finally used to drawing in Photoshop - I can do the kind of lines I like, but can't use the paint bucket to fill flat colors because to get the smooth lines, PS antialiases the edges which buggers everything up. - We used to do Thick and Thin in Flash but that was a monstrous process - expensive, tedious and time consuming.

But in Toonboom's programs, it's really easy to do good lines (even for a non-dexterous person like myself).

We made a demo to show how easy it is to ink on the computer in "Animate".

John K Inks George Liquor from John Kedzie on Vimeo.

By the way, Toonboom's "Animate" is on sale today if you wanna get beautiful comic book style inking in your animation.

TOONBOOM OLYMPICS SALE

Ripples thanks to Shane

Does anyone think Shane Glines is "old School"?

http://www.brandstudiopress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=95

A term I keep hearing in defense of modern primitive cartoons is that old or well drawn, well thought out cartoons are just "old-school" which I imagine is what we used to call "square." So skill is square according to folks who wish they could draw better, can't (or can but don't want to admit it), but instead have chosen to just jump on the flatwagon.

Here's what Shane said about my last post about George Clark:

"Hi John, Clark was fantastic, and I agree that he was probably and influence on Owen. I have a bunch of George Clark on Cartoon Retro- here are some better scans to use for your article:"








Ed Benedict, Kimball and Oreb could do very graphic, angular designs but they were still solid forms drawn with perspective. Shapes had a top, front, sides, and bottom. That Snooper and Blabber drawing posted a few days ago blew my mind- such a sophisticated arrangement of cool shapes- angular and graphic but all fitting around solid forms. It's my favorite cartoon style, and I can't even imagine being able to draw something so complex. Clearly if you try to draw that style without understanding solid drawing and perspective you end up with this current style - characters run over by a steamroller. -Shane.http://cartoonretro.blogspot.com/

Here's some "new-school" cartoon art that I think has all the attributes I like about "old-school" cartoon art.

http://kristens-sketchblog.blogspot.com/
Kristen may draw in a slightly angular style, but it's based on a keen observational capacity and really strong drawing skills. I can guess some of her influences, but her style is unique, it's not just the modern simplistic flat TV style that so many copy.
It's also funny which along with good drawing must be considered "old-school" since I don't see any funny looking cartoons anywhere in the mass media - not on TV, comic strips, comic books or even animated movies. The number one ingredient of what a cartoon is is non-existent today except for on a handful of blogs created by the last living actual cartoonists. Are cartoons going to be considered a 20th century anomaly soon, since they have disappeared from the mainstream?


Shane is much like me. He draws in an influential modern style - but it's derived by a love, understanding and appreciation of a huge variety of well drawn "old-school" styles from the 1920s to the 1950s. We both appreciate good drawing whether it's new school or old-school and can tell the difference between skilled art and poseurs.

Join Shane's special site to see lots of rare great old-school cartoon art and illustrations!

http://www.cartoonretro.com/

http://www.shaneglines.net/


More on capitalism coming: What I like about real Capitalism

Shane's Kirby Girl

Hey, check out this great drawing Shane Glines did of Jack Kirby's character: Crystal the Elemental girl.

I love the colors too! Shane, explain your theory on the colors...Boy, if someone made a superhero on TV designed like Shane's take, it would be a huge hit.
Here's the poster it was cartooned from.
Here's a modern reprint with colors pumped too much:
I loved this character when I was a kid.


Here's what the DC heroes think of Shane's picture.

http://www.cartoonretro.com/

Barber Shop 8 -upside down mouth + links to great cartoon art

Here are 3 more pages. We're almost done! What theories do you have?

If you wanna know the secrets of this inking style go to Shane Glines' site and ask him since he did it.
BTW, he has the best cartoon resource site in existence, so if you want to see some art from the last century's greatest cartoonists and illustrators pay him the 5 bucks a month and learn something!

Seriously, the artwork on the site is stunning! Shane is the best friend of cartoonists who want to better themselves.
http://cartoonretro.com/
Here's a couple free samples: There's tons more at Shane's Web Museum!
This is a page from a Milt Gross comic. Milt is the ultimate cartoonist and I will write a post about him later. He was a big inspiration to Bob Clampett and hundreds of other cartoonists and animators too.
Here's an illustration from Earl Oliver Hurst - a great stylist! Go learn about him!

Here's another great site that has lots of animation/cartoon and illustration art!
http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/03/media-winter-2006-illustration-roundup.html