Illustration Tutorial: 4 Basic Tips for Comic Book Inking

Bring a new dimension to your drawings by learning how to use traditional inking techniques with these practical tips

So you have a pencil sketch for your comic strip that you're happy with... what next? Finishing your illustrations with India ink is a great way to add details that help your art pop off the page.

Sam Hart (@samhart) is a comic book artist based in São Paulo. Aside from creating comic books of his own, Sam regularly teaches illustration to help others realize their creative potential.

In this tutorial, he teaches you how to use traditional inking techniques for comic book illustration. Using India ink, you’ll learn how to define your line art and add details that create atmosphere. Ready to dive in? Let’s go!

1. Start With The Hair

Starting with a less important area, add a bit of ink to your illustration to test the tip of your brush. Rather than starting with individual strands, focus on creating blocks of ink that will define the hair’s shape and movement first.

Once you have the general outline of what you are looking for, you can go back and add more detail.

2. Consider the light source

When adding ink to your illustrations, it’s important to know exactly where your light is coming from. You’ll want to have heavier lines on the side of the character that is further away from the light source, and lighter lines on the side that is closer to the light source.

3. Turning the page

Don’t be afraid to turn the page as you are inking your artwork. While some illustrators are against this, you should really do whatever works best for you! Turning the paper while you work can help achieve nice curves, straighter lines, and also allow the artist to get closer to various points of the illustration to add finer detail.

4. Cleaning your brush tips

Occasionally cleaning the tips of your brushes is a good idea. Not only will this remove unwanted excess ink from the brush, it will also make the brush tip sharper.

5. Finalizing

When you are done, remember to wash your hands. This will prevent adding any unwanted ink or smudges to your illustration.

When the ink is dry, go in with a very soft eraser and lightly erase all the pencil marks from your original sketch. Be very careful while you do this, you don’t want to crease or bend your paper.

Finally, using a thin pen, add in any lines or details that you may have missed while inking.

Did you enjoy this tutorial? If you’d like to learn more about creating dynamic comic illustrations, check out Sam Hart’s online course Visual Narrative for Comic Books: Illustrate Your Own Universe.

Explore more comic book art techniques with these resources

- Learn how to create comic book illustrations that captivate readers with 12 online comic book art courses for beginners.

- From superheroes to manga, check out 15 incredible examples of comic strips to inspire your own ideas.

- Showcase your illustrations online with 5 free websites to publish your comic.