Inking through traditional means has been my achilles' heal ever since I can remember.

 

I just don't have the skill for it.

No. That statement is wrong. I have the skill, I don't have the patience.

To ink a penciled illustration, whether its your own or someone else's, requires patience and precision, and I know I have the precision, but I lack the patience.

Thanks to technology, I don't have that problem anymore. With Photoshop, I can 'ink' my drawings using crisp, smooth lines that I wanted without worrying about making mistakes, blotting or refilling my ink pens or ink bottles.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to ink using traditional means, but I'm playing with whatever hand life has dealt me.

I started inking digitally during version 5.5 of PS, I was still using a mouse then, and there's not much you can do with Photoshop's brush tool and pen tool . With the great improvements made to these tools in versions 6.0 and up, and at the same time WACOM unveiled their Graphire tablet, I've been able to mimic natural pen strokes.

I'm currently using Photoshop's version CS (or 8.0), but the features you'll see here are available from 5.5 up. It would be best if you have a tablet with you, as it is easier to use when it comes to digital art, but the technique I'm teaching here can be done with a mouse.

Now this tutorial presumes you already have basic knowledge of the following:

• Basic use of Adobe Photoshop (the features listed in this tutorial are available from versions 5.5 and up)
• A Graphic tablet or mouse

If you want a brief explanation on how to use the brush and pen tool, click here. Otherwise, let us proceed to inking.