Help! and first post

**albonia** · March 6th, 2008, 10:34 AM

For a long time, I seem to have this ability to kill my work when going from sketchy pencils to tight pencils/inks. I'm at a loss as to how to fix that, so I thought I would seek some advice here.

Some things I do know is that I do NOT have a steady hand. This shows in the tighter pencils that I have a wobbly arm. If it helps, I'm using a 2mm mechanical pencil.

I know my anatomy, perspective, etc aren't always accurate and that's cool if you mention it, but I'd really love to know how to fix killing my work in the tightening stages.

Thanks for all of your help!

**laughmorecryless** · March 6th, 2008, 12:23 PM

I have this problem too! Lately, what I've been doing is "inking" with a bolder pencil 2B+ and them cleaning up the lines in photoshop. However, that's not entirely helpful for real inkers...Perhaps if you stayed away (at least initially) from defining any shaded areas and concentrate soley on gently, slowly redrawing your pencilwork.
I notice you thicken up the inks quite a bit which creates something quite blocky-looking. The charm/movement in your work comes from thin, flowing lines.

**albonia** · March 6th, 2008, 12:37 PM

Ah poop. I should've mentioned that I didn't use any ink whatsoever in these pieces. I use a 2B lead and darken it in PS. I know some people can pull off the just-pencils-no-ink but I haven't seemed to nail it yet.

I'm guessing because I have a wobbly hand sometimes that I pass over said wobbly and create a thicker line. I think the thickness gets a little out of control and maybe I should just erase and try to redraw it. How does that sound?

**laughmorecryless** · March 6th, 2008, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by albonia

I'm guessing because I have a wobbly hand sometimes that I pass over said wobbly and create a thicker line. I think the thickness gets a little out of control and maybe I should just erase and try to redraw it. How does that sound?

That might be the ticket ;D I would try and keep my lead as sharp as possible and concentrate on keeping lines thin. You can follow the shape of your first inks afterwards to follow the shape of their curves and keep the flow of your sketches (which are really nicely done btw)