Speedlines, again.

[Ashenge]

If the image below this sentence doesn't appear, click here: http://alvinlee.deviantart.com/art/A...COM3-105931533



To me, it's almost like magic. Artists like Alvin Lee always make these action lines thick at one end and perfectly pointed at the other, and make it look like one stroke. Is it really? I mean I've tried that, no luck. I've also tried converging two different lines. The problem with the latter is that the method is too obvious, and I can never get a single end that narrow. This particular picture looks like either all pencil, or some pencil and some ink. Hard for me to tell, but either way, it boggles my MIND.

I require illumination! D:

Perhaps it's a really large resolution he started out with. ... Dunno.

[hitnrun]

my money is on pen/ink. Maybe an inking pen and a ruler? Or possibly a ballpoint pen and a ruler, or a crowquil pen and a straightedge (a.k.a. Ruler. Word changed to prevent redundancy).

[Ashenge]

There's no doubt in my mind that there's some straightedge-ery involved. The latitude of the solution lies more in the pen, and possibly some mystical swing of the wrist that every asian seems to know.

[kev ferrara]

Use any felt tip pen... like a number "7" pigment liner from Staedler. And a straight edge. Line up your straight edge for where you want the line to go. Start at the thick end of the stroke. Push harder to make a thicker line at the beginning and as you drag the pen along the straight edge move the pen faster and faster along the edge and push lighter and lighter, until the pen lifts off the paper.

This will make a perfect thick to thin stroke. (You may have to run the line a few times to get it the way you want, starting hard and slow and ending fast and light until you lift the pen off the paper.)

I do this all the time when I make panel borders that fade out.

kev

[Craig D]

possibly some mystical swing of the wrist that every asian seems to know.

wtf? ...

[Ashenge]

wtf? ...

I am NOT willing to count it out.

[Gorgonzola]

Kev Ferrara pretty much nailed it (and I'd listen to him...his ink work is reaaaally nice.)

That picture above though is most DEFINITELY pencils.

Two things I'd say to keep in mind:
1) If you're penciling with an intent to ink later, I wouldn't worry about getting the thick/thin in the pencils -- you'll be doing it in the ink.

2) It takes quite a bit of practice to develop that sensitivity to line weight in pencils. Just keep practicing at it, and you'll be able to do the same thing soon enough.