Hellstrom Ink Process

Taking roughly drawn pencils to finished inks is the most enjoyable part of the comic book page process for me.

When I begin a page I start with a rough thumbnail of the over all layout. If there's a specific panel that requires a study, I'll just start sketching. When I'm happy with a sketch, I scan it and load it into the Pencil Stage in Photoshop. Once I have everything roughed in I print the page in Non-Photo Blue and start inking.

After years of ink tight pencils [ which, in my opinion, don't require an inker at all these days thanks to Photoshop ] I really enjoy tackling loose/roughed out pages and interpreting lines/smudges in ink. The trick is to try and capture the feel of the pencils without trying to reproduce every line exactly as it was originally drawn. Inking of that nature, no matter how pretty, looks labored. The art lands up feeling drained out of it. Instead, I try to infuse some spontaneity into my inking. Using the pencils strictly as a template rather than a blueprint helps me to loosen up and as a result - I feel the pages or emotion of the scene becomes honest. The image contains a bit of the spirit of whatever you're trying to capture.

Maybe I'm romancing the process a bit too much. Maybe not. If you don't enjoy the process, it's probably time to find something else that interests you.