Many Firsts With This Inking

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This is a piece of firsts for me. This marked the first time I used rapidograph pens. It also marked the first time I inked a sequential page. It was also the first time I used a Hunt 102 nib, and I really enjoyed it. AAAAND it may actually be the first time I've ever drawn Thor. Maybe. But this piece was a lot of fun. Hats off to Mike Bowden for the awesome pencils.

Check out a larger version of this at my Deviant Art page.

Rock on,

James

Inking "The Scourge" by David Finch

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This is my first time digitally inking someone else's pencils. David Finch is a master comic book artist and this was quite the challenge. As fun as it was though, I think I prefer traditional inking.

I created a video as well of the inking process. Feel free to check it out on my YouTube channel.

Pencils by David Finch
Inks by James Porter

To see a larger version, check out my Deviantart page.

Rock on.

Inks #3: Jean Grey by Ed Benes

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Finished this morning, this is my third traditionally inked piece of comic art: a great pin-up of Jean Grey by Ed Benes. It was rather fun having the new challenge of inking flowing hair. I know the more artworks I ink, the more challenges will arise. With every piece I ink I see more and more how much my line quality needs to improve, especially when it comes to women and their curves and hair, etc. With each piece too, I feel myself becoming more comfortable using a crow quill pen and ink. There's lots of progress to continue making, but it's being made bit by bit. I see it in the three pieces I have inked so far, and it is encouraging.

Rock on,

James

First Digital Inking

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So I've really gotten into the art of inking as of late. I have been one who has done a lot of art in past years digitally, but it has been great getting my hands dirty with a traditional medium again. I first started inking comic book art a couple weeks ago and I'm in love. I've seen people online who ink digitally, and it can look great and kudos to them, but I want to learn the old school craft.

So I've done some pieces traditionally, with another work in progress sitting on my table at home, but I was at my fiancé's tonight without my inks, and so I thought I'd give digital inking a whirl. Two months ago I would have been in love with it, but now that I've gotten my hands dirty with the real thing I realize the real thing is much more to my liking. There's an analog warmth to it, a sweet character that you don't quite get with digital. There's a personality that just doesn't come through digitally. Maybe I'm not being fair, because I haven't even finished one full piece yet digitally, but I'm not feeling the connection to it that I do with paper and ink.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking digital inking. I love digital art. I've made some digital pieces of art that I'm very proud of, and I've seen some mind-blowing digital work done by others. But as I was sitting at my Cintiq inking this amazing piece by David Finch, I think I came to realize digital inking is not for me. At least it isn't my preference. I've seen instances where digital inking was how the project was instructed to be done. I'm sure if I got faster at it, I'd maybe use it in certain deadline or project situations. But as much as I love my Cintiq, I don't think it's ever going to be my preference over brushes and nibs, paper and ink, smears and drops, and ink-stained hands.

But to you out there who ink digitally, keep at it. Keep improving at it as you would with any other medium. I'll probably try to bring myself to improve my digital inking along side my traditional inking. It all comes down to telling the story and keeping true to the penciler. They all become lines in a comic book in the end.

Rock on,
James

Create Your Own Comic Art Board Template

So I own a pack of this one brand of comic art boards and I love drawing on these sheets. But it turns out the measurement ratios are slightly incorrect and don't match up with the 6.625" x 10.25" industry comic standard size. I looked all over the place online to see what brand made correctly measured boards. The only ones that I read to be correct, I couldn't find anywhere to buy! So I made my own template and am now printing them on the blank backs of the boards I already own. Here it is!

I made this template black for the purpose of it being visible on here, but everything is really a light cyan in print. Here are the steps I created to make a simple BLT (Bleed, Live, Trim) Board in Adobe Illustrator:

Step 1: Make these three boxes within an 11" x 17" document, all aligned to the center of the document.

            Trim 6.625"  x 10.25"

            Live 6" x 9"

            Bleed 7.125" x 10.75"

Step 2: Group these three boxes together. We will call this Group A.

Step 3: Create a 1" x 11" box and flush it up against the top of the document. Duplicate and flush the second box with the bottom of the document.

Step 4: Free Transform Group A so that the top and bottom lines of the Bleed align with the boxes from Step 3. This should leave 1" margins above and below Group A.

Step 5: Delete boxes from Step 3.

Step 6: Center Group A within the document one more time for good measure.

Step 7: Print and draw.

I hope that's helpful to any of you wanting to make your own template! You can download mine from DeviantArt.

Rock on.

Starting a Blog

So here I am, feeling like crap, head splitting, stomach unsettled, sitting at my computer after calling out sick from work, and fighting with myself about how I should just be laying down and resting, yet I hate being unproductive. What should I do? Do I draw? No. I want to, but I'm not really feeling up for that. Do I ink? No. I want to, but I don't really feel I can focus well enough to do that. What do I do!?

I start a blog.

This blog.

And why I started a blog is beyond me. It's not something I've ever really done before, and to be honest, who knows if I'll blog on any sort of regular basis. But at least I'm writing this blog right now!

It's at this point, or perhaps earlier, that you found yourself asking, "Who is this guy and why am I reading his blog?" Your reasons for reading this are totally up to you, but perhaps I can shed some light onto who I am, if you really must know.

Who am I? I am James Porter. I am an artist. And I have been arting for as long as I can remember, drawing my whole life. Graphic Design Student and Bartender are two of my current positions. Did I mention I love to draw? Because I do. And I don't do enough of it. That's kind of a bummer, but I'm trying to rectify that. Here's how...

My fiancé's five year old son has gotten into comic book characters as of late - Spider-Man, The X-Men, The Avengers, etc. - thanks to yours truly, and his excitement for them has kind of rekindled the excitement I once had more frequently as a kid. I swear, he draws these heroes and villains every day it seems, putting my pencil to paper frequency to shame. But I have always loved comic art. I've been following comic artists online for quite some time now, and love the idea of drawing my own large art boards of characters and scenes, much like I used to do as a kid on a smaller scale. So I started drawing with him, side by side, sometimes with the idea of framing some cool artwork as gifts to him.

That whole thing got me interested in the process of how people actually make comics, and I started looking into it for fun - because I don't have time to do it any more seriously than that, what with school and work and what not. It's a really interesting process and I pulled out some comic art board that I had bought a couple years back because I found it in an art store and was fascinated with and started drawing. I found that inking with pens was fun. I found that inking with crow quill pens was even more fun! Yeah, I've kinda fallen in love with inking. While most of my artwork in the past couple years has been digital, it's been great getting my hands dirty with traditional mediums again.

So I've been finding pencil artwork by accomplished comic artists online and have started inking them for practice. I've been starting to learn how to color digitally like the professionals do. Learning slowly, of course. Trying to teach myself too many things at once is hard and slow, but passion will do that to you at times. Inquiring minds want to know! I can't wait till the day when I can have an idea for a scene or pin-up, draw it, ink it, color it, print it, frame it, sell it, give it away, whatever!

So this has turned into a much longer first blog than I originally anticipated. I'm going to end it here. If you read the whole thing, kudos to you. Maybe you read something that'll make you come back and read the next entry. Who knows what else I'll blog about. Most definitely art related stuff, perhaps music. Stuff I'm passionate about. Anyways...

Rock on,

James