Sketch and Pen line
This step is sketching and pen line drawing
You can start drawing pen line right after the storyboard
But why would we do a sketch?
That is to save time for the actual pen line drawing process
And to create a better depiction of the human body
The sketch needs to be much more detailed than the picture script
But you shouldn't take up too much time here
Make it a rough draft
This is the point where your drawing skills shine
If you lack drawing skills, sketching will take longer time
If you are skilled, the sketching process will be a breeze
I brought a manuscript to show you
This is episode 2 of the Island of the Cartoonist
You can see the picture script is already done
There are lines and rough drawings
And the number of cut number
I will lower the transparency of this layer
to about 30
People usually create a new layer
to set as a sketch layer
and set it as a multiply layer
But I like to just draw on top of this conti layer
Let's try it that way
Delete this one
Keep in mind of the human body
and draw over the script
At this step we don't draw the background
but you must draw characters and props
Especially if it is an important prop
Express emotions
And because this is not pen line
It is important to draw following your hand
Which means, drawing roughly
Remember that sketching is a tool to help draw pen line
The level of completion you are looking for
is as long as you can recognize it
I think this density
I have something drawn already
I think this much completion is adequate
If you come cross a difficult position
Don't just rely on your imagination
Do the acting yourself
and try taking a photo
If you see here
The very first scene of Episode 1 of Cartoonist Island is very important
Here the main character Hyangmi
is lying face down and waking up
This angle was so difficult
So I took the photo myself while wearing the backpack and posing
To the left is
the picture I took with my phone
Which I referenced to draw what is on the right
Looking from top to bottom with the crown of the head visible
This specific angle is really hard
Likewise, the angle looking up from below is also
Very difficult
Especially with a backpack on
the hands and legs were hard to draw
So I actually acted out this scene and took a photo
If you have a pose you are stuck on, don't rely on your imagination
Look for references
If there are no references, take the picture yourself
Especially for for hands and feet
You can take a picture of your hand
and trace over it
Or just reference it
That could save you time
If you feel like you could use more time
Just take a picture right away and use it
Let's keep sketching
If you've sketched this much
Let's go right over to pen line drawing
While pen line drawing
If the concept art was done properly during the planning stage
You will have already decided on the type of pen to use
You draw the pen line the way you drew during concept art
When you see the concept art of the Cartoonist Island
I've used brown color for pen line
So, I will be using brown pencil lines for the pen line drawing
Should we go to the manuscript?
I've done some sketches beforehand
So let's ink over
These sketches
For published comics
Almost all artists
Used black ink to for this part
But now that programs are used
You can use different styles
There are more choices now
I will use brown lines
For a more hand-made look
If you see here
I have made two layers for pen line
One is for vector lines
And the other is
For raster pen line
So I have two line layers
The reason for that is
On the vector layer, I'll draw only the outline that separates the colors
And on the pen layer, I'll draw pen lines for the remaining details
The raster layer is also called a bitmap
If you do these two in one layer
You will not get all the crevices while
Coloring or pouring the colors
So you would have to go back to correct the mistakes
My pen lines are a bit on the messy side
So I divide the two layers
If your drawings are more simple
You can choose to do them in one layer
You can do both vector layers
But I prefer using raster layer for details
Precautions when working with pen line 1 Things to keep in mind when drawing a pen line
Keep the thickness of thee line in uniform
That doesn't mean you shouldn't apply pen pressure like the G Pen
Keep the brush sizes the same
And apply pen pressure within that size
If I drew with 10-pixel lines in the first cut
And drew with a 50 pixel on the next
This looks very odd
If you suddenly change the thickness of the pen
It looks strange, like you are enlarging a very small photo
So it is best to keep the brush sizes the same
That way the quality is not lacking
Precautions when working with pen line 2 The second important thing is to make sure to separate the background and character layers
For example when you are drawing a person
There is background
You should not draw all those on the same layer
That way it is easier for you to reuse the background you drew earlier
And save enormous amounts of time
So do not place characters and backgrounds on the same layer
Separate them
Also we call it pen-lines, but it does not need to be a pen
You can use a pencil-like line like I did
You can use pastel-like lines
Just do the lines in your own style
The only reason black lining is recommended because it takes the least amount of work
I'm using a brown pencil
But I never recommend this to someone
Because it has a lot of cons
If you are a beginner do use black lines
I also recommend pen lines over pencils
I will continue to demonstrate
I really recommend using a vector layer like this
Try it yourself
It makes your coloring part much easier
I've said that an artist's drawing skill
Shows up in the sketching and drawing pen line
So if you love drawing, you will also love these steps
I drew the outlines here
Only the outlines
After drawing the outline I will go to the other layer
That is not a vector layer, to do the details
Draw in the hairs
This is the outlines, and this is the detail
Combine them you would see this
By combining the outline and details, the pen line was completed like this
Vector layers are very convenient because they can
Later be edited by moving points
So let's say you want to edit something
You can simply move these
You also need to close all these open lines
Which makes coloring much easier
Let's say you think the character's head looks too big
You can select these two layers
Select the area, click Ctrl T and resize it
You can resize it or even adjust the angle and press OK
And it's done
Very easily
Now I've drawn lines for cuts 1 through 4
Continue this until you finish the episode
And insert the texts later
We have time for frames
Select the 'create frame' tool to select the 4 frames
And create the cuts
Then you get a new folder
Move this folder to
Add to the pen layer, coloring layer, and background layer all together
And you will
See it will be done like this
While you are drawing the lines here, you can listen to music
A fellow artist plays a movie and only listens to the sounds of it
You can do that
But if you cannot concentrate
You should turn everything off
Human body depiction and movement expression
We've gone through pen line drawing
We have a lot of bodies
Lot of the cuts will be a depiction of bodies
Depiction of bodies, or backgrounds basically
Now I'd like to talk about a good way to
Depict the body and its movements
If your bodies are awkward, the whole manuscript loses some shine
Portrayal of the bodies is the cherry on top for webtoons
So my first thought was to study anatomy
But I decided not to and started drawing right away
So, there were definitely parts that were difficult
Repeatedly for a while
But strangely I didn't want to get my hands on anatomy
I don't know why I was so stubborn
One day I had to study the subject
And did it wholeheartedly for a month
And I really felt the surge of improvement in my drawings
RockHe Kim's Anatomy Drawing Let me show you a book that I actually helped me out a lot
If you look inside there are information on the arm, and the bones and ligaments within the muscles
Those muscle's movements and structures, and how these movements show up
I think we need to study into these at least once
The book is very thick and this may be a very boring process
But for once, try to go through everything here and draw out the difficult parts
you can see when you open or bend your arms
The muscles relax and contract in a certain way
If you look in the arm here there is a heart shaped muscle
That puffs out
The elbows were especially
Difficult for me
But you can see in what angles it folds
This is something you can only get out of studying anatomy
Things you find difficult
Like he scapula of the shoulder or the muscles of the armpit area
Or the point where the ankle bones and muscles meet
You can learn these by studying anatomy
I grew a lot of confidence in drawing bodies
And the increase in confidence brought me more joy in drawing
So naturally I want to draw the difficult parts better without glossing over them
If you look closely to the human body
Our bodies are not straight like the picture on the left
It is made up of various of curves
And is met organically at many angles
In order to draw a 'good body'
The curve of the shoulder expands and narrows along the path of the muscles
Depending on whether you open your hand inward or outward
Arm muscles and finger muscles may appear and disappear
So this is a very difficult yet enjoyable part to draw because
There is beauty of the human body is created by the countless muscles,
Bones, skin and fat that move our bodies
You may be overlooking the power of learning anatomy
Like my old self
But studying anatomy will definitely help you depict the human body
Don't strive to perfect your anatomy knowledge
But approach it in a way where you can go
Into the book and study the body when you get stuck
And the best way to practice body and movement is croquis
You can do them everyday, or if you don't have time
Once or twice a week
Croquis practice TIP 1 Draw a lot, often
It's best to go to a croquis meeting or class and do it with an actual model
If that is not possible, it is okay to look at the data photos at home
I will recommend a few sites
This is a well know one
Select Figure Drawing
Select the wanted model
Select the time frame
And you will get model photos like this
You can do croquis at home using these
What I recommend is
Croquis practice TIP 2 I recommend drawing in a large sketchbook with crayons
I think drawing them bigger is better
And it's important to use a thick tool
I usually use oil pastels or crayons to sketch
Thick tools allow you to lose the focus on smaller details
And concentrate on the big frames and big movements
So try using a big canvas and thick tools
Use your whole body for the croquis practice
What you need to keep in mind when doing croquis is to do a lot of 1-minute croquis
Croquis practice TIP 3 1 minute or 30 second Croquis
This is a 1 minute Croquis
Do many many one minute croquis
When you get used to it, go to the 3 minute crouquis
If you want to draw more details
Do the 5 minute croquis after the one and three
I recommend doing short croquis
The shorter the time, the more you improve on catching the more important things
Like when you would brainstorm
Very quickly, in short times, without much thought
On a large paper with a thick tool
Draw many 1 minute croquis
This is what 1 minute looks like
You can use papers that are smaller than A4
If so, I recommend using colored pencils
Try using what you like to use
I personally recommend drawing thick
Using thinner tools didn't improve me much
The purpose of croquis is never to draw a perfect one
Think of it as a process of studying the movement and simplicity of the human body
Quantity over quality
It won't happen overnight, but your skills will definitely improve
You don't have to draw them as is
Try changing the pose to create another silhouette
Whatever the pose, try to take responsibility of it
Croquis Practice TIP 4 Exaggerate or omit parts of body
Try adjusting the proportions and recreate the human body in that way you like
As I said earlier, try using thicker tools
Then you can omit unnecessary details
Croquis Practice TIP 5 Using high and low densities
For example if you want to place more substantiality here
You can lessen the density on other parts to draw attention upwards
You can increase a drawing's sensitivity in that way
Croquis Practice TIP 6. Expressing the model's mood in croquis
Whether it's sad, angry, or happy
Don't just draw the pose but
Expressing the feelings is also very fun and helpful
To sum up, draw lots of minute croquis
20- 1 minutes, 10- 3 minutes, 2- 5 minutes
So an hour per set
Draw with thick tools on a big sketchbook
And quantity over quality
You don't have to draw as is
Recreate the human body by exaggerating, omitting, and changing proportions
And I would like to go into expressing the movements
Movement is one main line of the action
It could be curved or straight
Straight usually expresses quickly and directly
Curves can create an elegant atmosphere
So while drawing croquis
For example for this one here
The character is sitting and I am showing the movements in red
If you get this movements right, I think croquis is already half a success
If you go into croquis or action drawing without the understanding of movement
There is a risk of being buried in useless details
You need the ability to discard all the details
And spot the main movements
You need to figure out these movements in order to draw good action
The reason I stress on 1 minute croquis is that
You need to be able to express the movements in
A few main likes
1 minute is plenty of time to draw only the movements
It will take about 30 seconds
So as you've seen in the example
Try to focus on the movements while drawing croquis
Or you can try this
Watch the pose, then close your eyes and try drawing them without further reference
Look at the pose and remember it
Open your eyes again and now draw the movements
You will be recreating it into your own interpretation
Through the process of reconstruction
Now I've shown you sketching and drawing pen line
And to depict the body
I informed you of two ways
Studying anatomy and croquis
Now the sketching and pen line drawing is done
About half of your manuscript is basically done
Now we really are going down a easy hill
How was it everyone?
When I teach students with the goal of finishing one episode per semester
I get a certainty that a student will finish
The manuscript, if he finishes the pen line drawing
So up until this point is the hardest
And the later steps are relatively easier
If you have been following along
You can now stop frowning
The difficult part is done and over with
What we have left is coloring, backgrounds, and post-editing
So I hope that we can continue this spirit until the completion of the manuscript
Thank you
Sketch What is Sketch? Where drawing skills are revealed Drawing at a level that can be recognized, focus on characters and important props
Reason for Sketching To save time on inking For high-quality body depiction
Pen Line What is Pen Line? Choose a pen and draw lines in your own style Connect the lines to make coloring easier
Dividing Pen Line Layers Vector layer: for outlines to differentiate colors Raster layer: for detail
Human Body Depiction and Movement Expression Anatomy Webtoons have many depictions of the human body, so it is necessary to study it's structure
Croquis Quantity over quality Use crayons to draw big 1 minute croquis
Exaggerate or omit parts Use high and low densities Express the model's mood
Movements Understanding movement is necessary to draw actions well Practice croquis paying attention to movement