Comics 101 for 11/24/2005 Star Wars Insider #66 - The Art of Shaak Ti -- Week Two: Inks and Color Steps Part One
I'm currently busy this winter illustrating new projects for Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and my new comic book series for IDW Publishing, Spike Vs. Dracula. You can view my cover artwork for the first issue right here and be sure to check out my News section for more info. New articles, reviews and tutorials for Comics 101 will return in 2006 so enjoy this look back at one of my favorite features. Happy Holidays!
Once I get approval from my art director and Lucasfilm for the final pencil line drawing I begin to ink the illustration on the 2 ply vellum surface Bristol Board I drew it on. For my inking purposes I primarily stick with the Hunt's 102 nib for my crowquill pen and use my tech pens for the straight edges of the background linework of the Jedi Temple. For some of the larger areas of black shapes like the shadows in the faces or robes I use tech pens and sharpie markers to fill them in efficiently.
The following artwork is my final inks for the full color art.
Final Inks
The following examples showcase the initial steps I had taken when blocking in my flat color for the artwork in Photoshop including the characters, the background and also rendering over the linework of the stripes on Shaak Ti's headtails.
Shaak Ti Color Step 1
Shaak Ti Color Step 2
Shaak Ti Color Step 3
Next week we'll take a look at the rendering process in the next stages of digital coloring for this artwork. See you next time!
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