I draw and ink all my pages by hand, and tone by computer. I usually pencil, ink and tone each page at a time, once I have the entire story in my head or a script. Working professionally, however, I’m usually required to pencil an entire section of the story, usually 60 pages, before I can be given approval to ink.
Paper: I originally used A4 Deleter Doujinshi paper (B5 paper) 110 ~ 135 gsm. This is much smaller than the professional 10” x 15” paper, but I find that the quality isn’t very different once shrunk on the computer. This kind of paper is still my favourite, because it (a) withstands a lot of rubbing and pencil marks, and (b) “absorbs” ink beautifully.
Nowadays, as I got better, I just draw on normal copy paper. That’s because I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t need to use the rubber very much, and I also use microns now, which don’t require thick paper for the ink to sit on.
Pencils: I used to draw with 2B pencil to do rough drafts, and an HB to do more detailed parts. Nowadays, I use light blue lead and pacer to do drafts, and I like to buy the ENO brand since it’s easily available online.
Inks: For the longest time, I liked Deleter Black Ink, but I couldn’t always find it. It’s a smooth ink, which is a great choice for the Japanese pen nibs, but my second choice is still Windsor and Newton black ink, despite all its annoying qualities. W&N has shellack in it, which means it dries extra fast on the paper – which also means that it crusts up your pens and can dry too quickly. But this is the only ink that is widely available where I live, so what can I do?
…I eventually moved to using Sakura microns, namely 005, 01, and 05. A lot of people dislike Sakura microns, but they’re infinitely less messy than pen and ink, and you can use them to do fast strokes. I’m unlikely to go back to using traditional pen and ink–he only problem with Sakura microns is that they fade when you rub over them, but I sketch in light blue pencil, so I no longer need to rub these lines out when I scan my inks.
Nibs: I used to draw almost exclusively with a Nikko maru-pen and the G-pen. I use the maru-pen for fine details like faces, and the G-pen for everything else. These days, however, I use Sakura Pigma Microns for everything, though it used to be only for drawing backgrounds. Their sizes range from 005 ~ 05, and I use the thickest for drawing panel borders, and the 01 for drawing most backgrounds.
Brush-Pens: I’ve been using brushpens to draw sometimes, and the most beautiful of them, hands-down, would be the Zebra FD-303 (Chinese Kanji Calligraphy Fude Brush Pen). It’s the only brush pen small enough to be used on an A4 sheet of paper, and while it has its disadvantages, to someone who works mostly on A4, it’s fantastic.
Toning: “The Dreaming” was toned in greyscale using Corel Photo-Paint, since it doesn’t take as much memory as Photoshop as has easier functions. However, since then I’ve toned almost exclusively in Photoshop, since Corel doesn’t have much support amongst publishers. I also import tones from Deleter Comicworks to Photoshop, though I can still do pure black and white art circa 2003.
Colouring: I finally started to learn to colour my pages using Photoshop and Clip Studio, and I picked it up relatively quickly. I’m not near a level where I’m comfortable yet, though PS was much easier to learn than Clip Studio. With CS, I favour the oil painting tool the most, and the various blenders really help.
Most Valuable Asset: Liquid paper. I’m actually a careless and sloppy inker; I don’t believe I’ve ever drawn a page without making a mistake. Thank god for the computer. Hurrah for the computer age.
Last Updated: 11th November, 2018