Hi Tweeps! Thanks for joining in on an afternoon #webcomicschat. I’m teaching a foundation drawing course right now so I’ve had sketching on the brain. Speaking of my class, it’s an evening class on Wednesdays so for the next few weeks I’ll need to have an afternoon #webcomicschat. Also, next week being San Diego – I’ll be holding a special #webcomicschat live from the show floor. It would be fun to link up in person with any tweeps at preview night. Now, back to the drawing board as it were…

This week we talked a bit about drawing and sketching techniques. I admitted that my favorite original art is sketches and that I love collecting artist’s sketchbooks. For myself though, I find it very hard to keep a regular sketchbook. Many of my illustrator friends are very good about filling sketchbooks with beautiful and detailed art even to the point of painting and coloring their pages. I on the other hand like @RealityAmuck tend to fill up legal pads. I don’t know what it is about lined, yellow paper but it seems to make sketching easier for me. Maybe it’s because of the grid that I can use for construction lines, or maybe it’s that fact that it’s not permanently bound in a book. Whatever the reason my sketching usually lives in a filing cabinet.

@remdog1138 and @RealityAmuck went on further to discuss the use of ink pens, nibs, and Koh-I-Noor — oh my~! With that and other traditional techniques we also talked about some digital variations. I started a new technique this week that I’m really excited about. I do a light sketch and digital watercolor wash in Painter. When that’s finished I print a bunch of them on bristol or watercolor paper and embellish the prints with colored pencils and micron pens. Doing this has many benefits it allows me to sell quickly rendered original art and experiment with many color and sketching variations. With that, feel free to share your sketching ideas here as well.

Thanks for joining in on this week’s #webcomicschat a great time was had by all I’m sure. We’ve talked about process in the past but suffice it say that many of us work in traditional pen and ink first, scan our artwork, and then do touch up and lettering in the computer. I use Photoshop, while many others use Manga Studio. Personally I’m to set in my ways to pick up a new illustration program but it sounds like Manga Studio has lots of great presets for comic artists. One of my new favorite features in Photoshop CS4 is the ability to “Rotate View”. Before CS4 this was only possible in Corel Painter. For me tilting the page in my view screen has made all the difference in my digital sketching and painting. Well, I’ll keep it brief this time, but for more info be sure and search hashtag #webcomicschat .