HELP!an amateur in drawing question!!

[sabishiineko]

hallo all!i just started drawing with pencil anime characters and upload my art to deviantart via scanner.the problem is that because of the pencil some parts of the drawing is hard to see them.my friends tell me to draw it with pen above the pencil area but i am afraid of ruining my drawing!! and also i dont know what pen to use!!!plz help!!!!(oh, my english are worse than i expected i hope you can understand what i wrote )

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by sabishiineko

hallo all!i just started drawing with pencil anime characters and upload my art to deviantart via scanner.the problem is that because of the pencil some parts of the drawing is hard to see them.my friends tell me to draw it with pen above the pencil area but i am afraid of ruining my drawing!! and also i dont know what pen to use!!!plz help!!!!(oh, my english are worse than i expected i hope you can understand what i wrote )

Your options are:

1) Use a softer pencil or a black pencil crayon or a charcoal pencil. They all come out darker and easier to scan BUT harder to draw with. You can't rub out mistakes as easily.

2) Use pen. You just have to be brave and go for it. Accept that sometimes you'll screw up. But the more you use pen, the better you'll get and the less mistakes you'll make. Don't use biro. A cheap black gel pen is a good starting point, although fine detail can be difficult and it smudges a lot. Just go to a stationary shop and try out some pens. It doesn't really matter what you use as long as you feel comfortable using it.

3) Get a better scanner. But this is probably pointless and expensive

4) Colour it. I've done some pieces that were just sketches and then painted colour over the top and they scan just fine. Again though, you just have to be brave and go for it.

5) Give up pencil altogether and draw it all straight in pen.

[rainysidewalks]

what I would do is draw your art in pencil, then trace over it on another piece of paper in pen. you can use a lightbox to do this (a box that glows so you can trace things more easily).

for pens I reccomend microns or copics ^^

[sabishiineko]

what I would do is draw your art in pencil, then trace over it on another piece of paper in pen. you can use a lightbox to do this (a box that glows so you can trace things more easily).

for pens I reccomend microns or copics ^^

that is too much work for an art!and i dont draw really well -_-'

Your options are:

1) Use a softer pencil or a black pencil crayon or a charcoal pencil. They all come out darker and easier to scan BUT harder to draw with. You can't rub out mistakes as easily.

2) Use pen. You just have to be brave and go for it. Accept that sometimes you'll screw up. But the more you use pen, the better you'll get and the less mistakes you'll make. Don't use biro. A cheap black gel pen is a good starting point, although fine detail can be difficult and it smudges a lot. Just go to a stationary shop and try out some pens. It doesn't really matter what you use as long as you feel comfortable using it.

3) Get a better scanner. But this is probably pointless and expensive

4) Colour it. I've done some pieces that were just sketches and then painted colour over the top and they scan just fine. Again though, you just have to be brave and go for it.

5) Give up pencil altogether and draw it all straight in pen.

well,3) 4) and 5) are impossible but i am thinking the first option.the 2) and 5) options are similar???o_O

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by sabishiineko

that is too much work for an art!and i dont draw really well -_-'




well,3) 4) and 5) are impossible but i am thinking the first option.the 2) and 5) options are similar???o_O

Well the thing is, at the end of the day a pencil drawing is usually little more than a sketch. Art is time-consuming and there aren't many magic answers other than honestly, use pen or draw the whole thing twice, which is what most people do. I'd say even my 5-minute scribbles have about 3 layers of work in them. You're just going to have to compromise- quick sketch and a poor scan or the extra effort inking it and a better quality scan.

2) I meant re-draw over the pencil drawing with pen. 5) I meant forget the pencil part completely.

Just a note on 1) though, even a softer pencil won't necessarily mean a better scan. It depends on the scanner.

[Kyousuke]

Add some tracing paper over the original and ink it to make a duplicate to keep the original safe. it's also good practice if you dont know how to ink. just be sure to take it off before inking or else you risk the ink seeping through to the other side and onto the original. you could also darken the lines by using led pencil, just don't push down on it or it'll leave visible lines on it that can be seen from the other side.

[sabishiineko]

Originally Posted by Kyousuke

Add some tracing paper over the original and ink it to make a duplicate to keep the original safe. it's also good practice if you dont know how to ink. just be sure to take it off before inking or else you risk the ink seeping through to the other side and onto the original. you could also darken the lines by using led pencil, just don't push down on it or it'll leave visible lines on it that can be seen from the other side.

that seems that is the most comfortable solution!thx a lot!! you saved me!

[BillySan]

I taught an architectural drawing class at ASU when I went to grad school there. This is a common problem with a lot of drawings.

You might want to adjust the contrast of your scan. You can do this in PhotoShop (I think getpaint.net is a free option, though I've never used it myself).

As far as the actual drawing itself, you can go over it with a darker pencil. This will make the drawing "pop" or stand out more and it make it look so much better.

Going over it with pen on tracing paper is a good option too, but tracing paper is usually pretty flimsy and can rip easily. If you want to keep your tracing, I'd suggest a sturdier paper like vellum.

You could also use a light box to trace through to some thicker paper. If you don't have a light box, just tape the original and the new sheet of paper to a window and use natural daylight to trace through the paper.

Hope this helps.

[xHikariXCutenesSXAmex]

Well I don't care for pens. Try either adjusting the contrast and brightness in Picasa when you scan them or just using a 6B or 8B lead.

[RKitagawa]

can you post a link to your deviantart profile? Sounds like something you can easily fix on the computer. But I'd have to see the drawings to say for sure.