Embellishing (comics)
Embellishing in comics refers to an advanced stage of the inking process where artists use various brush and pen strokes to enhance penciled artwork, adding depth, texture, and focus to illustrations. Traditionally performed with black ink, this practice has evolved alongside technology, enabling digital embellishing methods as well. The complexity of embellishing can vary greatly, influenced by the desired emotional impact on the narrative and the tools utilized, such as sable brushes and nib pens. Artists often apply techniques like shadowing and texturing to accentuate elements within a scene, guiding the reader's eye and enhancing realism. Techniques include spotting blacks to create dramatic effects, varying line weights to establish depth, and textural methods like hatching and stippling. While digital methods have emerged, traditional inking continues to be significant, contributing to the distinctive look of comic art. Overall, embellishing is not only a technical skill but also an artistic expression that plays a crucial role in the storytelling of graphic novels.
Embellishing (comics)
Definition
Embellishing is part of the inking process and involves using a variety of brush and pen strokes to add depth, focus, and texture to the penciled art. Though embellishing is traditionally done with black ink, advances in technology have allowed some of the work of embellishing to be done digitally.
Introduction
Originating as part of the inking process, embellishing expands the role of inking from its initial purpose of outlining penciled art, allowing inkers to add depth and texture to graphic novels’ illustrations. The complexity of the embellishment can vary widely depending on the effect the art is meant to have in relation to the story line of the work. Sable brushes, nib pens, and fixed-width pens are the tools used most often in the embellishing process. Different artists prefer different tools and use these tools to create distinctive effects that define their work in ways fans admire and seek out.
Some embellishers add shadow to certain planes and figures to emphasize the prominence of a particular element or to indicate time of day or the mood of the scene. Embellishing also adds texture to surfaces, distinguishing, for example, cloth from concrete and concrete from dirt. A good knowledge of anatomy and an understanding of the structure of real-world surroundings help inkers to better depict these shadows and textures. Excellent embellishing can rescue mediocre pencils, but conversely, too little or too much layering and texturing can negatively affect the art. Good embellishing makes the essential figures stand out, while poor embellishing buries them. The inker must be mindful of balance and ensure that the reader can understand the part any given drawing plays in telling the graphic narrative.
Black Space, Black Lines, and Shadows
Solid black spaces placed in the art for specific purposes that connect to the story are referred to as spotting blacks. These totally black areas are used to give a drawing solidity and to help focus important elements in a picture by drawing the reader’s eye toward a desired area. Solid black spaces create dramatic moods within the drawings. For example, black masses in vertical or horizontal shapes can create calm in a motionless scene. On the other hand, large, slanting black spaces can add a feeling of shock, unease, or impending danger and menace to a panel or page. Black spaces scattered all over a panel can create a sense of chaos and action.
Black ink lines define objects in comic book art. Going from a thick line in the foreground to a thin line in the background is one of the most widely used embellishing techniques. Varying the line weights gives the art a sense of depth and helps readers understand how the elements in a panel relate to one another spatially. Brushes are especially good for creating lines of varying width that give the artwork a fluid look. In contrast, nib pens produce uniform lines that are especially suited for adding detail. The use of a consistent line width can give the art an edgy, dry look.
Shadowing refers to varying tones created by a combination of gray washes, lighter pencils, and solid blacks. Shadowing emphasizes certain parts of the panel, controlling where the reader’s eyes first hit the page and subsequently move. Watercolor wash, the process of creating gray areas by diluting inks with water, is one popular shadowing technique; darkening the figure or fixture in the foreground and placing it against a shadowless background is another. The type of paper used for the art, such as newsprint or glossy, and that paper’s absorbency largely determine what an artist can do with shadows.
Texturing
Texturing, in the language of sequential art, means giving an object the distinct and identifiable illusion of texture through line direction and shape. Though time consuming, the texturing of substances such as fabric, brick, and water enhances the realism of the illustrations and thus of the narrative as a whole. One particularly common inking technique used for texturing purposes is feathering. Also known as hatching, the technique involves the use of close-set parallel lines of black ink to create shades of gray artificially, especially when the drawing situation does not allow for the use of watercolor wash or similar techniques. Fixed-width pens such as technical pens are often used when feathering to keep the lines uniform.
A number of similar techniques allow inkers to create particular shades and effects. Cross-hatching, a technique involving the use of crisscrossed lines of black ink, can create varying tones and show the uneven quality and folds of objects such as fabric. Curved hatching differs from standard hatching in that it fills space using curved, rather than straight, lines. This technique creates a fluid or smoky look that can represent clouds or water, for example. Stippling refers to black dots applied with a brush or pen that are used to create gray tones.
Impact
Embellishing has evolved into an essential inking step that makes an enormous contribution to the appearance of the finished comics artwork. As technology has advanced, a number of comics creators have begun to create comics digitally, and inkers have begun to experiment with new embellishing styles and techniques. While these digital processes have in some cases allowed for the elimination of the inking step, the resulting art often has a markedly different look than art created using traditional methods or colored digitally after the inking has been done. For this reason, although some artists forgo the inking stage, inking itself has remained a key part of the process of comics creation. Embellishing comics art with ink gives it a unique look, and the solid history behind that look makes the inking stage difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate entirely, regardless of technological advances.
Bibliography
Eisner, Will. Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist.New York: W. W. Norton, 2008. Labels and describes the various components of comic book art, including embellishment, and discusses the collaboration that is required in creating comics.
McCloud, Scott. Reinventing Comics. New York: Harper, 2000. Discusses the changes that occurred in the comics industry by the end of the twentieth century, including the advent of digital art creation.
McKenzie, Alan. How to Draw and Sell Comic Strips. Cincinnati: Impact Books, 2005. Examines the artistic choices artists make when creating comics and the effects of those choices on their art.