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Disturbed 3 Inks — Description
Disturbed
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So last year I was lucky enough to be involved with this story from Archie Sonic Online's Mobius Legends comic which is used as a sort of testing grounds for volunteers to show what they can do, before they qualify for spots on the more important main continuation project at archiesoniconline.com .

I had the pleasure of being the inker for Disturbed, with the penciller being the supremely skilled DrawLoverLala (and the colours by the fantastic finisher that is TheEnigmaMachine, links below). I've included DrawLoverLala's pencils alongside so you can see what is involved in the inking process and hopefully I'll be able to explain a little about what I actually brought to the table and whatnot!

One of the benefits to inking other people's pencils when you also draw is that you can learn a lot from them at the same time as adding something to their work. In this page particularly I got a great sense of motion and action and how to stage a fight scene, which is something I'm not hugely familiar with. The use of motion lines and impact lines was really useful to see in a mechanical sense. And it allows the inker to see what they think works and what doesn't which in turn allows them to develop their own style of pencilling. DrawLoverLala has a great skill at drawing the characters on model as well as allowing them to remain fluid and expressive, and that was very useful to see when inking this page. It's also useful to study the coloured page as well in order to see how motion blur/white trails can be added to the swings and impacts to convey that sense of motion as well. You have to remember when to embellish as an inker and also when to hold back to allow your fellow team mates to do their thing! Otherwise you can 'over render your pages. You can always study published official comics but there's nothing as handy as getting your hands on some pencils and trying things out for yourself to see what works and what doesn't. (while using official work as a reference obvious,y especially if you're going for a mimicry of an existing publication, like ASO is.)

It was also very informative to see how the panel layout also leads the eye and helps you read the story, as half the work in comics is leading the eye and making your story clear and readable, which this page is. Half the fun of inking someone elses pages is often getting a closer look at their style and bringing a version of it to the forefront with your inking. Which is why a good or bad inker can very often make or break a book. I think I did alright here though and didn't kill the vibe of the original pencils.

Also dabbing Omega was VERY popular with the readers, unlike inking that is something which I have no understanding of, but I'm glad it went down well!

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