I am just not good at inking, specifically crosshatching! I’ve been an okay penciler and an average colorist—and that’s the perfect amount of art talent to make a comic strip. Oh, and jokes. My jokes are mediocre at best. I do have the crutch to explain a joke in a visual comic form. It is a lot easier to explain a joke with a dumb drawing than trying to explain a joke in person to someone without it. That’s why I will never attempt stand-up comedy and bless anyone who does it well.
But, again… I digress. (I do seem to ramble too much while blogging, but it’s my blog, so deal with it.)
My point. F’ing crosshatching!
I am still terrible at it. If you don’t know what cross-hatching is, it’s an inking technique to add shadow and light to your drawing. It’s such a subtle thing, but if you mess it up, like I do… it can butcher a drawing.
Crosshatching is a sequential and consistent sketch of lines that can go from light hatching (thin and sparse) to dark hatching (thicker lines and more dense) with a layering perpendicular technique to show shadow and volume in your drawing. (This is a better explanation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatching).
I am trying to be better at it, and it’s definitely something that will get better. I will assume I’ll be experimenting with cross-hatching as I go. Maybe an entire strip of just crosshatching when I can’t think of anything. Hmmm… Until then, witness the sucky crosshatching that will eventually get better with practice.
Anyhoo, If you are interested, here are some introductions to crosshatching videos:
