Inking for John K.

As I said in my last post I have contacted John Kricfalusi to see if I was able to do any ink work for him. I was lucky enough to get a reply from him. He said he would be happy to give me some frames from his new storyboard to ink. He would then give me a critique to help me understand how to better my new skill.

Here are the first attempts I did for him. These images are from the storyboard of a new commercial he is doing staring his own characters. This image features 'Donald Bastard' the duck beating up 'Slab'.

These are the first inked versions I sent to him. John said in his e-mail

hi Chloe, the lines are nice and clean

you could work on the thick and thins

the hierarchy

and making the forms more distinct-like Slab's squinty eyes in the first drawing

It was great to get some feedback off him, he recommended that I look at the 'inking' section of his blog to help me understand what he wanted changing. I redid the eyes squinting from the first image to try and give it more weight and form.

He has told me to practice with his characters and read through the construction of some of the characters. I realise that inking is not just about tracing an image, but rather about being able to select the right lines and emphasise what is already there. The pencil image acts as a guide.

Here are the before and afters

Johns sketch before

My attempts after.

I was nervous of contacting John but he was really friendly and I really enjoyed doing this for him. It was a good experience and I shall hopefully continue improving.