Ink and clean up

Ink and cleanup 101 is the first in our series on inking, clean up, and coloring for animation. This is an online class that teaches the practice of finishing the individual drawing for an animated film or illustration.

Inking and painting in animation is a production process where the frames are painted. In the past when the animators complete the final drawings they ink and color them with black ink. But with the changing technology computers introduced a big range of color palettes. This course will teach the student to clean up and ink animation frames digitally.

What skills do I need to ink and color?

You should know the basics of drawing. Since this is a 101 class we will teach you all the concepts and practical steps to ink and color.  You should have taken some figure drawing classes as well as checked out some art books. The DC book is particularly good at showing what professional inkers do. You also need a computer with a Wacom tablet or an Ipad as well as a graphic application like Procreate.

Most students don’t realize how much work it is to clean up and ink a drawing. Firstly you must draw a rough and loose gesture. Secondly, you ink over the rough. Finally, you color the ink drawing!  You don’t want to start with an ink line. You want to stay light and loose. Old school comic artists used a blue pencil. Above all, your clean up is the most important.   You have a poor clean up drawing and the whole process is ruined.    Here are just a few things you will learn in Ink and clean up 101:

• line quality and opacity
• steady hands
• Drawing not tracing
• color theory and practical color
• Production skills for 2d
• Polishing a rough drawing