SpongeBob Comics #1 Cover Art

It’s finally here! Today is the release date for the very first issue of SpongeBob Comics! I’m very proud to say that I drew and painted the cover art for this baby!

Here is the original pencil version… Here’s the inked version below:
…and finally the fully-painted artwork below. Completely logo-free,
but still with the crop marks and bleed lines and all that jazz.

In the next few days I’m also gonna be posting the TON of rejected preliminary drawings from this project. There’s a lot of drawings that I really like a lot, but for one reason or another they were all passed over for the version you see above. So come back soon and check ‘em out!

And meanwhile,
I hope you’ll all go out to your
local comics shop and pick up a copy of
SpongeBob Comics #1

Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Inking Tutorials - Now in ONE Convenient Playlist!

The Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Inking tutorials I created a few months ago have been a big hit on YouTube...thanks to everybody that left comments and ratings!

From some of the questions I get, I realized that it isn't very easy to find all the tutorials in one place, so I created a "Playlist" on YouTube that includes all the videos:

Even though you can watch them
on YouTube, I recommend you
use the list below to watch them
(with written and visual commentary)
in a LARGER, high-resolution format...
right here on the CartoonSnap blog:

here is the COMPLETE list of all eleven

Adobe Illustrator

High-Resolution

"Freehand Brush
Cartoon Inking Tutorial Videos":

#1 - How to Set Up and Import Images

#2 - Palette Options and Settings

#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool

#4 - We Start INKING in Illustrator!

#5 - How to Use Shapes & Ellipse Tool

#6 - How to Use Illustrator Graphic Styles

#7 - Working With Reshape Tool and Layers

#8 - Arrange, Transform, Reflect in Action
#9 - Picking Up The Pace

#10 - Finishing SpongeBob Inking

#11 - Inking Patrick and onward to Photoshop

Because of the way that Illustrator is usually taught, a lot of people have no idea that you can do beautiful freehand cartoon inking with the freehand brush tool in Adobe Illustrator. If you want to quickly learn to do digital cartoon inking in Illustrator, you're gonnna love these videos.

ArtRage & Illustrator Success Stories #1 - Julián Höek

I got a nice surprise tonight when my Argentinean blog-buddy Julián Fumagalli sent me some jpegs on his experiments with ArtRage and Adobe Illustrator...

The top image is some Adobe Illustrator inking Julian did from a cartoon drawing, and Julian created the color painting below with ArtRage!

I'm excited beyond belief to see that these video tutorials are helping talented cartoonists like Julian. I've received a bunch of emails from CartoonSnap readers, and I answer 'em all. Some people have asked me to help out when they get stuck, and so far the long-distance tutorial help looks to be working ^_^

If you'd like to share your digital art success stories -- along with your art and links to your site -- just leave a comment with your info, or email me at: sherm (at) cartoonsnap.com ...and replace the (at) with @.

Previous ArtRage Tutorial Videos:

ArtRage #1 - Intro to ArtRage 2.5
ArtRage #2 - Mixing Colors on the Canvas
ArtRage #3 Painting Reflective Light
ArtRage #4 - More Reflective Light & Colors
------

Here's a quick summary
of the other tutorials in this series:

#1 - Digital Painting Process Overview
(this is where it all STARTS!)
#2- From Sketch to Finishes
#3: Adobe Illustrator Inking Process
 

#4 Coloring Line Art with Photoshop

Inking Patrick - Video #11 Adobe Illustrator Freehand Brush Inking Tutorials Finale

Click on image - BIG video will open in new window

Adobe Illustrator Cartoon & Comic Book
Inking Tutorial Video #11 Inking Patrick

Now that I've gone into excruciating detail about my Adobe Illustrator cartoon inking process, I have one last video to show all of the previous tips in action. It only takes me a few minutes to do all the inking on Patrick because I'm going at a more normal speed.

In a few spots, I made some quick cuts to avoid repeating the same material ad nauseam.

For example, there's not much point in making you watch me draw all of Patrick's little dots, so the video only captures that kind of stroke a couple of times.

Right in the middle of doing the inking on Patrick, I stopped to fix some light weight issues on SpongeBob...

This is a great example of one of the features that makes Adobe Illustrator such a great tool for cartoon and comic book inking; you can go back and change the line weight at any time, while still preserving the thick and thin variation in the original line. There's no need to go back and re-ink the line... you could just revise the thickness however you want.

There are many more examples of using the pencil tool to reshape the brush strokes, and using the copy and paste commands to save time by reusing various drawing elements. The arrange command is used frequently in this video, and even though I've demonstrated it many times already, it's worth repeating because it is so incredibly useful.

If you're new to this series, I recommend that you watch this one to see where we're going, and then back up all the way to Video #1 and follow the whole series from the beginning. Remember...you can use all the same tools and settings that I use if you...

download the custom Adobe Illustrator
Cartoon/Comic Book Inking Template!

Here is the YouTube version if you have trouble viewing the BIG high-resolution video at the top of the page...

Now that this phase is complete,

here is the COMPLETE list of all eleven

Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Inking
tutorial videos:

#1 - How to Set Up and Import Images

#2 - Palette Options and Settings

#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool

#4 - We Start INKING in Illustrator!

#5 - How to Use Shapes & Ellipse Tool

#6 - How to Use Illustrator Graphic Styles

#7 - Working With Reshape Tool and Layers

#8 - Arrange, Transform, Reflect in Action
#9 - Picking Up The Pace

#10 - Finishing SpongeBob Inking

Next comes the transitional phase between inking and painting: Importing the line art into Adobe Photoshop for tweaking, cleaning and coloring the line art. I'm gonna try to fit all that in to just two videos, so we can quickly move on to the fun world of digital painting in ArtRage!

Finishing Inks on SpongeBob - Video #10 in Adobe Illustrator Brush Inking Tutorial Series

Click on image - BIG video will open in new window

Adobe Illustrator video tutorial #10

Smoothing Tool, Pen & Thickening
----

We start off this Adobe Illustrator inking tutorial video with a look at the "smooth" tool. The smooth tool is very useful when you want to simplify an overly complicated or wobbly line.

All you have to do is to
select the line that you want to smooth,
and then draw over it with the "smooth" tool.

There's also a brief look at the pen tool as I use it in a very simple way to help me draw SpongeBob's belt. I don't often use the pen tool, but in this case it was the best choice.

Once more, the reshape tool comes to the rescue when the straight line of SpongeBob's arm needs a little bit of tweaking.

There are times when the geometric lines created by the line tool need to be softened with the freehand brush tool. As you can see, the lines don't always match up perfectly... but you can always go back later and touch them up in Photoshop.

...Or you can leave a little bit of imperfection in your drawings -- that's the whole point of using the freehand brush tool. It provides the breath of life in your drawings that the more technical and geometric tools cannot provide.

Take a look here as I select ten different ellipse shapes at the same time in order to uniformly boost up the line thickness. You can select multiple objects by pressing the shift key as you use the selection tool.

Once all of those objects are selected, you can use the stroke panel to adjust the thickness of the line weight for every thing that is currently selected.

You'll also get a super close-up view of how I use different brushes with different line weights to differentiate between the thicker outer contour lines and the thinner interior lines.

Next time, the inking portion of these tutorials comes to a close as we zip through the inking on Patrick, all the while using that as an opportunity to review all the preceding tips, and seeing them in action at full drawing speed!

Here's the YouTube version in case you have trouble watching the high-resolution video at the top of the post:

In case you missed them,
here are links to the first nine
Adobe Illustrator
Cartoon Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - How to Set Up and Import Images
#2 - Palette Options and Settings
#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool
#4 - We Start INKING in Illustrator!
#5 - How to Use the Ellipse Tool
#6 - How to Use Graphic Styles
#7 - Working With Layers
#8 - Layers in Action

#9 - Picking Up The Pace

#9 Picking up the Pace -- Adobe Illustrator Cartoon Inking Video - Freehand Brush Tutorials Continue

Click on image - BIG video will open in new window

Adobe Illustrator video tutorial #9
Picking Up the Pace / Stroke Palette

We're in the home stretch now, and today's Adobe Illustrator video tutorial really picks up the pace. There's no sense going on and on about things we've already covered, so we're zipping through the final stages of inking on SpongeBob's face.

Remember that you'll need a pressure-sensitive graphics tablet (like a Wacom Bamboo Fun, Intuos or Cintiq tablet) to get these calligraphic brush strokes.

The most important thing to note in this video is the repeated use of the arrange command along with using the graphic styles to create drawing elements that overlap in just the right places. Watch how the cheek and the nose pop forward when they get filled with white...This technique certainly makes you draw through the forms!

There is one new topic that we cover in this one -- how to use the stroke palette to choose the way that the end of a line segment looks. I'll get you right up close and personal to all the tols, brushes and palette options so you can see how you can get the exact effect you're looking for.

Here's the YouTube version in case you have trouble watching the high-resolution video at the top of the post:

In case you missed them,
here are links to the first eight
Adobe Illustrator
Cartoon Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - Setting Up and Importing Images
#2 - Palette Options and settings
#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool
#4 We Start INKING in Illustrator!
#5 - Ellipse Shape Tools
#6 - How to Use Graphic Styles
#7 - Working With Layers
#8 - Layers in Action

Next Video: The excitement continues as I actually finish inking SpongeBob!

More Illustrator Inking - Video #8: The "Arrange" Command

Cartoon and Comic Inking
with Adobe Illustrator Video #8

Click on image - video will open in new window

In the last Adobe Illustrator Tutorial video, I talked about how to use layers in Adobe Illustrator. This time we'll dig a little deeper as I show how I work from back to front even within the same layer by using the "arrange" command.

Remember that Adobe Illustrator "sees" drawing elements as separate objects. These elements can be moved on top or underneath other elements using the "arrange" command. Using a white fill on some of the overlapping objects gives the sense of depth that the drawing requires.

Also: more on copying, pasting, re-using, transforming and reshaping lines and objects to get the results you want, and flopping objects with the "Reflect" command within the Transform menu.

Here's a YouTube version of the same video if you're having any problems viewing the high-resolution video at the top of the post.

In case you missed them,
here are links to the first seven
Adobe Illustrator Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - Setting Up and Importing Images
#2 - Palette Options and settings
#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool
#4 We Start INKING in Illustrator!
#5 - Ellipse Shape Tools
#6 - Graphic Styles and Grouping
#7 – Working With Layers

Adobe Illustrator Tutorial #7 -- Working with Layers

Click on image - video will open in new window

This Adobe Illustrator video tutorial is all about using layers to help keep your your artwork manageable.

For the SpongeBob cover illustration, I wanted to keep the hat on a separate level because I knew that the editor at Nickelodeon magazine might move it around to make room for some of the text on the cover. And sure enough, if you look at the finished version, you can see that they did move it.

Original Version

Published Version

We'll take a look at how to use the line tool, and how to reshape the line by using the reshape tool.

Both of these tools come in very handy, even in a freehand illustration like this one.

I also demonstrate my weird white-out technique , which can be very helpful when you have overlapping layers. The process may be a little bit complicated, but it does demonstrate how to use the arrange command to bring drawing elements either forward or backward within the same layer.

I used to use this white-out technique to do all my erasing, but since David de Rooij left a comment on Illustrator tutorial video #4 about how to use the "expand appearance" command along with the erase tool, I won't be using this technique for simple erasing any more.

If you haven't done it already, make sure to download the free Adobe illustrator cartoon inking template that I'm using throughout these Adobe Illustrator inking tutorial videos. You can download that digital inking template at:

http://cartoonsnap.com/template/

-----

...and here's a smaller version of today's video if you're having trouble viewing the larger version at the top of this post:

In case you missed them,
here are links to the first six
Adobe Illustrator Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - Setting Up and Importing Images
#2 - Palette Options and settings
#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool
#4 We Start INKING in Illustrator!
#5 - Ellipse Shape Tools

#6 - Graphic Styles and Grouping

Digital Inking Tutorial Video #6 - Adobe Illustrator Graphic Styles and Grouping

Click on image - video will open in new window

Video #6 - Graphic Styles & Grouping

A Graphic Style is the stored combination of a line's stroke color and brush shape, or a color and fill of a shape. It means you can select anything in your image and instantly apply many different stylistic properties all at once, really quickly.

I have created a few graphic styles that I use when I'm inking comic books, like "Black line, no fill" or "White fill, no line," etc. These are included in the downloadable Adobe Illustrator Inking Template that I made to go along with these tutorial videos.

There are different versions of the template, so whichever version of Adobe Illustrator you are using, you will find the right inking template.

You can download the Adobe Illustrator Inking Template at:

http://cartoonsnap.com/template/

You can see in this video how graphic styles are applied. Graphic styles are easy to create and modify, and I show you exactly how I do it. Then we'll cover the topic of grouping.

Each stroke or shape in Adobe Illustrator is seen by the application as a distinct item that can be moved or colored separately. It's often easier to deal with all of these different elements if you tie them together into groups that makes sense in the context of the illustration. Again, this is kind of hard to explain in text, which is exactly why I made the videos!

Here's a YouTube version of the same video if you're having any problems viewing the high-resolution video at the top of the post.
----

In case you missed them,
here are links to the first five
Adobe Illustrator Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - Setting Up and Importing Images
#2 - Palette Options and settings
#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool
#4 We Start INKING in Illustrator!
#5 - Ellipse Shape Tools

Tutorial Video #5 - Using, Transforming and Shaping the Ellipse Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Click on image - video will open in new window

Video #5 - Shape Tools:
Using, Transforming & Reshaping

We're about halfway through the Adobe Illustrator inking tutorial videos, and when this phase is done we will make a brief stopover at Photoshop before heading into some really colorful video lessons on digital painting in ArtRage.

Today's video focuses on the nitty-gritty details of using a shape tool -- specifically an ellipse -- and then using the transform tool and the pencil tool to reshape them. You'll also see how I use copy and paste commands to reuse (and then tweak) various shapes and lines. A lot of it seems like it's tedious, but it goes pretty quickly when done in real time.

The pace will pick up in the next couple of videos because I'll be doing more drawing and less with the jawbone.

By the way, at one point in this tutorial video, I talk about a small X that appears next to the pencil tool in Adobe illustrator. When the X is showing, that means that the pencil tool will draw a new freehand line. When you get the pencil tool close to a previously drawn line that's selected, the X disappears. This means that you can now reshape the selected line by using the pencil tool (N on your keyboard).

Anyway, this screen capture software that I was using was not able to capture the little X for some reason. Here's a picture of it from the Adobe illustrator help site.

If you want more information on how to use the pencil tool to reshape a line, hop on over to:

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Illustrator/14.0/WS4CCAA516-C476-4cd9-B36A-DB88AD124DBA.html

...And here's the YouTube version of the same video if you're having any trouble watching the high-resolution video at the top of the post.

In case you missed them,
here are links to the first four
Adobe Illustrator Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - Setting Up and Importing Images
#2 - Palette Options and settings
#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool
#4 We Start INKING in Illustrator!

We Start INKING in Adobe Illustrator Process Video #4

Video #4 - Let's Start INKING!

Click on image - video will open in new window
(There's also a smaller version at the bottom of the post in case you have trouble watching the large video)

Okay, this is what we've been building up to!

In today's video, you can watch as I start inking the SpongeBob illustration in real time. All of these videos were recorded while I was working on the new cover illustration for Nickelodeon magazine -- so you're seeing all of the actual work that went in to creating that image.

There's no retakes here -- everything is live -- just as it happened. The only thing I trimmed out were the pauses.

Using Adobe Illustrator for inking and clean-up has allowed me to take on jobs that I would have had to turn down in the past. Getting a piece of art to look this cleaned up would cause permanent injury to my hands and my wrists if I had to do it with regular pen and ink and brush. It also would have taken forever and a day if I were using traditional materials.

One of the unexpected benefits of inking in Adobe Illustrator is that my line has become a lot more spontaneous -- I can be a lot more fast and spontaneous with the brush since I know that I can press "undo" if I make a bad line.

I'm hoping that once you see this in action, you'll be inspired to give it a try yourself. If you already own Adobe Illustrator as part of one of the Adobe suites, you really owe it to yourself to make the most out of your investment. If you don't own Adobe Illustrator, but you'd like to learn... you can download a free 30 day trial from the Adobe website.

Here's a smaller version of the video if you're having trouble loading the big video:

The next video might be a little bit boring, but it covers some very vital topics. Even though it appears to be focusing on Adobe Illustrator's ellipse tool, it will also show how to copy, paste and reuse drawing elements to save you time and effort. I will also be demonstrating how to use the Illustrator pencil tool to reshape a technically perfect shape into something more appropriate for a hand drawn image. See you then!

If you want to keep up with all the videos,
here's where to find the first three lessons:

here is an updated list of the

Adobe Illustrator
Cartoon Inking tutorial videos:

#1 - How to Set Up and Import Images

#2 - Palette Options and Settings

#3 - Freehand Calligraphic BRUSH Tool

#4 - We Start INKING in Illustrator!

#5 - How to Use Shapes & Ellipse Tool

#6 - How to Use Illustrator Graphic Styles

#7 - Working With Reshape Tool and Layers

#8 - Arrange, Transform, Reflect in Action
#9 - Picking Up The Pace

#10 - Finishing SpongeBob Inking

#11 - Illustrator Inking Finale
#12 - Exporting To Photoshop

...and of course the completed Nick Mag cover art is at:

http://cartoonsnap.blogspot.com/2009/02/painting-process-spongebob-cover-art.html