Ultimate Digital Ink and Color Tutorial for Adobe Illustrator CS5
- Mar, 03 2012
- By Clay Butler
- Illustration, Tutorials for Beginners
- 122 comments
Learn My Secret to the Fastest, Simplest, Down and Dirty Comic Style Inking and Coloring Technique for Adobe Illustrator
There are a lot of really good tutorials on the web for digital inking and coloring. The trouble is that most of them assume you have six to eight hours to finish a drawing that is budgeted for two. Back when I was young and unattached and I didn’t need a lot of money, I didn’t particularly care how long something took. But at age 45, and supporting a family in one of the least affordable places in the country, time has become very important.
This method is not the most sophisticated but it gets the job done quick and it looks great. I also discovered one of its key components by accident.
It’s great for poster art, cartoon characters, comic book art or any place you need a classic ink and color look.
I’m also providing two versions – a couple of videos for people who like those things, and a text one for people like me who don’t like video tutorials. Call me a Luddite, but I think it’s easier to learn from text and stills that a tiny video capture of someone’s computer.
Illustrator Inking and Coloring Video Tutorials
First the videos. Unlike those speed drawing tutorials that blow your mind but teach you nothing, this one is a true speed drawing tutorial as it’s in real time. No cuts and no sped up sections to hide the true time it takes. This first one is a brisk 8 minutes and it walk you through a drawing from beginning to end and clearly explains all the steps necessary
There are a lot of excellent ink and color tutorials on the web, so what is different about this tutorial?
1. Real time. Unlike those speed drawing tutorials that blow your mind but teach you nothing, this one is a true speed drawing tutorial as it’s in real time. No cuts and no sped up sections to hide the true time it takes.
2. Learn a practical but unorthodox technique for speeding up your inking and coloring in Illustrator.
3. Vector. In the print industry vector rules the roost so those Photoshop inking tutorials aren’t very helpful for someone who’s primary concern is clean reproduction in all mediums including brochures, t-shirts, posters, tradeshow booths, video and packaging.
Illustrator Inking and Coloring Video Video #1 (Shorter Version)
This video is the 8 minute shorter version and just focuses on the basic principles as quickly as possible.
Download the Illustrator editable PDF that was used in the video so you can see for yourself how it was done or follow along. The brush I used is embedded in the file.
The brush I used is this Hair Brush by ChewedKandi. You’ll need a DeviantArt account to download it.
Illustrator Inking and Coloring Video #2 (Longer Version)
This next one is more detailed and is 15 minutes long. It doesn’t necessarily have more information, it’s just more detail oriented. While the first video is like a sprint, this one is more like a stroll.
Download the Illustrator editable PDF that was used in the video so you can see for yourself how it was done or follow along. The brush I used is embedded in the file.
The brush I used is this Hair Brush by ChewedKandi. You’ll need a DeviantArt account to download it.
Text and Stills Version
If you don’t like video or don’t want to keep pausing and playing, use this text and still version of my digital ink and color tutorial. This drawing was done for Grit Dog.
File Under: How to Quickly Digitally Ink and Color a Drawing In Adobe Illustrator CS5 – The Fastest, Easiest Method for Inking and Adding Color in Adobe Illustrator – Fast Cartooning in Illustrator – Comic Inking – Comic Coloring
Pippa
Thank you so much for this, Clay. I’ve had to trot out my very rusty cartooning skills lately for clients and I knew there had to be a better way that I was just not seeing. It’s brilliant! Working with Illustrator is fun again :-)
Andrew
Hey Clay,
This was such an incredible tutorial. I am a complete beginner at Illustrator (and at visual art in general, I’m more of a music guy) and I was really struggling with shading the projects that I was working on.
After only your 8 minute tutorial, I feel like I have a ton of confidence to move forward with illustrators amazing tools, as well as having some more info on how to shade things. The knife tool was especially amazing, and fills a need I really had (I couldn’t figure out how to separate areas at ALL).
Thanks so much for such a great tutorial. I hope it gets passed around a lot, and it was a ton of fun too.
Clay Butler
You’re welcome.
Jeremy
Thank you! Straight to the point, I liked this a lot. Great advice for people struggling to improve their vector work.
Steven
For some reason, when I use the knife tool, I can only make rectangular shapes. Being able to move about freely and cut wherever I want to is impossible for me. What am I doing wrong?
Clay Butler
That’s because you are using the slice tool, and that’s for web design. Review the tutorial again.
Steven
Thanks.
Clay Butler
That’s because you’re using the slice tool (for web) and not the knife tool.
swq1
you are amazing! i have always wanted to draw cartoons but never managed to do anything until now. i have no talent whatsoever but your style made my cartoon look a lot more nice. your technique is fantastic! thank you very much!
Taisa
Your tutorials are amazing! I’m strugling with the Live Paint > Make though. It transforms, but doesn’t keep the brush I used, all the lines are modified to a regular basic one. Do you happen to know what can I do to keep the lines in the fancy brush?
Clay Butler
You forgot to use Object > Expand Appearance first. This will preserve your brush strokes.
Leticia
Great tutorials Clay! First time using Illustrator and I already feel like I’ve learned a lot, thanks! However, I seem to be having trouble with the Knife tool; I can’t get the shadows to show. I used Object>Live Paint>Expand and selected the Direct Selection tool (white arrow) and selected the object I wanted to highlight, the clicked the Knife tool, drew the area I wanted to highlight, but when I choose a color it changes the color of the whole object. I tried selecting the Direct Selection tool again after using the Knife tool but it keeps doing the same thing. I went back to the tutorial and watched the video again but I can’t find what step I’m missing but clearly I’m doing something wrong. Any suggestions? Thanks! :)
Joe
hi, clay
Where can I download Shaz Hair Brush by Sharon Milne. Cant find it. tks!
liz
hi clay, i really loved your tutporial, did a complete character-figure that way, the method is quick and easy. but as i imported the illustrator file as a smart object in photoshop upon a dark backgroundlayer, all the edges of ALL the paths where visble and did not match togehther exactly. is this a bug? tried the same with your illustrator-pdf of the demon, same thing happens. is there a way to avoid that? if not, the method can only be used in illustrator.
if you find the time, please respond!
Jerry
Tried to download the Hairbrush but the message says the file has moved. Any suggestions on how to get the brush or equivalent? Your tutorials are awesome!
Adam
Awesome, man. Very well done and extremely helpful!
Jace
okay great but i’ve looked at 5 tutuorials on this now and none of them teach you how to do this WITHOUT tablet
Clay Butler
Correct. Because you shouldn’t be using a mouse. Would you complain that a life drawing tutorial didn’t show you how to use crayons? You just can’t be in this business with a mouse only.
roda
thanks man helped a lot … *.*
Ira
Wow, your work and tutorials have helped me both speed up and improve my work. I love the simplicity of your tutorials! Thank you for all you share.
Neil
What a timesaver! Love this workflow, really appreciated. Bless up yourself!
Veronica
Thank you so much, I was losing ao much time on my designs. My life will be easier from now, a very big thank you. Greetings from Spain :)
Kat
Brilliant ! Worked on my first try. Thank you so much for sharing this!!!!
murugu
Thank you. your work is usefull.
Dave
This is by far the best tutorial I have seen on inking & coloring in Illustrator! This helped me so much, thanx for the effort!
Rae
I’ve never done anything on illustrator or with the bamboo tablet before. I needed to take my artwork into the digital realm though.. This has been such an amazing and helpful tutorial. I doubt anyone would believe this was my first time with the amazing tricks I learned with this it looks fantastic! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this.
McMucca
Thankyou for sharing, great tips.
Icaro Freitas
Thank you for this tutorial, very effective, solve a lot of problem to me.
Thanks again!
aksh
Hi clay,
Great inspirational tutorial.
Firstly,a many thanks for it!!!
Am a beginner, and when i tried to trim the overcut lines..am not able to do it!
Its in a group and the whole lines are getting selected,and its nt coming as u do.
I donno why..i followed the exact steps
Clay Butler
That’s because you are using the selection tool (black arrow) and not the direct selection tool (white arrow).
Ash Loo
Hi,Mr Clay. How can i control Knife tool as good as yours with a mouse?
Clay Butler
You can’t. It’s time to by a pen tablet. A Wacom Bamboo will be fine.You don’t need the expensive one.
Ash Loo
OK ~ thanks and noted. :)
Nemo Phin
Thanks for the great share. I like your tutorial
Prasad
excellent explanations..really I got what I want….superb…I got solutions one problem since 10 years..drawing in illustrator. Hats off you …Thanks to you ..your tutorials more useful to us ..Regards….Prasad.
Scott
Clay how do I get rid of white gaps when using the slice tool. I set the gaps to the lowest setting in live paint which is fine but when I save it as a PDF the gaps are back
Scott
I guess they don’t print….problem solved
Clay Butler
Yep. They are a screen rendering anomaly. Some see them, some don’t. But they don’t print. And if you zoom in you’ll see the line never gets bigger.
Curtis
Hi, thanks for the tutorial, however, every time I expand appearance I get these tiny white lines around my strokes and it is noticeable on my pdfs or jpegs. What am I doing wrong? Should I not shade with the brush tool or use the pen and brush together on the layout. I tried everything but these white outlines are everywhere after I expand appearance and make. Please help thanks.
Clay Butler
About Those “Lines” You See When You Use this Method:
If you are referring to the microscopic lines where they intersect, or where you cut with the knife, that’s an illusion. Zoom in to 6400%. They never get bigger. They don’t print that way either. I’ve been using this technique for years and my stuff has always printed perfectly on posters, trade show pop ups, t-shirts, postcards – everything really – without issues. If they really bother you Try Export/Tiff. That gives a clean export. So will Save For Web/PNG or JPG. In the Web save box you can change the pixel dimensions to any size you want so you can save some pretty huge, print quality images. If that doesn’t help maybe a new version of Illustrator will solve it.
faresvv
you are the best Clay
thank you
makiso
Doesn’t work for CC 2015.
Clay Butler
It does. I’m positive. I use this method all the time and I’m currently using the latest CC version. You probably just missed a step. That’s common.