As a cartoonist, how do I get better at controlling my lines? I feel like my line quality has plateaued and I'm not sure how to break through. Pic is art by Al Hirschfeld.
>>7710837For traditional at least, you can work larger. A lot of cartoonist worked bigger than you might expect. With a bigger canvas, you can make larger strokes with your whole arm for smoother strokes. And the small mistakes are less noticeable. You can rest your arm on a mahlstick for extra stability. Rotating your paper for easier angles to draw helps too. The normal warmups and practice sheets can help, but trying it out for real on a finished piece will let you experience first hand that the lines don't need to be perfect and you can work around mistakes.
>>7710837Have you tried going through lessons like Arthur Guptill or Alphonso Dunn? Or have you tried doing studies where you copy the lines exactly, and then move onto your own drawing but done in the exact same style you just studied? Simply inking your own work may just be your treading in place.And as the anon above said - many artists work at a larger size, so that they can shrink their work down and minimise any mistakes or flaws in their work. I think comic artists tend to work at double or triple the size of the actual comic, for example.
>>7710837>controlling my lines?post your inking materialspost your drawingspost your hand grip on the inking material
>>7710837>>7710857I saw a video of Hirschfeld drawing, he must have been over 90 years old, and I was surprised to see that he built up his long, flowing lines with lots of strokes. I had always assumed each line was done with one bold stroke of a pen or brush (maybe that's how it was when he was younger; I don't know). It's important to remember those drawings are made quite large, so when they're printed at a smaller size any little imperfections disappear.
>>7710897>he built up his long, flowing lines with lots of strokesGenuine mindfuck for me. I had no idea.
>>7710837Keep drawing long lines on paper until the page turns black. That’s it.
>>7710837The quality of the line isn't that important. It's the drawing
>>7710837Play skribbl. You have a time limit plus live audience. You're forced to draw quick and clean. I usually get accused of being a disney animator or something whenever I play - but its literally just from grinding skribbl. You're also forced to draw all kinds of thing you would never normally. Also get a fine line pen and doodle every single word when its not your turn. Focus on clean lines, never erase
