Batman #671

Since Tony has the finished pencils of this cover previewed on his blog I figured it’s my turn to show off the inks. This one needed to be turned around pretty quick, with that said I think it came out pretty nice. I don’t recall exactly how much time I spent on this one but I’m guessing around five hours or so. I actually worked on it late at night so I wouldn’t be to distracted by life.

Normally when I work I tend to start on the background or the stuff with the least amount of impact on the page. This way you can get warmed up before you tackle the faces and anything in the foreground. It’s a good idea to work this way especially if you are new to inking, it’ll help build your confidence. But working this way takes discipline so be patient. Most people tend to want to jump right into the heart of the page, trust me when I say warm up first. In my case I went right for Batman, I couldn’t resist.

Inking Tip: When you have a tight deadline on a page(s) after you feel you are nice and warmed up ink all the faces and hair first. I’ve found that this keeps me from rushing through the extremely crucial parts of the page. This way when you are closing in on the end of your night (you know the part where you’re just sick of inking) you aren’t stuck with all the tedious stuff. Now all you have left to do is crank up the music and breeze through all the easy stuff.