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[Wildfire]

Hey guys
I'm currently attempting to digitally ink this picture:

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Problem is, I have no idea of how to ink water! I tried searching both on Google and on deviantart, but I couldn't find anything. I tried messing a bit around with it, but it just looks weird xD

I want her foot to break the water and create circles.

Does anyone have some tips?

[joselle]

Hmmmm....I don't think that there's really any specific things you should keep in mind when inking water. There would be more in the way you handle the coloring stage, depending on how realistic you want it to be.... The only think I can think of is that the surface of the water should be relatively smooth, not really wavy like it seems to be in the rough lines you've made. The surface tension of the water and the fact that it's a still pond (or how will you see the ripples!) would mean that most of the motion of the ripples would effect the lines horizontally and not vertically (more side to side and less up and down). Hope that makes sense, it's pretty late. lol

I read somewhere else that you were using the pen tool to do this. Very ambitious of you, lol. Some people favor it, but I absolutely don't - I usually don't see results worth the effort - so I just use the brush tool. I think if you really want to use a vector tool to ink, better to just do it in flash or illustrator (imho) But definitely a great technique to build patience and technical skill.

[Wildfire]

Heh, yeah I knew that. It was just so I could remember that it was supposed to be water xD But thanks!

Hmm, I considered using the brush tool, but my hand isn't steady enough when it comes to the long lines :/ It would probably be much faster, but it looks better with the pen tool for me. I have considered getting the trial-version of Illustrator, perhaps I really should if it's better for inking as well as coloring.