Cheerleader Inked

Check out this cheerleader, pencil drawing after it's been inked. What a difference a little black, marker makes eh? During this stage the drawing really starts to come into focus and looks like something approaching a polished, professional illustration. For this particular illustration, I did in fact use thin, black markers. I simply put the pencil drawing under a piece of bristol board (like poster board) and put them on a light table so that it was easy to see the pencil lines through the bristol board. Inking, despite what some may say, if more than simply tracing the pencil drawing. "Personality" is given to the line quality by carefully modifying the width of the lines to create a sense of depth and form. Fascinating stuff huh? Next comes the color! Click on image to view larger version.