At this point in the strip, the hard work is finished. The writing is usually the most difficult aspect of doing a strip for me, followed by the drawing and then the lettering. I really enjoy inking. I get into a pseudo-Zen state while I ink, and I can crank loud obnoxious music while I do it. One of the coolest "perks" of doing a daily strip is having the ability to listen to whatever type of music that I enjoy, whenever I want to.

INKING: I use a brush to ink the majority of my work, and my brush of choice is the widely accepted comics standard: the Windsor Newton Series 7 #2 brush. These brushes cost around $15-$25 each depending on where ya shop. You have to be very careful in selecting the brush that you buy. Make sure that the hairs of the brush come to a very sharp point, with no stray hairs jutting out of the group and no splits in the tip! A brush that has a sharp, pointy tip will last you for months or even years, but a brush that has splits won't work well on the first day that you take it home. As in most careers, the artist is only as good as his/her tools, so make sure that ya get a good brush if you choose to ink with one.

That being said, if you've never inked with a brush before, it's best to practice with a cheaper nylon brush so that you don't destroy your $25 brush during the learning curve. Nylon brushes aren't as durable as a good camel hair brush, so after you've gotten the hang of inking with a brush, it's actually cheaper to buy one good brush than multiple nylon brushes. Morilla makes a nylon brush group (Taklon) and these were the brushes that I first learned to ink with. After about six months of practicing with a Morilla 1 No. 25 Taklon brush, I got my first Windsor Newton on recommendation from an animator buddy, and I've never looked another brush in the eye since.

A key to inking with a brush is to have by your side:

1.) an old T-Shirt
2.) scrap paper
3.) a cup or bowl of clean water
4.) good water-proof ink.

First dip your brush into water until the point becomes malleable (new brushes have some type of water-soluble goop in them to help them keep their point until they're bought and cleaned, and old brushes will get hard from the ink residue that's in them and need to be "revived" with water). Once the tip is soft, gently roll the bristles of the brush on the T-Shirt to form a nice pointy tip. After that, dip the brush into your ink, removing the excess by gently pushing the tip into the lip of the inkwell. Next, roll the remaining excess ink out by rolling the brush on your scrap paper. By "rolling" I mean that you gently put the tip of the brush onto the surface of the paper (and/or shirt) and twirl the entire brush. This removes the extra ink that will cause blotting as well as "trains" your brush to come to a fine point. After you've fully "charged" your brush with the proper amount of ink, you're ready to put it to paper and finish your work. Brushes allow the artist to get a wide variety of line width (line quality) quickly and effectively. To learn good brush technique, pick up one of Will Eisner's excellent books on the making of comics. You can also study the works of artists that you like and mimic what they're doing, as this is a great way to "learn by doing".

I use Higgins Black Magic Ink. I've tried many other kinds, but Higgins Black Magic makes the most solid and non-erasable blacks for me. I tend to fully ink a strip, filling in large black areas and all, before erasing. This strategy doesn't work if I use an ink that erases (by "erases" I mean that the blacks become grey and faded, not completely dissipated). A different approach would be to ink all of the line work, erase the strip of all pencil marks, and then fill in the large black areas. I prefer to get all the inking done in one fell swoop, so I do the previous. To each their own.

At this point, it's all done! On the left is the fully inked panel, and to the right is the erased, final version. Wahoo!

There are two schools of thought (that I'm aware of) on what to do with your brush when you're finished inking for the day. The first recommends cleaning the brush out with white soap, removing as much ink as possible. The second is to merely rinse the brush out in your cup of water and allow some of the ink residue to dry in the brush. I found that cleaning the brush out after each use was too destructive to the hairs of it, so I go with the latter. Just as washing your own hair too much will damage your beautiful locks, I've found the same to be true of brushes.