Digitally Inking Sketches with Inkscape and GIMP – Part 1

Or, how to create your own Maitre d’ the cheap and easy way!

If you’ve read this site for any length of time (and you probably haven’t because it’s very new), you’ve probably said to yourself, “Self, how can I make cartoons like the Maitre d’?” And yourself, being the self that it is, probably responded, “If you don’t know, then I don’t know either. That’s because I’m you. Also, you’re talking to yourself as if you’re another person, so should probably be seeking some mental help right about now.”

And you would be right. Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.

So, now that you’re back from therapy, how do we make our own Chainsaw Buffet-style cartoonery–beloved the world over for its sense of whimsy and wonder?

Original Sketch

The Sketch

Well, first, start by sketching out something on paper. It doesn’t have to be clean, it just needs to be well-defined enough that you can trace over it. We’ll be cleaning it up once we scan it in.

For your first sketch, do something simple. Just a few simple lines will do–too fancy, or too many lines, and it’s going to get tedious. (OK, maybe I shouldn’t have used The Maitre d’ as the example for this article.) No shading or hatching is needed in this case, either. Just make sure you outline where the shading will be as a guide. You want something that’s easy to ink, so that you can go through the entire process rather quickly to get an overview.

Go on. Draw something. I’ll wait.

The Hardware

OK. You’re going to need a scanner for this one. A digital camera might work in a pinch, but you really need a scanner. You don’t necessarily need a good scanner, either. We’re not actually going to use the scanned sketch for anything other than a guide.

Go out to Wal-Mart or Staples or wherever it is you go to get these things. Now. Don’t worry. I’ll still wait.

The Software

Personally, I use Inkscape and GIMP. Why? Well, they’re free, and I’m cheap. You could use Illustrator and Photoshop, but that costs money. (Unless you want to pirate it illegally. In which case you should be ashamed of yourself. So very ashamed.) Inkscape and GIMP also happen to run on Linux, if that’s your OS of choice.

So, first step is to get Inkscape and GIMP. (There’s no need to install them both right now if you want to follow along. You’ll only need Inkscape for this first part; part two of the article will cover using GIMP.)

If you have trouble installing them, you might want to make sure you’re not running any other software than uses GTK+, and if you are, you may want to reinstall that software. The Chef had some problems getting these programs to install and run, so do a little troubleshooting before you come crying to me like he did.

Go ahead. Download and install the software. I’ll be waiting right here.