Ren toothache inked in Illustrator

Ren Hoek - toothache_illustrator inked

As promised, here is an overview of my inking, using illustrator for the above Mr Ren Hoek.
I have decided to do this in maybe a few posts. The reason is I wanted to cover the following;

1. How to make the brushes in illustrator. And where I learn't about the brushes (this post)
2. How the brushes actually operate in illustrator and some other helpful pointers
3. The thinking and planning behind line weight in your inking

I cannot go further without giving credit to an artist called Andy Griffiths. It was at his website (Toonskool.com) that I found his tutorials on inking and the subsequent brushes to create for inking in illustrator. Unfortunately at the time of writing this post, his YouTube channel and the Toonskool.com site are not available. Which is a real shame. It looks like the only online presence I could find of Andy is on Facebook, Toonskool. Hopefully he will come back online soon.

Creating x3 brushes for inking in Illustrator

Essentially these x3 brushes do the major lifting for the above inked piece.

Name: Thin-fat-thin brush

In Illustrator, do the following;

Choose the ellipse tool, choose fill (black) and stroke to none.

Drag the ellipse out until you get a slightly elongated shape.

Make the shape as thick as your stroke will be (see below image).

Drag the shape just created into the brushes palette

Choose create new art brush

In the dialogue box choose 'tint'. This allows you to change the color if need be (see below).

Next, double click on the brush tool (Paint brush tool) to bring up Paintbrush tool options. These below options are what Andy uses for the brush. This deals with the smoothing of the brush.

Congratulations!!! First brush is now created. See below image for what it can do.

Please note: This technique of inking does not depend on a pressure-sensitive tablet. You simply draw a line and illustrator tapers thin to fat to thin - hence the name of the brush. 

You can also control the thickness of the overall stroke once you have laid it down by going to the stroke palette. This is another great feature for inking in illustrator. See below image for stroke palette dialogue box.

Name: Flat end brush

In Illustrator, do the following;

Use the pen tool to make a triangle shape.

Like the previous brush keep it small in size and keep the triangle shape straight.

Fill black stroke to none.

Next drag this into the brushes palette and apply the same settings as in first brush above (choose tint/ and then tolerance and smoothness).

See below image for final brush effect

Name: Double blunt end brush

In Illustrator, do the following;

Choose pen tool and create this type of shape.

Next drag this into the brushes palette and apply the same settings as in first brush above (choose tint/ and then tolerance and smoothness).

See below image for final brush effect

Save x3 brushes to Brush Library

To save the brush, select the brush and then choose Save Brush Library from the Brushes panel menu. A window will appear - navigate to the Brushes library of illustrator. You can create a folder also and name it specifically. Once you click save - done.

Next time you start illustrator the brushes will be there to use. 

If for any reason they can't be found you can also in the Brushes panel click on the 3 lined icon (right top side of panel), and from there choose 'Open brush library'. Here you will see a list of brushes - and the set you created.

Next post: 
How the brushes actually operate in illustrator and some other helpful pointers.