sort of self-indulgent poll

[ratcreature]

With my last acrylic painting I tried for the first time to skip the lineart inking, and now I'm wondering which version of my style viewers like better, if they have a preference at all, i.e. without inked lineart like in this Star Trek art, or with inked lineart like for example in this SGA art or pretty much any color art I've done before.

Poll #5136 lineart: to ink or not to ink

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 18

View Respondents

Which lineart style do you prefer for my fanart paintings?

View Answers

lineart inked in black (like the SGA example)
3 (16.7%)

lineart not inked (like the ST example)
10 (55.6%)

no preference
5 (27.8%)

Comments

[zing_och]

I have no idea, but I want to tell you that both those pieces are gorgeous!

[ratcreature]

Thanks! That is a nice boost for my ego, and helps with the annoying "omg I suck so much" internal monolog that always happens when I actually try to draw or paint something, because it does not magically appear on the paper like it was imagined in my head...

[tassosss]

I'm actually not sure I can really tell the difference. I picked the ST one because I like it better but I'm not sure if it's the composition more than the style you use. The desert and open space of the ST one with the people at a distance vs the intamacy of the forest scene at night. I like the open feel of the ST one and the lines on the statues.

I guess my real answer is, I like them both and I'm not sure how to compare the two?

[ratcreature]

The ST one is actually supposed to be hall in a cave with pillar, LOL, but I see what you mean with the comparison, and actually I didn't outline the distant forest background in the SGA one either, and only outlined some beneath the paint, not above, so the lines are not as noticable, which I guess might blur the differences.

In case you are interested to judge with less distraction of the whole, I might make it easier if you just look at a small detail with the people to judge, like this detail of the ST one:
http://www.ratcreature.net/fanart/trekreversebang-detail2.jpg
vs this detail of the SGA one
http://www.ratcreature.net/fanart/yuletart2009-detail1.jpg

[tassosss]

Ah! Thanks for the closeups! I can see the difference now. I think I prefer the ST one without lines, but I don't know. I keep going back to the SGA one because I like how the inked lines are clean too.

[ratcreature]

Hee. No preference is fine! It's reassuring to hear both work in their way. :D

[goss]

I like the lineart one for the clean details and I liked the non-lineart one for the gorgeous textures, so I guess it depends on the subject. Possibly the lineart works better for capturing facial expressions and the non-lineart is good for sweeping landscapes?

[ratcreature]

Yeah, there is something reassuringly definite about having a clean line before coloring, and I like the black ink outline and color combination a lot, but before the ST piece I wondered whether I don't sometimes use a line as crutch that may get into my way of really trying more to work with acrylics as color painting, rather than just coloring lineart, you know?

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

See, now...I don't think I can really judge because they're such very different works of art. I *love* inked lineart, but I think it would have actually hurt the ST piece (which is great). So...my vote goes for I DON'T KNOW OMG!

[ratcreature]

Well, up to the pencil stage they were planned and done exactly the same though! I mean, okay, one has statues as background the other a tent with a campground, but it's but basically both are illustrations of a scene with several figures and a background, and planned to be done in acrylic. So from my POV of trying to decide what to do after pencils, they were pretty similar. Sometimes it feels different for me with the lineart, for example my Iskierka picture, I can't imagine not having inked the lineart there, because it makes the dragon "pop out" in a way or something like that, but that has a bit more emphasis on the line.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's the setting that makes the ST work so much better without the ink. Big stone statues, and a sort of dusty/hazy atmosphere...having the images pop too much wouldn't work as well.

[ratcreature]

Well, in the SGA picture for example I did the ink lines of the figures and some of the foreground objects twice (once below and once above the paint), but the outlines of the fire, the tents and the trees in the background and such only once below the paint layer or not at all in some places, to achieve different levels of "outlined-ness". So I guess even with outlines there are degrees of what gets a sharp outline and what doesn't, now that I think about it.

[sholio]

*muses* I went for "not inked" because I do really like that effect -- it gives it a nice naturalistic effect. I can go both ways, though; I don't think I have a strong preference one way or the other. It does depend on the subject and whether it seems to need the sharpness of the inked lines or not.

[ratcreature]

I like lineart and its graphic feel, but I think I paid a bit more attention to the colors in the ST one when I did not have had the definite lines to rely on for clarity still in the final.