Hi! I love your art and was wondering how you do your outlines and lineart? Just like choosing colours for outlines and stuff like that. It's something I personally struggle with and I can't help but notice how pleasing yours is to look at. :D
Hi!! Thank you so much!๐งก๐งก I thought a lot about your question and I'm not really sure if i have a decent answer that can help you, because i don't really do a lot of lineart in a traditional sense, but i can definitely try to explain my process and how I'm thinking about it, and maybe you'll find something useful in all that :)
Also sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language and i only use my brain to write for the sake of practice๐๐พ๐
The way I'm thinking about my art is "Colour always comes first, everything else is secondary and optional" because the way the colours lean into eachother and mix and the dynamic they create between eachother will always be the compass for doing all the other work and deciding how the artwork gonna be shaped in the end
So after drawing the quickest sketch
I found this one on my tablet and decided i can use it here, anyways, after drawing the sketch i never do the lineart, instead i start filling it with colour
I won't go into my colouring details since it's not what you asked for, but the main reason i never do the lineart or a very defined sketch first is that, i think, in some way, it blocks the creativity that you have when you're only given a very vague scribble. The crisp lineart gives a strict sense of responsibility that i personally think is not very fun, so instead of using lines to decide on what shapes I'm gonna use in the drawing, i immediately use colours for that, so i can play around and see what fun shapes and textures i can create, that would elevate the look of the drawing and give it the right feelings. That's what vague sketch is for, it's messy enough so you don't really want to follow it's lines, but grounding enough so you know your space and distance
But then you have this clean coloured drawing that looks pretty alright by itself, but it's kinda too sterile, yeah? A bit unfinished and doesn't have a lot of personality. That's what those lines for! You can use it to define your shapes and to help your colours pop, but also they help with storytelling. I don't like sterile art processes, i think it's a space for experiments and for your imagination, think a little about your characters, materials, colours, how they interact with eachother, how do they feel.
Well look at those yellow boots, they look a little rubbery, yeah? Rubber is pretty thick, elastic, bouncy, so for things like that you'd wanna use softer and thicker lines without really sharp edges, but defined enough that we know it's a hard material with it defined shape. Same with the leather jacket, it's rough and riot-y and crafty, but it's also a fabric, so it's not that strict with it's form like harder materials, so u can have fun with all the edges and the diy-ness of it, by doing a lot of those messy rude lines. You gotta give some materials space to breathe and not really cling to them, like lace, ect.
With someone like Batgirl, heroic, stoic, tough as a nail, you'd want to use grounded, stable, finished lines, but she also has this bit of salt and, in a way, pity, because of seeing this genius young woman in front of her in such delusion and understanding how many deaths it brought, so i also wanted to focus on lines, that are just there enough to contour her body and add dimension, but not necessarily make her more threatening if that makes sense
The great thing about doing lineart to help define your colours and shapes, is that now in the process you already see where the contrast works the best, so essentially this step is just going back and forth between colouring, adding details, and drawing lines to shape your objects, so, again, just have fun with it, with brushes, colours, thickness of your lines, think about feelings of your objects and with what textures and volumes do you want to represent them, don't bother if some lines don't connect or something, you're not doing it for professional animation and no poor soul gonna colour it with a bucket tool so it's all good. With line colour advice I'm not sure if i really have any, because it really is very feeling and vibe based, but i guess just don't be afraid to be bold with your choices, make sure that you switch your tones and not use strictly black, but also don't be afraid of using black, because it creates very cool accents sometimes and adds this deep and cool contrast in your drawings
So there you have it! It's a bit rushed and I'm definitely not an expert, but i tried to explain my vision as best as i could, i hope it'll help you somehow! ๐งก๐งก
