Draw with Brian #9
Magician Sneaking Away 2 — Inks
In this episode of Draw with Brian, we move from rough sketches to clean, confident linework.
This stage focuses on inking — refining structure, clarifying silhouettes, and locking in character consistency before color.
Transcript
Hey everyone, welcome back to Draw with Brian.
Today we’re picking back up with Magician Sneaking Away 2. Last time we worked on the roughs and stopped when I couldn’t find my stencil for Derrick’s head. We roughed something in freehand, but now I’ve got the stencil back, so let’s dial it in properly.
I originally created this stencil during the first Derrick and Max book, Derrick the Dog, just for consistency and convenience. It keeps the head shape uniform from drawing to drawing.
We’ll scale the stencil down using the transform tool. Once it’s the right size, we apply the transform. One quirk of ArtRage — to exit transform mode, you have to select another tool. You can’t just click off of it.
ArtRage froze briefly on me there, so quick restart — and we’re back in business.
Now we’ll clean up the freehand rough from last time. Honestly, it wasn’t far off. But now we can refine it properly.
Let’s zoom in. It’s especially helpful if you’re watching this on a phone.
We’ll erase the loose lines and refine the armor silhouette. He’s slightly more rotund with the armor on.
The Black Knight needs some cleanup too. The hairline felt a little odd, so we’ll adjust that to something more natural. These roughs were already fairly tight — we’re close to final ink quality already.
Now we move into inking.
When I’m inking, I like to work from the front to the back — the reverse of how I do roughs. Derrick is the foremost character here, so we’ll start with him.
We create a new layer for “Derrick Ink,” and reduce the opacity of the rough layer to about 70%. That lets us see the guide without overpowering the linework.
We’ll hide the King temporarily so he’s not in the way.
Using the Derrick pen and pure black, we start tracing clean lines. That cowlick is always fun — Derrick’s head shape stays consistent from almost any angle.
The big question: do we see any part of his eye from this angle? After zooming out, I think just a hint works. Not too much.
We bring the line all the way to the bottom of the page this time — something I missed before.
Next up: Black Knight Ink.
Again, lower the rough opacity and start tracing. His face is slightly turned, so we see a bit of profile — long nose, angular chin. I decide to make his jaw a little more angular for interest.
We adjust the ear placement slightly. The Black Knight is slimmer than the King — not nearly as bulky.
I debate bringing his shoulder forward more, since his turn suggests we should see more of it. If we don’t like it, undo is always there.
That’s the beauty of digital.
Now for the King Ink.
He sits farther back in the composition, so most of his body is behind Derrick. We clean up his silhouette, give him that heavy jawline and thick neck. The King is a big guy — broad, thick arms, wide armor opening.
We might see just a hint of his face from this angle — maybe even a suggestion of eyebrow.
One thing to remember: if you keep tracing over slightly altered versions of a drawing instead of returning to the original reference, drift happens. That’s why I like to go back to my original designs periodically to keep proportions consistent.
After refining the King’s arm and shoulder armor, I think we’re in a good place.
Zooming out — the inks are clean, readable, and consistent.
We’ll refine further next time if needed, but for today, the inking stage is essentially done.
Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at the process.
You can learn more about my books and artwork at bdcrowell.com.
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Until next time — keep imagining, keep drawing, and keep bringing some beauty into the world.
Created November 1, 2025.
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