How?

DISCLAIMER: This is not intended as a useful guide, more like a quick run through my normal workflow.

Personally I prefer the simplicity of a nicely inked drawing.  Unfortunately, it is often difficult to sketch out something in ink from the very beginning without making mistakes.  And, I can’t draw anywhere near good enough.  Thus, I generally draw in the following manner.

1. Sketch out wire-frame and generic shapes (pencil)
2. Cleanup sketch, refine lines and shape, and add details (pencil)
3. Ink the refined drawing (pen/marker)
4. Erase pencils (optional)
5. Thicken lines/shade as necessary

1. Sketch out wire-frame and generic shapes

A quick wire-frame with the main shapes of the drawing is a simple way to check on perspective, weight, and overall composition.

Sketch out wire-frame and generic shapes

2. Cleanup sketch, refine lines and shape, and add details

Once everything is in the right place, the shapes can be refined and more details can be added without having to worry about moving and redrawing much.

Cleanup sketch, refine lines and shape, and add details

3. Ink the refined drawing

Going over the refined drawing in ink to finalize the refined shape.  Often small changes and corrections to the drawing are made while inking.

Ink the refined drawing

4. Erase pencils

When drawing something intended to clean up on the computer, a blue pencil is used.  The blue is easily separated and removed from the black inked lines when scanned into the computer.  For those drawings, there’s no reason to erase the pencils.  If the drawing is intended to be a finished paper piece, a regular lead pencil is used and will be erased once all the lines are inked and have dried.

Erase pencils

5. Thicken lines/shade as necessary

For my specific style, the outer lines of all the main shapes are thickened, and hatch lines are used to shade.

Thicken lines/shade as necessary

Continued for Inkscape coloring in How? 2