Coloring Book Publishing Tutorial: Sketching and Ink
Welcome to the first step of coloring book publishing: getting that sketch done. Whatever your topic is, start with a rough sketch and detail it until you can call it a drawing. Then ink it and scan it. Sounds simple, right? The sketching and inking for the drawing I will use in this tutorial took me 4 hours and 48 minutes.
I start each coloring page like this. I am a traditional drawer, but you may want to draw yours on a tablet, or Wacom, or laptop. Mileage here may vary but the outcome is the same: get a drawing started! This will be the start of what people will end up coloring. Have fun here!
Coloring Book Publishing Sketch
Here is the drawing we will be following from sketch to published product. I love drawing antlers; they are also something I carve into jewelry. I also adore house plants and decided to feature a philodendron. I have long been meaning to draw a sugar skull so I threw that concept in here as well. In the end I feel like I created a fun design for people to color.
Coloring Book Publishing: Transfer and Inking
Once you are happy with your sketch it is time to ink the artwork. I like to transfer my sketches from sketch paper to bristol board. Bristol board is smooth for inking, and has a fine tooth for color pencils. I pretty much use it exclusively for my finished illustrations. I use Micron pens for the ink. Occasionally I will use Copic liners but those are expensive and you will get more bang for your buck with the Micron pens.
To do the transferring here I used a make-shift light table from shop scraps…:
and used my phone as the light source:
After I finished this drawing I bought this LED tracing light box and wish I had one sooner! Highly recommended LED light box.
Next Time on Publishing a Coloring Book
Congrats, you have finished the very first step to publishing your own coloring book! Give yourself a pat on the back and remember to do your stretches today. Come back next week for step 2: scanning and editing the inked drawing.
Call to Action
I hope you are finding value in this ongoing series. If you are, please consider purchasing a coloring page from our store here, or our redbubble here, or our gumroad here. As well, you can consider a monthly subscription support on our patreon here. Your support in any way means we can keep creating works and blogs to bring to you right here on Root Inspirations.
