Weight In Line

The story of how I learned about line weights.

Jul 26, 2023

It was probably 1997-98 (I was 19) when I attend a small comic show in Johnson City, TN. I lived in a Bristol, TN at the time and it was a short 30 minute drive to the hotel ballroom it was being held in. It was your typical small comic show of mostly toy dealers and retailers selling back issues. I had been to a few before and loved hunting down Spawn figures. (Which were a brand new thing back then.) This particular show did have something the others hadn’t… a few professional artists. As an aspiring comic artist, I was so excited to meet some real life pros! This was the first time I was going to show my portfolio of drawings to someone in the industry. It’s been 20+ years now so I can’t remember all of their names, but I will never forget one…

…Kevin Sharpe.

Kevin’s done a lot of work at Marvel and other companies over the years, but at the time he was promoting BOOK, an indie comic he had drawn. He was inking a commission when I met him and I was enthralled! I was watching real comic art be made right there in front of me. And I was about to show him my portfolio and see if he thought I was ready for the big world of comic books!

I asked if he’d take a look and he was super nice and did. Now, I had ZERO comic pages in the “comic” portfolio. I was a kid that loved comics but didn’t really know how to make them. I had a bunch of pin ups and hip hop style characters. But no pages. He was nice enough to not really give me a hard time about that. Instead, he flipped through what I did have and said it was good and he liked what I was doing, but… I needed to work on my line weights.

Now I’m sweating. Because I don’t want to seem like I don’t know what he’s talking about, but I absolutely didn't know what he was talking about. It was like those moments one of your friends start talking about an obscure band and ask you if you know them, and when on the spot you feel the need to say “oh yeah, totally, they’re great.” Instead of “nope, but they sound cool. Tell me more.” In this instance, I wanted to learn something, so I admitted to not understanding what he was saying.

He went on to explain what line weights were and why they were important. He was inking with a brush and showing me on the commission how the thick and thin of everything gave the figure dimension. He pointed out on my drawings where i could use some thicker lines and heavier outer holding lines. I was blown away and wondering how I had not known this before. It’s like I just unlocked the next level of my art life!

When I say I was excited, I mean, i was REALY FUCKING EXCITED! I told him thank you, walked directly out to my car, drove the 30 minutes back to my apartment where I pulled all the art out of my portfolio, sat at my drawing table and got my ink pen out. I went over every piece I had in the portfolio, thickening up the lines just like Kevin showed me. Well, not JUST like he showed me. I went WAY over board. I got pretty heavy handed with the thickness, but the pieces are popping so much more. I was thrilled with how much better it all looked. (notice how I said BETTER, not GREAT! And you have no idea how much I wish I still had some of that old art).

I gathered up all the art, got back in my little ass Honda CRX and drove the 30 minutes back to Johnson City where I b-lined it to Kevin’s table and proudly showed him the changes I’d made! I’ll be honest, I can’t remember what his reply was because I was just so inside my own head thinking about all the art I was going to make with my new line weight super powers!

While I might not remember his exact words, I will never forget that day or Kevin Sharpe and how kind he was to a young man trying to figure out to do what he did. Neither of us would have know how much he changed my life that day. It opened a door to drawing for me that nothing ever had before, and very few things have since.

It would be years before inking line weights became a natural thing for me. For a long time, i just thought building up thick lines with a pen did the trick. And you know what? Sometimes it did. Now i use brushes and it’s second nature to create the lines needed to convey what I want. It’s only taken two decades. Haha.

Kevin, if you’re out there, thank you. There are a few key people in this business that helped me do what I do today, and you aren’t just one of them, you’re one of the FIRST of them. Thanks for the tips!

Fun fact. One of the my favorite pieces that I showed him and applied his suggestions to ended up being tattooed on one of my buddies that I ran around the young skater/music scene with. We were both waiting tables at a spot in Bristol then. I don’t have the original, but I reached out and asked him if he still had it! HE DID!! Here’s the 20+ year old tattoo!

I don’t have the art from that portfolio, but here are a few pieces from just a few years after where I was still using the tips Kevin gave me.

This Human Torch drawing i pretty much the same pose as the tattoo from a year or two before. You can see, not a lot of range for young Skottie Young just yet. I was so focused on style that didn’t work on my basics enough. But that will be whole other newsletter. This drawing was posted across the messages boards until it found its way to the desk of Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort. Soon after I drew the Human Torch series!

This was my first published cover in 2001 or 2002. It was for an anthology series from the popular Digital Webbing message board.

The band P.O.D. hired me to do a T-Shirt for the Satellite tour. You can’t see it very well here, but super thick lines and again, that same side pose. haha! This is the only image I could find. Comment if you can find a better one! I did art on the back of the shirt, too.

And a few designs for 2000-ish Image pitches. both with C.B. Cebulski! And yes, for a hot minute, I thought about using my DJ name “ELEMYNT” (I was very into misspelling things) as my comic handle and signature. This maybe one only pieces of proof I have for that. Clearly I loved the MAD! and LIQUID! signatures back in the day! hahaha.

Skottie Shop Update

Hey everyone, Megan here! The Amazing Spider-man #30 is out today! We have Skottie’s Doc Oc cover available in a CGC Signature Series 9.8! Don't forget these ship for FREE along with anything else you order along with your slab (as long as you are willing to wait for them to ship together)! Please note that your slabbed book will have the insanely cool ripped apart logo… see below.