I would say if you're going to color it and add lighting, let the lighting do the work when it comes to the subtleties, or if it will just be flat color and you want to give it some depth, then add extra lines. Does that make sense?

Oh it makes total sense. I've always been a fan of heavy black and whites, 'doing all the work' ('noire' style inking if you will) and agree completley that colouring can help immensley, but I want to get to the point where I'm good enough to get away without using colours to support my linework.

When you say 'add extra lines', are you refering to shading via using thin lines at the edges?

No I mean the ones you add as if lighting would go there that make it give depth as you demonstrated in example 3 on the right.

The hatching looks good but i think that if youre gonna color it then the hatching shouldnt stand out too much, hatching is better for black and white pictures

Also i think you detailed the hair too much, maybe get rid of some extra lines?

But I think you should color it first, it might be easier to spot the problem once its colored

Mmm, I had a feeling about the detail in the hair being a problem, I'll look into that, thanks. I want to put detail into hair and such but want to, well, make it look good.

And as for colouring, please take a look at the reply to the comment above yours

Oh yeah but i dont mean like coloring it for supporting it, i mean like, sometimes theres a flaw in the ink that you miss, but once its colored you spot it right away, dunno if thats ever happened to you?

Oh, sorry, yeah, I see what you mean. I actually ink on a grey background and turn it back to white now and again. It's mostly to help with eye strain but it does show things up that I didn't see earlier.

I'm sorry to say it, but I don't like the hatching. It makes her look like she has aged horribly.

That's totally fine, I do see what you mean :)

Ah, the praise from an artist for a critique well made, huh?

I personally think the first one is the best of the three. Especially with hair, simple strokes of color can add much more depth than details with lines. Plus, I actually think its better to be more comfortable using less likes in inking because it allows you to experiment more with said color with minor details.

But either way, stick with whatever you're most comfortable using :) They all look pretty neat.

Thanks for the input, bud

I don't mean to be argumentative but I disagree with Raverkitty.

I believe that lineart reguardless of whether it's meant to be colored later or not, should be solid and stand-alone. If it doesn't look good enough without color, then it isn't good enough. That being said, I think your work has the makings and potential of really great lineart even without color. You have a nice natural pull towards it, and with a bit more refining, I think you could really produce some even MORE kickass stuff. All that is a matter of doing, is understanding what you're doing right,

What you're doing in the 2nd panel there is starting to add a tiiinnyy bit of spot-blacks, meaning you're beginning to use lineart for shadows which is a good thing. However, I don't feel that you have the control yet. I've readied a tutorial for you to post at your permission.

In the meantime, I highly recommend you begin looking into american comic inking. The DC Guide to Inking is an EXCELLENT place to start. I highly recommend that book especially for your style. I know you may be thinking "I don't do superheroes" but your linework has a great pull in the american direction. The hatching, though I'm not a fan of it, is reminiscent of 70s underground comix like Robert Crumb, an artist I highly recommend you look into for your style if you don't already draw from him. Your work has an excellent Robert Crumb feel about it.

Other artists you may want to look into, would be Jack Kirby. He has an excellent sense of black and white, where to use lineweight and when to hold back. He uses spot-blacks to really pull the viewer's eye around a composition. And of course Mike Mignola does an excellent job with spot-blacks, but I think he may be less your style than what you're going for. STILL worth looking into and seeing what you can incorporate from his style.

Start thinking of your lineweight much like subtle cel shading instead of just "outlines." Let the -shape- of your outlines reflect cel-shades.

As far as your hatching goes, if you don't want to go for the Robert Crumb look, or even if you do, it just takes a little bit of refining. Hatching isn't just throwing lines anywhere, but with proper placement, hatching can really bring volume to a figure. You already have the beginning sense of wrapping the hatching around the volume of the figure, meaning, at least you aren't just throwing straight lines on a curved surface. That's a good start, but also consider the closer the hatching the darker the shadow you're representing. Also placement. Again think of hatching much like you would consider cel shading.

Best of luck! I look forward to posting the redline/tutorial for you shortly n.n