Problems with inking.. help?

About 20 yrs ago i tried to learn with old fashion caligraphy pens. Most of the upgrades of the time costs a lot more money.

now-a-days most of my "inking" is done with variable Sharpie pens.

if I need large blocks of black i use acrylic paint with a brush. Even in liquid form its fast drying, and can be a protective coat if you wanna redo in another color.

Also slightly heavy use of watercolor semi-dry works too.

This is going with idea you're thinking in terms of black. Other "ink" colors can be experimented with also as acrylic washes, or whateverf you need. Acrylic is so useful in so many formats; i used to hve acrylic "ink" bottles I bought ready to use because they were discontinuing the product; turns out the product itself was being dropped by the company.

I wish i had bought a few cases of that stuff! it was great!! Can't find it any more; t'was over 20 years ago.

First I would recommend these books in the following order:

DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way

The Art of Comic Book Inking (out of print still can get though)

Dynamic Light and Shade.

Rendering in Pen and Ink: The Classic Book on Pen and Ink Techniques for Artists, etc.

I took some Graphic Novel classes while earning my Masters these were recommended and I have always had the first two.

Now to your question:

Thick line bring things forward, thin push things back. Everything in front should be thicker if it's in front. Now on a person that is in the foreground (the front) their outline will be thick however the fold on the clothes and muscles (inside the silohuette) will be thinner. Look at examples of black and white comics online line. Just google comic art or your favorite comic (i.e., Spider man art).

Hope that helps. Those are just the basics. Getting one of the above books will really help you out though.

I am of the school of thought of ink as you feel. guidelines will only end up not being so helpful.

The most basic answer is light; where is your light source coming from.