Digitally Inking Black Panther by Ryan Stegman

This piece features a digital interpretation of Black Panther, based on the original line art by Ryan Stegman, a well-known comic book artist behind titles like Venom, King in Black, and Superior Spider-Man.

I used Adobe Illustrator to carefully trace and ink the lines. This transformed the original pencil art into a crisp, vector-based version. My goal was to stay faithful to Stegman’s dynamic composition. At the same time, I wanted to enhance the clarity of every line and shape.

Once the inking was complete, I applied flat colors to give the piece a bold, clean finish. The result is a version of Black Panther that feels fresh while still paying homage to the energy and texture of the original comic art.

A Bit About My Process

I typically begin digital inking by working with the Pen Tool to trace over key outlines, preserving the original stroke weight wherever possible. For this artwork, I focused on emphasizing form and silhouette—important elements in a character like Black Panther, where the design relies heavily on contrast, shadow, and subtle highlights.

This artwork was part of my study on clean comic inking using only vector tools. I didn’t use raster brushes or tablet input at all. It’s a great exercise in precision and restraint.

Here’s a comparison of the original line art from Ryan Stegman’s Instagram and the flat colors I did in Illustrator: