Make Comics Not Excuses

The beautiful thing about a comic book is that you need only a piece of paper and a pencil to make it. You don’t need expensive software, or cameras, or a huge budget, and can still make a story that rivals the biggest movie blockbusters.  However, there isn’t just one kind of paper, or one kind of pencil. What kind should you use?

I can’t answer that for you, but I can educate you on different art supplies used to make comics. It’s up to you to go, test them out, and find the best tools that fits your style! Remember, most of the time there isn’t a overall “best tool,” because each one has its own pros and cons. You have to find out what works best for you.

In the coming weeks I’ll be going through several different supplies: paper, pencils, erasers, inks, and other tools.  I’m going to stay focused on tools used in making comics but I will mention alternatives as well. If there is something you want me to go over leave a comment and I’ll make sure to include it!

So lets get started…

Paper

If we’re going to draw then we need something to draw on, right?

I think every artist starts off on printer paper. And that’s fine. Its pretty inexpensive, and perfect for a budding artist, but its major flaw is that it is flimsy. It won’t stand up to multiple erasures, nor any sort of wet media like ink or markers. So for illustrations and comics I recommend bristol board.

Pros:

• The perfect surface for pencil art, color pencils, and ink drawings.
• Thick enough to withstand multiple erasures (if you’re like me and prone to a lot of erasing.)
• Wont buckle with some wet medias such as ink wash or markers.
• Copic markers appear brighter and blend better than other comparable papers.

Cons:

• Most markers will bleed through to the other side.  This won’t affect your art, but it will affect anything underneath your art. So make sure you have a scrap piece of paper underneath so you don’t accidentally mark up your table or other pieces of art.
• It can’t get too wet. It won’t buckle if your using an ink wash. But if you’re going to tea-stain the entire paper, you’ll notice warping.  If your art is going to get very wet, invest in some water color paper.

Bristol comes in two textures: “Smooth” and “Vellum.” As you can probably guess, the smooth texture is a very smooth drawing surface (duh) and the vellum has a slight roughness to it. Sometimes these two textures are called “Plate” and “Tooth.”  I personally like smooth bristol as it allows me to draw smaller details both with my pencil and pens. The tooth of the vellum bristol holds onto the pencil’s graphite better allowing you more control over shading.

If you are making a comic book, (not just a comic strip, or webcomic) then you will probably want bristol board that has page measurements on it.  It’s the same paper, just with trim and safe zone guides printed on it. This will make your comic book drawing a bit easier.

 

Stathmore and Canson both make these ruled pages, but there are other companies. Blue Line Pro, is one of the best sources for comic art boards (I’ve used them for many years). You can also go to Ka-Blam, and buy pre-lined art boards that are made to their printing specifications. (You can even customize it with your comic’s logo if you want.)

Alternatives

Many of you may not be able to afford art boards that are $1 per page, or maybe your comic is going to use a medium not traditional to comics. Here are some alternatives:

Index/card stock

You can get this at any office supply store in the printer paper section.

Pros:

• Much less expensive. You can buy a pack of 250 sheets for around $15.
• Great for pencils, ink lines, and color pencils.

Cons:

• It really hates getting wet. So no ink washes.
• You could use markers on it, but they’re very hard to control.
• Markers bleed through the paper terribly.

Crescent Multi-Media boards

Pros:

• As the name suggests these boards are made for multi media, so it can handle most of the media you’d want to use: markers, inks, ink wash, etc.
• Your markers won’t bleed through the paper, and your washes won’t warp it.

Con:

• Relatively expensive. One piece of art board is roughly $3. That can get pricy when you’re making a 30 page comic.

Charcoal/Pastel paper

Pro:

• This paper has a lot of texture. So it’s great for pencil and charcoal drawings as well as pastel illustrations.

Con:

• This paper has a lot of texture. That texture is likely to show up in the scan of your art.
• It really can’t handle getting wet. It’s not advisable to use ink or other wet materials on it.

Watercolor paper

The name should give away what this paper is designed for.  It comes in three types. Hot Press (smooth), Cold Press (tooth), Rough (duh). Choose as your art style and project requires.

Pro:

• This paper can get soaking wet and be okay. So it is perfect for all wet medias, specifically watercolor (as the name suggests.)

Con:

• The paper is relatively expensive. It is totally worth it if you’re going to be working in wet medias, but a waste of money if you’re just going to be using pencils and pens.

And thats paper! I hope that helps clarify your choices. If you have any follow up questions or want to request a tutorial, just leave me a comment here and I’ll  get it up on my blog schedule!

Next week we’ll talk pencils but tomorrow we’ll have page 19 of Shadows of Oblivion #3. In the mean time:

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And remember: Make Comics! Not Excuses!