It's all too human to make something harder than necessary when you're first starting out with it. I used to get a brain cramp trying to think of cartoon ideas. Even though I always got plenty of ideas, I tried too hard to think of something funny for a particular caption. I think that's a waste of time. It works much better for me to tell my subconscious that I'd like to see the world as full of cartoon ideas, processed through the filter of my main idea. Of course, with Rock Garden, that main idea is oldness. I have Rose and her family, the mummies and zombies, the geezers, and the catchall Rocculture category.
Not every cartoon I draw has to be about oldness. It can be enough if an old person says something funny that anyone else could say. Often, it turns out to have a special twist that goes with oldness, which I didn't see in the beginning.
Years ago I wanted to draw a few cartoons for my gay friends. So, I asked several of them what they thought was funny. Most of them definitely liked adult themes for their cartoons. One of them gave me this advice: "Don't try to draw cartoons about gayness. Just draw funny cartoons with gay people in them". I really took this to heart and have tried to put it to use in all my cartoons. However, following his advice, there are many cartoons where the gayness of someone would go completely unnoticed. Wish the real world could be that way! But it does feel less limiting to know that I can use all ideas in a wide variety of ways. Thyat makes it fun to choose the best way.
For example, I have one cartoon that I've drawn three ways, so far. The first version showed an old straight couple sitting on a loveseat. The man says, "Happy, darling?", and the woman replies "No, but you're welcome to keep trying". I think that's very funny, and I later drew two more versions featuring two men and two women. Using that process is something that I try to keep in the back of my mnd, because I think it's the best way to approach thia subject.
Using the filter of oldness works well for me because I draw single panel comics. I don't know how much benefit a cartoonist could make of it who draws science fiction or superhero comics. Seeing the world through your chosen filter keeps the dialogue open with your imagination and subconscious. Your mind wants to do what you ask it to do, if you get it pointed in the right direction.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
PAT Monday 25 October 2010 Cartoon Ideas
I've read several places that the number one question asked of successful cartoonists is "Where do you get your ideas?". One of them, although I can't remember which one right now, answered "If you have to ask that question, then don't try to take it up as a career". While I'm not sure if we need to be quite that severe about it, it does make a good point.
It's fortunate when a cartoonist has something that he or she really wants to say, something that they think is really funny/profound/whatever. That way, the ideas come more easily. In case they don't, however, there are lots of things that you can do to stimulate the idea process.
First, I think it's important never to censor your subconscious. Aceept whatever ideas you get. That's how you begin the essential dialogue with your subconscious. If you're critical of what you get, your subconscious gets the point quickly, and it chokes off the flow. Somewhere in your head is the best possible direction for you to take with your comics. So, do yourself a favor and listen to your own ideas.
I try to never set foot outside the front door without a notepad and pen. You can get ideas anywhere, at any time. If you don't make a good note of it, it's often gone when you try to remember it later. Besides that, get some kind of big notebook and start what I've heard called a caption bible. You may not believe this, but mine has enough captions to draw cartoons for another ten years. That's not to say that I'll use all of them, or even most of them, but they're a good safety net when you're feeling dry and need to jumpstart yourself. It gets your juices flowing just to read them.
Off and on through the years, I've woke from sleep in the middle of the night with my head full of cartoon ideas, and I've written as many as fifty at a time this way. It's as if my mind works on cartoons all the time, unknown to my waking consciousness. One time I asked my subconscious, out loud, if it would please only do that when I'm awake. If you can possibly manage it, it's great to get up earlier than necessary, so you can sit quietly with your notebook every morning. All kinds of ideas may be ready to come through if you make time for them.
For some reason, I've also gotten a lot of cartoon ideas while riding the city bus. Something about riding the bus makes them flow, and that's when having a pen and paper comes in handy. A lot of cartoonists admit to having a fear of the blank piece of paper, or a blank computer screen. I used to wonder if I would ever run out of ideas, but now I realize that's never going to happen. You can also brainstorm and get good results. Write down some topics, and then make notes of whatever comes out of your head about them.
Many times I've been excited about a topic or character, only to find out later that it was a one idea pony. That's how I ended up drawing the things I draw. If the ideas keep coming, those are the ones to pursue. There are several topics I've wanted to draw very much but can get no ideas about them. That's one of the most frustrating parts of cartooning for me. If I could will ideas to come in specific directions, I would surely do it! But I've learned over the years to trust my subconscious and the process and be grateful for what I get.
It's fortunate when a cartoonist has something that he or she really wants to say, something that they think is really funny/profound/whatever. That way, the ideas come more easily. In case they don't, however, there are lots of things that you can do to stimulate the idea process.
First, I think it's important never to censor your subconscious. Aceept whatever ideas you get. That's how you begin the essential dialogue with your subconscious. If you're critical of what you get, your subconscious gets the point quickly, and it chokes off the flow. Somewhere in your head is the best possible direction for you to take with your comics. So, do yourself a favor and listen to your own ideas.
I try to never set foot outside the front door without a notepad and pen. You can get ideas anywhere, at any time. If you don't make a good note of it, it's often gone when you try to remember it later. Besides that, get some kind of big notebook and start what I've heard called a caption bible. You may not believe this, but mine has enough captions to draw cartoons for another ten years. That's not to say that I'll use all of them, or even most of them, but they're a good safety net when you're feeling dry and need to jumpstart yourself. It gets your juices flowing just to read them.
Off and on through the years, I've woke from sleep in the middle of the night with my head full of cartoon ideas, and I've written as many as fifty at a time this way. It's as if my mind works on cartoons all the time, unknown to my waking consciousness. One time I asked my subconscious, out loud, if it would please only do that when I'm awake. If you can possibly manage it, it's great to get up earlier than necessary, so you can sit quietly with your notebook every morning. All kinds of ideas may be ready to come through if you make time for them.
For some reason, I've also gotten a lot of cartoon ideas while riding the city bus. Something about riding the bus makes them flow, and that's when having a pen and paper comes in handy. A lot of cartoonists admit to having a fear of the blank piece of paper, or a blank computer screen. I used to wonder if I would ever run out of ideas, but now I realize that's never going to happen. You can also brainstorm and get good results. Write down some topics, and then make notes of whatever comes out of your head about them.
Many times I've been excited about a topic or character, only to find out later that it was a one idea pony. That's how I ended up drawing the things I draw. If the ideas keep coming, those are the ones to pursue. There are several topics I've wanted to draw very much but can get no ideas about them. That's one of the most frustrating parts of cartooning for me. If I could will ideas to come in specific directions, I would surely do it! But I've learned over the years to trust my subconscious and the process and be grateful for what I get.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
PAT 20 October 2010 Crosshatching
Crosshatching refers to a method of shading cartoons, or any artwork, for that matter, with crisscross lines going in more than one direction. It goes back hundreds of years to the time before printing presses had even been invented. Illustrations used to be done by engravers, who carved artwork onto metal plates, which would then be inked and pressed onto paper. You can also use this method to print fabric or any other flat surface. I got to make a printing block in middle school. The tricky part is that all your carving is a mirror reflection of what will be printed. If you've ever heard the shady but funny phrase "Do you want to look at my etchings?", those etchings undoubtedly contained crosshatching. You can also carve an image onto a linoleum carving block, which is what I used, or even a potato cut in half.
I was lucky enough to work at a place where the owner had collected many antique etchings, which he had framed and hung in the workplace. And I spent many happy hours, a minute at a time, memorizing every detail of those crosshatched beauties! You've probably seen plenty of crosshatching in the editorial cartoons of newspapers. I've also studied those for years, figuring out how they achieve specific effects. Political and/or editorial cartoonists are so lucky that their cartoons get printed a good size, so all those details can be easily seen by readers. By contrast, cartoons in the comics section get printed smaller and smaller, as the page numbers of daily newspapers shrinks, too. Unfortunately, fewer newspapers keep an editorial cartoonist on staff these days. That means there are fewer jobs for these talented cartoonists, now. Most of them work with pen and ink, and I marvel at their collective skill. I've read that newspaper syndicates prefer clean, uncluttered panels from their comics page cartoonists, and a minimalist style makes sense for a cartoon that's seen in such a small size.
Besides loving crosshatching, I chose to use it for Rock Garden because I thought it went well with the subject of "everything old". It definitely gives a retro look, more than any other drawing technique I know. I got to watch a documentary about an editorial cartoonist, and he crosshatched even the sections of the cartoon that would become solid black. He just kept adding crosshatched lines until the area became black.
There are some tricky aspects to learning crosshatching. It can look really bad if it's poorly done. The lines must be placed exactly where you need them, not every which way. I filled up many pages of notebook paper, practicing the strokes. I learned that my hand has a certain length of stroke when I draw. Trying to stretch it to make longer strokes than feel comfortable won't get a good result. So, I have to plan my crosshatching to overlap in a harmonious way. It's hard to learn, but that's part of the fun of it.
I don't know if I'll ever be in the league of the old time engravers, though. A close examination of their work reveals that they actually worked intricate patterns into their crosshatching. It's nothing short of the work of geniuses. I don't even think that I have that capacity within me, but I'm content to be a crosshatching student who hopes to keep getting better.
I was lucky enough to work at a place where the owner had collected many antique etchings, which he had framed and hung in the workplace. And I spent many happy hours, a minute at a time, memorizing every detail of those crosshatched beauties! You've probably seen plenty of crosshatching in the editorial cartoons of newspapers. I've also studied those for years, figuring out how they achieve specific effects. Political and/or editorial cartoonists are so lucky that their cartoons get printed a good size, so all those details can be easily seen by readers. By contrast, cartoons in the comics section get printed smaller and smaller, as the page numbers of daily newspapers shrinks, too. Unfortunately, fewer newspapers keep an editorial cartoonist on staff these days. That means there are fewer jobs for these talented cartoonists, now. Most of them work with pen and ink, and I marvel at their collective skill. I've read that newspaper syndicates prefer clean, uncluttered panels from their comics page cartoonists, and a minimalist style makes sense for a cartoon that's seen in such a small size.
Besides loving crosshatching, I chose to use it for Rock Garden because I thought it went well with the subject of "everything old". It definitely gives a retro look, more than any other drawing technique I know. I got to watch a documentary about an editorial cartoonist, and he crosshatched even the sections of the cartoon that would become solid black. He just kept adding crosshatched lines until the area became black.
There are some tricky aspects to learning crosshatching. It can look really bad if it's poorly done. The lines must be placed exactly where you need them, not every which way. I filled up many pages of notebook paper, practicing the strokes. I learned that my hand has a certain length of stroke when I draw. Trying to stretch it to make longer strokes than feel comfortable won't get a good result. So, I have to plan my crosshatching to overlap in a harmonious way. It's hard to learn, but that's part of the fun of it.
I don't know if I'll ever be in the league of the old time engravers, though. A close examination of their work reveals that they actually worked intricate patterns into their crosshatching. It's nothing short of the work of geniuses. I don't even think that I have that capacity within me, but I'm content to be a crosshatching student who hopes to keep getting better.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
PAT 19 October 2010 Coloring Cartoons with Colored Pencils
After using colored pencils every day for five years to color Rock Garden, I'm just now getting really comfortable with them. The best way to get good with them is to use them a lot. There seems to be no substitute for that.
One thing every artist learns is to develop a palette. You start out trying every possible color. Some seem to go with your subject and art better than others. I've read that many artists eventually use only a dozen colors most of the time, and that's true for me a lot of the time. Although the majority of webcomics use fairly dark palettes, that doesn't look right to me for Rock Garden. It's also much more difficult to blend the darker colors.
There are a few pencils that I use constantly. I made the remark to a friend that I wished I could buy Rose Art and Crayola pencils individually. She surprised me by calling Rose Art to ask about that, but they told her it wasn't possible. Even so, if I had to buy a box of Rose Art or Crayola pencils every time I needed one of my favorite colors, it wouldn't be any more expensive than buying one pencil from the art brands. As you might expect, I have ended up with hundreds of pencils in colors that I seldom or never use. It's very easy to donate them to friends with kids, or even institutions, so they do get used.
Experimentation is about the only way to learn to use colored pencils. My own progression with them was probably fairly typical of anyone who uses them. I initially tried to color very lightly. That didn't look good, so I tried to color very heavily. That didn't work well, either. It was kind of like The Three Bears. Medium pressure works fairly well. But it doesn't solve a host of other coloring problems. Every artist will find the ways that work best for them.
Usually I color in a circular motion. That creates the heat necessary to melt the wax, so that it blends best. It gets rid of streaks and uneven spots. If you color with chalk, you can use something called a stomper to blend. That's a chalk-sized piece of tightly rolled paper. I was delighted to discover that there was something called a colorless blender pencil, and I ordered three brands to try. I used them quite a bit for several years. In the long run, I developed a good instinct for the hand pressure needed to blend colors with the pencil itself.
Someone was kind enough to give me a dvd about techniques with colored pencil, and I also bought several books on the subject. They were all geared for fine art techniques. To my notion, cartoons need to look, well, cartoony. I don't even want them to look like fine art, because then they wouldn't look like cartoons.
Many webcomic artists color every single inch of their cartoons. I asked one of them why, and he told me that it mimics the look of animation. My next question was why he wanted his cartoons to look like animation, when they were cartoons, not animation. He didn't have an answer for that, except to say that's how he wanted them to look. And that's fine with me.
I love to leave quite a bit of negative space in my cartoons. Negative space can be defined as space with nothing in it. My cartoons have areas with no color. And I fade the colors to nothing before they get to the main lines of the cartoon. This looks, to my eyes, like the way natural light hits objects in the real world. Most webcomic artists don't do it that way. Usually their comics are throughly and consistently colored throughout their work. Once again, I asked one of them why everyone does that. His answer was because that's how one colors webcomics. The absolute worst thing to me would be having a comic that looked like anyone else's comic, in any way, shape, or form. But it's none of my business what other artists do.
There are both fans and detractors of the way that I color my comics. In fact, I've been laughed at by several artists who digitally color theirs. These criticisms all came not long after I started coloring the comic. Partly, I think that's because I wasn't very good at it at the time. I can't help but notice that the negative comments have diminished in direct proportion to my skill level rising.
This is not to say that I believe that I have mastered the art of using colored pencils. Far from it. As of today, I have never colored a cartoon to my complete satisfaction, and I'm relatively certain it's because I still have a lot to learn. That makes them fun to use, because, like cartooning itself, it's a subject that can hold one's interest throughout a lifetime.
I think the next subject we tackle will be my particular method of drawing cartoons, which makes use of something called crosshatching.
One thing every artist learns is to develop a palette. You start out trying every possible color. Some seem to go with your subject and art better than others. I've read that many artists eventually use only a dozen colors most of the time, and that's true for me a lot of the time. Although the majority of webcomics use fairly dark palettes, that doesn't look right to me for Rock Garden. It's also much more difficult to blend the darker colors.
There are a few pencils that I use constantly. I made the remark to a friend that I wished I could buy Rose Art and Crayola pencils individually. She surprised me by calling Rose Art to ask about that, but they told her it wasn't possible. Even so, if I had to buy a box of Rose Art or Crayola pencils every time I needed one of my favorite colors, it wouldn't be any more expensive than buying one pencil from the art brands. As you might expect, I have ended up with hundreds of pencils in colors that I seldom or never use. It's very easy to donate them to friends with kids, or even institutions, so they do get used.
Experimentation is about the only way to learn to use colored pencils. My own progression with them was probably fairly typical of anyone who uses them. I initially tried to color very lightly. That didn't look good, so I tried to color very heavily. That didn't work well, either. It was kind of like The Three Bears. Medium pressure works fairly well. But it doesn't solve a host of other coloring problems. Every artist will find the ways that work best for them.
Usually I color in a circular motion. That creates the heat necessary to melt the wax, so that it blends best. It gets rid of streaks and uneven spots. If you color with chalk, you can use something called a stomper to blend. That's a chalk-sized piece of tightly rolled paper. I was delighted to discover that there was something called a colorless blender pencil, and I ordered three brands to try. I used them quite a bit for several years. In the long run, I developed a good instinct for the hand pressure needed to blend colors with the pencil itself.
Someone was kind enough to give me a dvd about techniques with colored pencil, and I also bought several books on the subject. They were all geared for fine art techniques. To my notion, cartoons need to look, well, cartoony. I don't even want them to look like fine art, because then they wouldn't look like cartoons.
Many webcomic artists color every single inch of their cartoons. I asked one of them why, and he told me that it mimics the look of animation. My next question was why he wanted his cartoons to look like animation, when they were cartoons, not animation. He didn't have an answer for that, except to say that's how he wanted them to look. And that's fine with me.
I love to leave quite a bit of negative space in my cartoons. Negative space can be defined as space with nothing in it. My cartoons have areas with no color. And I fade the colors to nothing before they get to the main lines of the cartoon. This looks, to my eyes, like the way natural light hits objects in the real world. Most webcomic artists don't do it that way. Usually their comics are throughly and consistently colored throughout their work. Once again, I asked one of them why everyone does that. His answer was because that's how one colors webcomics. The absolute worst thing to me would be having a comic that looked like anyone else's comic, in any way, shape, or form. But it's none of my business what other artists do.
There are both fans and detractors of the way that I color my comics. In fact, I've been laughed at by several artists who digitally color theirs. These criticisms all came not long after I started coloring the comic. Partly, I think that's because I wasn't very good at it at the time. I can't help but notice that the negative comments have diminished in direct proportion to my skill level rising.
This is not to say that I believe that I have mastered the art of using colored pencils. Far from it. As of today, I have never colored a cartoon to my complete satisfaction, and I'm relatively certain it's because I still have a lot to learn. That makes them fun to use, because, like cartooning itself, it's a subject that can hold one's interest throughout a lifetime.
I think the next subject we tackle will be my particular method of drawing cartoons, which makes use of something called crosshatching.
PAT Tuesday 19 October 2010 Using Colored Pencils
When I started looking for the best way to color Rock Garden, the first thing I tried was coloring them in Photoshop. Even with its myriad of effects, Photoshop didn't give the look I wanted. Coloring the cartoons digitally would have somewhat broken my resolve to use material and methods that are accessible to everyone, but I thought coloring was important enough to risk that. To my eye, Photoshop made them look too readymade. That was also my objection to drawing them in Photoshop.
The look I was seeking was to mimic early colorized black and white photos. If you've ever seen one, you might agree that it's unforgetable. It's about the softest use of color I can imagine. Sometimes not everything in the photo gets colored, but only certain parts. This can look especially interesting. In a way, it reminds me of drawings colored with art chalks, which I had used as a kid. I couldn't imagine any more perfect look for cartoons about everything and everyone old. Back to Walmart I went. My choices were limited, of course, to rudimentary watercolors, crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Watercolor would not work for coloring copy paper, of course. It would warp the paper too much. And markers wouldn't work, either. There's no way to adequately blend either watercolors or markers on copy paper.
I had read that it's a bad idea to color your original, and I agree with that. For one thing, you only get one chance to get it right, and that's too much pressure for me. For another, you lose the use of your original. You might want to print it in black and white some time. With the high cost of color printing, I can see why. Cartoon books printed in color cost about three times more than those printed in black and white.
Walmart carries both Rose Art and Crayola colored pencils as staple items. Serendipity was working for me on that. Both those brands have a wax base, which is ideal for use coloring copy paper. Expensive art brand colored pencils have an oil base, which tends to soak into the copy paper too much. The expensive pencils also look much more opaque and obscure all lines in the cartoon. They don't blend well on copy paper, either. Sometimes you get lucky with the first try, and so it was with the Rose Art and Crayola pencils.
Rose Art's largest box of colored pencils contains 72 colors, and Crayola's contains 50 colors. This is a pretty good palette. The Rose Art colors look more like Rock Garden to me, but I'd hate to do without either brand. It takes both to satisfy all the color requirements. As far as I know, these two brands are the most economical you can buy. I did get a box of colored pencils at the Dollar Store to try. Talk about The People's Art! They worked fairly well, but since the box contained only eight colors, that wasn't something I could use.
Several people recommended gel pens to color. I did try a few of those, but they didn't work well for me on copy paper. At one point I went nuts and ordered a huge set of expensive art pencils, plus other pencils from a variety of fancy schmancy brands. That's when I discovered that the economical Rose Art and Crayola worked much better for copy paper. It's funny how things develop, following their own peculiar course.
I also spent way too much money for several supposedly excellent sharpeners for colored pencils. Some of these are pretty expensive. They did not last at all. A few weeks' worth of use and they were toast. In the end, I bought some el cheapo sharpeners that came in packs of a dozen, the kind you can find at back-to-school time. They actually last better than the expensive ones! And when they get dull, it doesn't hurt a bit to throw them away.
Once I had settled on Rose Art and Crayola, I decided to treat myself and bought three leather pencil cases big enough to hold one of each color. That turned out to be a waste of money, not because the cases weren't nice, but because it was too much hassle to pull each pencil out of its elastic casing, use it, then put it back again. It got to be like a second job! Eventually, I put the very expensive set of colored pencils in the leather cases, and I never use either of them. I used the plastic trays from the set of expensive pencils to hold the Rose Art and Crayola ones. There were four trays. Stacking two on each side, they're a perfect fit for the sides of my drafting table. And the best part? They have exactly enough slots for one each of the Rose Art and Crayola pencils. I get a good laugh out of the fact that I spent a couple hundred bucks to get four perfect plastic trays.
In the next post, I'll get into coloring techniques with colored pencils. I know that I'm far from being an expert on the subject, but I'm happy to share what I've learned so far. And believe me, I'm still learning every day.
The look I was seeking was to mimic early colorized black and white photos. If you've ever seen one, you might agree that it's unforgetable. It's about the softest use of color I can imagine. Sometimes not everything in the photo gets colored, but only certain parts. This can look especially interesting. In a way, it reminds me of drawings colored with art chalks, which I had used as a kid. I couldn't imagine any more perfect look for cartoons about everything and everyone old. Back to Walmart I went. My choices were limited, of course, to rudimentary watercolors, crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Watercolor would not work for coloring copy paper, of course. It would warp the paper too much. And markers wouldn't work, either. There's no way to adequately blend either watercolors or markers on copy paper.
I had read that it's a bad idea to color your original, and I agree with that. For one thing, you only get one chance to get it right, and that's too much pressure for me. For another, you lose the use of your original. You might want to print it in black and white some time. With the high cost of color printing, I can see why. Cartoon books printed in color cost about three times more than those printed in black and white.
Walmart carries both Rose Art and Crayola colored pencils as staple items. Serendipity was working for me on that. Both those brands have a wax base, which is ideal for use coloring copy paper. Expensive art brand colored pencils have an oil base, which tends to soak into the copy paper too much. The expensive pencils also look much more opaque and obscure all lines in the cartoon. They don't blend well on copy paper, either. Sometimes you get lucky with the first try, and so it was with the Rose Art and Crayola pencils.
Rose Art's largest box of colored pencils contains 72 colors, and Crayola's contains 50 colors. This is a pretty good palette. The Rose Art colors look more like Rock Garden to me, but I'd hate to do without either brand. It takes both to satisfy all the color requirements. As far as I know, these two brands are the most economical you can buy. I did get a box of colored pencils at the Dollar Store to try. Talk about The People's Art! They worked fairly well, but since the box contained only eight colors, that wasn't something I could use.
Several people recommended gel pens to color. I did try a few of those, but they didn't work well for me on copy paper. At one point I went nuts and ordered a huge set of expensive art pencils, plus other pencils from a variety of fancy schmancy brands. That's when I discovered that the economical Rose Art and Crayola worked much better for copy paper. It's funny how things develop, following their own peculiar course.
I also spent way too much money for several supposedly excellent sharpeners for colored pencils. Some of these are pretty expensive. They did not last at all. A few weeks' worth of use and they were toast. In the end, I bought some el cheapo sharpeners that came in packs of a dozen, the kind you can find at back-to-school time. They actually last better than the expensive ones! And when they get dull, it doesn't hurt a bit to throw them away.
Once I had settled on Rose Art and Crayola, I decided to treat myself and bought three leather pencil cases big enough to hold one of each color. That turned out to be a waste of money, not because the cases weren't nice, but because it was too much hassle to pull each pencil out of its elastic casing, use it, then put it back again. It got to be like a second job! Eventually, I put the very expensive set of colored pencils in the leather cases, and I never use either of them. I used the plastic trays from the set of expensive pencils to hold the Rose Art and Crayola ones. There were four trays. Stacking two on each side, they're a perfect fit for the sides of my drafting table. And the best part? They have exactly enough slots for one each of the Rose Art and Crayola pencils. I get a good laugh out of the fact that I spent a couple hundred bucks to get four perfect plastic trays.
In the next post, I'll get into coloring techniques with colored pencils. I know that I'm far from being an expert on the subject, but I'm happy to share what I've learned so far. And believe me, I'm still learning every day.
Monday, October 18, 2010
PAT: Monday 18 October 2010 Drawing Materials
People do ask me what materials I use to draw and color the cartoons, and I'm happy to tell them. Many people can tell that I use colored pencils, because it does give a particular look. When I started Rock Garden Comics in 1994, I drew in black and white but did not color them. I got this idea in my head that cartoons are the People's Art. As such, they should be accessible to everyone, and that includes anyone who wants to draw them, too. Even at the beginning, I knew that I would share anything that I learned along the way. I'm just like that.
To fit into my vision of The People's Art, I decided that whatever materials I use should be inexpensive and available everywhere. I had a bug up my behind about it, and nothing else would do, so I bought everything I used at Walmart, including the drafting table that I still use today. It's a little the worse for wear, but I'm sentimental about it. As long as it will stand there for me, that's the one I'll use. To start, I bought a few styles of roller ball pens, a tablet of so-called artist's paper, and a ream of copy paper. While I intended to use the copy paper for practice, I ended up loving it for drawing cartoons.
The slick surface of copy paper makes it ideal for use with roller ball pens. It's strong and can take quite a bit of erasing. Speaking of that, I bought several erasers to try, too. The kind I liked best were art gum erasers. They look rubbery and cause the least damage to the copy paper. I always sketch with good old #2 pencils. As long as the pencil marks are light, they erase easily.
For a long time I preferred extra fine roller ball pens. There's something magical about roller ball pens to me. They glide effortlessly over the copy paper. It almost feels like I'm skating when I draw, and I never get tired of that wonderful sensation. Over the last couple of years, I've switched to Fine pens. I like the stronger line, and I have the confidence to make a thicker line, now. I never even considered using pen and ink. Even though they're not expensive, really, you can't get them at Walmart, so they don't fit in with my People's Art vision. Yes, I know; I'm quirky.
I drew like a fiend in black and white only for the first ten years. This was mainly because I got lucky at the very beginning. The editor of my local paper liked the cartoons (well, some of them, at least) and printed them in the local newspaper. I'll talk about that later, too. I had showed her both single panel and three panel cartoons, but she refused to print the three panel ones at all. She flat out told me that she liked to use my cartoons for filler, in case they had extra space.
The lure of publication hooked me on single panel cartoons, but there's a lot to recommend them otherwise. Hardly any of the other artists I know use single panel. They say it's just too hard to concentrate a good idea into one panel. I agree that it's hard, sometimes very hard, indeed, but I got used to it right up front, and now I like using that format just fine. One feature of my personality, and I'll leave it to others whether it's a virtue or a flaw, is that I tend to stay with things to the end, unless I have a good reason to change. When it comes to cartoon output, it's definitely a virtue. I can crank out cartoons forever, or at least as long as Mother Nature will cooperate! You could call it a liability, concerning experimenting with different techniques and mediums. But I'm really too busy for that, anyway.
After I'd been on the web for a few months, I started getting the itch to color the cartoons. The main reason for this was looking at other people's webcomics. You know; the grass is always greener, and all that. Coloring the cartoons turned out to be a much more major undertaking than I would ever have imagined. In fact, if I'd known how steep the learning curve would be with coloring, I truly think that I would have stayed with black and white. There are other important considerations involving the choice of black and white versus color, too. And that will probably take up the next post, at least.
To fit into my vision of The People's Art, I decided that whatever materials I use should be inexpensive and available everywhere. I had a bug up my behind about it, and nothing else would do, so I bought everything I used at Walmart, including the drafting table that I still use today. It's a little the worse for wear, but I'm sentimental about it. As long as it will stand there for me, that's the one I'll use. To start, I bought a few styles of roller ball pens, a tablet of so-called artist's paper, and a ream of copy paper. While I intended to use the copy paper for practice, I ended up loving it for drawing cartoons.
The slick surface of copy paper makes it ideal for use with roller ball pens. It's strong and can take quite a bit of erasing. Speaking of that, I bought several erasers to try, too. The kind I liked best were art gum erasers. They look rubbery and cause the least damage to the copy paper. I always sketch with good old #2 pencils. As long as the pencil marks are light, they erase easily.
For a long time I preferred extra fine roller ball pens. There's something magical about roller ball pens to me. They glide effortlessly over the copy paper. It almost feels like I'm skating when I draw, and I never get tired of that wonderful sensation. Over the last couple of years, I've switched to Fine pens. I like the stronger line, and I have the confidence to make a thicker line, now. I never even considered using pen and ink. Even though they're not expensive, really, you can't get them at Walmart, so they don't fit in with my People's Art vision. Yes, I know; I'm quirky.
I drew like a fiend in black and white only for the first ten years. This was mainly because I got lucky at the very beginning. The editor of my local paper liked the cartoons (well, some of them, at least) and printed them in the local newspaper. I'll talk about that later, too. I had showed her both single panel and three panel cartoons, but she refused to print the three panel ones at all. She flat out told me that she liked to use my cartoons for filler, in case they had extra space.
The lure of publication hooked me on single panel cartoons, but there's a lot to recommend them otherwise. Hardly any of the other artists I know use single panel. They say it's just too hard to concentrate a good idea into one panel. I agree that it's hard, sometimes very hard, indeed, but I got used to it right up front, and now I like using that format just fine. One feature of my personality, and I'll leave it to others whether it's a virtue or a flaw, is that I tend to stay with things to the end, unless I have a good reason to change. When it comes to cartoon output, it's definitely a virtue. I can crank out cartoons forever, or at least as long as Mother Nature will cooperate! You could call it a liability, concerning experimenting with different techniques and mediums. But I'm really too busy for that, anyway.
After I'd been on the web for a few months, I started getting the itch to color the cartoons. The main reason for this was looking at other people's webcomics. You know; the grass is always greener, and all that. Coloring the cartoons turned out to be a much more major undertaking than I would ever have imagined. In fact, if I'd known how steep the learning curve would be with coloring, I truly think that I would have stayed with black and white. There are other important considerations involving the choice of black and white versus color, too. And that will probably take up the next post, at least.
Pat: Mnday 18 October 2010 Cartoon Storage
When you've drawn enough cartoons to need a good filing system, it's also time to think about long term storage. I found out the hard way that they can get discolored with age when left out in the open. Besides spilling coffe on them and finding tea glass rings, I've also had the pleasure of trying to remove cat puke from a cartoon. Basically, it can't be done.
After reading up on this subject, I invested in a package of acid free paper, so I could put a blank page of acid free between each cartoon. But I didn't realize that a) this gets really bulky in a short time, doubling what you must store, and b) it's a major annoyance to remove and put back the acid paper every time you need certain cartoons. Even though I'm a detail person, I ended up stacking the acid paper, because I kept forgetting to put it on top of the cartoons when I pulled them from the inventory. Good thing I didn't spend much on that experiment.
Traditional file cabinets didn't work very well for me, either. It seemed like a lot of work to me to flip through folders, taking them out and putting them back all the time. Besides that, the edges of the cartoons got a big dog-eared. Eventually I discovered stacking plastic drawers. I bought a number of them at Walmart, the kind that contain three drawers each. Each drawer will hold a ream of paper. They work fine, but after only five years, they have a few cracks and a bit of sagging (because they're all very full).
A few years ago I invested in two free standing, rolling cart units that have the same plastic drawers. These came from a housewares catalog and cost quite a bit more than the ones from Walmart. They're good quality, though, with ten brightly colored plastic pull out drawers each, contained in a metal frame on rollers. I keep these two units close to the computer/drafting table area, and they hold the current year's work and whatever else I use in the way of bookkeeping and filing. Just recently I transferred the first five years' worth of daily cartoons, both black and white originals, good copies, and colored copies to the Walmart bins for permanent storage. All those bins are now full to the brim. In five more years, I'll have to fork out for some more drawers. But it keeps them clean and pristine, and that's worth all the trouble it takes to set it up that way.
Some years back a well meaning person took it upon himself to nag me about keeping the cartoons in a bank vault. While I was flattered that he thought they were that valuable, it would be a nightmare to try and work that way. I do make two digital copies of all the cartoons and burn them to a cd when each batch is completed, including drawing, copying, coloring, filing, and processing in Photoshop. I can't imagine not doing that. But these cd's contain only the images that I have processed for the web, so they would not work to make books or merchandise. But we'll get into all that later.
After reading up on this subject, I invested in a package of acid free paper, so I could put a blank page of acid free between each cartoon. But I didn't realize that a) this gets really bulky in a short time, doubling what you must store, and b) it's a major annoyance to remove and put back the acid paper every time you need certain cartoons. Even though I'm a detail person, I ended up stacking the acid paper, because I kept forgetting to put it on top of the cartoons when I pulled them from the inventory. Good thing I didn't spend much on that experiment.
Traditional file cabinets didn't work very well for me, either. It seemed like a lot of work to me to flip through folders, taking them out and putting them back all the time. Besides that, the edges of the cartoons got a big dog-eared. Eventually I discovered stacking plastic drawers. I bought a number of them at Walmart, the kind that contain three drawers each. Each drawer will hold a ream of paper. They work fine, but after only five years, they have a few cracks and a bit of sagging (because they're all very full).
A few years ago I invested in two free standing, rolling cart units that have the same plastic drawers. These came from a housewares catalog and cost quite a bit more than the ones from Walmart. They're good quality, though, with ten brightly colored plastic pull out drawers each, contained in a metal frame on rollers. I keep these two units close to the computer/drafting table area, and they hold the current year's work and whatever else I use in the way of bookkeeping and filing. Just recently I transferred the first five years' worth of daily cartoons, both black and white originals, good copies, and colored copies to the Walmart bins for permanent storage. All those bins are now full to the brim. In five more years, I'll have to fork out for some more drawers. But it keeps them clean and pristine, and that's worth all the trouble it takes to set it up that way.
Some years back a well meaning person took it upon himself to nag me about keeping the cartoons in a bank vault. While I was flattered that he thought they were that valuable, it would be a nightmare to try and work that way. I do make two digital copies of all the cartoons and burn them to a cd when each batch is completed, including drawing, copying, coloring, filing, and processing in Photoshop. I can't imagine not doing that. But these cd's contain only the images that I have processed for the web, so they would not work to make books or merchandise. But we'll get into all that later.
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