Today, I am going to be talking about the first thing you are going to need to create a comic strip: the paper. While it is true that some cartoonist do most if not all of their work on the computer, you don't really need that when you are starting out. A good old piece of paper will do, as you will see in the essay below.
NOTE: It is kind of daring to call this an essay, but I didn't know what else to call it.
It may sound obvious to you, but the first thing you have to think about when you are about to create comic strips is the surface on which you are planning to do your work. There are many options available to you for this, but I have two pieces of advise when it comes to paper.
- Do not pay any more than you absolutely have to to get practice paper.
- Once ready to produce a permanent work, buy the best paper you can
Let's talk about that a little. When you are doodling, looking for ideas, practicing character poses, do not do it on expensive paper. Any piece of paper will do. I have doodled sketches for my comic strips on napkins, on the back of cash register receipts and on the agenda for a meeting at work. Since you don't know when your ideas will strike, it is not really necessary to have an expensive sketchbook for them.
That said, however, if you are anything like me (and I guess you are, since artists tend to be disorganized) you are going to end up looking all over the place (or places) for that one little sketch that you need to finish your masterpiece. That's where sketchbooks come in handy. Now, to be honest with you, I have never paid for a sketchbook in my life. Any notebook will do, since you only need it to keep your doodles together for reference. I have those little 6 x 9" Steno Books and sometimes I doodle on those. For the most part, though, I do my sketches on the unused side of regular copy paper. I have an almost unlimited supply of that from my day job. What I do is every time I have a document that I need to get rid of, I deposit it in one of two places. I have a little box labeled "THE DEATH ROW" for the things that have to be shredded, like important documents, or anything that contains sensitive or personal information. After the little box gets full, I walk about ten steps out of my office to the shredder and get rid of them. It saves time by not having to walk over to the shredder every single time, but that is a different story and does not have anything to do with today's discussion.
The other location is one of my desk drawers. Papers that are not important, based on the criteria listed above, and that have no staples on them, end up face down in that drawer. When I need to sketch something, I just open the drawer and grab a paper. That way I am re-using resources and helping save the planet, right?
If you don't have an unlimited supply of paper like I do, there's no need to despair. You can buy the cheapest paper at your nearest office supply store and that will do.
Now, let's talk about some serious paper for your serious work.
If you go to the art section of your favorite supply store, you will undoubtedly be presented with many options as to what type of paper to use. I am not going to get into the advantages or disadvantages of them all, but will mention some requirements you should have in mind before you buy, and then I will tell you what type of paper I use.
For comic strips, you are likely to work on pencil, ink and perhaps color. I cannot offer you advise on color, because Midtoon is colored on the computer, but for the line work, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:
- The paper should be smooth, so the pencil lines and ink can be uniform. There are many types of paper that have textures. Those lend themselves to other types of art, but for your sharp lines and high contrast you can't beat smooth paper. It also helps with erasing, and believe me, you will be doing lots of erasing in this line of work.
- The paper should be stiff enough to resist wear and tear. Since you are going to be erasing a lot, you need a paper that will stand up to that. Imagine working for hours on that delicately detailed panel for your comic strip only to rip it in two pieces with your eraser. Not pretty. You will end up chewing on your eraser and crying for a week. Not that that has ever happened to me, though. I don't like the taste of erasers.
- The paper should absorb the ink and hold it in place, not disperse it. To better understand the concept of dispersion, think a paper towel. Try to use one of your liquid ink pens on a paper towel and you will see how it will be impossible to draw a thin line without having the ink "spidering" out and distorting your lines. Most papers will do that to a certain extent, but it will diminish the quality of your art.
- The paper should be WHITE. Unless you are going for a particular effect, your paper should be as white as possible, to assure high contrast, especially if you plan to scan your line art, like I do.
- The paper should be acid-free. Acid free paper will not deteriorate with time, will not change the colors of your inks (as long as the inks are permanent, but we will talk about inks some other time) and will not change color itself. You have probably seen a piece of old paper that looks like it has been burned on the edges. That is because of a process called oxidation. If you thought that it looked similar to burning, it is because it actually is. Combustion is a rapid form of oxidation, so it does the job faster, but the end result is the same, your work is reduced to ashes.
After all that, this is the paper I use for drawing: Smooth Bristol Board. I buy the series 300 from Strathmore. See an image here: http://image.orientaltrading.com/otcimg/73_64082-89.jpg. You can find this paper in many places. It is a little thicker than index cards, takes ink very well, is really white (for good line contrast) and resists rough handling. I really give it a lot of erasing and it works well. In addition to that it is acid-free, which means that it will not yellow with time, making your masterpiece last longer.
That's it. I hope it helped. If you read this, feel free to add your comments, and happy drawing.
NEXT TIME I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE MEDIA: PENCILS AND INKS
NOTE: To see a sample of my work with comic strips, feel free to visit my website at www.Midtoon.com, where you can see te Midtoon comic strip. If interested in subscribing to Midtoon to receive updates in your email, just drop me a note at Author@Midtoon.com
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