What I Use To Draw/Make Comics (All The Rest Of The Stuff)

Photo 1) THE DRAWING TABLE. Mine sucks. It was what I could afford at the time and it sucks. Things are made so cheaply now, everything you can actually afford is designed to break, and it doesn't take long for it to happen. I hope to replace it someday, preferably with a vintage table if I can afford it. I loved the one I had before but it was very large, heavy and hard to move into an old house so I gave up on it. This one has been falling apart for years, there's a lot of duct tape in the structure supporting everything. The thing is, it works. It stands up and I can draw on it. If I have a big break someday, I'll buy a nicer one. That isn't broken.

DRAWING LAMP. This is the third one I've had in a few years, they all keep breaking. This one didn't break at the table clamp like the others, but the actual grip holding the actual light broke. so it's been left hanging like a condemned man and isn't adjustable. I have to replace it but I don't know where to go for another, everything is cheap and disposable. The thing is, it still lights up. I need new markers and pens before I can replace it.

Photo 2) FABER-CASTELL PENCIL SHARPENER. I left this one out from previous posts. I have an electric sharpener but they, like everything else, aren't dependable. I need to replace this little guy, it's broken (sense a pattern here?) but not from design flaws but by continually being dropped on the floor by myself and my studio assistant. I like a plain old sharpener because it doesn't waste as much of the pencil as an electric often does. There's also something comforting about slowly sharpening the pencils, especially the Prismacolors. I plan to replace this ancient ally in my next art supply order.

Photos 3-4) PAPER. I am no expert when it comes to art supplies, I'm just as clueless about paper. I buy declining-quality Strathmore Bristol pads for pinups and commissions, basic sizes. I buy cheap tracing paper which I sometimes use for roughs and layouts and I still have square-gridded planning paper leftover from ages ago (which I mostly use for laying out/mapping logos, title lettering and character turnarounds).

For comics, I usually am fortunate enough to have some publisher stock around, these days I usually have a small stack of blue-lined Bristol board from Dark Horse Comics to work on (photo 4). I ran out a while ago but they sent me a small stack when I did a batch of covers for them last year. If I need a large, solid piece of Bristol I'll order a sheet of 2 or 3-ply or see if the Michael's by the Costco has an undamaged, clean sheet of something decent to work on. They usually don't. I won't try out the new Hobby Lobby across the street from them because Hobby Lobby spends a ton of money to back right-wing and extreme Christian causes. Everyone makes their own decisions, none of us are saints, we all spend money in places we probably wouldn't if we had realistic options. Anyway, if I do get a big sheet of Bristol, I'll cut it up for the job and use what's leftover for Fun Strips or pinups.

What I use to cut paper up is a low-budget paper cutter (camera shy) I got from somewhere ages ago. JoAnne's (RIP).? Target (Currently boycotting)? Is it broken? Yes! It is! The handle broke after a cat incident. I glued it back on and I wrap masking tape around the loose blade lock to keep the blade from yawning open. And I put it away safely every time I use it because I don't want want my assistant to get hurt. Or me!

Photo 5-9) A PLACE FOR ALL YOUR STUFF: Photo 5 is an IKEA cart I use as an art supply caddy. I love this thing, it's really helped with organizing stuff and getting things off of desks, shelves and the art table itself. For years I was using a vintage liquor caddy but this was definitely a step up. Anything like this will do the trick, I've seen similar carts advertised, you don't have to buy something called an "art caddy" or "art cart", if you find a crafting one or a kitchen one, if it works for you, get it. You can also stick magnets on the metallic carts. Yay!

Photo 6) Stuff on my drawing table's side shelf. An office supply tray to hold basic tools, including the stamps I sometimes use to date finished drawings on the back of the pages. Inks, the pens I'm using most often during a gig, etc. A coaster for drinks, in summer they'll sweat and the water can find ways to mess with your work if you're not careful.

The electric sharpener, which I have to press to help it sharpen better. I don't use it as much as I used to. Also, an index card holder for unfinished drawings and blank cards, and the nifty little box in the upper portion of the photo is where I keep card stock of various sizes, stickers, stamps, etc. Given to me, with the card stock, by my sister as a present some years back. Presents are good.

Photo 7) A wooden CD cabinet I now use for extra art and office supplies, cords, small electronic devices and thingamajigs.

Photos 8-9) A FLAT ART FILE. I've always wanted one of these, preferably a steel number, but beggars can't be choosers and I managed to get this when Marvel Comics was clearing out their 387 Park Avenue South offices. I think it was that move. Anyway, Marvel was moving house and they were dumping a lot of office equipment. Andy Lis, an editor there at the time who I did some books for asked me if I needed a flat art file, he knew of two that were up for grabs. I got this one. Sarah used to always say I should get rid of it because it takes up so much office space, but I love it. It's got one chip and one drawer is problematic but it is a great ay to store art, flat (hence the name) and tidy. I keep extra paper, promo posters, art for sale, art that's not for sale, unfinished art, etc in here. I also have a few art portfolios in there, which hold all the Milk and Cheese and Eltingville art I have left. The bottom drawer holds original art we have from other artists, and a large stack of art and materials from Sarah's Action Girl Comics run and her other projects. It's also a shelf for a lot of big books.

Photo 10) The crappy computer! Whoo-hoo. I's pretty old, and slowing down. Like me! Also shown: File reference copies of my books, desk writing/art supplies, medications and supplements prescribed to me by various doctors for various things. Ibuprofen is an art supply they don't usually mention.

Photo 11) EPSON WORKFORCE WF-7610 PRINTER/SCANNER. We needed a replacement scanner many years back and we needed an affordable one that could scan 11 x 17 originals. Sarah found this printer which artists were recommending solely for it's scanner. because it was marketed as a printer it was cheaper than the scanners we were looking at. We've never used it to print, just scan. It's never given me a problem, it's never broken, bless this thing.

It's also a favorite perch for my STUDIO ASSISTANT. Everyone should have an assistant pet. Sometimes you can find them for free, practically.

Photo 12) REFERENCE. I have a stack of art and cartooning reference books, most of which offers wonderful advice that I ignore or forget. My favorite as both reference and objects are the Famous Artists Art and Cartooning Course books. They're just beautiful documents with artwork by Albert Dorne, Austin Briggs, Norman Rockwell, Robert Fawcett and Al Parker. The cartooning course instruction books feature Milton Caniff, Whitney Darrow Jr, Virgil Partch and Rube Goldberg. I was given the art course binders by then-Harvey Award administrator Paul McSpadden as a gift for my hosting the awards ceremony. Sarah bought me the cartooning course binders for a present. I wish I had these when I was in my 20s. Like most cartoonists, I have books on art, writing, graphics, poster design, illustration, book covers, animation, lettering et al, scattered around the studio. I wish I'd retain their wisdom better. But they've helped. Like advice, not everything helps, but overall you will learn things that bake into your work. I believe there are PDFs of the Famous Artists course floating around the internet. The internet is a reference tool, even if people are trying to make it harder to use.

Photo 13) INSPIRATION. Comics, books, art refs and stuff you like that keeps you going. Even if they don't constitute direct influences, they are the things that made you want to be a cartoonist, to make comics, to draw, to write, to make stuff. The toys are decoration but also reminders of things that inspired me. I love this stuff. This is just some of it. After 50 years of collecting you end up filling shelves, boxes and closets. Some of this stuff I've read multiple times. Some of it I still have to get to.

Photo 14-16) THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOLS I HAVE: A pen and a notebook. Where the ideas go. Many of you probably use the computer and the phone for this, whatever works. We don't remember all our ideas. Some of them aren't worth remembering. But you have to get that stuff down on paper or on a screen and save it for later. Not everything will be useful, we'll all die with reams of notes that we didn't find a place for, or we just didn't have time to toss into a script or comic. There are jokes and bits of business and story plots in my notebooks that I wrote decades ago which ended up seeing print in a comic or a TV show.

I have notebooks dedicated to Beasts of Burden, Blackwood, horror stories, Milk & Cheese, and "Jokes" (so named after a conversation I had with Peter Bagge a ways back). "Jokes" is where all the Fun Strips, one-pagers and Dork-stuff goes. I never did have an Eltingville notebook. I'll also scribble and doodle in art sketchbooks but then I have to remember to find the ideas I need later on. I'll find a design or a piece of dialog years later that were meant for a project long-written (or never produced). I'm an analog person, so, younger folks have their own digital ways of logging their story ideas. It's just a matter of remembering to have a way to write down or sketch an idea that you like and want to have around for later use. I'll sometimes write out scripts in longhand, sometimes with rough layouts, because I can get it down on paper better than on a computer. At least the rough drafts. But pen and paper is your best friend. You can make a comic just with that.

And that's the end of the art supply tour. Hope some of this has been interesting, hope some of it has provided some ideas, hope some of it helps. As I always mention, this is how I make comics, how I draw. I'm a pretty naive person and I never really learned my fundamentals. SO bear that in mind if you ever rely on anything I've said. Always look for other opinions and approaches to making comics and cartooning, just like how you should try a variety of art supplies to draw with. Then you can accept or discard the things that you need and don't need to pursue in developing your style and work habits. I do a lot of things the hard way because I didn't learn how to do some basic things. So, get that stuff under your hat from somewhere.

Maybe I'll be able to talk about writing sometime down the line, because that's pretty much a neglected topic online and in comics/cartooning classes. It's more fun and easier to look at art and see what you like about it than to go through a stack of text. We have a lot a lot of amazing artists around the world trying to make comics professionally, and there are a lot of resources for that, but not a lot of places to go to learn, or at least think, about writing. And screenplays don't cover a lot of things that crop up specifically in comics.

Anyway, the hand is screaming at me to take a break, so I'm off to ice it.

Ice. Salonpas. Wristbrace. Neurologist. Pain Management Doctor. I keep forgetting about all these essential art supplies...