So my last tutorial was on pencil drawing materials and this time we'll focus on inking supplies. Some of the drawing supplies apply here as well (refer to Drawing Materials for details on them), rulers, templates, scanner and software if you plan on displaying online. Most people prefer to ink over pencil lines as well so for your base drawing you'll need pencil drawing materials as well with the exception of blending tools.
Pens
There are quite a few options for pens that you have on what to use for inking, I'll list the pros and cons of each option.
Dip Pens: These are quite old fashioned pens but still are wonderful for drawing. You buy the holder and nib(the pen point) separately, this means you can have one or two holders for a wide variety of pens. The nib is loaded with india ink from a bottle (it must be india ink not fountain pen ink) either by dipping the pen right in the bottle or by applying the ink to the nib with a brush (much less messy). Dip pens can give a very wide range of line thicknesses just by pressing harder or lighter with the pen which makes for some beautiful ink effects. Also india ink is waterproof, non-bleeding, acid-free and non-fading. The disadvantages to dip pens are that they take some setting up (you have to get all the materials, put the pen together, load it with ink, and refill the nib often), they can be very messy since it involves lots of liquid ink, the nibs are pointy steel so you have to be careful of poking yourself, and they are not very portable.
Drawing Pens: Under this heading is a wide variety of pens and prices, some refillable, some disposable, and come in many line sizes. What they all have in common is durable, lightfast(won't fade), acid free, waterproof ink. They are very convenient if you don't like the prep time that dip pens require and they don't have the potential to cause as much mess, they are also quite portable. The downside to them it even if you buy several different sized pens you can't get the line variation that you can with dip pens. My reccomendations for affordable pens is Faber-Castel Pitt Pens, Zig Millenium Pens (I actually bought a pair of these in the scrapbook aisle in Walmart's craft department, I was quite surprised to find them since they are a quality pen), and Sakura Pigma Micron Pens.
Gel Pens: These are quite common pens, available in many colors and with nice thick opaque ink. They are very affordable you can buy them just about anywhere some are even acid-free and light fast. The disadvantages are the pen points sometimes clog up, there's no line variation, and they aren't waterproof. I wouldn't reccomend these for most art, but they are wonderful for doodling and the colored gel pens can be used for small accents in drawings.
Ballpoint Pens: These are the pens you see most often everyday for writing. There is a wide variation in quality of ballpoint pens, I'd only reccomend the nicer ballpoint pens (such as pilot) for any type of drawing. They are affordable and great for doodling and practice. However they sometimes bleed, are rarely lightfast, many aren't acid-free, and aren't waterproof.
Markers: There are several types of markers to consider, the first are art markers. These are usually acid free and lightfast but rarely waterproof and often are quite pricey, however it you enjoy large areas of ink they can be a good choice. The second type are permanent markers like sharpies, these aren't meant for art they aren't acid-free or lightfast and often bleed quite a bit. The third are childrens markers such as crayola, these are great only for little kids to play with not anything you want to really last.
Brushes: Okay so these aren't technically pens but you still use them for applying ink. Like dip pens you use them with bottles or india ink. You use them much like you would with paint. They can cover large areas with ink quickly. The disadvantages are that they can be very messy, aren't very portable, and they are probably the hardest to learn to get controlled lines with. I prefer using brushes with dip pens (pens for the lines, brush for filling in areas).
Fountain Pens: There are two types of fountain pens now. The first type is about the same as the refillable artist pens I mentioned, these have ink cartridges that you buy to replace the empty ones in the pens. The difference is that they have a nib similar to a dip pen. The other kind is very old fashioned and you fill by hand with liquid ink, not many of this sort are still made. Most fountain pens being sold new are intended for calligraphy (fancy writing) not drawing but I thought I'd include it anyway since some of them can be used for drawing. You have to use special fountain pen ink with them. The disadvantages are that they can be hard to find and they can be messy.
Inks
The following section is about inks, these are for use with brushes or dip pens. Of course you can buy prefilled pens with different inks in them if you want to try colored inks as well. There are also fountain pen inks in a variety of colors but I'm not familiar with those so I can't really cover them.
India ink: India ink is a rich dark black ink, it's waterproof which makes it perfect for going over with watercolors or thinned colored ink after it's dry. Chinese ink is very similar to india ink and has the same basic properties and most of the same ingredients. There are also some colored varieties of india ink as well but the term is usually used for the black ink.
Walnut Ink: This is a beautiful old fashioned brown ink, it's not waterproof but nice if you want to give your work an aged feel.
Acrylic Inks: These are waterproof, lightfast, colored inks that can be diluted with water to get lighter shades.
Papers:
Pretty much any paper can be used for inking. Markers and some ballpoint pens will bleed on softer papers so always test on a corner before using. Bristol board and other illustration boards are most popular for crisp inking such as comics or detailed illustrations.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
On Death and Family Love
I usually want to keep my blog about issues related to my art and world development but something in the news has grabbed my attention because it hits so close to home.
This case of Terri Schiavo brings up lots of questions, I won't comment on the particulars of that case since there is more involved than simply whether she or her husband as next of kin should be able to make that decision. The question I'm concerned with is should someone have the right to end medical care for themselves or their next of kin or should everything be done to keep someone alive who is dying? I come down firmly on the side of patients and families deciding that question not the government.
January 2004 my grandfather passed away after a long illness. He was one of the lucky ones, polls say that 70% of people would choose to die at home while only 25% actually do. My grandfather died at home with my grandmother next to him and since everyone knew he was dying the whole family had a chance to say goodbye before the end. My grandfather could probably have been kept alive for a few more weeks but niether he nor the rest of my family wanted that. It was more important to him and us that he be at home surrounded by the familyhe loved than alone in a hospital hooked up to a respirator. Everyone dies eventually and we never can know how or when for sure, the best we can hope for is to be with those we love when it happens and if that means dying a few days or weeks or months sooner than I'd rather die sooner and happy than later and alone.
My grandfather was lucky and I feel sad that Terri Schiavo won't get that. Her parents and husband will be fighting until the moment she passes away rather than surrounding her with their love even if she isn't aware of them.
This case of Terri Schiavo brings up lots of questions, I won't comment on the particulars of that case since there is more involved than simply whether she or her husband as next of kin should be able to make that decision. The question I'm concerned with is should someone have the right to end medical care for themselves or their next of kin or should everything be done to keep someone alive who is dying? I come down firmly on the side of patients and families deciding that question not the government.
January 2004 my grandfather passed away after a long illness. He was one of the lucky ones, polls say that 70% of people would choose to die at home while only 25% actually do. My grandfather died at home with my grandmother next to him and since everyone knew he was dying the whole family had a chance to say goodbye before the end. My grandfather could probably have been kept alive for a few more weeks but niether he nor the rest of my family wanted that. It was more important to him and us that he be at home surrounded by the familyhe loved than alone in a hospital hooked up to a respirator. Everyone dies eventually and we never can know how or when for sure, the best we can hope for is to be with those we love when it happens and if that means dying a few days or weeks or months sooner than I'd rather die sooner and happy than later and alone.
My grandfather was lucky and I feel sad that Terri Schiavo won't get that. Her parents and husband will be fighting until the moment she passes away rather than surrounding her with their love even if she isn't aware of them.
Friday, February 25, 2005
World Building Fun
Okay so I've been caught up in other stuff and haven't been able to write up the inking material tutorial yet, I promise I will I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Instead here's a little peak into my world building efforts, it's a write up I've been working on about Noadi's village and general area.
Sheltered Meadows
Sheltered Meadows
Like many villages in the western forest Sheltered Meadows is largely self-sufficient, they produce their own food, clothing, tools, and has a blacksmith, midwife, and shaman. Trade with neighboring villages and the occasional itinerant trader supply whatever else they can't produce themselves.
Contact with the outside world is rare for Sheltered Meadows and the other villages, the mountains to the east are difficult to travel through so what news that comes through is treasured. The isolation has been more total in the past dozen years since the plague swept over the continent killing indiscriminately about a quarter of the population and nearly crippling the small villages of the western forest.
Currently there are about 20 families living in the village, most have lived there for generations except for 3 families from a nearby village that was all but wiped out by the plague and the young apprentice shaman who's parents came from over the mountains.
The Western Forest
The western forest covers about 30,000 square miles of the western side of the continent. To the west is the sea where there are a handful of fishing villages but the lack of good harbors limits the number and to the east are the mountains with their few passes, most travelers come from the south where there is a small marshy plain and several large fishing communities and sea access to the rest of the continent.
The western forest itself is a temperate forest consisting of a large number of conifers and hardy deciduous trees. Villages are widely spaced and largely self-sufficient, living in cleared meadows raising a few crops and livestock, and supplimenting what they raise with wild game and plants harvested from the forest.
Friday, January 21, 2005
Drawing Materials
This blog entry may eventually turn into a tutorial on my website. If you got here from Noadi's Pixels you've probably seen the poll on it, if you got here through the Shaman website or some other means go check it out the poll is also repeated at the bottom of this page.
So I wanted to go over my drawing process since I occasionally get questions on it. Now I really draw in two ways, first in pencil of course and also in pen and ink. I'm going to start with materials for pencil drawing, my next entry will describe my actual drawing process and then pen and ink.
Important Tools
Pencils: There are many drawing pencils out on the market and I really don't use any of them. I have two types of pencils that I use most. The first is a mechanical pencil with .5 mm HB leads don't but the really cheap disposable mechanical pencils get a decent ones with lead refills, mine are Papermate Cleat Points. The other pencils I use are Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils, which in my opinion are some of the best out there but any quality wood pencil will work (never buy cheap pencils with fake wood casing they are very poor quality). Both can be bought anywhere that sells office supplies. I have some fancy drawing pencils that were given to me as a present by my aunt but I don't use them as often as my regular pencils.
Kneaded Eraser: These are wonderful things and the best friend of pencil artists. A kneaded eraser is a grey tacky rubbery putty-like substance, the great thing about them is that these can be pulled apart into any size you want and shaped into many useful shapes. You can erase with them normally or lightly scrub or press with them to only lighten an area of pencil.
Vinyl Eraser: These are some of the cleanest erasers you can get, they really lift the graphite out of the paper. This doesn't mean you can press really hard with you pencils because while it lifts graphite well it can't get rid of the indents in the paper that pressing too hard can leave.
Blending Stumps: These resemble double ended pencils and are made of tightly pressed typically gray paper. They are used to blend pencil tones. The fine points help achieve more detail, they come in various sizes and are extremely inexpensive (I bought a pack of 12 in 4 sizes for a little over $2).
Tortillons: These are tapered rolls of paper, you can buy them or make them. They are similar to blending stumps and are used in much the same way, the difference is that they don't have as fine a point so the detail possible with them is a bit limited.
Rulers and protractor: You rarely see straight lines in nature but man-made structures have lots of straight lines and angles. I have several rulers because I seem to collect them but the most useful are the 12 and 18 inch ones. I also have triangular rulers and a protractor for getting angles right. A simple school/kids geometry set is fine. I usually use these for setting up my perspective lines since I rarely draw buildings or furniture.
Brush: A cheap 1 inch craft paintbrush (you can get them for less than a dollar at craft stores), use this for cleaning graphite dusts and bits of eraser off your paper. Using you hand can smudge the drawing and deposit oil from your fingers on the paper.
Pencil sharpener: Doesn't need to be fancy just a good sturdy one with a sharp blade. Electric sharpeners are wonderful but a plain manual sharpener is okay or even a sharp knife (though I don't recommend using a knife).
Optional tools
Light Box: I use a Fiskars Lightboss which I bought cheap at walmart for about $18, it's intended purpose was for embossing and other scrapbook making stuff but a lightbox is a lightbox and other brands can be very expensive. You can also build one there are lots of plans online for them, here is one Perfect for tracing preliminary sketches onto your final drawing paper.
Masking Tape: If you are using a lightbox or like your work not to move around you need masking tape. It's best to test the tape on a piece of scrap paper before using it. If it damages the paper you can still use it but remove some of the adhesive by sticking it to your clothes or other piece of fabric. Artists masking tape is a little pricier than the kind you find at the hardware store but it's pretty much guaranteed not to damage paper.
Gloves: If you like to smudge with your fingers wear gloves or finger cots, the oils from your hands can discolor your paper. Mine are plain old latex lab gloves, if you have a latex allergy you can find synthetic rubber gloves pharmacies often stock them. Finger cots are sold at art stores, they are basically just latex finger covers, if you prefer them you can also make them by snipping the fingers off gloves.
Templates: These tools can save you time but really aren't necessary, they are french curves, circles, ellipses, etc.
Sandpaper: Use the extra fine variety to get exactly the point you want on your pencil or to clean stumps and tortillons. You can also use scrap paper for this instead which is why I listed it as optional but sandpaper does work a bit better than scrap paper.
Tissues, paper towels, cotton swabs, felt, pastel shaders: These are all other blending tools, that you can use. Tissues (no lotion dyes or scents), paper towels (no dyes) and cotton swabs can be picked up almost anywhere. Craft stores will carry sheets of felt, buy white ones (to better see how much graphite is on it) and cut it down to sizes comfortable for you. Pastel shaders are tools sold at art stores for use with oil pastels but work just as nicely with pencil.
Scanner and graphics software: If you want to display your work online this is a must. I have a Lexmark All-in-One printer/scanner that cost about $85, it's not top of the line but it works fine for me. What scanner you choose is completely up to what you want and what your budget can afford, so shop around.
Eraser shield: This is a thin steel sheet with various shapes cut into it, it works like an erasing stencil. They are very inexpensive (under a dollar) but the shape are limited, thin plastic sheets with shapes cut into them and stencils can also be used if you need other shapes.
Powdered graphite: I've never used this so I'm only going by what I've heard about it. As the name implies it's a graphite dust and is usually applied with the fingers (remember never bare fingers), a rag, or cotton swap, it's most often used for soft loose drawing or tonal work. If you have breathing problems you should use a dust mask with this stuff.
Conte, carbon, pastel, chalk and charcoal pencils: These are other non-graphite pencils that are sometimes used. I have almost never used them (chalk and charcoal is quite messy for one reason) but it's completely up to you, you can get very different and attractive looks to your work with them.
Papers
You paper is the base of your drawing, your choice will affect the overall look of it. First some definitions of the different properties of paper.
Acid-Free, PH neutral or Archival Quality: Acids break down over time which causes paper to discolor and deteriorate, if you want your work to last choose papers labeled acid free, pH neutral, or archival.
Fiber: Cotton and cellulose (wood pulp) are the two most common fibers used in paper. Cotton papers are the highest quality papers. Cellulose fibers naturally contain acid, better quality cellulose papers are buffered to neutralize the acid content, they can still deteriorate but they last far longer than non-buffered papers. Combination papers are a mix of cotton and cellulose and are a mid-grade quality paper, usually labeled multipurpose like pastel and charcoal papers, bristol board, and student grade watercolor paper, they have good lasting quality but not quite as good as 100% cotton. There are specialty papers made from other materials like rice paper, mulberry, kozo, or even synthetic papers like yupo.
Tooth: This describes the surface of the paper. These have various descriptions like plate, vellum, smooth, rough, hot press, cold press. Experiment to find the ones you prefer.
Weight: This is determined by measuring how much one ream weighs or the grams per square meter (gsm). These determine how thick the paper is, the thicker the paper is the more expensive but also the stiffer and more durable. For pencil drawing any weight higher than 60lb or 98gsm is good.
Types of Paper
Watercolor paper This paper works equally well for drawing and painting. It comes in 3 surfaces, rough which has a very pronounced surface, cold press with has a nice texture (most economical or student papers come in this finish), and hot press(the most expensive usually). 140lb(300gsm) is the most common weight, lower weights are fine to use as well, 300lb(640gsm) is a very heavy paper and while perfectly usable it's often quite expensive and for pencil isn't really an improvement over 140lb.
Sulphite Drawing Paper This is what is commonly found in sketch pads. It's a good drawing paper (make sure it's acid-free of course) though usually of a fairly light weight such as 60lb(98gsm).
Newsprint Best for practice and preliminary work since it's typically very lightweight and not acid free.
Printer/Typing Paper This is just the plain paper for use in computer printers. Cheap and perfect for practicing.
Bristol and Illustration Board This comes in several weights and two surfaces plate(smooth) and vellum(rough). They are truly multipurpose papers, and my absolute favorite to use.
Pastel and Charcoal Papers These are a medium weight paper that often comes in a variety of soft colors in a vellum surface. The colors are the main attraction of these papers.
Specialty papers These are papers such as rice paper, bark paper, papyrus. Most of these are not acid free so always check before buying them. They usually have very unique and beautiful textures, unfortunately they are often also pricey.
Other Comments
Like I said before you don't have to spend lots of money on drawing supplies, these tips are mostly on how to save money.
Spend your money where is counts, on your paper. Practice paper can be nice and cheap but for pieces you want to last buy the good stuff.
Be somewhat organized. You don't need to be a neat freak with your pencils all sorted by size and color, just keep your stuff in about the same place. I have a couple cheap sets of rubbermaid drawers that I keep most of my supplies in, and a small plastic bin with all my pencils, eraser, etc in it. If you have some idea where your stuff is you won't have to rebuy things. In particular if you have kids or younger siblings keep kneaded erasers away from them, they are too much like silly putty so little kids love to play with them and little kids are always losing things, I've lost a few erasers to my little cousin.
Avoid fancy boxed drawing sets. You're paying for the packaging as much as the supplies and half the time you'll never use half the stuff in them. There are good drawing sets out there for good prices and they can be a good option for someone just starting to get serious about drawing. The good sets are usually the simplest looking ones, in plain cardboard packaging. If it's in a tin or wood box you might be getting good materials but you'll be paying too much for them.
Safety is important. Drawing isn't as hazardous as other mediums such as painting but it has it's problems. Graphite chalk, and charcoal dust can aggravate asthma, allergies and other breathing problems, if you have any either draw in a well ventilated area or wear a dust mask. Keep all art supplies away from small children and pets, they can be injured from choking on erasers and other small objects or from being poked by the sharp end of a pencil.
Store you finished artwork that isn't on display in a clean dry place. I keep mine in either a large portfolio folder or laying flat in my desk drawer, nothing else goes in that drawer except artwork and blank paper. Framing can be very expensive but archival plastic sleeves can be bought much cheaper and is a good alternative. Of course never pin your good artwork directly to the wall (save that for roughs and photocopies), put it in a plastic sleeve and pin the sleeve to the wall.
Give me you opinions, vote in the poll or leave a comment.
So I wanted to go over my drawing process since I occasionally get questions on it. Now I really draw in two ways, first in pencil of course and also in pen and ink. I'm going to start with materials for pencil drawing, my next entry will describe my actual drawing process and then pen and ink.
Pencil Drawing Materials
You're materials have a direct impact on how good your final product will be, this doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of money on them just buy quality where it matters. Drawing is a simple cheap hobby.
Important Tools
Pencils: There are many drawing pencils out on the market and I really don't use any of them. I have two types of pencils that I use most. The first is a mechanical pencil with .5 mm HB leads don't but the really cheap disposable mechanical pencils get a decent ones with lead refills, mine are Papermate Cleat Points. The other pencils I use are Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils, which in my opinion are some of the best out there but any quality wood pencil will work (never buy cheap pencils with fake wood casing they are very poor quality). Both can be bought anywhere that sells office supplies. I have some fancy drawing pencils that were given to me as a present by my aunt but I don't use them as often as my regular pencils.
Kneaded Eraser: These are wonderful things and the best friend of pencil artists. A kneaded eraser is a grey tacky rubbery putty-like substance, the great thing about them is that these can be pulled apart into any size you want and shaped into many useful shapes. You can erase with them normally or lightly scrub or press with them to only lighten an area of pencil.
Vinyl Eraser: These are some of the cleanest erasers you can get, they really lift the graphite out of the paper. This doesn't mean you can press really hard with you pencils because while it lifts graphite well it can't get rid of the indents in the paper that pressing too hard can leave.
Blending Stumps: These resemble double ended pencils and are made of tightly pressed typically gray paper. They are used to blend pencil tones. The fine points help achieve more detail, they come in various sizes and are extremely inexpensive (I bought a pack of 12 in 4 sizes for a little over $2).
Tortillons: These are tapered rolls of paper, you can buy them or make them. They are similar to blending stumps and are used in much the same way, the difference is that they don't have as fine a point so the detail possible with them is a bit limited.
Rulers and protractor: You rarely see straight lines in nature but man-made structures have lots of straight lines and angles. I have several rulers because I seem to collect them but the most useful are the 12 and 18 inch ones. I also have triangular rulers and a protractor for getting angles right. A simple school/kids geometry set is fine. I usually use these for setting up my perspective lines since I rarely draw buildings or furniture.
Brush: A cheap 1 inch craft paintbrush (you can get them for less than a dollar at craft stores), use this for cleaning graphite dusts and bits of eraser off your paper. Using you hand can smudge the drawing and deposit oil from your fingers on the paper.
Pencil sharpener: Doesn't need to be fancy just a good sturdy one with a sharp blade. Electric sharpeners are wonderful but a plain manual sharpener is okay or even a sharp knife (though I don't recommend using a knife).
Optional tools
Light Box: I use a Fiskars Lightboss which I bought cheap at walmart for about $18, it's intended purpose was for embossing and other scrapbook making stuff but a lightbox is a lightbox and other brands can be very expensive. You can also build one there are lots of plans online for them, here is one Perfect for tracing preliminary sketches onto your final drawing paper.
Masking Tape: If you are using a lightbox or like your work not to move around you need masking tape. It's best to test the tape on a piece of scrap paper before using it. If it damages the paper you can still use it but remove some of the adhesive by sticking it to your clothes or other piece of fabric. Artists masking tape is a little pricier than the kind you find at the hardware store but it's pretty much guaranteed not to damage paper.
Gloves: If you like to smudge with your fingers wear gloves or finger cots, the oils from your hands can discolor your paper. Mine are plain old latex lab gloves, if you have a latex allergy you can find synthetic rubber gloves pharmacies often stock them. Finger cots are sold at art stores, they are basically just latex finger covers, if you prefer them you can also make them by snipping the fingers off gloves.
Templates: These tools can save you time but really aren't necessary, they are french curves, circles, ellipses, etc.
Sandpaper: Use the extra fine variety to get exactly the point you want on your pencil or to clean stumps and tortillons. You can also use scrap paper for this instead which is why I listed it as optional but sandpaper does work a bit better than scrap paper.
Tissues, paper towels, cotton swabs, felt, pastel shaders: These are all other blending tools, that you can use. Tissues (no lotion dyes or scents), paper towels (no dyes) and cotton swabs can be picked up almost anywhere. Craft stores will carry sheets of felt, buy white ones (to better see how much graphite is on it) and cut it down to sizes comfortable for you. Pastel shaders are tools sold at art stores for use with oil pastels but work just as nicely with pencil.
Scanner and graphics software: If you want to display your work online this is a must. I have a Lexmark All-in-One printer/scanner that cost about $85, it's not top of the line but it works fine for me. What scanner you choose is completely up to what you want and what your budget can afford, so shop around.
Eraser shield: This is a thin steel sheet with various shapes cut into it, it works like an erasing stencil. They are very inexpensive (under a dollar) but the shape are limited, thin plastic sheets with shapes cut into them and stencils can also be used if you need other shapes.
Powdered graphite: I've never used this so I'm only going by what I've heard about it. As the name implies it's a graphite dust and is usually applied with the fingers (remember never bare fingers), a rag, or cotton swap, it's most often used for soft loose drawing or tonal work. If you have breathing problems you should use a dust mask with this stuff.
Conte, carbon, pastel, chalk and charcoal pencils: These are other non-graphite pencils that are sometimes used. I have almost never used them (chalk and charcoal is quite messy for one reason) but it's completely up to you, you can get very different and attractive looks to your work with them.
Papers
You paper is the base of your drawing, your choice will affect the overall look of it. First some definitions of the different properties of paper.
Acid-Free, PH neutral or Archival Quality: Acids break down over time which causes paper to discolor and deteriorate, if you want your work to last choose papers labeled acid free, pH neutral, or archival.
Fiber: Cotton and cellulose (wood pulp) are the two most common fibers used in paper. Cotton papers are the highest quality papers. Cellulose fibers naturally contain acid, better quality cellulose papers are buffered to neutralize the acid content, they can still deteriorate but they last far longer than non-buffered papers. Combination papers are a mix of cotton and cellulose and are a mid-grade quality paper, usually labeled multipurpose like pastel and charcoal papers, bristol board, and student grade watercolor paper, they have good lasting quality but not quite as good as 100% cotton. There are specialty papers made from other materials like rice paper, mulberry, kozo, or even synthetic papers like yupo.
Tooth: This describes the surface of the paper. These have various descriptions like plate, vellum, smooth, rough, hot press, cold press. Experiment to find the ones you prefer.
Weight: This is determined by measuring how much one ream weighs or the grams per square meter (gsm). These determine how thick the paper is, the thicker the paper is the more expensive but also the stiffer and more durable. For pencil drawing any weight higher than 60lb or 98gsm is good.
Types of Paper
Watercolor paper This paper works equally well for drawing and painting. It comes in 3 surfaces, rough which has a very pronounced surface, cold press with has a nice texture (most economical or student papers come in this finish), and hot press(the most expensive usually). 140lb(300gsm) is the most common weight, lower weights are fine to use as well, 300lb(640gsm) is a very heavy paper and while perfectly usable it's often quite expensive and for pencil isn't really an improvement over 140lb.
Sulphite Drawing Paper This is what is commonly found in sketch pads. It's a good drawing paper (make sure it's acid-free of course) though usually of a fairly light weight such as 60lb(98gsm).
Newsprint Best for practice and preliminary work since it's typically very lightweight and not acid free.
Printer/Typing Paper This is just the plain paper for use in computer printers. Cheap and perfect for practicing.
Bristol and Illustration Board This comes in several weights and two surfaces plate(smooth) and vellum(rough). They are truly multipurpose papers, and my absolute favorite to use.
Pastel and Charcoal Papers These are a medium weight paper that often comes in a variety of soft colors in a vellum surface. The colors are the main attraction of these papers.
Specialty papers These are papers such as rice paper, bark paper, papyrus. Most of these are not acid free so always check before buying them. They usually have very unique and beautiful textures, unfortunately they are often also pricey.
Other Comments
Like I said before you don't have to spend lots of money on drawing supplies, these tips are mostly on how to save money.
Spend your money where is counts, on your paper. Practice paper can be nice and cheap but for pieces you want to last buy the good stuff.
Be somewhat organized. You don't need to be a neat freak with your pencils all sorted by size and color, just keep your stuff in about the same place. I have a couple cheap sets of rubbermaid drawers that I keep most of my supplies in, and a small plastic bin with all my pencils, eraser, etc in it. If you have some idea where your stuff is you won't have to rebuy things. In particular if you have kids or younger siblings keep kneaded erasers away from them, they are too much like silly putty so little kids love to play with them and little kids are always losing things, I've lost a few erasers to my little cousin.
Avoid fancy boxed drawing sets. You're paying for the packaging as much as the supplies and half the time you'll never use half the stuff in them. There are good drawing sets out there for good prices and they can be a good option for someone just starting to get serious about drawing. The good sets are usually the simplest looking ones, in plain cardboard packaging. If it's in a tin or wood box you might be getting good materials but you'll be paying too much for them.
Safety is important. Drawing isn't as hazardous as other mediums such as painting but it has it's problems. Graphite chalk, and charcoal dust can aggravate asthma, allergies and other breathing problems, if you have any either draw in a well ventilated area or wear a dust mask. Keep all art supplies away from small children and pets, they can be injured from choking on erasers and other small objects or from being poked by the sharp end of a pencil.
Store you finished artwork that isn't on display in a clean dry place. I keep mine in either a large portfolio folder or laying flat in my desk drawer, nothing else goes in that drawer except artwork and blank paper. Framing can be very expensive but archival plastic sleeves can be bought much cheaper and is a good alternative. Of course never pin your good artwork directly to the wall (save that for roughs and photocopies), put it in a plastic sleeve and pin the sleeve to the wall.
Give me you opinions, vote in the poll or leave a comment.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Art in progress
Okay, I can never finish one project before starting another so I've got several art projects going at once right now and I thought I'd share them with you.
"Searching for Sea Dragons" is actually a series of pieces, one each in pencil, ink, and watercolor. The pencil version is finished, the ink is on progress, and I haven't started the watercolor.
"Untitled" so far anyway this doesn't have a title. It's a pencil portrait of Noadi, experimenting with a new style. So far I have no background done but she'll be looking up at some migrating gryphons.
"Lady Portrait" This is a watercolor portrait of Lady the bluetick hound I had growing up, since she's no longer with us I based this on a photo.
Artist Trading Cardss, so far I've only done this one. But ATCs are pretty cool, their miniature works of art done on 2.5x3.5 inch paper to be like trading cards. They're quick, fun, and you're supposed to trade them with other artists, so if you've made an ATC that you would like to trade with me, drop me an email.
"Searching for Sea Dragons" is actually a series of pieces, one each in pencil, ink, and watercolor. The pencil version is finished, the ink is on progress, and I haven't started the watercolor.
"Untitled" so far anyway this doesn't have a title. It's a pencil portrait of Noadi, experimenting with a new style. So far I have no background done but she'll be looking up at some migrating gryphons.
"Lady Portrait" This is a watercolor portrait of Lady the bluetick hound I had growing up, since she's no longer with us I based this on a photo.
Artist Trading Cardss, so far I've only done this one. But ATCs are pretty cool, their miniature works of art done on 2.5x3.5 inch paper to be like trading cards. They're quick, fun, and you're supposed to trade them with other artists, so if you've made an ATC that you would like to trade with me, drop me an email.
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Thoughts on my art and where it might be going.
Well I've finished my painting and seriously I'm not that happy with it, it just came out flat and lifeless. However it was an amazing learning experience, I especially learned a lot about working with watercolors. I had intended to write another blog going through my process further but I posted my progress at WetCanvas and I think the thread there explains things quite well already, just check it out here
Like I said that painting was a definite learning experience and it's made me rethink my artwork a lot and what direction I want to take it in. If you haven't noticed, recently I haven't been producing any pixel art. Honestly while I enjoy pixel art it just doesn't interest me in the way that it used to and the Pixelation community has become a lot less enjoyable for me. I'm still pixeling, I have to for Shaman but it's not a big focus for me artistically anymore.
More and more I've been drawn to what you could call "traditional media" pencil, pen and ink, watercolor. Not necesarily on purpose that's just where I've been going, like I said pixeling appeals less to me lately and I can't afford a tablet for cg work which does interest me a lot but I can't work with a mouse with any decent control. I guess everyone has to look around for what fits them, and right now it's drawing and painting that fits me.
About my painting, I totally in love with watercolors. I had a rather cheap Reeves set of watercolors and those were nice for playing with but I'm moving up to much better quality paints and just from the little I've worked with them so far there is a huge difference. Thanks to MsLilypond from WetCanvas I have a bunch of tubes of Winsor Newton Cotman and Grumbacher Academy colors, both of these paints are considered student quality which means they are reasonably priced and of decent quality for serious students (Reeves and other cheaper paints are considered Scholastic which are more for kids and school use) so far they are quite nice to use and a huge improvement over the cheaper paints.
However I have 3 other tubes of watercolors that are just amazing M Graham makes proffesional quality watercolor paints and they sent me 3 sample tubes when I wrote to them asking for information about their paints. They outshine my other new paints they are so brilliant in color, and painting with them is amazing. Eventually I'd like to have my whole pallete of colors be M Graham. If you get into watercolors and want to move to a pro paint I've got to recomend them, they are wonderful and the prices aren't bad either from browsing online they seem to range from $4.50-11.00 per 15ml tube.
If you want more info on watercolors handprint.com is an amazing site to check out, it has information on paints, papers, brushes, color mixing, and techniques.
Like I said that painting was a definite learning experience and it's made me rethink my artwork a lot and what direction I want to take it in. If you haven't noticed, recently I haven't been producing any pixel art. Honestly while I enjoy pixel art it just doesn't interest me in the way that it used to and the Pixelation community has become a lot less enjoyable for me. I'm still pixeling, I have to for Shaman but it's not a big focus for me artistically anymore.
More and more I've been drawn to what you could call "traditional media" pencil, pen and ink, watercolor. Not necesarily on purpose that's just where I've been going, like I said pixeling appeals less to me lately and I can't afford a tablet for cg work which does interest me a lot but I can't work with a mouse with any decent control. I guess everyone has to look around for what fits them, and right now it's drawing and painting that fits me.
About my painting, I totally in love with watercolors. I had a rather cheap Reeves set of watercolors and those were nice for playing with but I'm moving up to much better quality paints and just from the little I've worked with them so far there is a huge difference. Thanks to MsLilypond from WetCanvas I have a bunch of tubes of Winsor Newton Cotman and Grumbacher Academy colors, both of these paints are considered student quality which means they are reasonably priced and of decent quality for serious students (Reeves and other cheaper paints are considered Scholastic which are more for kids and school use) so far they are quite nice to use and a huge improvement over the cheaper paints.
However I have 3 other tubes of watercolors that are just amazing M Graham makes proffesional quality watercolor paints and they sent me 3 sample tubes when I wrote to them asking for information about their paints. They outshine my other new paints they are so brilliant in color, and painting with them is amazing. Eventually I'd like to have my whole pallete of colors be M Graham. If you get into watercolors and want to move to a pro paint I've got to recomend them, they are wonderful and the prices aren't bad either from browsing online they seem to range from $4.50-11.00 per 15ml tube.
If you want more info on watercolors handprint.com is an amazing site to check out, it has information on paints, papers, brushes, color mixing, and techniques.
Saturday, November 13, 2004
Art process: Watercolor Painting "Summoning a Forest Spirit" Preliminary Work
I thought I'd take a little detour and talk about art rather than game making. I've been working on this watercolor for a very long time (I'm still not finished) and thought I'd share my experiences in creating it.
This blog is only about my preliminary drawing since to do the entire piece is way too long for one blog plus I'm not done yet. I'll post the actual painting steps when I've finished.
The Planning Stage
This stage has no pictures. I rarely create thumbnail sketches for one shot pieces like this (I thumbnail quite a bit for comic pages). I've had a large piece of watercolor paper just sitting around for quite a while, it's 14x11 inches which is a size I almost never work in so I had just been gathering dust in my desk drawer ever since it had been given to me along with a few other odd sized pieces. Every so often I'd dig out these odd sized pieces and see if I could think of anything to use for them.
Well an idea for a spirit summoning piece with Noadi had been floating around in my head for a while so when I looked at that piece of paper again it struck me as perfect for this idea. So I took some of my cheap scratch paper (my aunt gave me about 30 lbs of this cream colored paper in 22x30 sheets that I use for rough sketching) and cut several pieces in half to 15x11 inches and gathered my reference material together including several articles on perspective since I want to improve my use of perspective.
I decided I wanted Noadi seated in a fairy ring (ring of mushrooms) in the forest beating a drum to call a spirit. It was going to be a forest spirit so I decided I didn't want it anthropomorphic, so I gathered some animal pictures and made it a combination of several small woodland creatures (mainly fox for the head, weasel for the body, chipmunk and fawn for the markings).
The Pose
Since Noadi was going to be the focus of this piece I decided to get the basics for her down first which is where I ran into a lot of trouble. Little did I realize that sitting on the ground with your legs folded "indian style" is an extremely tricky pose to draw, especially at the angle I chose.
Try #1: Everything from the waist down is wrong.
Try #2: Still not right.
Try #3: After some help on #pixelation it's a little better but still wrong.
Try #4: Helm stays up late with me and helps out a lot. His help on the top with the red lines, my adjustment on the bottom.
Try #5: Ask for help at Wetcanvas on the figure channel. Got some help and a sketch from yeticatcher to help. His sketch on the top my new version on the bottom.
>
Try#6: After some more suggestion on Wetcanvas and taking a reference photo of myself with my webcam this is what I got.
At this point I decided to take a break from the figure even though I wasn't completely happy with it and focus on the background.
The Background
I started working on the background with the outline circle for the fairy ring, I wasn't quite happy with the shape,
BG #1: Changed the fairy ring shape and started adding grass and mushrooms.
BG #2: Continued tweaking the shape, adding mushrooms, and now there's a tree with a few shelf fungi.
BG #3: Added more detail and began drawing the little spirit.
BG #4: Posted on Wetcanvas fantasy channel for advice. Added to the background.
BG #5: As reccomended on Wetcanvas I changed the circle outline again and added more detail to the background.
At this point I had most of the background done and started adding soem finishing touches.
Finishing Touches.
On the advice of from wetcanvas I put a drape over Noadi's legs to disguise some fo the oddness of the pose, it helped imensely since I think there is no way at my skill level I could have ever made that look natural at that angle. I also added more detail like the bunny, the bird in the background and some texture.
At this point I was basically happy with the sketch. Unfortunately it was slightly too large for the paper so I scanned it and printed it at the proper size then traced it onto the watercolor paper with my lightbox and proceeeded to ink. I didn't worry about varying the line width much since I plan to ink over the major lines again after painting.
Next blog I'll go over how I added the color with traditional watercolor paints and watercolor pencil.
This blog is only about my preliminary drawing since to do the entire piece is way too long for one blog plus I'm not done yet. I'll post the actual painting steps when I've finished.
The Planning Stage
This stage has no pictures. I rarely create thumbnail sketches for one shot pieces like this (I thumbnail quite a bit for comic pages). I've had a large piece of watercolor paper just sitting around for quite a while, it's 14x11 inches which is a size I almost never work in so I had just been gathering dust in my desk drawer ever since it had been given to me along with a few other odd sized pieces. Every so often I'd dig out these odd sized pieces and see if I could think of anything to use for them.
Well an idea for a spirit summoning piece with Noadi had been floating around in my head for a while so when I looked at that piece of paper again it struck me as perfect for this idea. So I took some of my cheap scratch paper (my aunt gave me about 30 lbs of this cream colored paper in 22x30 sheets that I use for rough sketching) and cut several pieces in half to 15x11 inches and gathered my reference material together including several articles on perspective since I want to improve my use of perspective.
I decided I wanted Noadi seated in a fairy ring (ring of mushrooms) in the forest beating a drum to call a spirit. It was going to be a forest spirit so I decided I didn't want it anthropomorphic, so I gathered some animal pictures and made it a combination of several small woodland creatures (mainly fox for the head, weasel for the body, chipmunk and fawn for the markings).
The Pose
Since Noadi was going to be the focus of this piece I decided to get the basics for her down first which is where I ran into a lot of trouble. Little did I realize that sitting on the ground with your legs folded "indian style" is an extremely tricky pose to draw, especially at the angle I chose.
Try #1: Everything from the waist down is wrong.
Try #2: Still not right.
Try #3: After some help on #pixelation it's a little better but still wrong.
Try #4: Helm stays up late with me and helps out a lot. His help on the top with the red lines, my adjustment on the bottom.
Try #5: Ask for help at Wetcanvas on the figure channel. Got some help and a sketch from yeticatcher to help. His sketch on the top my new version on the bottom.
>
Try#6: After some more suggestion on Wetcanvas and taking a reference photo of myself with my webcam this is what I got.
At this point I decided to take a break from the figure even though I wasn't completely happy with it and focus on the background.
The Background
I started working on the background with the outline circle for the fairy ring, I wasn't quite happy with the shape,
BG #1: Changed the fairy ring shape and started adding grass and mushrooms.
BG #2: Continued tweaking the shape, adding mushrooms, and now there's a tree with a few shelf fungi.
BG #3: Added more detail and began drawing the little spirit.
BG #4: Posted on Wetcanvas fantasy channel for advice. Added to the background.
BG #5: As reccomended on Wetcanvas I changed the circle outline again and added more detail to the background.
At this point I had most of the background done and started adding soem finishing touches.
Finishing Touches.
On the advice of from wetcanvas I put a drape over Noadi's legs to disguise some fo the oddness of the pose, it helped imensely since I think there is no way at my skill level I could have ever made that look natural at that angle. I also added more detail like the bunny, the bird in the background and some texture.
At this point I was basically happy with the sketch. Unfortunately it was slightly too large for the paper so I scanned it and printed it at the proper size then traced it onto the watercolor paper with my lightbox and proceeeded to ink. I didn't worry about varying the line width much since I plan to ink over the major lines again after painting.
Next blog I'll go over how I added the color with traditional watercolor paints and watercolor pencil.
Monday, November 01, 2004
November Shaman Update
Okay, so to catch everyone up on Shaman progress.
Nynne has completed some new music. I've only listened to one of the songs so far but it's amazing as usual.
I've been slacking off a bit on graphics, I've only done some pallete swapping and minor edits since my first blog.
I haven't been slacking on coding. Version 6 of Game Maker has come out so I spent some time converting Shaman over to the new engine which has some great features that I want to take advantage of. I've also been working on the Battle System, it's slow going so far since I've never coded something like this before. Currently I can call battles, display the characters, enemies, and stats, engine mechanics are next and will probably take a while unless I have some sort of stroke of genius (which I don't expect to happen).
So that's what's going on. If you have any pressing questions please by all means leave a comment and I'll answer them in my next blog.
Nynne has completed some new music. I've only listened to one of the songs so far but it's amazing as usual.
I've been slacking off a bit on graphics, I've only done some pallete swapping and minor edits since my first blog.
I haven't been slacking on coding. Version 6 of Game Maker has come out so I spent some time converting Shaman over to the new engine which has some great features that I want to take advantage of. I've also been working on the Battle System, it's slow going so far since I've never coded something like this before. Currently I can call battles, display the characters, enemies, and stats, engine mechanics are next and will probably take a while unless I have some sort of stroke of genius (which I don't expect to happen).
So that's what's going on. If you have any pressing questions please by all means leave a comment and I'll answer them in my next blog.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Creating a Mythology Part 3: Personal History
This is going to be a very short blog since character creation has been covered by far better writers than I. If you want to skip my rambling, the links are at the bottom.
I just want to stress to you the importance of detail. Without detail, your characters are flat. A plain old wizard with a long grey beard and impressive spells isn't much to go on. But if you wizard also has a gambling problem and is trying to train his 14 year old flightly niece the business, that's far more entertaining and suggests possible plots.
It's not enough to just give them a background story, you have to reflect that history in how the character acts. For example, it would make sense for someone who had a relative die by snake bite to have a strong fear and hatred of snakes, so work that in. A mercenary wouldn't be from a noble family unless there was a good reason for it (like being stripped of his land and titles for some offence) so either give him a reason or give him a commoner background.
That's all I really have to say, except to enjoy your characters. You'll be working with them for a while so don't create characters that bore you to tears.
Here's some wonderful links to resources of creating characters (those better writers I mentioned).
Fiction Writer's Character Chart
Creating Memorable Characters
Ways to Ruin Your Dialogue Part 4
On Thud and Blunder
You and Your Characters
I just want to stress to you the importance of detail. Without detail, your characters are flat. A plain old wizard with a long grey beard and impressive spells isn't much to go on. But if you wizard also has a gambling problem and is trying to train his 14 year old flightly niece the business, that's far more entertaining and suggests possible plots.
It's not enough to just give them a background story, you have to reflect that history in how the character acts. For example, it would make sense for someone who had a relative die by snake bite to have a strong fear and hatred of snakes, so work that in. A mercenary wouldn't be from a noble family unless there was a good reason for it (like being stripped of his land and titles for some offence) so either give him a reason or give him a commoner background.
That's all I really have to say, except to enjoy your characters. You'll be working with them for a while so don't create characters that bore you to tears.
Here's some wonderful links to resources of creating characters (those better writers I mentioned).
Fiction Writer's Character Chart
Creating Memorable Characters
Ways to Ruin Your Dialogue Part 4
On Thud and Blunder
You and Your Characters
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Creating a Mythology Part 2: Recent History
This is going to be a much shorter blog than the last one because much of it was already covered in Creating a Mythology Part 1: Ancient History. If you haven't read it yet you should before continuing on with this post.
Recent history is important events in your world that have affected people in a major way but did not actively involve your characters. This is stuff that usually happened during their parents or grandparents time. Kind of like how some one in their twenties like me view the Civil Rights Movement or WWII, they are major events that to this day affect my life but I wasn't around when they happened.
The biggest event you could probably have in your recent history would probably be a war but a lot more falls into the catagory as well, there could have been a plague in the last 50 years and the population is still recovering, there's the crowning of a new monarch through the natural death of the previous ruler or assasination or coup, maybe there were major advances in science or magic in the recent past (think about the advances in medicine in the last 50 years for an example).
Whatever it is you should have a far more detailed description than you would for an ancient history event. You need to know the events (major and some minor for anectdotal uses), the people involved, the places involved, and most importantly how it affects the lives of your characters. If it doesn't affect their lives you don't need any more description than an ancient history event. Exactly how detailed you go is up to you and the needs of your world but in my experience it's usually better to write too much background than too little and come up short down the road.
Probably most importantly for recent history is the chronology. Make a time line and assign dates to when things happened, because you will need to know how long before your story an event occured and in what order. It's incredibly important to keep track of these things for continuity, because trust me a reader or player will notice if a 30 year old starts talking about an event 40 years in the past.
I hope you've found this interesting and helpful if you're building a world. Next time I'll be writing about character's personal histories.
Recent history is important events in your world that have affected people in a major way but did not actively involve your characters. This is stuff that usually happened during their parents or grandparents time. Kind of like how some one in their twenties like me view the Civil Rights Movement or WWII, they are major events that to this day affect my life but I wasn't around when they happened.
The biggest event you could probably have in your recent history would probably be a war but a lot more falls into the catagory as well, there could have been a plague in the last 50 years and the population is still recovering, there's the crowning of a new monarch through the natural death of the previous ruler or assasination or coup, maybe there were major advances in science or magic in the recent past (think about the advances in medicine in the last 50 years for an example).
Whatever it is you should have a far more detailed description than you would for an ancient history event. You need to know the events (major and some minor for anectdotal uses), the people involved, the places involved, and most importantly how it affects the lives of your characters. If it doesn't affect their lives you don't need any more description than an ancient history event. Exactly how detailed you go is up to you and the needs of your world but in my experience it's usually better to write too much background than too little and come up short down the road.
Probably most importantly for recent history is the chronology. Make a time line and assign dates to when things happened, because you will need to know how long before your story an event occured and in what order. It's incredibly important to keep track of these things for continuity, because trust me a reader or player will notice if a 30 year old starts talking about an event 40 years in the past.
I hope you've found this interesting and helpful if you're building a world. Next time I'll be writing about character's personal histories.
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