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YOUR DESK AND CHAIR
This may sound obvious, but you really must have a desk,
or table, to work at, as well as a comfortable chair to sit on
for all those hours you will be putting in, if you are really
serious about your work. So your first consideration is your
comfort and health. Back problems are the major cause of
work hours lost in the western world, so your chair/desk
setup must be arranged to minimise back strain.
Try to ensure your artwork is high enough so that you do not
have to lean over it. Your back should be as straight as
possible when working. This means you will need to
arrange some kind of sloping drawing board. There are
free standing drawing boards complete with sliding
parallel ruler attachments, but they represent a considerable
expense for a beginner. If you are having to budget carefully,
and most of us have to when starting out, a simple table and
home-made drawing board will do almost as well.
Your comfortable chair can be a office swivel chair with a
height adjustment which you can buy second hand quite
reasonably. You should only go for one with a “waterfall”
front edge to the seat. This is very important as it will
minimise the risk of leg thrombosis and circulatory problems.
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LIGHTING
Again pretty obvious, but often not given enough attention.
The standard desk lamp is readily available, inexpensive and
suited to most artists’ purposes. Position it on your left side if
you are right handed and on your right side if left handed. This
minimises cast shadow from your drawing hand. Try to apply
this rule to any other light source you may be working under,
including natural light.
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DRAWING MATERIALS
Now that you’ve got the heavy stuff sorted out, drawing materials
are your next consideration.
PENCILS
Not many cartoonists draw straight onto paper or board in ink.
Most finished art is roughed out in pencil first. The choice will be
mainly down to your own preference and style of working, but the
following info may help you make your choice.
Pencils come in a range of grades, from 8H, the hardest, giving the
lightest lines to 8B, the softest giving the darkest lines but tending
to smudge. A good all round grade for most work is the midway HB,
but try out a few for yourself. Many comic strip artists favour
mechanical pencils which are loaded with leads of any grade or
thickness and do not need sharpening.
If you decide to use wooden pencils you will need a sharpener of
some sort. I prefer an electric pencil sharpener, it’s fast, and gives
a consistantly good point every time, and if you’re on a tight
deadline, every second counts! But you can use a scalpel or sharp
Knife, (with care), just as well.
ERASERS
For me, there are only two worth considering. A putty rubber,
which you can mould into any shape and which will lift pencil
off a drawing with the minimum disturbance to the paper
surface, and a regular rubber, the Staedtler Mars-Plastic
Eraser.
PENS
This is a vast area, but for cartooning purposes there are only a few
types suitable for cartooning and comic strip art. If you are
using black Indian, a dip pen is the only solution, and as these come
in a variety of shapes and sizes, it will largely depend on your own
style and preference. Make sure you find a handle comfortable to
hold, if it is too thin you will get cramp in your hand within an hour.
A good all round nib is the Gillot 303 steel nib, which
allows the artist to vary and control the thickness of line by varying
the pressure. Mapping nibs are also widely used.
Then there is the Rotring stylo-type pen with tubular nib and
Indian ink cartridge, although it gives a consistent line it is a little boring
as you cannot vary the thickness of the line. Stylo-type pens are best for
ruling lines, borders and lettering. However, a pen called the
Speedball which has a small ink reservoir in the nib, is favoured by
lettering artists. It is readily available in the USA but hard
to find in the UK.
MARKER, FIBRE AND BALL TIP PENS
In recent years pen technology has made huge advances and now
many cartoonists use fibre tip pens, plastic tipped pens and
a variety of felt markers. The wide and changing range on offer dictates
that you experiment and choose your own favourites.
BRUSHES
Particularly for comic strip line work, there is no better brush than the
Windsor & Newton sable size 00, 1, 2, and 4. Just about every professional
In this field picks one of these as his or her favourite. Larger sizes can
be used for filling in areas of black. These brushes are expensive, but
will last years if taken proper care of. Frequent washing with warm
soapy water after use prevents the ferrule becoming clogged with ink
or process white, and will help to prolong its life and retain that all
important point.
INK
Indian ink is always used as it produces a dense black line, the best for
reproduction purposes. I find one of the best is Pelikan Indian ink (black).
A word of warning, do not leave Indian ink, process white, or any
other of your materials near or above heaters or radiators. They will
quickly dry out and become unusable.
PROCESS WHITE
You will need bleed proof process white, or acrylic white to correct errors.
You can get it in tubes or pots. You can also use Tipp-Ex white which is
excellent for covering errors made with felt tip and marker pens.
Self-adhesive patch paper such as Tik-Tak is also useful for correcting errors.
PAPER
The choice here, is very much up to you, depending on the size you like to
draw and the type of work you are doing, whether it be single gag cartoons
or comic strips or illustration.
For doing quantities of single gag cartoons something similar to 85 gsm
brilliant white super smooth A4 Mondi business paper made in Austria
will do the job well if you are only working in black/white line.
For wash and watercolour work there is a huge range of watercolour paper
and board, including handmade papers. Generally, “Hot pressed” board
has a slightly glossy surface and excellent for line work. “Not” surfaced
board has a slightly rougher surface and takes washes and watercolour well.
Watercolour paper comes in a range of surfaces shades and weights, and it
is worth spending time in an art or graphic suppliers, to get familiar with
the ranges available.
Your style, treatment and type of work, will determine the surface you prefer
and which gives you the best results – and of course, trial and error.
Most of the larger comics companies now supply their own board to artists
for commissioned finished work. This has a pre-printed grid in pale blue on
each sheet, marking out the correct dimensions, and ensuring the artist draws
to exactly the right size. (The pale blue does not photograph under the
printer’s camera.)
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OTHER ITEMS
There may be other pieces of equipment you would
like, but these are best acquired as and when you have
a need for them. I also recommend the following items,
as well as the pens, pencils, inks and paper and other
equipment I have already mentioned, for your starter kit:
A steel rule for cutting up board and paper.
A plastic cutting mat to protect your work surface.
Scalpel and 10a Swan Morton surgical blades.
Stanley knife and blades for cutting art board.
A triangle
Ink and pencil compasses.
Pot of water for cleaning brushes.
Roll of paper towels for wiping nibs, brushes and the
occasional spills.
COLOURS
The variety is huge, ranging from traditional watercolours,
coloured inks and pencils, through pantone markers, acrylics
and computer generated colour. Colour needs discussing on its
own and is being produced as a separate info sheet which will be
available soon under the subject “Discover Colour”.
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COMPUTERS
At the time of writing, the computer has become an
important creative tool in publishing. In comics, it is
most commonly used for scripting, lettering and colouring.
If you already have a computer, all you need is
Photoshop (and Illustrator), a scanner and you are set to go.
But if you are just thinking of going down this electronic
route, I would suggest holding off until you have enough
steady work so you can write your investment off against your
tax bill. You will need a computer with plenty of memory
capacity and some kind of removable storage drive. You will
also need a scanner and Adobe Photoshop to manipulate your
images. Adobe Illustrator is also a useful piece of software.
For computer lettering work, substitute Fontographer for Photoshop.
Another piece of useful kit is a graphics tablet, which
lets you draw directly onto your computer screen using
a plastic stylus.
Depending how fast, or slow, a learner you are, you may also need to
invest up to six months learning time to explore and become
familiar in this medium!
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FINALLY…
Now that you have your basic equipment sorted out, it’s time to get
down to doing some drawing!
Thank you for requesting this information.
We hope you find it informative and stimulating.
Best wishes,
Bill Asprey
Cartoon World
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