/ic/ - Artwork/Critique

What exactly is bond paper? Scott Robertson talks about it a lot but I don't really know what it is or what it's like.

>>3141528
Have you heard of Google my man?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_paper

>>3141755

That tells me nothing.

I want to cover a rather large area with an even color - a light blue for the sky. I'm trying to go for a printed look, but it's supposed to be done by hand.
Here and there I've heard Copic markers are the way to go, but before I drop dozens of moneys on some markers that I wouldn't need otherwise, I thought about using various inks or acrylics that I have. Any thoughts or advices on what would work?

>>3141773
How large are you talking here?

>>3141776
Overall about the size of an A5 paper. Alright, "large" might've been an overstatement.
If it's of any relevance, it's mostly just an even colored rectangle, apart from a few objects going slightly over the horizon line.

>>3141783
>even colored rectangle
"Evenly shaped". Sorry, it's late.

>>3141773

Dr Ph Martins dyes, if you do them right: Wet the entire section you want colored and mop a drop of ink around it.

Markers are easier but pricier and if you don't have the right technique you form streaks. If you want a printed look Prismas are probably better because Copics have a graininess to their ink that opinion varies on (I like it because it looks more organic), but Copics let you add more ink to your markers to keep them fresh and juicy which is better for doing a big wash.

>>3141773
If you need it to look like a print, why not actual printing ink? This stuff is for block prints, but it's water-based and pretty cheap. You'll have an easier time getting even coverage than with transparent ink.

>>3141807
>>3141798
Thanks for the recommendations! For some reason I haven't thought about actual printing, it might even be the best option.

Is reeves gouache/watercolor good for beginners?

>>3142900
Yeah, it's pretty decent. I would also recommend a small winsor and newton palette for the watercolor. Working with a limited palette forces you to learn how to mix colors which is nice.

Are Winsor and Newton drawing inks good?

>>3143177
yes

Looking for a mechanical pencil that isn't a piece of shit. So far the Alvin Draft Matic, Pentel Graph Gear, and Staedtler Draftmatic have caught my eye. Any others to look out for? I might order a few since they're not that expensive and see which one I like the most.

>>3143252
I like this one

>>3143252
Staedtler 925-25 / 925-35, Platinum Pro-Use II, Pilot S20, Rotring 600.

Gearing up for Inktober and need some guidance, I want to start inking with brush so I bought Raphael Series 8408 Sable brushes. What's a good brand of ink to go along with it? And some tips on maintaining my brushes would be appreciated as well.

>>3143312
Don't let ink dry in your brush and try to avoid getting it in the ferrule. Dip your brush in water frequently. India ink and pigment-based inks are going to be darker and more waterproof, but also rougher on your brush and harder to clean.

Deleter 4 is matte, waterproof and very dark.

If you want a less thick ink that's easier to clean you can try fountain pen ink, like the nano-pigment inks from Sailor or Platinum. Noodler's Black is dye-based but cellulose-reactive, so it's both easy to clean and waterproof, but not as matte or as dark as actual pigment inks.

Anyone use lead holders? today's the first time I heard of them and I want to give them a try.

>>3143368

Had a Koh-I-Noor. Fell apart after two years.1

>>3143368
They're great if you're like me and run through an HB pencil every four or five days. I have a Mars Technico and it's probably the best tool I've ever bought.

>>3143312
Wash with cold water only. Hot water will slowly kill your brush.

Use soap too. I use pic, but bar soap is okay.

>>3141528
It's just fancy printer paper.
It seems like you can find it at any office supply store.

>>3143312
>>3143407
To elaborate on what this person said, don't wash your brushes with hot water. The hairs are kept inside the ferrule with glue, and hot water will actually melt that and fuck up your brushes. Also don't bend brushes terribly or you'll give them the equivalent of split hairs, since that's what they are.

Ive been playing around with a 5+ year old bottle of somewhat clumpy india ink just to see what its like, but I'm wondering can it go bad or something? because its supposed to be waterproof but when I go over it in markers it's smearing a ton.

>>3144791
>can it go bad or something?
Yes, it can spoil even after a couple of years.

>>3144791
>5+ year old bottle
>clumpy
It's probably dried up and needs to be reconstituted, try adding a bit of distilled water give it a good shake and see how it fares in the morning. If it doesn't thin out then toss it and get yourself some new ink.

>when I go over it in markers it's smearing a ton
"Waterproof" India ink usually contains a type of shellac that makes it less likely to bleed with water, if your ink is dehydrated it's going to mess things up a bit, especially if it's so thick it's not drying properly.

Secondly, if your markers are alcohol based they'll be more likely to smear in general. I was told a while back it was because the alcohol eats at the shellac, but who knows if it's true. A lot of people get around this by waiting to do final inks last.

>>3144827
>>3144827
>I was told a while back it was because the alcohol eats at the shellac

This is on the money.

To get around it you can ink list but that's not the most intuitive way of working. You can get ink specifically to work with markers (Deleter being a very popular brand for this), or you can photocopy your inked work and color that.

>>3141771

How did you type that post if you can't read?

I was planning on spending ~25 dollars on a cheap shit-quality paints, canvas, and brushes so I can practice with painting.
Shit quality paint a bad idea?

What are some good drawing pencils?

What are people's thoughts on art supply subscription boxes (e.g. art snacks, sketchbox, etc.)? Is it worth the cost and do people find the contents genuinly useful? Or does it come off as more of a novelty or fad?

I used to hear artists gush about them a few years back but now all I can seem to find lately are the occasional box opening by people who seem more interested in collecting new toys than functional mediums.

>>3144936
What medium?

>>3144957

>>3144936
bad quality paint is a paint in the ass to use.
It will have terrible coverage, so you'll have to layer a bunch, which can make your paintings look messy.

I suggest getting a set of artist quality acrylics. They are still pretty affordable, but nicer to use.
Brushes don't have to be expensive, just make sure you get some big ones. You don't need canvas if you are just practicing. You can use cardboard or some other cheap surface coated in gesso.

anyone ever use these? think they'd be good for outlining before watercolors? and think they'd be suitable for ink-painting?

>>3147325

Dr Martins makes quality stuff. While I've never used Bombay I've used some of their other products.

From what I've heard Bombay inks are both vibrant and waterproof so they'll be good for those applications.

>>3141491
Anyone /faber-castell/ here?

>>3147343
forgot to post my markers.

>>3143312
Been using Higgins for probably 40 years now - great ink, it's never changed, it's reliable and just good ink. There are a lot of specialty inks, but Higgins is the best for getting started with, and it's relatively cheap. I use this, and the Eternal brand for more detailed stuff, as it's thinner.

>>3143407
The brush cleaner is better, because it has pumice in it, which helps get the dried paint off. It also has lanolin, which keeps the bristles from drying out.

>>3145672
If you want to explore different things, and you can afford it, why not?

>>3147325
I've played with them, someone I know had a couple bottles. They're VERY vibrant, so you have to play with them a bit to figure out if you need to water them down or not. Dr. Martin's are top quality products.

>>3143368
I do. Love 'em. The only issue is remembering what lead you have in them, so I got several holders (they're cheap) and put labels on them for what lead I have in them. Get the sharpener, too - they're great for making fine points.

>>3141528
Bond paper is a high quality paper, usually used for things like letterheads and resumes. It's "writing" paper, from the old days of handwriting letters, or typing them. They're usually made with a percentage of rag (linen) instead of all bleached wood pulp like laser/inkjet paper, and come in a huge variety of finishes.

>>3141773
The best solution would be airbrush, and spraying watercolor or acrylics. You can get the one in the picture for $15, and a bottle of compressed air to run it, for a simple project like this, it's all you need. Go look at Michael Whelan's work - he airbrushes his skies, and then uses brushes for the rest. You can airbrush anything - watercolor, ink, acrylics, as long as it's the consistency of milk. They can be handy to have around for specific problems like this. The problem with brushing out large areas is not leaving brushstrokes - it can be done with acrylic or goauche, but it's time consuming and touchy.

>>3147363
In your opinion, what is the best holder?

you guys need to try using non photo blue pencils.
I see a lot of people doing raw drawings but if you use these to rough out your work first then you can go back with regular pencil or ink. it makes your work come out so much cleaner. plus, when you go to scan or Xerox your drawing the blue lines wont show. I didn't seem to find these at any art or office supply so I just suggest amazon.com

>>3148127
>when you go to scan or Xerox your drawing the blue lines wont show.
Doesn't work that way. In the old days, they would put a filter on the camera that would block the blue, or the film itself wouldn't detect the blue. On a scanner, you have to either tweak the curves so the greyscale of the blue disapears, or swapping out the blue channel for a dupe of the red or green channel. I've never seen a scanner or scanner software that removes the blue, it has to be removed in Photoshop.
Older copiers sometimes would have a hard time reproducing the blue pencil, but modern digital ccd copiers reproduce it just fine.

Blue pencil can be useful for some, I've personally never needed it, it's an extra step that I just don't feel I need. It's up to each person if they feel it's needed.

pretty new to inking and coloring. ive been drawing for a while but i was wondering what would be prefered for someone doing a lot of comic related work?
>infb4 digital
im trying to a bunch of physical work before i do digital.
im not too fond of the streaks markers make. i was thinking either watercolor or drawing ink? not sure exactly what drawing ink is though.

>>3148191
thank you for bringing that to my attention

>>3148191
My scanner's BW mode removes blue (or any pencil) lines perfectly. Works the best with ink drawings.
I'm pretty sure most scanners have these bw/greyscale/color modes.

>>3148127

I need to get some. I hate erasing. Right now I scan sketches out of my sketchbook, print them in blue and ink over them but having a blue pencil would be handy for on-the-board drawing.

The actual non-photo blue part is pretty dated though. It's best to scan your stuff in full color so you can manually tweak the finished art, rather than having a scanner automatically apply it, and removing the blue is super simple.

>visit the club fair at my university
>Art Supplies Appreciation Society
for what fucking purpose

>>3148127
I have the prismas and it is barely visible. Wht the fuck is the point? Im just using pilot color eno in the mean time.

>>3141491
What is the definitive tool for someone making a graphic novel, beyond brush pens and a T- square?

Also, what the fuck is moleskin paper, and what mediums work best with it? Wikipedia gives me shit all.

>>3148785
Which one do you mean?
I think they have a few different kinds of paper depending on which type of book you get. There's the standard, sketchbook, watercolor, maybe more.

I used their sketchbooks mostly with fountain pens and the occasional marker for a year or two because they were small, but the paper wasn't very good. It had this water repelling coating that didn't work well with the inks.

>>3148799
I think he's talking about actual moleskin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moleskin)), not about the Moleskine brand, although this seems to be tissue, not paper.

>>3148799
The notebooks, or whatever tf.
I see people gushing over them but I have no clue what it is at all.

>>3148221
If you are really dead set on avoiding digital for now then I would recommend watercolors and inks/inkwashes. Those are both very user friendly mediums. With water colors, if you get a good set, you can get some very beautiful vibrant colors and they blend better than a lot of mediums, you just need to make sure to do it on sturdier papers to avoid your paper buckling and warping.
Jetpens has a nice page on drawing inks that explain things nicely.
>https://www.jetpens.com/blog/guide-to-drawing-inks/pt/784

(I've honestly never seen anyone able to completely avoid marker streaks, they can lessen it by using thicker paper and going in circles as opposed to swipes, but they still wind up feeding it through a blur filter to blend it better.)

>>3148784
Traditional tools usually include a nib holder and a selection of nibs, the most popular being the G pen and school nibs. I recommend the G-pen if you want to look into it, it's incredibly sturdy and makes nice crisp lines which is good for beginners and holds a lot of ink. French curves are also commonly used along with traditional rulers for precise straight and curved edges. Ames lettering guide is a must if you plan on hand lettering your pages. Some kind of white-out, I've seen people use both the deleter white ink for it's opaqueness as well as a plain white gelly roller pen.
I know there's more tools that almost every artist has, regardless if it's western or manga, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

>>3148824
they're overpriced hipster sketchbooks, not really all that special

>>3148827
^
I bought some on clearance for dirt cheap to put in my pants pocket, and honestly the only thing redeemable about them was that their stitched pages held the pages better than glue. Only ever used a generic ballpoint with them. Pretty average quality imo, not worth the price.

>>3148825
thanks for the info, very insightful stuff.

>>3148824
Okay, yea well I've had one of their standard notebooks, three or four sketchbooks and one watercolor book.
I didn't like the standard notebook at all for drawing. The paper was pretty thin and the ink bled through a lot. It might be okay with ballpoint pens or for regular writing, but I couldn't lay down a lot of ink on these.
The watercolor book was alright I guess, I don't have much experience with watercolor paper. It worked. The thing that surprised me a little is how the landscape-format (?) influenced sketching, as I was used to the regular portrait-format.
The sketchbook was pretty good, but like I said the almost waxy paper coating made it a little unpredictable.

I've switched to regular Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks now and they're holding the ink pretty well. There are options with dotted paper, which is very helpful for freehand perspective drawing or anything geometric.

But you know, maybe the reason people are excited about those books is rather because of the "external" factors they have? They're nice to take with you, simpler and less obtrusive than spiral bound books. Or even - like I said - the format or the dotted paper can have some influence on how you draw.

>>3148221

Markers are the best. If you work in small circles you don't get streaks, unless you have a drier marker. This is where Copics are king because you can keep topping your marker off so it's always at 100%.

>>3145795
>>3146427
Oil.

I already bought the shitty paint and have primed several free canvases in homemade gesso. My art director is very sweet for giving them to me. I bought a few low quality oils (Brand) and I actually found some on sale "level 2--Artist Quality" paints from Michaels both int he clearance and general for sale area. One 17 dollar Grumbacher paint for 7 bucks, and two Windsor and Newton paints, all cooler toned primaries. The cheap paints I bought were all warmer primaries. I of course have white and black. The white was a clearance Grumbacher as well. I'd like to thank any of you who accidentally drop or heavily dent these tubes of paint. You make it possible for me to get things on clearance just because it's dirty.
I bought some linseed oil and some hardware mineral spirits to clean my brushes.

I tried to make a color wheel and learned quickly that I don't know how to blend colors on a canvas yet. Of course, I was also working on an area the size of an index card.

I washed my brushes with odorless mineral spirits and then with soap and water, but my brushes are stained. Is there a way around this?

>>3148973
Oh, upper paints are Reeves paints, and the bottom are W+N and Grumbacher (red)

The Reeves paints were 4 dollars for 5fl oz.

wondering if anyone has any experience with pic related and if it would be acceptable for watercolor/ink/ sketching? is 98 lbs enough to prevent warping?
>>3148825
thanks man. i ordered a set of reeves watercolor paint to try out.
>>3148847
well shit, maybe ill give them a try after a while

>>3148979
If you just want splashes of color from watercolor or ink, these sketchbooks are fine. The paper doesn't really handle layering watercolor, and will also buckle pretty badly if you attempt a large wash. Something about the paper makes watercolors reactivate really easily, so it's hard to get a lot of pigment onto the page.

I actually love the Canson XL mixed media books for sketching and and doing studies, but for anything polished you're going to want real watercolor paper.

Attaching one of the studies I did for reference.

>>3148979
i use the universals which are 65 lbs and they handle light washes but i dont use the whole page or anything its for like individual figures.

What are some fine-line waterproof pens that are also portable? (Don't want Microns because they leak when they are in my backpack, apparently it's because of the air vent design or something, and they have to be used at a specific angle for the tip to not degrade)

>>3149343
have you tried faber castell pitt pens?

>>3149343
uniball signo gel pens

>>3149343

Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Staedler finelines, Pilot drawing pens, Copic multiliners, etc.

>>3149356
Not that anon but I don't think they are waterproof, tho I found some Zebra Sarasa clip pens are water and Copic proof which I find strange. Perhaps I should keep watching how they age.

I dun goofed but I already bought a $10 pack water color paints, a water color art pad, and a $10 pack of various brushes from a my local craft store last month before I remembered /ic/ existed.

>could I have gotten better quality material at a similar or cheaper price?
>if I do want to upgrade to higher quality material what would you suggest?
>do you have any recommendations for tools I could be using to make my experience better.

again all water color related stuff.

Thanks in advance.

>>3149420
what brand of paint and brushes did you get? if you're just starting out, it won't hurt to mess around with cheaper materials so you can fully appreciate upgrading to artist grade paint and brushes.

>>3149424

royal & langnickel

https://art.royalbrush.com/brush-collections/zip-n-close-12

RSET-9302

>>3149424

oops forgot the paint

just a generic Reeves 12 color set.

>>3141491
I just ordered the midori mini cleaner from jetpens. Looks handy as hell, considering my artdesk becomes a fortress of eraser shaving, you anons might like it too.
I also bought a pastel aquash medium brush to do some inskwashes with. Have you guys ever used a water brush before? I'm going to dilute the water with some ink to create a good shading tool.

>>3149428
>>3149433
Dad anon here.
Don't worry.

>>3149428
>>3149433
those brushes and paints are ok. winsor & newton cotmans and sakura koi watercolors are also cheap and good for starters. don't worry about it and just get to painting my man

>>3149343
If you don't want fiber-tipped pens (>>3149372), Pilot Penmanship fountain pens are cheap, and make lines finer than 0.3 Hi-Tec-Cs. Platinum Carbon black is a good ink, and I hear Platinum Carbon desk pens make very fine lines too. I've read the cap doesn't post well on them, though.

>>3149356
>>3149405
They are [water, copic, and every solvent I have in my house, including a few engine degreasers]-proof. It's spooky.

>>3149510
You can buy a Wing Sung 698 on ebay for ~15 shipped, stick the Penmanship nib in there and have yourself a kickass piston-filler with a japanese EF nib. Platinum Carbon Black tends to spread a little more than other inks, so for the finest possible line Kiwa-Guro or Noodler's Black might be a better pick. The Platinum ink is also a bitch to clean out.

>>3149578
>a Wing Sung 698 on ebay for ~15 shipped
Those look neat, thanks for letting me know about them. I love the ergonomics of the Penmanship and Plumix, but I'll probably end up buying one of these too.
>The Platinum ink is also a bitch to clean out.
I take apart my Penmanship every couple of weeks and take a soft toothbrush to the nib and feed. I've abused the hell out of it and left pigment inks sitting in it for months and it's still writing fine. Great for a $5 pen.

Thinking of buying some colored pencils to use with my markers.

I'm looking at the Prisma Verithin for the sharp point, because I think it will be better for layering finer titles over the marker. Am I wrong?

I just buy whatever's available at the local store
fuck me I guess

>>3141491
my art is shit, but cousin is thinking of selling copic collection
doiget?

>>3148993
this is cool

>>3149510
>They are [water, copic, and every solvent I have in my house, including a few engine degreasers]-proof. It's spooky.
Yikes, well...Sure that's spooky but I believe not all colors are like that? Definitely white isn't. Which colors are the ones that offer that kind of resistance?
In Sarasa's case, neon and pastel offer 0 resistance but darker tones like greens do.

>>3149670
You're doing all right bud.

Art supply stores in my area don't have much to offer. After reading recommendations on Amazon and other websites I started making online orders to try out new tools, and learned a lot of the things that should considered when buying any new tool. It was if I found out a new "hobby."

Honestly though, if you're not doing anything crazy, a cheap, basic pack of supplies would serve you well for a long while.

>>3149987
>Which colors are the ones that offer that kind of resistance?
I should have specified black. It's been a while since I did that test, so I'm not sure of the exact models I used, but I'm pretty sure it was the Signo UM151 and 207 gel pens and the Vision Elite rollerball pens. The 207s aren't the best for drawing, but the newer 0.5mm 307s flow a lot better and don't skip as much. 038mm UM151s are really nice to draw with.

recently got a set of paintbrushes and a pallet for my watercolors
any brand in general I should look for? I mostly want a set of primary & secondary colors

>>3146421
How do these compare with the regular Tombow writing pencils? I want an in-depth comparison.

Bump

>>3147346
these good markers?

Has anyone tried to make their own acrylic ink before? I'm fucking around trying to make an ink with a pigment dispersion, which itself was initially bought for watercolour purposes. I realized too late that I might want to make an ink out of it, so I'm using what I have on hand so far. Not the best option, but the thing I'm using as a translucent acrylic base for the time being is a satin varnish. Reading up more on it seems to suggest I should look into some other acrylic polymer with UV resistance added. GAC-100 was another suggestion, but that was for thinning down existing acrylic paint. I suppose I could go back to the website where I got the dispersion eventually and pick the appropriate items up, although I'm trying to do what I can locally before resorting to that.

As for the ink itself, while I initially checked out recipes for making acrylic paint online, the end result was going to be too thick for what I was looking for. Instead, I mostly eyeballed the ingredient amounts, gradually adding a bit more distilled water until the mix was thin enough to run off a dip pen with little issue. Pic related is a sample, more or less.

Any ink making advice is appreciated, thank you.

What's a good beginner's colour medium? I've only ever used water-based paint and colouring pencils before

>>3155260
You're probably set with the better ones at the moment, to be honest.

>>3155260
those and markers mostly
charcoal if you wanna play around with shading & texture

>>3155477
there some kind of bundle for markers? my local arts and crafts store has individual markers but i dont want to pick them out individually for 3 dollars ea.
and a brand suggestion is welcome.

>>3155260
>>3155623
Prismacolor and copic markers come in sets.
Tombow markers are pretty good too and come in nicely themed sets, but they are waterbased.

>>3155623

The best markers are Copics and they come in sets but the color picking in them isn't great.

Any brushpen tips/recommendations? Also, is it crazy to use a brushpen forn inking and thin lines?

>>3157051
>>3132302

>>3157051

The extra fine Pentel pigment brush pen is the best I've used. Great lines, although the ink isn't marker proof which is a bummer.

>>3157057
I'm about to buy this. What's the best way to get the dry brush effect? A lot of people I see using it just use it for flat black inking. I personally like the "sketchyness" of drybrush for brushpens.

>>3157267
That pen stays pretty wet. You can wipe the excess ink off on some scrap paper, work fast, and use paper with a fair bit of texture to it. If you mainly want drybrush effects get the medium Pentel Color Brush and check out the Peter Han SVSlearn videos to see a demonstration of getting drybrush effects with it. Someone uploaded them to Mega.

>>3157400
Thanks!

>>3157400
>Someone uploaded them to Mega
In the book thread? Or in the animation thread? Sorry, but there's a lot of mega links.

>>3157455
Searching the archive (warosu.org/ic/) would have given you the link, but it's dead now anyway. It's on cgpeers, though. And registration should be open on the 1st and 15th of the month, so you're in luck.

>>3157469
Oh, I have a cgpeers. I didn't think to look there. Thank you anon!