Guest Week

[JimRob]

What do you use to ink your strip with Jim? I like your line work and shading and I think I've come to the limits of the cheep, crappy pens I use!

A size 00 watercolour brush, a pot of ink and an eggcup. The size is probably overkill - you can draw just as precisely with a size 1 given practice - but it stops me from making lines too thick. And the shading's all computer-done; I did some cross-hatching with a gel pen, scanned it in, and I now cut and paste onto a seperate layer it as required.

I can't work with ink pens - perhaps it's the paper I'm using, but I find my lines going everywhere.

[Big Bad Al]

A size 00 watercolour brush, a pot of ink and an eggcup. The size is probably overkill - you can draw just as precisely with a size 1 given practice - but it stops me from making lines too thick. And the shading's all computer-done; I did some cross-hatching with a gel pen, scanned it in, and I now cut and paste onto a seperate layer it as required.

I can't work with ink pens - perhaps it's the paper I'm using, but I find my lines going everywhere.

/me ponders if he should risk using an ink bottle and brush as he normally draws his srtip on his bed

Anyway how much ink do you use and is it messy? Are the brushes hard to clean? And don't you need blotting paper? etc

[JimRob]

/me ponders if he should risk using an ink bottle and brush as he normally draws his srtip on his bed

Anyway how much ink do you use and is it messy? Are the brushes hard to clean? And don't you need blotting paper? etc

Definitely don't if you want to draw on your bed. (I thought comics were normally drawn on paper anyway, ho ho.) It's not that messy, but if you drop the brush ink is splattered over a sizable radius. And the consequences of knocking the bottle over don't bear thinking about.

The brushes are easy enough to clean, and ordinary toilet paper seems to work well enough for drying them out. And I only seem to need about ten drops of ink per strip... I think that's about half a teaspoonful, so it's not exactly a crippling financial drain.

[Big Bad Al]

The brushes are easy enough to clean, and ordinary toilet paper seems to work well enough for drying them out. And I only seem to need about ten drops of ink per strip... I think that's about half a teaspoonful, so it's not exactly a crippling financial drain.

Yeah I thought Indian ink and the brushes would be pricey but I got two brushes and a small pot of the black stuff today for about

[LAGtheNoggin]

"Mind, sitting on the floor to ink is a bitch! I wish their were more clear, flat areas in this house!"

Ditto. Actually. Not ditto. The clear floor space in my old room is tiny. I just use my bed, it'll be a bitch if I ever spill the ink bottle but that hasn't happened just yet ^.^

I've just got an old flat piece of cardboard I use as a rest, usually lots of layers and then something smooth on top, voila! Work space! Best to keep the bottle off your bed and on a table side though as I'm sure you've guessed.

But of course, now I just ink on computer, so much cleaner and not such an arse since I can do it at work and at home, w00t...

[Gloria]

Man... I feel spoiled. I have a nice, $89 computer desk for a workspace...l all kinds of cubbies, drawer, cd rack, etc... I also have a tracing table composed of sawhorses and a glass picture frame...

Meh. I don't ink lines wiht brushes anymore, mainly cuz I ruined my good brush by not ever rinsing it. I just use it for filling in large areas of black, now.

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

I'm still practising but it's not as huge a learning curve then I thought it would be and I've already made some half descent work! Also I've been playing with ink effects that I could never do with a pen and this crap seems to work with my pencil colours a lot better so I might try selling some of this tat again too!

i'm pretty amazed at how fast you're learning the craft of brush inking! i wasn't so lucky... i started using a brush in November, and it was only a month or two ago that i actually started to use it with fluency.

and i'm glad that Jim is still accepting guest strips! i thought my chance had come and gone. i'll whip one up for ya today, ok?

[Tek Roo]

You'll all be happy to know that I shall not be providing any competition of my own, unless of course I suddenly some up with something Albion Fuzz related that involves a grinning Marcropod standing in front of a Series III Land Rover.

In other news, it seems that Guest Strip Week #1 is off to quite an excellent start! Good one Gloria! And choice poetry too! Quite Albion Fuzzish!

[JimRob]

and i'm glad that Jim is still accepting guest strips! i thought my chance had come and gone. i'll whip one up for ya today, ok?

Oo. I'll look forward to that. Bonus points if you can include King Crimson lyrics! But more bonus points if you can't

You'll all be happy to know that I shall not be providing any competition of my own, unless of course I suddenly some up with something Albion Fuzz related that involves a grinning Marcropod standing in front of a Series III Land Rover.

I'll ask Ian.

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

"Bonus points if you can include King Crimson lyrics! But more
bonus points if you can't "

fair enough! i'll keep the crimson lyrics to an absolute ZERO, in the interest of acquiring more bonus points, and of not referencing a band that i haven't yet decided if i LIKE.

[JimRob]

fair enough! i'll keep the crimson lyrics to an absolute ZERO, in the interest of acquiring more bonus points, and of not referencing a band that i haven't yet decided if i LIKE.

Okay, that was a little random. I'm sorry.

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with King Crimson, which tends to lead to this kind of thing.

[ZOMBIE USER 5169]

I like Tailsteak's night-sky effect (Tuesday 25th). Simple but effective. The scatter of the stars looks just right.

[Big Bad Al]

Right I SHOULD have mine done by the end of today!

[JimRob]

I'm going to have to draw a big pile of fan-arts next week. A big pile.

And this is interesting: look at the latest 'news' entry. Mere coincidence? I think not! Even though it's quite likely it is.

[K. Ivan Ruppert]

Hey Jim!

I got in on Albion Fuzz during my last kick to inject fresh blood into my reading list (I forget where I got the link, either Quid Pro Quo or Untitled!, both also recent addions to my reading list also). I wish I could do a guest strip, since AF is quickly becoming one of my favorites, but unfortunatly I can't think of anything that fits either.

-K

[ZOMBIE USER 5169]

Hey! I'm a good egg! Thanks, Jim!

And I hope you liked the yolk.

[ZOMBIE USER 5169]

Good to see Oscar. I hope he has a good time here. And I hope he likes the tea - I'm a coffee man myself. I don't actually know if people drink tea in America - my knowledge of the States is very second-hand, based largely on Buffy and such. Come to think of it, I don't even remember seeing Giles have a cup.

Heh. I'm the only one so far who hasn't done Alex or Sybil, or at least had someone talk about them. I'm sort of shy, and I suppose I feel more comfortable doing minor characters.

[JimRob]

Tomorrow's - by Al Foreman - features some very minor characters indeed. (And you really don't want to miss it: it is, in a way as yet remains secret, very special.)

[ZOMBIE USER 5169]

It's in my diary.

[ZOMBIE USER 8454]

[quote="Tim Tylor"]I don't actually know if people drink tea in America - my knowledge of the States is very second-hand, based largely on Buffy and such.[/quote]

as it seems like i'm the only Yank who ever set foot in this forum, i gotta jump in patriotically and say that yes, we do drink tea here! i don't think it's really the same stuff... i'll have to find out when i go to England next spring.