Chapter 4 marathon -- prep time

Tools for inking....

1. "c-thru" ruler. Good for making panel borders.
   
2. "sakura pigma micron" pen, size 01. Good for inking figures and well... everything. If you press too hard, the pen tip can split in two which is annoying. But the same tip flexibility can create a nice, subtle line variation.
   
3. "millenium zig" pen, size 08. Good for panel borders.
4. "staedler pigment liner" size 0.3. Good for word balloons and Riley's glasses.
5. "tachikawa school-g" black pen. Good for inking tiny details and distant backgrounds. Has a sturdy nib which hasn't broken on me (yet). Creates a nice, consistant line... but the ink takes a while to dry so you have to be careful not to drag your hand across fresh lines.
6. "borden & riley" (that's where Riley's name comes from...), 9 x 12 sheets. A nice, affordable, bright blue-white paper that's extremely smooth and holds technical pen ink very well. There is practically no bleeding. The surface is similar to deleter manga paper. Only downside is that it's somewhat flimsy so the pages aren't as impressive in person as if they were drawn on sturdy bristol.
7. A pile of 30 pages printed in 96% brightness cyan on the bleedproof paper. I scanned all my thumbnails, enlarged each individual page to fit on a 9 x 12 sheet. This is what I'll ink on.
8. Digital clock to keep me on track. It's easy to lose track of time doing this stuff so I think having a clock nearby is important.
9. My $1.00 plant to keep me company and remind me of the rest of the world out there (world map is for that, too)
10. Hand cream. My hands get incredibly dry sometimes, and when they do I find it distracting from drawing. Having a pleasant smelling lotion is a plus because I get tired of smelling paper, ink, and eraser crumbs all day.

So that's my desk right now. I cleaned it with windex so no eraser crumbs will get stuck to backs of pages and create accidental bumpy lines.

Someone emailed me asking for the file I use to print out my thumbnail templates. Here they are for double page spreads and for regular sets of pages. Remember that theses are all formatted to be proportional to Tokyopop book sizes. Comics come in all sizes, so I recommend using these for example only, or if you plan on entering Tokyopop's contest. And also as a disclaimer, all this stuff is just what I use. Everyone's brains and preferences are different, so be sure to stick to what suits you best!

Marathon part 2 starts on... Sunday, I think. Tomorrow is my day off. Have a great weekend, everyone! =)