Comic Genesis Forums

After some questions asked to other cartoonists, I decided on bristol board as my paper of choice. It's thick enough so the ink doesn't curl it, and responds to ink really well.

What kind of paper do you guys use? What are the benefits of that kind of paper?

I want to find out as much as possible about paper types before I buy a big stockpile of a certain type...

I use regular 8.5X11 printing paper. It's cheap .I bought about 5000 sheets - approximately 5 packages - for something like 30$ (I really can't remember ... but it's cheap!). I'm only on my second package.

It bleeds a little too much if you use pens that are really runny (like fountain pens).

I use the regular printer paper too.
I once tried one so-called hi quality paper, but I didn't like it- it wasn't all that perfect with ink, and sucked with pencils (it was too smooth)

bristol is good stuff. great for ink, and marker (like've begun to experament with. ) ink takes to bristol board noteably better than most other papers, i've found
however, it also is not quite cheep, which is why most of my comics are done on xerox paper.

I got some bristol board, enough for 45 strips if I cut it up, for about $10 through Dick Blick Studios. I tried xerox paper, photoprint paper, sketchbook paper, and bristol board... bristol board is the best, but it's going to start burning a hole in my pocket.

What exactly are you using to "ink"
Cause a black marker does as good as a job as anything else... and works perfectly fine on normal cheap paper. Once the comic is scanned in... and played around with a bit, you can't tell the difference.

I go with the printer/xerox stuff. Nice and cheap, which makes up for its inadequacies. I just can't ink more than a panel at a time because I'm left-handed.

Also, my scanner has a black background for some contrast reason, so I have to put in an extra blank sheet behind the comic when I scan.

--Sij

I can't stand regular printer paper now that I use the more expensive stuff... its fine for simple sketches, but after awhile you start to see why you need the better stuff. Its definitely softer when you pencil it in, but that makes an easier surface to draw on; more lines and less scratching of the paper. Its also faster to pencil-shade on the thicker stuff, and its a bit more durable in the long run. However, I'm not sure if it really has much of a change from a Xerox paper with an old magazine under it... I did that for years.

-chris 'c'

heffaloop wrote:What exactly are you using to "ink"
Cause a black marker does as good as a job as anything else... and works perfectly fine on normal cheap paper. Once the comic is scanned in... and played around with a bit, you can't tell the difference.

I'm using technical pens, small size watercolor brushes, and an brush pen(sort of like a small brush with an ink cartridge... good for the lazy cartoonist.)

And also, I don't like messing around much with the picture once I scanned it in... I only use the computer to add my name and copyright to the bottom of the strip, and to resize, brighten the light areas and darken the black areas. Sometimes I fix bad lines in the computer too... actually, I use the computer a bit, but I like to use brushes anyway

Copy paper is pretty much unacceptable for inking with anything other than a marker (and it doesn't take heavy markering well either) while bristol board is very nice but also pricey. In most cases I find drawing pad (60-80lb paper) to be a good compromise. It costs about 10 cents a page, cheaper in bulk, and can take a good soaking of india ink with only minor curling.

DiEgo wrote:

heffaloop wrote:Once the comic is scanned in... and played around with a bit, you can't tell the difference.

And also, I don't like messing around much with the picture once I scanned it in... I only use the computer to add my name and copyright to the bottom of the strip, and to resize, brighten the light areas and darken the black areas. Sometimes I fix bad lines in the computer too... actually, I use the computer a bit, but I like to use brushes anyway

I think that's what heffaloop meant when she said "played around a bit".
and if you have no problem with that, I don't think paper quality will be an issue for you.
as long as your pen [or something] doesn't bleed, proper contrast setting will remove everything you want removed.

Yeah, I know, that was sort of a joke post... I play around with it a bit only to clean up stuff, but I change very little line-wise. That is done with white out.

o.O White-out is evil, espescially on cheap Xerox paper. Just fix it up on the computer, you can do so much more. And with white-out, you can't exactly draw over it because it looks so much like crap.

-chris 'c'

I use white-out, mixed with water, and I think it works ok.
Of course I don't use it that much, but I had no problems with it, and I use cheap xerox paper.

White out isn't that bad... not if you get the good kind. I have white out that is applied with a tiny sponge, so the white out stays smooth, and it is very opaque. And I use bristol board, which doesn't seem to take any adverse effects from the white out. I just like to look at my strip on paper and have it be close to the exact way I want it.

well my whiteout had a tiny sponge included, -it's just an regular TipEx whiteout, but I always mix it with water, and use a tiny brush.

and if you want your strips to look good on the paper, without any cg-ing, I guess you have right to worry about paper.

Marker paper, grizzlebees!
Marker paper is the bomb.

Well, folks can use whatever they want but I would never use printer paper personally. First of all, the ink bleeds like mad when you use a brush, and also I would just rather have my strips on nice, sturdy, archival bristol board. Also much better if you ever want to give away original artwork.