Five Reasons to Draw with Pen and Ink on Paper (and sometimes big)

by Jason Thibault

Now that computers and the internet have overtaken the world I sometimes fear that a lot of the traditional things that we take for granted will slowly begin to disappear. It may be an irrational fear as the internet has also brought to light amazing factions of creators in different pockets of the globe.

I’ve been noticing new practices taking hold in the comics, manga and illustration professions. Digital inking, Wacom tablets (yes they are cool) replacing pens, vectors overtaking hand-drawn artwork and a strong reliance on Illustrator and Photoshop. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a knock against utilizing those techniques. I have seen some amazing art created on Macs and PCs. I just don’t want it to get too carried away. I have never personally experimented with digital drawing suites like Manga Studio and I will one day when I get the time. For now I continue to love getting my hands dirty with ink and owning a growing collection of original pages and illustrations.

The main reasons to draw by hand

1. Permanence. If you create your pages with a half-decent ink on acid-free paper your artwork will survive for decades and perhaps centuries. Paper is still the most portable storage format. Digital works are stored on your hard drive, CDRom, DVD or back-up tape. But digital file types and storage mediums change each decade. We backed up files on tape in the 1980’s and part of the 90’s. Then we used zip cartridges. Then DVDRoms and portable hard drives. Meanwhile paper is still paper. My stack of originals is nicely filed away in a flat drawer. I still like to keep photocopies and high resolution digital backups though just in case.

2. Mastering techniques. I realize it takes years and a lot of artistic skill to render quality digital paintings and drawings but there’s just something more immediate about pen on paper or brush on canvas. Whether it’s spending years figuring out how to perfectly sharpen your pencil or the exact pressure needed when drawing lines with a dipping nib or technical pen. It could involve changing up your ink brand, paper type and size or finally investing in some high quality Windsor & Newton watercolor brushes. I’m sure we’ll arrive at a day where students will sit around a live model and sketch them with their wacoms into a laptop. I just hope that day doesn’t arrive too soon.

3. The monetary value of having an original. I realize most art out there isn’t worth much more than the paper or canvas that it was created on and that’s often not the point when creating it. But what about down the line? What if the creator strikes it big? Having a back catalog of originals could become quite lucrative in that case. The idea of parting with my originals pains me but my grandkids might not have the same issues. And although I know it’s happened, it’s not often that we visit a gallery to view a showing of digital print-outs.

4. Drawing Big. Once again I realize a computer screen can become an infinite canvas if you zoom in and out far enough. But the sheer power of wild brush strokes on a larger sheet of paper still captivates me. I was so used to crafting comic pages on 11″ x 17″ sheets that I thought I may be confined to those dimensions forever. Then I went to a few comic art exhibits. I saw original pages by Dan Clowes and Chris Ware which were much larger. It completely changed my mindset. And seeing that Paul Pope creates comics on pages as large as 19″ x 24″ was a revelation. And in the art world larger sized works often do command higher prices.

5. Having a completely portable skill set. If you can draw you can draw anywhere. If you’re well practiced with pen or pencil you can draw in your studio, at a cafe, park, bus station, prison etc… No need to boot up software or rely on electricity. Back in the 1990’s R. Crumb traded in a box of sketchbooks for a villa in France. You probably won’t be able to trade in your old laptops and digital printouts and get the same deal.

A Pen and Ink Love In
I wanted this particular blog post to be more of a celebration of the amazing array of hand-created artwork that’s out there and specifically works that are rendered in pencil, pen and ink. I’m hoping the next generation of art students and bedroom illustrators embrace the techniques of the past as they forge on ahead crafting new styles and merging the practical with the digital.

In this next part I’m going to focus on comic artists but I’ve mixed in a couple of poster artists and illustrators as well. I’ve kept the number down to around a dozen artists but I could have easily put 50 or 60 (or 500 or 600) more up here. Every artist listed below is one that I hold in high regard. Some have influenced me while others I simply stand in awe of to both their talent and dedication to their craft.

Florian Bertmer
Florian Bertmer is an incredible draftsman who’s taken influences such as Pushead but run with it into a darker direction. He’s a German artist who creates art for posters, t-shirts and album covers.

Paul Pope
Paul Pope is the perfect melding of European, Japanese and old-school American cartoonists. And he draws big. On his large-sized boards he deftly creates his comic book masterpieces. He’s one of the aforementioned artists that I simply stand in awe of. The good people at First Second books will be releasing his out of print series THB this fall. The Beguiling comic shop in Toronto has a lot of his art for sale.

Aaron Horkey
There’s no point in trying to ever draw more detailed than Aaron Horkey. His unique artwork adorns record covers, t-shirts and fast to sell-out prints. There’s nobody out there quite like him. His hand-lettering is elegant enough to make dozens of artists want to quit and change professions. His ink illustrations are so intricate that they actually blow the art up in size (rather than the standard procedure of reducing) before printing it. I’m the proud owner of several of his silk-screened prints which is the only affordable way to obtain his art. His originals fetch thousands of dollars when you can manage to find one for sale.

Jae Lee
I’ve been in love with the art of Jae Lee ever since first buying up all of the issues of Namor that he worked on in the early 90’s. Despite the murky coloring and poor-quality newsprint that Namor was printed on his edgey style cut through. He became a fan favourite while he was very young. He continually refined his style by at first taking a looser approach following after Bill Sienkiewicz, Barron Storrey and Kent Williams. After a hiatus he came back in the early 2000’s sporting a more realistic approach yet still with the jagged edges and razor thin lines that he was always known for. He must have gone through an oil tanker worth of black India ink throughout his career.
In 2006 it was announced that he would be providing art for the Marvel adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. He worked strictly in pencils for this project and colorist Richard Isanove darkened his grey tones to black in Photoshop and went to town with them. Check out his originals at the Albert Moy Gallery.

Lee Bermejo has risen to the cream of the crop of the comix industry. He came out of the gate around 10 years ago working for Wildstorm where his work looked like it had been created by a seasoned pro despite his young age. You don’t hear much from him on the interwebs. We snagged an interview with him recently but he has no website or much of a presence online. You can however find his gallery over at Splash Page Art. I’m guessing he’s too busy busting out insane amounts of detail on his artwork to bother much with the internet. His graphic novel Joker (written by Brian Azzarello) was and is a bestseller. It hit stores shortly after The Dark Knight was in theatres.
As amazing as he is with pen and ink it’s his recent style that he’s been developing over the last few years that has found him new fans. He creates textures and layers with pencil and then highlights and outlines the shapes with ink.

Brian Hitch made everyone in comics take notice of him and his art when he joined Warren Ellis for the first 12 issues of The Authority. The two of them helped to make famous the more cinematic “widescreen” approach of comics in the late 1990’s. But it was his five-year run with Mark Millar on Marvel’s Ultimates that sent his name soaring into the stratosphere. His masterful combination of exaggerated super-heroic realism pushed front and centre over painstakingly rendered backgrounds has won him hundreds of thousands of admirers. And artist Paul Neary must have the patience of a Buddhist monk to have inked a lot of those pages.
You can find a lot of Hitch and Neary original art over at The Art of Comics. And if you have a spare two or three grand sitting around you could commission an original.

Tim Bradstreet
It’s no secret to anyone who’s followed Optimum Wound for a while that we’re big fans of Tim Bradstreet’s artwork. When I happened upon his book Maximum Black I was immediately inspired to start experimenting with realism and photorealism and I haven’t looked back since. Tim’s style has also evolved over the years and his graphic design skills are razor sharp. He’s brought a movie poster and book jacket sensibility to comic covers and won himself a legion of fans in the process.
Tim Bradstreet’s art is always a source of inspiration around these parts.

Geoff Darrow
I was blown away by the art of Geoff Darrow from the first moment a friend showed me a copy Hard Boiled. I needed to see more. Unfortunately Geoff takes a long time to create his painstakingly detailed artwork. The originals (that I’ve seen listed on eBay) are massive in size. I believe the pencils are done on illustration paper and then the inks are drawn on a vellum overlay. He could have rested on his laurels after working on the production designs for the Matrix trilogy but he cut no corners when working on his most recent series, Shaolin Cowboy.

Sean Phillips
Sean Phillips is one of the most reliable artists current working in comics. Whether he was working on one of my favourite series of the past decade, Sleeper or earning a bigger paycheque on Marvel Zombies I am always inspired by the results. He described the look of his style on Criminal as Kent Williams inking Mike Mignola. He has a nice chunky realistic style and extremely intuitive design skills when it comes to laying out panels on a page. He’s also quite an accomplished painter. You can go to Splash Page Art to see Sean Phillip’s gallery of originals for sale.

Bill Sienkiewicz has always been one of my absolute favourite artists. I treasure my copies of Elektra Assassin. I feel he’s the artist mainly responsible for bringing the look of organized chaos to mainstream comics. Melding the bold illustration styles of the 1980’s with Neal Adams, Ralph Steadman and probably a million other influences Bill knocked us on our asses with his wild drawings and layouts. From his more realistic subject portrayals in his commercial art projects to his “far-out” experiments in series like Stray Toasters he has never let us become bored with him.
It’s his collaborations with Alan Moore on Big Numbers and Brought to Light that really did it for me and showed what could done with the comics medium.

And finally I’ll leave you with a piece called Lafourcade II by an art collective known as Anville. This is a 16″ x 40″ ink on bristol drawing. The detail is staggering on it.

And of course need we mention…
Jason Shawn Alexander

and Danijel Zezelj

So what compels you to keep drawing?

Photography Credits:

Both photos at the top were used under a Creative Commons License.
The History of Tape Storage, photo by Pargon
Photo of man sketching by sashafatcat

Forming an Alliance with Heavy Ink

A few months before we put out Rex I got in touch with the guys at HeavyInk.com. They’re a new online store aiming to become the Amazon of the comic book industry.

I had read the interview with Heavy Ink head honcho, Travis Corcoran last April at Comics Reporter and really liked what he had to say. I figured we’re a new publisher and they’re a new store. Let’s try to make something happen.

When Rex was finally published in May so I sent Travis a copy. By the summer Heavy Ink was carrying a healthy supply of the graphic novel in their inventory.

I’m still new on their system but on top of the online store they have a full blown social network, forum and RSS feeds for every comic series which you can subscribe to.

I think the main selling point to consumers is the 20% off every item that they carry and the free shipping. There’s A LOT of people who don’t live close to a comic store that this will appeal to.

I’ll revisit this later in the year after I’ve had a chance to explore their system in further deal.

In the meantime you can now buy Danijel Zezelj’s Rex at Heavy Ink.

-Jay

Kody Chamberlain answers 12 Questions for Masters of Ink

Over the next few months we’re going to be talking to an incredible line-up of comic creators, poster artists and illustrators. Here’s the first interview.

Believe it or not I first discovered Kody Chamberlain on Myspace. I guess I was hiding under a rock. His art caught me off guard and I’ve been playing catch up and paying attention ever since. He was kind enough to take time out from his busy schedule and talk to us about his tools and inspiration. For more info you can check out his website and add him on myspace. Let’s get to it.

First professional work (piece / year) and maybe a quick story behind it.

I had drawn some college newspaper illustrations and two anthology stories at Digital Webbing, but “30 Days of Night: Bloodsucker Tales” was my first professional paid work. I was a regular on the Steve Niles message board and he had contributed a story to Digital Webbing called Sherman Danger. While drawing that story for the anthology, Ted Adams at IDW contacted me about drawing Bloodsucker Tales. So I did two quick test pages and got hired for the 8 issue series. I had a blast doing that book and really learned a lot about the craft. One thing that Steve Niles does that often goes unnoticed in the industry is taking chances on new artists. If you look at the bulk of his work at IDW, you’ll see that many of the artists he’s working with are newcomers to the industry. I’m still very grateful for the chance to work on that book.

Self-taught or formally educated? (or mixture of both, mentors etc…)

I’d say I’m both self taught and formally trained. I have a B.F.A. in Graphic Design and Advertising and I packed in as many drawing classes as possible throughout my years in college. Many of the skills required for comic book work are impossible to pick up in a traditional university art school setting, so that requires a whole lot of independent learning. I got off to a late start in that I really didn’t start drawing until I was about 17 or 18, and it took me another 4 or 5 years to start trying my hand at sequential work. So I jumped in with both feet and put every free minute into learning the craft. I’m also a little obsessive about buying and reading books on the subject of drawing and making comics, and I’ve read just about every book I’ve ever seen on both subjects. I’ve also attended a massive quantity of live figure drawing sessions and we also started a local sketch group where a group of artists get together once a week and draw, laugh, share tricks and inspirations. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of writing as well, so I’ve completely submerged myself into reading comic book scripts, screenplays and how-to books on creative writing.

Tools of the trade: Taking a quick glance over at your pens, brushes etc…what tools have you mainly been using over the last few years?

I’ve always drawn with a .5mm lead pencil and HB lead. I have tried using the 1.mm lead holders and various wooden pencils and lead weights, but I always come back to the .5mm lead pencil. I like the line, and I like being able to pick one up anywhere. I tend to buy the lead pencils with the thin white eraser for fine line erasing, and I keep a kneaded eraser for large areas. When I’m inking I use all sorts of things, whatever works for the job. But the bulk of my blacks are done with a modified Pentel Colorbrush. Michael Lark turned me on to these a couple of years ago and it really felt natural from the very first line. They’re not refillable, but I’ve sliced off the back of mine to make it refillable. It’s incredibly ugly, but works great. I use the Pentel Stylo (Model JM20) for most of my thin line work. It’s a porous point tip, and I usually shave it to a sharper point with an X-Acto blade. I’ll often throw some Windsor Newton masking fluid on the page before I ink, that allows me to create thin white lines and white splatter. You can ink right over it, and when the page dries, you simply remove the masking fluid to reveal the white paper under the ink. Fantastic inking tool. I mostly use a crow quill to apply it, but you can also use a plastic paint brush or any other inking tool, it has the same consistency as India ink. I also use a big variety of microns, quills, brushes, wooden sticks, fingernails, etc.

Pentel Colorbrush
Pentel Stylo
Windsor Newton Masking Fluid

Favorite brand of ink:

I don’t really have a favorite brand, but I do tend to stick with Higgens Black Magic Waterproof or Speedball Superblack for dipping and brush work. Lately I’ve been putting the Rapidograph Waterproof into my refillable Colorbrush because it seems to clog less than the Higgens or Speedball.

Type of paper:

Being a graphic designer by trade I’ve got access to a massive quantity of paper swatch books. So I recently went through the 200 or so books and tested various pencils, inks, washes and watercolors. I narrowed it down to my 3 favorite papers and got print quotes on those to custom print my blueline guides. I eventually went with the cheapest of the three, it happens to be the Mohawk Navajo Cover, 130lb. It’s a great paper and handles everything I throw at it. I ordered 1,000 sheets, so I’ll be sticking with these pages for a while. As for “off the shelf” brands, I love the EON Productions art boards. [www.eonprod.com] I’ve printed custom boards with EON in the past and I’ve picked up emergency packs now and then.

Which artists or creators do you return to for a quick boost of inspiration? Who are the masters of ink?

When it comes to the all-time greats, you’ll probably get many mentions of the same names. So I’ll stick with my favorites that are currently on the shelf. Michael Lark inks his own work brilliantly, as do Ashley Wood, Jason Alexander, Kent Williams, Tomm Coker, Jock, Mike Huddleston and Sean Phillips. Duncan Fegredo just finished a brilliant art run on Hellboy, but I’ve always loved his inks in particular. His run on Enigma is one of my all time favorites. Bill Sienkiewicz is in his own category as an artist, but I also love the organized chaos he brings to other people’s work when he inks over them. The Wolverine run with John Buscema and Bill Sienkiewicz is monumental. I’d say that Richard Friend is probably the most versatile inker I’ve ever known. The guy is a chameleon and is somehow able to adapt perfectly to every artist he’s ever inked.

Once a client has handed off an illustration job to you, how do you first tackle the job? A quick overview of your process.

Since I tend to pencil, ink and color most of my work, I start with old fashioned thumbnails. I sketch each page about 2 x 3 inches or so, breaking down the main shapes and location of each figure and major background details like walls, doors, cars, etc. From there, I shoot reference if I’m working in a realistic style. I then jump directly to the board dropping everything in with pencil, going to the reference as often as needed to pull in those random details. If I’m working without reference, like on Beowulf, then I just go at the page full size and push thing around until they feel right. I rarely pencil more than the core shapes since I usually ink my own work. Going very tight with the pencils is a bit of a waste of time for me knowing that I’ll have to do it again with the inks, so I just tighten up the artwork with the inks instead. If there’s a problem area like a facial expression or unusual detail, I will sometimes work on it a little longer with pencil first.

What’s currently sitting in your mp3 / CD player / turntable?

I’ve got very eclectic music tastes, but when I’m drawing I tend to prefer music that doesn’t relax me too much. I like to be alert and a little bit on the edge. I’m a big fan of New Orleans funk, guys like Dr. John, The Meters, Galactic, etc. But I always have a lot of James Brown in the mix. But on any given playlist, you might find Frank Sinatra, NIN, Otis Redding, Tool, Atmosphere, The Shins, U2, Dr. Dre and Led Zeppelin.

What’s hanging on your walls and what is your favorite piece of art that you own (not created by you)?

I keep a lot of art on the walls, but none of it is mine. I’m not inspired by my own work, so I’ve got to reach outside for inspiration. I’ve got originals from Michael Lark, Jock, Bill Sienkiewicz and a dozen or so more. But my all time favorite is a personalized Will Eisner sketch of the Spirit on Will Eisner Studios letterhead. It hangs over my drawing table.

Last novel you read and last movie that you saw (that you’d recommend).

I just finished A Jack Reacher novel called “One Shot” written by Lee Child. I’ve read most of the series and really dig the character. Currently reading “The Ambler Warning” by Robert Ludlum. So far so good, but it does seem quite similar to the Bourne character. Saw Indiana Jones IV this past week and it was pretty good overall, I’d give it a “C+”. Iron Man was probably the last GREAT movie I saw.

Current and upcoming projects.

Currently working on “Pretty, Baby, Machine” for Shadowline written by Clark Westerman, and “Wight and Associates” for Spacedog written by Rob Levin. I’m also writing a few projects I’ll be drawing later this year and into 2009, and I’ve got a few projects I’m not able to announce just yet. I’m having a blast lately, and hopefully people dig what I’m burying.

What would you tell an aspiring artist who is working his ass off but still needs and wants to break through to the next level?

Everyone is different and everyone learns in a different way. So I think it’s important to do a lot of experimenting with tools, techniques and styles as often as possible. You’ve really got to work hard not to fall into an artistic routine and become satisfied with your own work.

Here’s a common problem I see in the industry. Many artists get stuck because they’ve found a person they believe to be the perfect artist. Then they try and mold themselves into that artists by mirroring what they do and use the tools they use. I see it all the time at conventions when I’m doing portfolio reviews, people really do find a million different ways to get stuck, and they can’t move on because they’ve built creative walls around themselves. You’ve got to do everything you can to keep learning, and it’s a lot harder than it sounds because when you’re stuck, you don’t know that you’re stuck. That’s when your friends become important. You’ve got to make friends in the industry, friends that are also on the path to becoming a professional artist. Learn from each other and don’t let the other artists become complacent. You’ll find that you run a lot faster and a lot longer if someone else is running beside you. Organize a meeting once a week or once a month and turn it into something important in your life. If you can’t find any artists in your area, find some online. Join a message board like DigitalWebbing.com or PencilJack.com, and if you or your group is able to find a mentor(s) in the industry that’s willing to share their craft, you’ll have a wealth of information that’s damn near impossible to get otherwise.

One of the easiest ways to learn is to force yourself outside of your comfort zone. If you’re great with a pencil, pick up a pen. Once you’re great with the pen, pick up a quill, then pick up a brush, then a toothbrush, then a sponge, etc. Then start finding ways to combine different tools and styles, start working with color, acrylic, watercolor, oil, oil pastels, Photoshop, Painter, etc. Along the way, start adding all the things you’ve learned to your creative arsenal.

And be sure to apply that same experimentation technique to everything else you do. Storytelling, layout, cover design, etc. Keep what works and continue to grow. And then start going backwards. Simplify, clarify and really try to find the essentials. Figure out what works, then figure out why it works. Once you’ve got the “why” figured out, strip it down to the core and see if it still works. Learning really is something you have to embrace, but really, learning is the best part of any job you’ll ever do. Once you fall in love with learning, there’s no stopping you.