Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Stan, where do you buy your supplies and equipment? Do you get them in a store or through a catalog?

I bought some comic book boards and they were a little pricey. Do you just use plain bristol and make your own?

Where do you buy your lettering guides and pens?

I buy my paper (Strathmore 2 ply, kid finish, 500 series) from on-line retailers. They come in large sheets (23 x 29"), and I cut them myself into 11x17" sheets. It comes in reams of 25 sheets. I have bought these from either Utrecht or Dick Blick. I don't care for those preprinted comic boards, because the paper quality is not as high as I would like it to be. I also get my ink (Badger Black Opaque) on-line. This ink is difficult to get in stores, as they go through a different distributor than what most stores deal with. I usually buy mass quantities of paper and ink--enough for a 5 year supply, at least.

I buy everything else from art or office supply stores. Swain's Graphics in Glendale, near where I live has a twice yearly 20% off storewide sale. I stock up on sketchbooks and other supplies then. The Aames lettering guides can be picked up at art stores, and they last forever if taken care of. My lettering pens are the Rotring Art Pens (fine, and bold). I toss the cartridges that they come with, and buy the Rotring Ink adaptors. They enable me to fill them with the ink of my choice--Badger Black.

For a more detailed look at my work material and habits, look at the "How I Do It" story in the Amazing Heroes Interview (#187, I think). It was reprinted in the UY Book 5 HC, The Art of UY #1 comic from Radio, and The Art of UY HC from Dark Horse.

hey hey now- that was a great question- mind if I jip off the answer too?

Stan Sakai wrote:
BADWORD Blick.

It appears the boards automatically edits postings.

It's "D ick" (no space) Blick.

Thanks so much for the answer! I usually buy pads of bristol, but those pre-measured blue lines on the comic boards were very alluring to me! Measuring is not my favorite part of cartooning!

I do have the Radio Art of Usagi and it is a treasure to me. Somewhere in my collection I have a book by Ken Muse, "The Secrets of Professional Cartooning". Has anyone ever seen it. I think it is very helpful.

Something else I am tempted to buy is a lightbox, for the times when I've "nailed it" in the sketch. Do you ever use those? As I understand it, some cartoonists do to maintain exactly the same features for characters.

Andy wrote:Thanks so much for the answer! I usually buy pads of bristol, but those pre-measured blue lines on the comic boards were very alluring to me! Measuring is not my favorite part of cartooning!

I do have the Radio Art of Usagi and it is a treasure to me. Somewhere in my collection I have a book by Ken Muse, "The Secrets of Professional Cartooning". Has anyone ever seen it. I think it is very helpful.

Something else I am tempted to buy is a lightbox, for the times when I've "nailed it" in the sketch. Do you ever use those? As I understand it, some cartoonists do to maintain exactly the same features for characters.

Some of the comic publishers print their own blue lined boards. Archie had great paper, so did Mirage. The quality of the Dark Horse paper is not what I like and the image area is smaller than I am used to, so I buy and cut my own boards.

I haven't seen Ken in about 15 years. He gave me a copy of Secrets. I also have his Total Cartoonist. One neat thing about that book is a pencil drawing by Ken which was inked by a number of cartoonists. You can see how different inking styles changes the art.

I frequently use a light box, but it's a hassle for me to get out. So, for smaller jobs, I just place the sketch against a window pane and use that as my light box.

I can't believe it! I've actually done the window trick!

The boards I bought are made by Blue Line Pro. I'll let everybody know if they're good once I ink them.

I hadn't heard about the other book by Ken Muse. I'll have to look into that.

I agree that it is very neat to see how inking styles can change a drawing. The book is very thorough and I would highly recommend it to any aspiring cartoonist, especially if you're considering the syndication route.

I have started a Cartoonist Club for my fourth graders. They can bring their lunch to the art room and after eating work on some cartooning projects. I showed them Ken's book and how he recommends creating a "doodle" to help you make the character the same each time. Also, making your character four heads tall or three or whatever for the sake of consistency.

Sensei wrote:

For a more detailed look at my work material and habits, look at the "How I Do It" story in the Amazing Heroes Interview #187

I would also recommend getting a copy of AnimePlay magazine #6, from 2004 (sadly, their final issue). This includes a CD with a video interview with Stan Sakai, including an in-depth discussion and demonstration of his drawing process, materials, and technique!

Andy wrote:

I have started a Cartoonist Club for my fourth graders. They can bring their lunch to the art room and after eating work on some cartooning projects. I showed them Ken's book

Andy, this CD would be perfect to show to your students! Copies of AnimePlay can still be found online (I searched Google and Ebay).

Wow, that would be awesome. Thanks for letting me know about that. I'll have to see if I can hunt down an issue.

I bought the Ken Muse book when I was in high school. I read it over and over and over and tried all the exersizes. I made three or four comic strip proposals during my college years and for the first few years after. Those strips never went anywhere.

I only disagree with one thing in the book. Muse said that he thought "talking animal" strips and adventure strips were in the past and the new cartoonist should avoid them. Every time I read that I'd think, "But that's what I want to do!!"

A lot of the new strips are talking animals now, like "Get Fuzzy" and some other new ones.

Andy, I've written a short "how-to" for cutting/lining your own bristol board at my Blambot site. It's really very easy and saves you money...

http://www.blambot.com/ruleyourown.shtml

~Nate

Thanks Blambot. I'm going to book mark that page. You do excellent work.

One place that has a lot of art supplies for reasonable rates is www.cheapjoes.com

I'm not sure what kind of bristol they carry, though.

If you have an A. C. Moore craft store near you, or a Utrecht art supply store, you can pick up a pad of 30 sheets of 14" x 17" bristol for around $8.00. Strathmore! The good stuff!

~N

I have been using Strathmore for the comic strip I do right now. 11x14 has worked for that since they want the proportions different than regular comic books do. I do like Strathmore. Is it just me, or do you notice that drawing on the back side of the sheets is nicer??

I am preparing for a new and different project and bought some boards, but will keep in mind your advice after I use them up.

Ah...this cursed hobby of mine!

Yeah, there's a smooth side and rough side, though the difference is very slight.

~N