Comic
Another week, another installation! If you haven’t caught up, here’s Week 1, and here’s Week 2. Raccoon’s bike was feeling slow, but he couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it. So he went to Fox’s shop. Fox agreed that there was nothing wrong with it, and sent him on a journey to find Owl’s shop. On the way, Raccoon saw some kids ride across the road, his truck broke down, and he took a sketchy boat ride with Frog. Now he’s about to arrive at Owl’s shop.
Next week is the final installment, stay tuned to find out if the Golden Chainring actually works! And before you ask, yes, I accidentally sat on my “Raccoon riding downhill” piece while I was shooting the Owl shop conversation, so unfortunately it’s muddy in its last appearance. Hazzards of the medium
Proselytization Part II
Last week I snuck in some propaganda about how I think more folks should pursue art as a satisfying, non-capitalist pastime. This week I’m going to break down the tools I use to make visuals, both for fun, and professionally.
The overarching theme here is that the tool doesn’t matter that much. Most of my work is done with super affordable materials. Making things is the point, not accumulating sweet supplies. Paint a bunch with a cheap watercolor set you get at a gas station and you’ll make something more worthwhile than you ever will with expensive oils that you’ve never unwrapped. Don’t get hung up on brands and prices. Buy cheap stuff, experiment, and if you like the medium you can invest in exploring it more.
Pic your favorite notebook, and buy more whenever you need to feel more creative.
Notebooks and Pens
All you need to get started is a pen or pencil, and some paper. I started drawing in the margins of school papers, but you can probably get your hands on some fresh paper. I tend to treat buying new pens and notebooks as a placebo pill in the “finding inspiration” process. I rarely need new pens or notebooks, but occasionally, when it feels like I’m hitting the wall creatively, I’ll go browse the local art supply or stationary store. It’s not that buying a new notebook helps me kickstart the creative side of my brain. Instead, it’s a ritual that helps me get the neurons firing.
I’m partial to the Moleskin dot grid notebooks, and I also dig Scout Books and Field Notes. There’s no right answer here, follow your heart.
For pens, I prefer free ones. I’ve got a few Hardware Sales pens that I’ve accidentally stuck behind my ear while noting down nuts and bolts on the envelope, and walked out with. Sorry Hardware Sales! I’ve also got two Cascadia Daily News pens that are quite nice, although they run out of ink fast. When you engage with local journalism, you often get swag.
When I was younger I was obsessed with ultra-fine pens and super-satisfying mechanical pencils, but the older I get, the more I love a cheap ballpoint. It’s a little like riding a hardtail. It’s simple, reliable, and does the job just fine.
This paint set is six years old and an absolute mess, but still does the job fine.
This paint set is even older. I like having rolls of pinstriping tape (the green roll) around. They’re great for masking the edges of paintings, and taping my middle finger so it doesn’t get blister when I’m drawing.
Paints and Brushes
For an embarrassingly long time I avoided painting, and did all my work with pens, scanned it into the computer, and then colored it digitally. I had one semester of watercolor class in high school, and it turned me off of painting so much that it took a lot to get back into it.
These days the vast majority of my painted work is done with jelly gouache. Gouache is incredible! It’s my favorite! It strikes a nice middle ground between watercolors and acrylic paints. You can thin the paints down so that they behave very similarly to watercolor, or you can barely cut them with water so that they’re thick and textural and vibrant. The paints are also much more opaque than watercolor, and don’t lift immediately when re-wetted, so you can effectively paint over previous work.
I spent so long frustrated with watercolors, only to buy this gouache set and immediately feel something click. I still use Himi jelly gouache for most of my paintings. I also have a hand-me-down 12 color Windsor & Newton watercolor set that’s absolutely incredible for taking on trips and into the woods. I added a glop of white gouache that I can add to colors to lighten them while adding opacity.
For a long time I used a super cheap set of Amazon miniature painting brushes that worked just fine. But, a few years ago, a friend gave me her old college art supplies, including the aforementioned Windsor & Newton watercolor set, and a wad of brushes. It turns out that nice brushes are, well, actually really nice. I’d recommend starting with a cheap set, experimenting to figure out what shapes and sizes you enjoy using, and then upgrading those specific brushes.
I also use a water brush in the field a fair bit. The handle is a reservoir that you fill with water and then gently squeeze to wet the bristles and paint. That’s a lot easier to manage out in the woods instead of trying to fill a small dipping cup and not spill it.
These markers bridge the gap between digital “paint” and gouache really nicely for me.
Markers and Inks
For years I had a throwaway set of ink markers that I got at a convenience store that I’d use occasionally to pick out details in paintings. And then, for some project that I forget now, I invested in a full 116 color set of Ohuhu alcohol ink markers. Like all of my art supplies, I’m nowhere near using these to their full capacity, but for the price, they’ve been excellent. They’re a lot cheaper than something like Copic markers, and are a great intro to a new medium.
I also used to do a fair bit of work with India ink. I loved splashing out vibrant, abstract backgrounds, and then laying in the subjects with gouache or markers. I got rid of those during a move, but if we ever own a home again, I’ll grab another set.
My layers are always a mess, but here’s a little WIP.
Digital Tools
In fourth or fifth grade I drew a goblin in Microsoft Paint on an old Windows 95 desktop. My hand still cramps up just thinking of how painstaking that process was. Then I went full analogue through high school, and most of college. In college, a roommate let me borrow his Wacom Bamboo tablet, and I spent wayyyy too long using a succession of Wacom products connected to laptops running Photoshop. At the time, that seemed like the best way.
Then, I finally got an iPad, with Procreate, and that upended my digital art experience. In my opinion it’s SO much better, cheaper, and more intuitive than using a tablet connected to a computer with Photoshop.
You can pick up a refurbished iPad Air for under 200 USD, and a Gen 1 Apple Pencil for around 50 USD. Add Procreate ($10, single payment, no recurring subscription, no Adobe CC bullshit), and you have everything you need to create digital art. When you compare that to Photoshop ($20 per month), a nice tablet (at least $200) and a computer (at least $500) it’s an easy call in my opinion. Procreate is so powerful, and so fluid. It takes very little time to figure out the basic gestures and workflow, but it’s packed with more advanced features. I recommend downloading the app, and just playing around with it, before you start searching out tutorials for advanced features.
Some folks get really nerdy about brushes. I’ve gone down that rabbit hole, and then mostly come back out from it. I use a homemade inking brush for 90% of my work, and then occasionally other brushes from Procreate (I’m a fan of their pencil brush, Tarraleah, and Old Bleach). If you want specific textures or brushes, I cannot recommend True Grit Texture Supply enough. Their products are good, and their blog is awesome.
For Now
Making art is free. “Borrow” a pen from your local hardware store, and start doodling on some junk mail. But even a “professional” setup like mine is still pretty affordable compared to the world of bikes. You could buy everything I just listed above for less than 1000 USD, and have more than enough supplies to run a “professional” career like mine. When I apply a capitalist lens of ROI and investments to the tools that I make art, they justify their existence easily.
As an example, my first gouache set cost around $20, and I’ve probably sold around $10,000 worth of paintings that I made with it in the last six years. On the flipside, I’m in no danger of ever getting rich (or even living comfortably) on money I’ve made drawing stuff. But, that’s not really what it’s about. Don’t focus on the supplies or the outcome. The process is the point.