Nattosoup

How to Know if a Marker is Waterbased/Waterproof

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

I often check my Google search results to see how people find this blog. One of the recent hits was a query about how to tell if a marker is waterproof or waterbased. Although I think I've covered this topic before, I had a little more to add to the subject.

How to Know if a Marker is Waterbased/Waterproof

The short answer is: Make a test swatch and scrub it with a brush full of water/submerge it in water. If it runs, it wasn't waterproof. Waterbased markers tend not to be waterproof, as the pigments were held in solution using water. Alcohol based markers are waterproof.

But sometimes you need an answer that's a little more nuanced than that. Sometimes you need to know which markers can be used with which fineliner markers, or technical pens. Sometimes you need to know if your waterbased markers will play well with alcohol based markers.

So here are some rules of thumb:

When using alcohol based markers, don't ever marker straight over pencils. That ruins the marker nib. You can use pencil with water based markers or even watercolor markers, although there may still be some pick up of the graphite.

If you want to do alcohol based marker sketches, you can sketch using Sakura Microns, Hi-Tec C pens, or Copic Multiliners, as they all have Copic-safe ink. I've done a lot of Copic sketches using Hi-Tec C pens.

Not all pens are waterbased marker safe either. Pentel's Art pens (which are similar to Hi-Tec C pens) are not waterproof, and bleed and smear something awful.

If you want to mix waterbased markers with alcohol based markers, I recommend applying the alcohol based markers first and then using your water based markers/watercolors/watercolor markers. The addition of the water will make the paper ripple, and while you CAN use Copic markers on watercolor paper, it may be more difficult to get the effect you want. In addition, you probably want to preserve the nibs on your more expensive markers (which are usually alcohol based). I recommend working most expensive to least expensive.

When preparing to use a new media, a quick Google search often provides me with plenty of useful information. I also do several sketchy drawings in order to get a decent handle on the media, and I try to keep my expectations for those low.

Basic Info:

Copic currently does not make any water based markers, and the majority of it's inking products work well with Copic markers.

Most inks in brushpens (including fude pens) are neither Copic nor water safe.

India ink is watersafe when dry.

Letraset makes a variety of markers, both waterbased and alcohol based. Promarker, Flex Marker, and Tria are alcohol based. AquaMarker is a watercolor-esque marker.

Most inks that work with alcohol based markers can be used for watercolor and water based markers.

Most school-grade markers are waterbased (save for things like Dry Erase markers and sharpies).

Art Marker Showdown: Potentate Alcohol Markers vs. Copic Sketch Markers

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

In my ever continuing quest to find and test markers for my audience's enjoyment, I quickly ran out of options that were easily available in US brick and mortar stores. This meant I had to increasingly widen my search online, breezing through my usual resources- DickBlick, Jerry's Artarama, JetPens, in my search for new marker options. It was on eBay that I hit my motherlode- Chinese markers, grafitti markers, as long as I wasn't required to buy a large set in a single brand, I was willing to give it a shot. It was during this eBay exploration that I found Potentate markers, a Chinese alcohol based marker. Potentate, meaning monarch or ruler, has a lot to live up to.

Like most brands not easily available in the US, it's difficult to find information about Potentate alcohol markers.

According to the trading site, Road of Silk, Potentate Markers are:

"1. Famous brand in China, practical item for designers

2. Suitable for Individuals or teams’ animation and cartoon drawing

3. Suitable for Drawings, sketching for Interior Design, Architectural Design, Fashion Design

4. Especially suitable for students professionals in fields of architecture, interior, advertisement and animation design"

Art Supply Review Disclaimer

As always, these art supply reviews are based on my own experiences and tastes, and may not be directly relevant to your needs and techniques. When investing in a product as expensive and potentially long lasting as alcohol based markers, it's wise to take into consideration a variety of sources, and to do your research.

Potentate Alcohol Markers VS. Copic Sketch Alcohol Markers

Potentate Markers:

Depending on where you buy, are available individually and in sets of 24, 48, or 60 markers
Are available via shops on eBay (just search 'Potentate alcohol markers') and on sites like Road of Silk , Wanpin, and Aliexpress
Twin tipped marker- bullet nib and chisel nib
Body is similar to Kurecolor Twin S markers
Color code on cap

Source

Band of color on barrel and spot on cap to denote ink color
Also available in a waterbased formula
Square barrel prevents rolling
Can be blended with some reworking

Copic Markers

Price Per Marker: $7.29

Refillable
Replacable Nibs
Comfortable in hand
358 available number of colors
Blend
Color Name and Family on Cap
Color Coded cap
Super Brush
Can mix own colors, blank markers available
Availability: limited availability at Michaels, many art supply stores, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Jetpens, Amazon
Available in individual and color themed sets
Alcohol based
React to rubbing alcohol and 'blender' fluid
Can be blended

The Comparison

This test is my standard for all alcohol based marker comparison tests, and you've already seen it with my Spectrum Noir, Prismacolor Premiers, ShinHan Twin Touch, FlexMarkers, and Pantone Letraset Tria tests. I test the marker's compatibility with a variety of technical pens (Sakura Micron, Copic Multiliner, Pitt Pen, the waterbased ink found in Akashiya brush pens, the gel ink in Pentel Technica rollerball pens), as well as it's ability to blend and layer (shown on the sphere) and it's ability to mix with the other marker (show in the boxed area). I also test blender compatibility with the Copic Colorless Blender.

The Verdict

I wasn't particularly impressed by the Potentate markers. They're a little hard to come by (I ordered them off a trading site), and the plastic feels cheap. Neither nib is impressive, and while they do react to Copic Colorless Blender, they don't blend easily with either other Potentate markers or Copic markers. I ended up paying a fair amount for shipping, and since there are so many decent alternatives available (Shin Han TWin Touch, for example), I recommend skipping out on this marker.

Creating Shrink Film Charms

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Ever since Printcess closed its doors, I've been at a loss as to where to source my acrylic charms. Zap! and InkIt are both viable contenders, with InkIt's charms being closer to the general aesthetic I like for charms, and their clear charms looking super slick. While I wait for InkIt to open up their rasterization service, inspiration struck. My friend, Cassie Freire (@ferretparty), recently did a set of Catnip Circle double charms available in either Mela or Pera flavors. These adorable charms, featuring one large charm of one of the two girls, and one smaller charm, struck me as being an excellent product to run in a small batch. This sort of prototyping lends itself well to a product I've only dabbled in once- shrink film charms.

Photo graciously provided by Cassie.

I designed some 7" Kara triple charms- two Kara designs available, a pencil charm, and either some paperbark or a blackberry. These Kara charms had two sides- sweet girly Kara or adventurous buttkicking Kara. After careful consultation with the ever fantastic Cassie and the generous Zoey Hogan (@caporushes), I took the plunge into the world of shrink film charms.

If you're interested in making small production run charms yourself, I highly recommend Zoey's fantastic blog as a resource.

One of Zoey's adorable charms. Image source

I knew that I wanted my charms to be digitally colored, but the thought of inking them digitally wasn't thrilling. I decided to try something new (for me), inking them traditionally with a fude pen, then scanning them and coloring them. Generally, if I start in a medium, I try to stay in that medium, but digital inking takes me days whereas traditional inking takes hours, and I felt like the experiment was worth it.

I scanned my inks at 600 DPI, far larger than necessary, but I wanted them to be as sharp as possible.

I'll admit that my digital coloring style isn't very sophisticated- layers upon layers of shading set to on multiply with various levels of opacity. When my files start getting big, I start setting up groups and flatting out layers. Working this way is a bit reminiscent of how I do watercolor and marker work- layers upon layers.

Shrink Film

There's a few options when it comes to purchasing shrink film to make charms. You can buy Shrinky Dinks or Grafix, in white, black, or clear, in original or ink jet. If you're printing charms, I recommend you go with the ink jet film.

I chose to go with Grafix Inkjet Shrink Film in clear, which is easily available on Amazon, and occasionally available at JoAnn's Fabrics. I found the Grafix Inkjet film to be easy to print on.

Image Source

When printing out shrink film charms, I recommend you carefully read the printing instructions. We printed on Heidi's printer, since it's nicer than my awful little inkjet, and she reduced the color intensity by about 30%, as the charms tend shrink darker than they were printed. Because I was using a clear shrink film, I wanted my charms to be a little more intense than they would be if I were printing on white.

While cutting out my charms, I tread carefully with sharp scissors, as shrink film has a tendency to shear. I made sure there were no sharp corners, and I punched my hole with a regular hole punch. The hole may seem large, but when the charms shrank, it was perfectly sized.

We arranged the charms on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and set the oven for 300 degrees.

Before inserting the pan into the oven, we put a sheet of heavy Bristol board on top, to help prevent the charms from curling.

We popped the charms into the oven, and let them 'bake' for five minutes.

While the charms were baking, we prepared a couple heavy books with parchment paper to press the charms flat.

Upon removing the charms from the oven, the kitchen had a vague chemical smell, so proper ventilation is probably quite helpful. We carefully removed the charms from the pan using a metal spatula, and lined them up on the parchment paper within the book, and let the weight of the book do our work for us.

Here's the first batch of charms after they'd been pressed. Some of them look a little green- Heidi's printer had run out of magenta ink. The Grafix shrink film has a bit of a matte finish, and doesn't shrink perfectly clear, but a still has a nice translucence.

After all the charms were baked, we coated the charms with two coats of Testors Dullcoat, available in the model aisle of most craft stores.

In order to assemble the triple charms, I had steal the jump rings off some other lanyards.

In general, I found Grafix shrink film to be fun and fairly easy to work with. I was pleased with the results of these charms, although people who are used to acrylic charms may think they're cheap, or dislike the texture. The Mini Comics Expo was the first time I'd offered homemade charms, and I was a bit disappointed with the lack of sales, but I understand that selling charms of an original character can be a bit dicey (hence why I did a limited run with shrink film, rather than investing a lot of money for acrylic charms). Shrink film charms aren't particularly difficult to make, but you should exercise caution in their production, and keep in mind that they may be a hard sell if you're also offering acrylic charms. Customers used to acrylic charms may bulk at buying shrink film charms.

Printing and Assembling the Editor's Day Edition of the Friendly Book of Monsters

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:43:00 +0000

SCAD Sequential's Editor's Day has come and gone, preceeded by a week of preparations and followed by the rush of finishing my thesis before the finals crunch. This year, the Mini Comics Expo was on the same day as the last day of Editor's Day (it's actually a two day event- Friday and Saturday), so Heidi and myself had double the reason to get ready. We decided to attempt something we'd talked about often- a special edition cover for the Friendly Book of Monsters, a linoleum print on specialty paper.

It's been a few years since my last opportunity to create a traditional print, so while Heidi was excited at the thought, I had a little trepidation. I'd grown used to utilizing a well appointed print studio complete with presses, brayers, and a variety of inks, as well as the tools necessary for cleanup. I'd planned to keep it simple so that it would be executable from home, but I knew that a number of factors could go wrong.

Linoleum prints are some of the easiest prints that still fall under what I consider to be prints. Monoprints (one time prints) may be even easier- one just needs a sheet of plexiglass (or glass), some ink, and some time, but as those are one of a kind, they defeat the purpose of printing (to me), and seem to fall more under the jurisdiction of painting than printing. For this print, instead of actual linoleum, which can be difficult to cut and messy, I went with a rubber block, similar to white vinyl erasers in textures, and commonly used for these sorts of prints.

To prepare for carving the plate, Heidi reversed the Friendly Book of Monster's cover and simplified the text so that it could stand up to being carved. With this sort of printing, you lose a lot of fine details, so it's best to keep things as simple as possible. We printed it out, and I covered the back with graphite so I could transfer the image to the rubber block.

I knew that the graphite would probably rub off with handling, so I traced over it with Sharpie.

There's three tips I like best with my linocutter- the knife and two of the v blades. With the knife I carefully cut around each form, it reduces the likelihood of the rubber shearing into area I want to keep, and makes it easier to care intricate forms neatly.

Then I carefully begin outlining each letterform with the smallest V blade.

And then cut away the excess rubber from around the letterforms. I do this so that later on, I can quickly carve away the excess rubber without worrying too much about cutting something important.

This just leaves the grunt work- carving away all the excess rubber from around the positive area.

In order to print indoors, first we had to create a decent setup. This isn't too hard with linoleum block style printing, however. First, Heidi and I cleared off her her dining room table. Then I cut a garbage bag so it'd open up flat. Then I spread out my materials so they'd be handy- an S hook printing plate, my rubber brayer, the white ink, and my pre-cut paper.

I also had some newsprint handy for charging the block and doing test prints. Charging the block means you load the rubber block with ink, then do a test print. This ensures even printing later on, and can help you discover problem areas. When applying the ink to a block such as this, I was very careful to roll it just on the areas I wanted printed- the teeth at the top and bottom of the block, and the Friendly Book of Monsters title, otherwise we would have gotten a lot of printed 'noise'.

I squirt a little white blockprinting ink onto my inking plate, and roll it out using my roller. You want an even distribution of ink on your roller before you begin printing.

An inked plate:

When printing these covers, I carefully tried to align the paper with the block (paper on top, block on bottom), then I put a piece of newsprint on top to protect my hands. Some of these papers were extremely thin, and ink would seep through. Then I used my hands to wipe down the paper, evenly pressing the paper into the rubber block. Usually, I would use a hand-brayer (resembling a hockey puck, has a little bit of give), but I didn't have one on hand. After I'd done that, I carefully lifted my printed cover away from the block and set it aside to dry.

In lieu of the traditional drying rack, we used baking cooling racks, which were pretty useful for such a small print.

We ended up with a sizable number of usable prints, which made me happy, as it's been awhile since I'd been able to do any sort of printmaking.

Heidi wanted this edition to be stab bound, so she quickly taught me an easy method. We used white and gold decorative bakers twine, an awl, and special needles.

When binding books, you want to punch through your paper with the awl first. We stapled our books once to make sure there were no sliding pages while the handbinding took place.

After all four holes were punched, the sewing began.

Covers like these are intensely time consuming, skill intensive, and material expensive, and if you're a young artist looking to move comics, it might be wise to limit your specialty covers to one or two copies. While the process is fun, it's not something you want to crank out the night before a convention.

May Art Snacks Blind Box

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

About a month ago, I received my first Art Snacks subscription box in the mail, and disemboweled it for my audience's reading pleasure. At the time, I was a bit disappointed by the selection (although quite impressed by the presentation) and outlined a few things I'd like to see from Art Snacks in the future. For the purposes of review (and my own curiosity), I've decided to maintain at least three months' worth of Art Snacks subscriptions, before I really decide on my thoughts regarding the service.

About a week ago, my May Art Snacks box arrived, but I didn't have time to write up the review as I was preparing for Editor's Day. Now that I have a little breathing room, I thought I'd go ahead and share it.

Art Snacks presentation has remained unchanged, which I say is a tic in their favor. This month's treat was a Twizzler, and I put this month's sticker on my sketchbook. It seems to be a vinyl sticker, perfect for attaching to your car, binders, or any surface that sees a lot of wear and tear.

I felt like this month's haul was quite a step up from last month's. I wasn't particularly impressed by the plastic palette knife nor the paint (I'm not an acrylic painter), but I was impressed by the conte pencil, the mechanical pencil (with the thoughtful inclusion of lead as well as spare erasers), and even the Micron. To be honest, I'm quite biased, as I'd love to see a supply subscription service aimed specifically at illustrators and comic artists.

The Art Snacks blog could serve as an excellent place to address some of the suggestions I made in my last review:

Also useful would be an area on the site where users could submit what they've done with the materials, and perhaps a user gallery. Submitted tutorials listing which Art Snacks materials used would also be neat, and would help subscribers who aren't familiar with the materials become familiar with them quickly. Another neat feature would be interviews with professional artists to find out what they use, include one 'recommended item' per box, and maybe a small demo or tutorial of the artist working with that material.

I realize that one of the best ways to ensure that some of these suggestions see fruition would be to make contributions of my own, which is why I'm also not taking the lack of such features too seriously. In the future, when I have more free time, I'd love to test some of these supplies at length and come up with alternative uses for them.

Art Marker Showdown: Poison Grafitti Markers vs. Copic Sketch Markers

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Sun, 12 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

In my quest to broaden my marker horizons, two frontiers remained- the foreign marker market and markers for grafitti artists. With the exception of markers made for full size graffiti pieces, most graffiti markers are just alcohol based markers marketed at a different crowd.

I must admit, I don't know very much about graffiti art, nor graffiti artists, but from what I've read, it seems that there's quite a few graffiti artists who practice their craft in black, hard bound sketchbooks, called blackbooks. For these artists, it's important to find a paper-safe material capable of emulating traditional graffiti techniques like blending and fading. Alcohol based markers may serve this purpose well.

A blackbook graffiti artist may have different artistic needs than the average illustrator. As an illustrator, I like Copic's Super Brush, and I rely on the ability to mimic watercolor affects, something a graffiti artist may not find desirable in an alcohol based marker. Conversely, when I'm trying to cover a large area on paper (like when I'm putting down a color wash), I pull out my Copic wide markers, whereas a graffiti artist may use the chisel end and lay down a careful series of strokes.

Because I test for specific qualities when testing markers, I'll reiterate what I do test for. Please keep in mind that my tests are skewed to determine whether markers have these qualities, so my tests are by no means conclusive. I recommend searching markers before you purchase.

The qualities I test for are:

1. Flexible nib that can mimic the flex of a watercolor brush.
2. Refill-ability
3. Blend-ability with other markers

For many of the markers I test, there is no flexible nib, but a stiff bullet nib. This may cause me to discount a marker, but I realize that many of you are not looking for a flexible nib. Many less experienced artists may be willing to trade refill ability for a lower cost option, or easy availability for cost.

Background Information on Poison Alcohol Based Graffiti Markers:

"POISON Markers are hand-made, and use the highest quality alcohol/water based inks/paints that have been developed by street writers. The pump system of the markers, has the ability to cover almost any flat surface and can produce nice and controlled drips if required. Their enhanced ergonomic design allows better handling of the marker for total control. We use only the highest quality of ingredients to make sure our markers will last and provide you with a trustworthy tagging tool."

Source

Back in the day, graffiti was underground and getting your hands on good quality ink for tagging was almost impossible. Many were using paper-quality ink that could not withstand the weather conditions. A true black ink that can resist fading or chemical buffing was almost impossible to make.

Then, along came a simple but effective idea: the addition of bitumen to an oil based black ink, thick enough to create a long-lasting effect, but easy to flow through squeezers and create the most impressive drips. What was born from this idea and actual street testing was the original ‘Black Poison’ – the first generation of the famous bitumenous ink. ‘Silver Poison’ followed right after the huge success, using the same principal of the addition of bitumen.

Source

In general, Poison specializes in graffiti tools- spray paints, inks, markers, but I was mainly interested in their alcohol based markers.

Art Supply Review Disclaimer

Poison Alcohol Based Markers Vs. Copic Sketch Markers

Poison
Individual Marker: 1.47 euros ($1.92)

60 available colors (incl. colorless blender)
Fine Liner (bullet) and broad chisel tips
Sold individually and in sets of 20 (basic colors, intense colors, soft colors, 27.99 euros ($36.61))
On the Poison website, a tryout set of 6 is 7.99 euros.
Available through the Poison website, eBay (where I got mine)
Same body as MEPXY markers, but feel cheaper. One arrived with the color end broken off and missing
Unsure if refillable or replaceable nibs- if they're a reskin of MEPXY markers, one can probably replace the nibs
Color name and code on cap, not really sure how the families work

Copic Sketch Markers

Price per Copic Sketch $7.29 (Amazon)

Price per Copic Ciao $3.59 (Amazon)

Price per Refill $10.99 (Amazon Prime) (I've seen it for around $8 at the Dick Blick in Savannah, though)

Refillable
Replaceable Nibs
Comfortable in hand
358 available number of colors
Blend-able
Color Name and Family on Cap
Color Coded cap
Super Brush
Can mix own colors, blank markers available
Availability: limited availability at Michaels, many art supply stores, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Jetpens, Amazon
Available in individual and color themed sets
Alcohol based
React to rubbing alcohol and 'blender' fluid
Can be blended

Poison's manufacturer did a good job making sure the caps match the ink color

Noticing how similar Poison markers were to MEXPY markers, so I pulled out my MEXPY brush tips and a Spectrum Noir for comparison. From the left: MEXPY, Poison, Spectrum Noir.

Comparison of the Chisel nibs. From the left: MEXPY, Spectrum Noir, Poison.

As you can see, the Poison marker is much larger than the Copic Sketch, both in diameter and in length.

A note I found interesting: I recently found out that MEPXY alcohol based markers are produced by Montana, a company that also produces supplies for graffiti artists including spray paint. MEXPY has recently begun offering a flexible brush tip option in addition to their bullet nib option, making MEXPY more attractive to illustrators. The similarities between the two companies are a little strong to be coincidence.

The Comparison

The Test Results

This test is my standard for all alcohol based marker comparison tests, and you've already seen it with my Spectrum Noir, Prismacolor Premiers, and Pantone Letraset Tria tests. I test the marker's compatibility with a variety of technical pens (Sakura Micron, Copic Multiliner, Pitt Pen, the waterbased ink found in Akashiya brush pens, the gel ink in Hi Tec C rollerball pens), as well as it's ability to blend and layer (shown on the sphere) and it's ability to mix with the other marker (show in the boxed area). New to this test is the compatibility with Copic's Colorless Blender. ShinHan also has a colorless blender marker available, but I don't have one to test for this supply review.

I found that the Poison markers I purchased didn't play very nicely with the Copic Sketch markers I used for this test. It's always difficult to blend markers with a bullet nib, they tend to leave scratchy lines. I think my choice to compare Poison alcohol based markers with Copic Sketch markers may have been poor- a better test would have been Poison markers against MEXPY markers, as they seem to be direct competitors.

At this time, I would not recommend Poison markers if you're looking for a Copic substitute. Although they are relatively inexpensive, they're fairly hard to find, and if you're outside the UK, they're expensive to ship. Your color choice is limited, and they don't seem to play well with Copics, although I haven't tested compatibility with other brands.

SCAD Mini Comics Expo (2013)

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Fri, 10 May 2013 16:37:00 +0000

The SCAD Mini Comics Expo is an opportunity for the students in the Mini Comics, Self Publishing, and Self Promotion classes to produce mini comics, gain convention experience, and exchange comics in a friendly, low stress setting. The Mini Comics Expo is one day event, open to the public, and is similar to mini comic conventions like Fluke. The majority of the wares sold at this Expo will be hand made, and you can expect to see lots of garage print comics.

In the past, tables mainly available to students in those three classes, but lately it's been open to interested students and alumni. This Saturday's Mini Comics Expo will be my third, and possibly my last, as my time at SCAD draws to a close.

This mini con is this Saturday, May 11, in the Norris Hall Courtyard (548 East Broughton St), and lasts from 1p.m. til 4p.m. It's open to the public, and this year it's all ages, so there will be plenty of family friendly comics. It occurs right after the group portfolio reviews end on Editor's Day weekend, so that means there may be some comic editors wandering around.

Heidi and I usually use this opportunity to test out new products, and we have a few exciting things to add to our table this year. They are:

Hand made snow ball/cone buttons made using my button press.

Freshly pressed ice cream cone buttons.

Limited edition 7" Kara charms, freshly baked in Heidi's oven. These charms are triple charms, featuring three shrink film charms- a 2" Kara, either a roll of paperbark with charcoal OR a blackberry and flower, and a pencil.

A special edition of the Friendly Book of Monsters, slightly edited to make it kid-safe, and now featuring a beautiful hand printed linoleum print cover and stab binding.

And a small sampling of the baked goods we've been preparing. Mini cupcakes for a mini comics expo, in a variety of flavors! Strawberry, coconut, chocolate peanut butter, M&M, vanilla, spice cake, strawberry (with fresh strawberries inside!), and homemade funfetti. Each of these cuties was mixed from Heidi's secret cupcake recipe and feature homemade icing in a variety of tasty flavors including chocolate, vanilla, and peanut butter.

We hope to see you Saturday!

SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Saturday, April 27 was the Sidewalk Arts Festival at Forsythe Park in Savannah, GA. The park was pretty packed, crowds gathered to see sidewalk arts, listen to the band in the Amphitheatre, eat from the various stalls and booths set up in the park, and generally enjoy a beautiful day.

Heidi and I arrived at the park around 10:30, eager to participate in our first Sidewalk Arts Festival. Both of us were absolute novices when it came to sidewalk art, though like most kids, we'd drawn on the pavement for fun years ago.

We checked in, were given two sets of Prang chalk, and Heidi filled our waterbucket. We set about forming a plan of attack. The day before we'd come up with a thumbnail of Kara and Cass picking apples, but when faced with the canvas of a sidewalk, we realized it'd be more challenging than originally anticipated. Heidi and I decided rough in the basic forms using white chalk mixed with water.

Excuse the fact that it looks like I'm a lazy bum who does no work- I was the only one able to take photos.

To make this water and chalk mixture, we had to grind up a lot of white chalk Since white chalk seemed to be in general demand, and we couldn't supply our own chalk, we decided to use what was left as the start of our skintone.

It may seem counterintuitive to the concept of sidewalk art to use paint made of chalk, but a lot of the artists who do Sidewalk Arts festival have elaborate setups including palettes and hammers that allow them to easily create paint with their chalk. The chalk, when ground against the pavement, doesn't produce as intense a line as the chalk paint does, and there's a high probability that the pigments blow away in the end. The paint doesn't have this problem. Another benefit of the paint is that colors are more easily mixed (like skintones), and blending may be easier.

There were quite a few times in the process of this piece that I had some serious doubts. Sidewalk Arts Festival also has a competitive aspect to it, but I wanted to keep it casual, as this was our first time doing this. At this point, I thought the piece wouldn't really come together, but we were determined to give it a shot.

The piece really began to come together when we applied a mixture of brown, violet, and black chalk paint as an 'ink' outline.

As the sun rose in the sky, the sun-mottling became worse, so the photos aren't going to do the piece any real justice.

There were a lot of very talented people participating in the Sidewalk Arts Festival, but due to the crowd, I couldn't get any photos. To be honest, it was hard enough to get our piece done with the crowd, as our mobility was severely limited.

Our experience this year was a lot of fun, although if we were to ever participate again, I think we would do some things differently. Quite a few artists were better prepared and used the chalks to make paints; grinding, mixing, and applying all of their chalk in a liquid form.

Kara's Eye View

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Not too long ago, I enjoyed a double feature Sunday-- I went to pick strawberries at Ottawa Farms, and then to the Savannah Botanical Gardens. This wasn't just a day off, as I was on the hunt for reference photos. 7" Kara Chapter 3 calls for a lot of Kara point of view shots, and I wanted to get a better feel for what would be within her range of vision. This called for a lot of holding my camera seven inches off the ground, and blindly snapping photos, but I think I have a better idea of how my little girl sees the world.

I don't consider myself any sort of photographer, but I thought the point of view photos were interesting, and wanted to share them with you guys.

Art Marker Showdown: Neopiko Markers Vs. Copic Sketch Markers

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

As a teenager interested in creating her own manga, a few words stood out to me as the keys to the mangaka's kingdom: Copic. G-pen. Deleter Neopiko. Years later, when I went to Japan as a SCAD student, I kept my eye out for Deleter products, to see if they could hold their own against the mythos in my mind.

On this blog, I probaby missed an opportunity to connect with an audience that shared a similar formative comic creating experience by neglecting to focus on Deleter products. This review of Deleter's Neopiko 2 is not a lackluster attempt to atone for that, but a marker review in it's own right. I didn't select Neopiko 2 markers as an attempt to recapture my early days of comic craft, but as a marker option that members of my audience may not be familiar with, that I, myself, was not familiar with.

Neopiko 2 Vs. Copic Sketch Markers

Neopiko 2 markers aren't intended to be a direct competitor with Copic markers, although both brands are twin tipped markers with a brush option available. Rather, Neopiko 2 markers are more like Prismcolor alcohol based markers- non refillable markers with non replaceable nibs--though Neopiko 2 is technically refillable if you can find the cartridges. This places the Neopiko 2 markers in a lower price bracket than Copic markers, but may reduce their functionality within your studio, particularly if you render with art markers often. These are still artist grade markers, and many professional mangaka list them within their supplies.

Background information on Neopiko and Deleter

Neopiko is the subsidiary of a larger parent company, Deleter, which makes a variety of comic tools ranging from pens and papers to screentones and software. Neopiko 2 markers Deleter's alcohol based markers, and Neopiko 3 and Neopiko 4 markers are waterbased. You may be familiar with Deleter's Manga Techniques books.

Neopiko 2 alcohol based markers VS. Copic Sketch alcohol based markers

Neopiko 2

Difficult to find markers openstock, you WILL have to shop around for a good price

Prices online (even on Amazon) vary as much as 3 for $15 to 12 for $44. I got mine on eBay, but as always, my price is not guaranteed to be yours.

Available in 6 (Neopiko Petit), 12, 24, 36, 72 color sets
Made by Deleter
Refillable (I didn't know this until I thoroughly researched Neopiko markers. If they're refillable, you'll probably be able to find nibs to replace the originals, even if they aren't Neopiko brand.)
Non replaceable nibs
Color range designed to correspond with Pantone system
Available on a variety of sites, including Deleter's site, Japanimation.com and Amazon
144 different markers
Also available in waterbased markers (Neopiko 3)
Color coordinated cap and color families (though I'm not sure how the coding is broken down between families, or if it is at all)

Source

Copic Sketch

Price Per Marker: $7.29

Refillable
Replacable Nibs
Comfortable in hand
358 available number of colors
Blend
Color Name and Family on Cap
Color Coded cap
Super Brush
Can mix own colors, blank markers available
Availability: limited availability at Michaels, many art supply stores, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Jetpens, Amazon
Available in individual and color themed sets
Alcohol based
React to rubbing alcohol and 'blender' fluid
Can be blended

Neopiko caps are fairly true to the ink, although some swatching is still advisable.

Neopiko markers are slightly longer than Copic Sketch markers, but also sightly smaller in the hand. Both feature a grey stripe to denote the brush end.

The Neopiko brush nib is slightly stiffer than the Copic sketch super brush, but there's good ink flow.

The Comparison

My scanner did Neopiko markers NO favors- turning a light pink nearly white. For your reference, I'll include a more color true example.

The Verdict

Neopiko 2 markers bend quite well amongst themselves, and play well with Copic markers. The brush is comparabe to Copic Sketch's super brush, and the smell isn't too bad.

Unfortunately, the fact that Neopiko 2 markers aren't easily available, as well as the wide range in price and the fact that you may not be able to get the refill ink nor replacement nibs may mean that these markers are not your first choice. I recommend that if you're looking to start a marker collection, and find an excellent deal on them, you go for it, although I do not recommend purchasing used Neopiko 2 markers off eBay, as they may be impossible to refurbish.

But Don't Take My Word For It!

Have another review. And some video!

March and April Sketch Dump

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Wed, 01 May 2013 23:39:00 +0000

March and April were busy months for me- preparing for and attending MoCCA, returning to New Orleans to take care of taxes and business, and now preparations for Editor's Day have begun. Even though I spent most of March sitting Indian-style painting comic pages, I still found time to do some doodling.

Some of these may look familiar to you guys- a few of the monsters were later inked and used in this year's Little Book of Monsters- The Friendly Book of Monsters, which debuted at MoCCA.

I decided to participate in 90's Anime Week this year, with a little Slayers fanart doodle. Slayers was the epitome of 90's anime for me- big hair, pointless armor, smart alec-y girls. Slayers was the first anime I watched that wasn't on Toonami.

During March, I also did some fanart for my webcomic artist friends.

Mela, from Cassie Friere's Catnip Circle

Robert Blake's foxy lady, and Emi's Teneko

Invisible Paperclip isn't a webcomic, but it is a fantastic blog about art, illustration, and supplies.

EEP~! I just realized I'm missing two- Pat Lapierre's and Eric Lide's! I'm going to have to go through my folders to try and find them. If you purchased this year's sketchbook, they are in there.

To the left, Owen MacRae's Phoebe

A couple more monsters girls- a djinn and a scenester skeleton.

An awful self portrait.

Kara drawn in a more shonen style.

And being schoolgirlish.

More traditionalist Lilliputians, living far from humans, and living primarily off the land.

In the past, I've had a hard time drawing Kara as a a child, but I think I'm getting a better feel for it.

Some triple charm designs.

And a Kara button design.

An in-joke and a 50's girl.

MoCCA-fest 2013 Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Much like last year's MoCCA-fest, this year was another opportunity for Joseph Coco to make his rounds, interviewing exhibitors. We view the interviews as triply beneficial in that it 1. Creates excellent content for my blog found nowhere else, 2. Gives artists additional exposure, and 3. Not only introduces the audience to new artists, but gives a sneak peak of their comics and convention table. While he's going around conducting interviews, Joseph has a fantastic opportunity to check out what's being sold at the convention, as well as get a general feel for the vibe for that year, an opportunity I often miss when I'm behind the table.

As much as I would like to perform the interviews myself, Joseph's contribution is essential for a variety of reasons. I'm horrifically shy, and would have difficultly approaching artists I wasn't familiar with, whereas Joseph is fearless. Both of us have experience conducting interviews, but he's much better at asking questions off the cuff. My main reason for attending MoCCA-fest was to help man the table, and so I couldn't dedicate hours to interviewing other attendees, but Joseph's main reason to attend was to purchase comics and perform interviews.

Since MoCCA-Fest, I've been slowly uploading interviews to my Youtube account with the intention of posting them here once all were uploaded. Last week, I returned to Luling, where my internet connection is unreliable, so updates were slower than I'd liked, but now they're all up on Youtube, so here they are, all in one place.

Heidi Black- ElectricAbyss- The Art of Heidi Black

Eric Lide- Ozzie and Station Square

Ellis Rosen- The Shadow's Nose

Pat Lapierre- The Hugging Club

Joe Ryan- Super

Anna Raff

Colin Goh- Yumcha Studios

David B. Quinn- The Littlest B

Henry Gustavson- Bill the Cockroach

Liz and Jimmy Reed- Cuddles and Rage

Neil Dvorak- Easy Pieces Comic

Nick Sousanis- Spin Weave and Cut

Sara Peck and MadyG

Gift Art--VGPFC: Title Card

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Videogame Playthroughs and Me

Video game playthroughs, sometimes referred to as Let's Plays (after a subforum on the SomethingAwful forums specializing in video game playthroughs) have become a popular internet phenomena in the past five years. I've been a big fan of playthroughs from the start, as I love videogames, but had to give them up due to increasingly failing eyesight and time constraints. Playthroughs allow me to continue to enjoy videogames, but don't require the time dedication that actively playing a videogame demands.

Video Game Playing Friends Club

My friends Frankie Coleman and Eric Lide have recently started recording their videogame adventures and posting them online under the Video Game Playing Friends Club. I've even been fortunate enough to participate when they took their club on the road in the Video Game Playing Friends Club WORLD TOUR. While I am a little sad that people recognize me as 'that girl who sucks at Mario', playing videogames with friends again brought back fond memories.

So when Frankie approached me about doing the title card for their Sonic 3 compilation, I was quite happy to comply. Not only did I have the opportunity to help a couple great friends out, but I also had the opportunity for exposure in a demographic I rarely have access too- non artists. Frankie's requests were pretty straightforward- him and Eric as Sonic and Tails, emulate the original Sonic 3 cover as much as possible. I took a few liberties here and there (including shoehorning a cameo of myself as creeper Knuckles down in the bushes), and had a lot of fun with this low stress piece.

My Sonic 3 Titlecard

The original inks were just fude pen over blue pencil on sketchbook paper, scanned on my mother's ailing scanner using her aging computer, and then transferred over to my laptop for some Photoshop wizardry. It's been awhile since I've done digital coloring, and though my major in undergrad was indeed digital media, I far prefer traditional medias to digital. However, I wanted the style to fit the content, and unless I wanted to learn how to airbrush over a weekend, digital was my only hope. The font is a Sonic-a-like font sent to me by Frankie, the subtitle isn't exactly right, but it's decently close. It was a little difficult working in a different aspect ratio than I'm used to, and required some fudging on my part to make it work, but all in all, creating a titlecard for my friends was a lot of fun!

If you haven't yet, I strongly recommend you check out Video Game Playing Friends Club. Eric and Frankie are extremely knowledgeable about videogames, and their playthroughs aren't speedruns nor perfect runs. As players, their gameplay is flawed, and I find that endearing. I enjoy watching playthroughs where players are free to goof up and make mistakes, and their games are fun and full of awfully hilarious voice acting.

As a little taste, here's the video for their entire Sonic 3 playthrough, with my title card right at the front! If you like what you see, make sure you vote and consider subscribing.

Art Based Marker Showdown: Kuretake KureColor Twin S Markers Vs. Copic Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

It's been a little while since my last marker review, but I haven't been idle. In the downtime, I attended MoCCA, went to Luling, and finally received the motherlode of markers ordered via eBay.

This week's marker test is the Kurecolor Twin marker by Kuretake. Kurecolor Twin is available in two types, both of which are twin tipped- the regular Kuretake Twin, and the Kuretake Twin S, which is smaller.
When testing art markers, I keep three qualities in mind. These qualities are what I find to be ideal, but may not suite your needs. These qualities are:

1. Flexable nib that can mimic the flex of a watercolor brush.
2. Refill-ability
3. Blend-ability with other markers

I realize that there are many hobbyists and artists out there who are not particularly concerned with these values. Stampers may not be particularly interested in a flexable nib. Students on a budget may not be concerned with refill-ability if it comes with additional price. Blend-ability may not be a particular concern if one's doing layout work. I realize that my reviews may not suite every need, so I have widened my marker horizon in an attempt to introduce my audience to new options.

I've used Kuretake products in the past, and am satisfied with their overall performance, so I was eager to test the Kurecolor Twin and Twin S. As with all of my marker tests, these markers were purchased with my own money, and this is not a sponsored post. I will be as unbiased in my testing as possible.

Background information on Kuretake and Kurecolor

Kuretake has long had products available in the US under the Zig line of scrapbooking supplies. When I was in highschool, I inked my comics with archival Zig technical pens, and I keep a Kuretake fude brush in my inking kit. Kuretake began in 1902 with the founder, Narakichi Watatani manufacturing and selling sumi ink sticks. In 1965, Kuretake began international trade. In 1997, the Memory System (scrapbooking markers) were launched, and their first retail store, DUO opened. (http://www.kuretake.co.jp/en/history/index.html) Kuretake offers a variety of products in 2013, including traditional calligraphy items, office supplies, scrapbooking materials, and signmaking tools. (http://www.kuretake.co.jp/en/product/index.html).

Information about Kurecolor Markers

Source

ZIG Kurecolor is a system designed for use by graphic designers and professional artists. With it's vast choice of 106 colours you can create endless styles of artwork. They are divided into 9 colour groups (12 colours per group). They are Basic, Brilliant, Natural, Dull, Pale, Deep, Grey Colours, Cool Greys, Warm Grays. Each marker is colour coded on the barrel and on the cap, making the colour you want easy to find without wasting time!

The range is also complimented by our ZIG Kurecolor Refill inks. There are 106 colours available in a 25cc/bottle. The pens can be refilled through the tip and on average you should be able to refill one pen six times from one refill bottle. The refill inks can also be used for use with an airbrush. By using the refill blender you can create various gradation effects!

Source: http://www.kuretake.co.uk/products/art-and-craft/KC1100.aspx

Kurecolor Markers feature alcohol based inks, and can mark on a variety of surfaces, including paper, plastic, glass, metal, and photos, much like Copic markers.

Art Supply Review Disclaimer

Kurecolor Twin S Markers Vs. Copic Sketch markers

Towards the back, the Kurecolor Twin. The front, the Kurecolor Twin S. As you can see, the Kurecolor Twin is much heftier than the Kurecolor Twin S. Both use the same ink refills.

Neither of these nibs are very exciting, nor do they have much give.

Cultpens sent me my markers in their boxes.

The Kuretake Twin isn't much different than the Twin S, other than size. The bullet nib is a little bit bigger than the Twin S.

Kurecolor Twin S

Refillable
106 colors
9 groups (Basic, Brilliant, Natural, Dull, Pale, Deep, Grey Colors, Cool Greys, Warm Greys)
Color coded on barrel
2.50 eu or $3.30
Sold individually and in 12 color sets
Kurecolor Twin S markers fit comfortably in my hand, the original Kurecolor Twin markers are too large for me to comfortably use
Twin tipped- chisel and bullet nibs
Availability: Marker Supply, Kuretake's website, Cult Pens
replacable nibs

Source

Copic Sketch Markers

Price per Copic Sketch $7.29 (Amazon)

Price per Copic Ciao $3.59 (Amazon)

Price per Refill $10.99 (Amazon Prime) (I've seen it for around $8 at the Dick Blick in Savannah, though)

Refillable
Replaceable Nibs
Comfortable in hand
358 available number of colors
Blend-able
Color Name and Family on Cap
Color Coded cap
Super Brush
Can mix own colors, blank markers available
Availability: limited availability at Michaels, many art supply stores, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Jetpens, Amazon
Available in individual and color themed sets
Alcohol based
React to rubbing alcohol and 'blender' fluid
Can be blended

The cap stickers aren't very accurate to the actual color of the ink.

As you can see, the Kurecolor Twin S is still pretty large compared to the Copic Sketch. It's both longer and bulkier.

The Comparison

The Test Results

This test is my standard for all alcohol based marker comparison tests, and you've already seen it with my Spectrum Noir, Prismacolor Premiers, and Pantone Letraset Tria tests. I test the marker's compatibility with a variety of technical pens (Sakura Micron, Copic Multiliner, Pitt Pen, the waterbased ink found in Akashiya brush pens, the gel ink in Hi Tec C rollerball pens), as well as it's ability to blend and layer (shown on the sphere) and it's ability to mix with the other marker (show in the boxed area). New to this test is the compatibility with Copic's Colorless Blender. ShinHan also has a colorless blender marker available, but I don't have one to test for this supply review.

I had a little trouble matching colors with the Kurecolor markers, even though I used my Copic swatch book. When ordering markers, I'd tried to order markers similar to what I already have, but perhaps the online color swatches weren't very true.

I had some trouble blending the Kurecolor markers in the shading sphere, as my only tip options were a chisel tip or a bullet nib, neither of which had much give.

In general, Kurecolor ink reacted much the same way that Copic ink reacts to the inks I usually test- Akashiya bleeds terribly, as do fude pens, and if applied too soon, both the Multiliner and Microns will bleed a little. Kurecolor ink does react to the Copic Colorless blender, and it is possible to blend the two brands, but it may take some effort to blend very different colors.

The Verdict

Kurecolors are slightly more difficult to find than Copics, I've never seen them in a brick and mortar store, but are easily available online after a quick Google search. They're refillable and have replacable nibs, but nowhere near the variety of nibs available. They have a wide range of colors available, and play well enough with Copics. I'm not really a fan of bullet nibs, and I prefer the chisel nib available on Prismacolor markers, but this marker may be a decent choice for stampers who don't need a brush nib option on their markers.

Kurecolor are available in two sizes, the regular Kurecolor Twin and the Twin S. The Kurecolor Twin may be difficult for those with smaller hands, but it has a larger ink resevoir, whereas the smaller Kurecolor Twin S is sized right, but the square barrel may be annoying to hold (but it won't roll off the table).

I personally won't be adding more Kurecolor Twin S markers to my collection, but I certainly do not recommend against purchasing them, particularly if you find them locally, as you won't have to pay for shipping.

Guest Post-Gibson Twist- A Critique on Critique

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:20:00 +0000

Becca's note: I loaded this post into the system while I was on the road, pasting it straight from the email, so the original upload had a lot of HTML markup. Now that I'm better able to edit and correct, I am reposting this guest post in its intended form, without annoying markup. My apologies.

Gibson Twist is the author of Pictures of You and Our Time in Eden and occasional bouts of rhetoric under the Tweety handle @GibsonTwist. He has never driven a car.

Admittedly, my view of the internet isn't a complete one. I don't spend much time watching videos or following news sites, nor do I read a multitude of blogs. It's not that I think they're beneath me or a waste of time, they're just not my thing. One thing I do know about the Internet, though, is that there is no shortage of critics. Everywhere I go online, there is a running commentary of how terrible everything is. Hardly does there seem to exist anything online, be it creative,informative, or opinion, that someone hasn't decried, often vitriolically so.

Where this becomes most problematic, in my mind at least, is in young artists and writers reaching out for feedback on their work. It is a great and necessary thing to seek independent examination as we develop our craft, especially among comickers who have precious few authoritative resources, even fewer outside the accepted mainstream genres. They are the ones who are in the direst need of sincere and informed opinions on their work, and are too often met with ill-intended scorn.

To my memory, I have never asked for a public criticism of my work. I choose specific people I think will provide detailed and informed opinions. That said,posting a webcomic as I do, I am the recipient of a good deal of public criticism. Much is positive, some is negative, and the more preferable is a balance of the two. While I've been able to glean helpful insight into how toimprove what I do, there is no question that no small amount of it lacks helpful intent or effect.

In fact, there is considerable criticism of my work posted on blogs and so-called review sites dedicated to explaining in varying levels of detail how it is among the worst sequential art to hit a computer screen. Many comickers, and those in any other genre of creativity, have had the same experience and continue to do.

This is usually pretty good for a laugh, but in truth, it's indicative of an element of critical culture online that seeks more to elevate the reviewer by tearing down the material, a result of the unprofessional deeming themselves authoritative. This seeps everywhere in varying degrees, not always identifiable as simple derision. While any artist who presents their work for public assessment should be prepared for all the responses that come to them,it's often overlooked that not all of the advice that comes back will be constructive, qualified, or even valid.

You know the procedure. You've posted an example of your work, be it artwork,writing, or pages of sequential art, on one of the wide army of art-sites and forums spanning the internet. Maybe you've asked for feedback, maybe you haven't, but with no doubt, feedback you will get. The one true thing about the internet is, somewhere, someone is waiting to tell you what you've done wrong.There is informed feedback from professionals and other amateurs, offering even and measured review of what the artist is doing right or wrong. There is also undulated praise. There is also vicious lamb-basting.

We hear a lot about how artists should accept the criticism put to them, and while this is true, there is an arrogance of some offering critique that their opinion is golden. The subjective nature of feedback is overlooked, and no one ever teaches us (most of us, at least) how to examine it. Really, we need to review our review.

The purpose of reviewing work isn't to show you how to do comics right, it's to show you how to do your comic better. To do this, your critics need to be able to understand the project, to be able to relate to what you want to do, the story you're trying to tell and how you want to tell it, and delineate how to get you there more effectively.

It would be nice if anyone with a keyboard had this ability, but they don't. Many do, to be sure, but most don't. There is gold among the rocks that are unsolicited or generically-requested feedback, and it should never be ignored,but it should all be taken with a measure of skepticism and consideration. None of it should be taken as fact.

Your best option for feedback will always be from those you seek specifically,artists and writers or even readers whose work and views you not only respect but are compatible with where you want to take your own material. Find those who understand your vision of comics, even those familiar with your work already. It's a much more laborious path than spreading the net wide, but what you get back from it will be more specific, more in-depth, and in most cases more valuable.

Think of critique as an interviewing process. Look over the candidates, both sought and unsolicitied, reject what is clearly invalid, assess what remains, and make your short list. Consider how it relates to your work, sort out what you think will make your project better, and only then begin to apply it. As you continue, be aware that some of this won't improve your style the way you thought it would, and make adjustments and omissions where it's appropriate.

But,of course, take all of this with a grain of salt.

Guest Post: Heidi Black: Kickstarter Fulfillment and Shipping

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:26:00 +0000

In the past few months, Heidi Black has successfully funded her artbook, ElectricAbyss:The Art of Heidi Black. Now that the artbook is written and funded, she faces the daunting task of mailing, a problem many Kickstarter campaign managers fail to plan for. Like many, she underestimated the cost of shipping books internationally, and has had to find solutions where there is little precedence. I asked Heidi to write a little about her experience in hopes that it might help others.

People tend to forget about one of the most important parts of a Kickstarter: fulfillment – and this often means SHIPPING. Shipping things around the US is not that big of a deal – we've all had to mail things or UPS/FedEx them before, so we're all probably somewhat familiar with the process. But shipping things internationally can be a whole different kettle of fish, and a very expensive one at that. Here are some tips for shipping that ought to help you out.

1. Can you ship directly from the printer?

In the case of Createspace, I don't get a bulk discount until I start getting into numbers upwards of 500 – and since I only needed about 80 copies of the book to fulfill my Kickstarter, I wasn't going to hit that. Rather than pay the cost of having the books shipped to me (the cost of shipping for 40 books is about $35, plus I also had to carry those 40lbs of books up to my third floor apartment) you can ship books directly from Createspace to your recipients. This is a little bit more expensive up front (it costs about $4 to ship my book from Createspace) but you are saving on the cost of shipping to your house, shipping FROM your house, AND buying the envelope/packing supplies. I also found with Createspace, 40 orders of one copy of my book get printed and shipped faster than one order of 40 copies. (go figure?)

EVEN BETTER, INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING IS WAY CHEAPER. Yeah. Shipping my book with the USPS (the cheapest service I found) costs $20+ internationally. Even after researching, I couldn't find a cheaper option, until I checked to see how much it would cost Createspace to ship directly. While the shipping speeds are slow as all get out (they are probably being put on boats and freighted overseas), because Createspace uses Amazon Distribution, they have arrangements with shipping companies and can ship overseas for way less – the most expensive ones were to Australia, and even then it was never more than $8 – way less than the $20 the USPS charges.

Screenshot of Createspace international shipping rates.

2. Bulk shipping supplies

For all the rewards you have to ship from your own home, you won't be able to ship directly from the printer, so you'll have to package and mail these yourself. You can save money by purchasing bulk shipping supplies online. Padded envelopes/bubble mailers you can get for less than a dollar in bulk, and the same for mailing tubes. A simple Google search will find you a lot of sites that sell these items. Do look into whether it is cheaper to buy them in bulk or just the few that you need – if you are only shipping ten packages, it may be cheaper to just buy the supplies at a local store. Alternately, contacting people who have already done a Kickstarter and may have some extra shipping supplies laying around that they would be willing to sell for cheap is also a good idea *coughIhavemailingtubescough*

3. Media mail

If you are shipping books, you can send them MEDIA MAIL! Sometimes this is cheaper than first class mail or standard shipping (but always check to make sure) but you will have to do this in person at the post office, you can't use their automated machine or online services. Media mail is specifically for books, so if you are sending DVDs or the like you can't use it, but for me it was a good way to save a few dollars. My envelopes with extras shipped media mail around the US cost about $2-3 to ship each. Media mail takes a little longer sometimes, but it should still get there within a week or so.

4. Use the smallest envelope you can, or fold over envelopes to make them smaller.

This may seem kind of obvious, but not everyone knows it. The post office often charges more for packages over a certain dimension (unfortunately, over 3/4” thick is one of them, and my books all exceed that) and 12” is a common dimension cutoff. My mailers are 10x14, but I can fold over the top some to make them smaller, and sometimes cheaper to ship. If you are shipping in boxes, get the smallest box you can use without damaging the goods.

Those are the best tips I have. Hopefully they will help with all of your shipping needs!

The Forest of Comics

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:34:00 +0000

Imagine the comic community as a forest. You have the tall, older trees who have the full benefit of the sun and the rain. Their deep roots can draw plenty of nutrients from the soil. They've withstood harsh winters, severe droughts, spring rains. They're not going anywhere.

Then you have the saplings. They've been around a few years, but don't really get much of a shot at the sunlight. They stretch and reach, contorting around other trees in their quest for light and fresh water. Their roots aren't as deep as the older trees, many of these roots may just be surface level. Some of them could possibly survive what the older trees have, but they are yet untested.

Then there's the ground cover, the trees that aren't even knee height. They've barely emerged from the soil, many may still rely on the seed they sprouted from for nutrients. They get very little sunlight, compete fiercely for any nutrients, and many are washed away by even a light rain.

The established artists are, of course, the older trees. They've been around for awhile. Many have insanely successful webcomics, Kickstarters that astound onlookers with their massive success, have published several books, or have won prestigious comic awards. They've paid their dues.

Saplings haven't been around quite as long as the older trees, or if they have, they may have taken longer in their quest for the sun. As comic artists, they may have attended a school specifically for comic craft, they practice daily, they solicit and offer advice, they attend a variety of conventions, and they keep hammering away in semi obscurity. Saplings may have a hard time earning respect in the comic community, as it takes an audience to build an audience.

The youngest trees, the sprouts, are the teenagers dreaming on DeviantArt. They may take art classes in high school, practice infrequently (and often just the things they enjoy drawing). There's a lot of potential, but they're very much reliant upon their parents for guidance, and may never choose to pursue a career in art.

All of these parts are important to the forest. The saplings and sprouts are the future. The older trees are experience and wisdom. This ecosystem works best when there's synergy between the three classes. The saplings and sprouts consume the works produced by the older trees. The older trees, in theory, share their wisdom and experience with the saplings and sprouts. In terms of numbers, the undergrowth outnumbers the saplings, the saplings outnumber the trees within the canopy. It's a pyramid, with everything resting on a base of undergrowth.

A Meltdown in the Ecosystem

Unfortunately, there's sometimes a breakdown. Sometimes the chain breaks at the older trees. Sometimes they get complacent, forgetting that most of their audience is composed of their fellow artists, many of which aren't as experienced as they are. They forget that their tumblrs, blogs, and Twitters may be public access, and that they may alienate their audiences with unprofessional behavior. Of course, this happens with saplings and sprouts too, but they have less to lose as they're not in the public eye. These meltdowns aren't as publicized. There's an opportunity for a rebound.

Sometimes the chain breaks at the saplings, artists who have received help and advice from an existing art community, but fail to share this help with others in need. They may guard secrets like a dragon guards its hoard, jealous of anyone may benefit from this knowledge and surpass them. Saplings can be as dangerous to one another as to the undergrowth, refusing aid and community participation when its desperately needed for the health of the comic ecosystem.

The chain can even break at the undergrowth level, when these new artists refuse to progress, don't utilize the help given, and continue to stagnate. At this level, so long as the problem isn't widespread, it causes little harm to the overall ecosystem. Every year, many artists realize that they're not cut out for art- they may be unwilling to dedicate the time necessary toward improvement, they may wish to keep it as a hobby only, or they may realize that the struggle is difficult and sometimes not rewarding.

Right now, there isn't a whole lot of sunlight to fight over. The comic industry is going through some major growing pains, and a lot of publishers just aren't looking for new talent. Quite a few are happy to rely on the old payoffs, but aren't looking for new risks. What was new and exciting in 2004 (like an anime style) is now seen as crippling, and sapling artists are encouraged to find their own voices when they draw from inspiration similar to that of the older trees. The new and fresh of 2004 is dated and played out in 2013, and we're encouraged to find our own inspiration. Many artists find this frustrating.

In a forest, eventually older trees are cleared, making room for a little more sun to reach the saplings. Those fit to survive and thrive, will. In comics, our timeslot for sunlight is far shorter than that of trees, and established artists are reasonably loathe to share the sunlight or to step away from lucrative jobs. While I personally believe that one with great power has a great responsibility to aid others, many do not share this sentiment, and I respect their decision, although I lose respect for artists who go out of their way to inhibit the growth of others.

Responsibility Towards Others

I do feel like established artists who have adopted a public role should serve as role models to younger, less established artists. If they cannot do this, they should at least behave like professionals, and barring that, adults. If this is impossible, they should strongly consider locked accounts for social media. Part of this has been ingrained in me during my time at SCAD, where we are taught one thing above all others.

As a comic artist, you need to be two of three things:

1. Fast (or reliable)
2. Nice (professional)
3. Amazingly good

The easiest two are nice and fast, as it costs little to be nice and professional, and reliability can come from understanding one's limitations, and working within them when creating work for hire.

A Real Life Example

I've noticed a lot of annoyance among my fellow saplings following the SPX registration, mainly towards the entitled snarkiness emanating from a few more established artists. Although these artists were in the vast minority in their spoiled behavior, it can still leave an impression. A few realized their faux pas and deleted said offending tweets within hours, but a lack of apology, while mitigating future ill will, will not heal the ill will garnered during the two hour dash for tables.

A Simple Solution

For this, I have a simple solution. If you don't like how an artist behaves, you are totally free to BOYCOTT THEIR WORK. We saplings are the major audience for many more established artists; we appreciate their work, we verbally sell it to others. We share their websites, we loan copies of their books to friends, we introduce it to our classmates and professors. If you have been offended, STOP SUPPORTING THE OFFENDER. There are plenty of other deserving artists who will appreciate your efforts and treat you like you matter. There's no need to blacken any names, burn any bridges, or point fingers.

Boycotting the offending artist does not invalidate the quality of their work, but it may prove a point to this artist. A few established artists have become distanced from the main body of their audience, and encourage said distance. While this may have worked in the time before the internet, fans now demand interaction, and if not interaction, at least some respect. If an artist has shown disrespect toward you, or toward a group you are part of, you are under no obligation to continue to support their work. If enough of the audience is offended by their treatment, the artist will see some financial loss.

Maintaining the Balance

At all stages of growth, it is important for an artist to stand up for what they need, and for what their artistic community needs. The undergrowth needs room to grow, tutorials and guidance to feed upon, and the ability to make mistakes without drastic punishment. Saplings also need room to grow, but they need the opportunity to be tested, a chance to prove that they have what it takes. This can come in a variety of forms: comic conventions (a chance to sell their wares, an opportunity to make new wares, a shot at meeting other artists, an opportunity to create an audience for themselves), publishing opportunities (both the ability to produce garage prints, participate in anthologies, create webcomics, and produce Kickstarter campaigns), a chance to make a name for themselves online and in person (Twitter, Tumblr, blogging, Facebook). Even established artists can grow in a variety of ways. They can become more professional, more friendly, more engaging, they can extend their reach, and grow their audience. I believe that every stage of growth is reliant on the other stages, and that some form of recognition is in order for the cycle to continue.

Guest Post: Joseph Coco, MoCCAfest 2013 Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:06:00 +0000

Although Joseph Coco isn't a comic artist, he's spent a lot of time around them. My best friend, significant other, and go-to convention monkey, Joseph's attended a variety of comic and cartoon conventions at my behest, helping both in front of and behind the table. During this immersion into comics culture, he's become a big fan of mini and independently published comics, supporting a wide variety of artists at every convention he attends.

I went to the 10th annual MoCCA fest as both a convention helper for Nattosoup (and partially for Rascals, Rogues and Dames) and an attendee. Because of this, much of my convention costs were covered. Last year I went solely as an assistant, but I enjoyed talking with the artists so I made sure to make time this year and to buy their indie comics.

Attendee

Products

MoCCA festival being a mini comics festival, most of what I saw, what caught my attention, and what I purchased was naturally mini comics. I probably bought 5 perfect bound books, 2 hard cover, and 30 minis. Not for lack of selection. Indeed, the aisles were packed with independent mini / small press comics and even indie professional comics. I saw less t-shirts and toys this year, and commissions were not advertised as much, but roughly the same number of buttons, charms, bookmarks, prints, magnets, etc.

There was not a particular genre or theme this year, though last year there seemed to be an exorbitant number of hyperbolic comics with intentionally poor art, I enjoyed the variety. I haven't had a chance to look through everything I purchased, but what I like is that most of the topics considered taboo to traditional or mainstream comics such as religion, politics, sexual abuse, legitimate philosophy, feminism, slavery, or even everyday life find a place at MoCCA fest.

There were the typical tropes such as superhero, fantasy adventure, or comics about the creator's pets, but at the very least everyone had their own take on these stories and were not tied to particular art style enforced by an entrenched audience.

Convention Setup

Upon entering the convention I was inclined to walk forward, down aisle C. I quickly noticed all of the publishers were towards the front of the armory and just walked by stockpiles of hard cover comics. Not that I have anything against publishers, but I have many professional comics on the shelf which I have yet to find time to read. There was generally a crowd at publishers, but not so much that it clogged traffic, except during the busiest hours between 1PM and 3PM.

There was roughly an equal number of males and females at behind tables. I generally looked at the artist's table before them as I don't know many artists so it didn't matter either way. I tended to take a peek at crowded convention tables and walk by if something didn't catch my eye in a few seconds. The number of people at tables affected whether I just walked in the middle and looked at booth sides versus scoping out a large chunk of one side, then the other.

Even though I didn't use the cafe inside the convention center it was nice that one existed in stead of empty vending machine. This year there was only one 'swag station' which was easier to find which was nice. I picked up a comic off of it but grabbed cards from the comic artist's tables.

Even though there were many more open social areas (with seating) than last year to pull people who lingered off the floor, I didn't meet many non-exhibitors aside from friends of friends. Few people come to conventions alone. So if you're looking to make friends, engage an artist, latch onto to a friend to have him or her introduce you to people, or arrange something through Twitter or Facebook.

Table Setup

I found artists to be incredibly approachable in terms of answering my questions about prices, their process, what was new, what they'd recommend, etc. I was most comfortable with someone making eye contact with me for more than 2 seconds and engaging me in some way other than just saying hi, but I understand this can be taxing to both customers and exhibitors. I wouldn't mind if I saw an artist sketching or working on a commission, but I was slightly less inclined to purchase if I didn't know who the comic artist was or if they simply ignored me to speak with friends.

I don't believe it's necessary for exhibitors to encourage me to pick things up, ask questions, take a business card, or to tell me about the cheap items / deals on their tables which are readily available on signs. I can see the function for walk-ins (people who don't have badges) who have just stopped by because something was going on in a place they were passing, but I think most con goers know the drill, and that effort could be used to say something meaningful or more engaging.

I did however like it when an artist recommend one or more things to me if I was indecisive. Sometimes it's nice not to have to make a choice. So if I enjoyed the artist's work and could spare the money, I didn't let a broad selection dissuade me from making a purchase. An indie comic artist not being confident about their work, or making excuses for it, did not encourage me to pick up other things.

Back to signs, as long as signs were clear and informative, I didn't much care how professional they looked. This isn't to say a table's aesthetics are not important. If one is trying to maintain a particular image then I would encourage one to style their signs to add to the immersion.

I had some trouble delineating which tables were being split by artists, shared by a studio, or were a single artist's work with an assistant. I think distinct table clothes would have helped with this but far fewer people had table clothes this year because the Society of Illustrators supplied them. I try not to leave an artist's table without engaging them in some manner, but when my eyes are traveling across a table and someone else requests my attention it can be hard.

Tablets to aid a table display were few and far between. I wasn't inclined to use them much when they were available but I could see how they aided when a comic was available digitally. I was more inclined to look at banners though I didn't like any larger than a few feet.

New York City

Aside from food and friends, I didn't get to experience NYC as much as I would have liked. My hotel was comfortably shared with 3 other people and was a few blocks from the convention center and a reasonable walking distance from many interesting things. Alas, the MoCCA museum was not open the days I was there and my group could not find time to go to a broadway play or other such tourist activities. We did make it to a book off though to purchase some cheap English and Japanese manga.

The trip itself was expensive. There was a lot of cash being passed around for taxis, snacks, food, comics, MoCCA stuff, etc. Much like last year, I wished I had stayed longer than a few days as attending a convention can wear you out.

Convention Helper

As a convention helper, I did most everything I could to help Nattosoup, Becca Hillburn, have a successful convention. Frankly, much of what I did was to relieve stress and make things run smoothly.

Basic Duties

A lot of what I did was food / coffee / snack runs. When you're tied to a booth simple things like bathroom breaks or getting / eating lunch can be burdensome. Minimizing the amount of time an artist has to spend away from a table reduces the chances a fan will return for a comic or charm only to walk away because he or she doesn't want to wait. It also saves a friend having to awkwardly explain they are not the artist or possibly confusing one artist for another because they are minding a table.

I also assisted with bags, including providing extra bag space for convention setup and goodies. Helped pack, unpack, and setup. Helped organize arrangements after the convention. Could speak on behalf of the artist when she was away from the table. I also delivered messages to people, hunted down staff members for various reasons, and generally tried to promote Nattosoup's brand and table when I was engaging with others. I also traded a few of Becca's comics with other artists she knew, which I would not necessarily recommend as engaging with the artists should be part of the trade. The same goes for purchasing other artist's independent comicbooks.

Stalking Editors

I'll admit I should have done a bit more research on this, as I only knew what some of the editors look like. But part of my job was to find a good moment for Becca to speak with editors or popular comic artists. For a smaller convention which doesn't schedule portfolio reviews, finding an opportune moment to show off or gift some of your works can be difficult as crowds vary, people eat at strange hours at conventions, and editors / artists aren't always at their tables. This was actually fairly easy since it was just something I had to keep in the back of my mind as I was passing by tables.

Table Setup Photos for Blog

I try to encourage good convention behavior. So I always inquire before I take a photo of a booth (photos available in Becca's MoCCA recap). I don't give a spiel about what it's for or play up its importance. Most exhibitors are fine or even flattered with me photographing their table, though almost everyone asks if they should be in the picture. I generally tell them if they believe their person represents their brand that they should stay in the picture. The important part here is to catch the exhibitors before convention traffic picks up, but after their entire art table is set up. Some artists or illustrators will request I take a picture with their camera, while others will just ask where they can find it--a business card suffices.

Artist Interviews for Blog

Since MoCCA fest is a small two-day indie comic show, Becca likes to talk with the up-and-coming artists to get their perspective on the convention and to promote their work. Much like the table photographs, timing is key for this task. I don't engage artists who are bombarded with customers and will return if need be. I generally try to interview a variety of people, though I try to pick people I personally find interesting so I won't feel guilty taking up the artist's time, possibly loosing them sales, and not even purchasing anything. The videos are on Nattosoup's YouTube channel if you'd like to get a taste of them.

I don't follow a particular format and the interviews are not rehearsed. In fact, there's virtually no preparation. Usually a 30 second to one minute introduction followed by impromptu comic artist questions as I dig deeper into the work and history of the interviewee. I shoot for a minimum of 4 minutes and a maximum of 11. I always take their business card so I contact them afterwards and encourage them to check out Nattosoup's table when they get the chance.

The artists are surprisingly open and honest and generally not flustered. I wouldn't say they aren't treating the interview seriously as much as they are passionate about their work and can't help but let some of that show through when I dive into their work, process, triumphs and tribulations.

I try to give a roughly equal amount of face time to comic time with the camcorder, and generally lead the interviews down paths of the artist's unique experiences or expertise. No one has turned me down for an interview and everyone seems happy with the result. Honestly, it's a great way to get to know an artist as there is a bit of pressure to condense a story in an interview to maintain interest as opposed to casual conversation.

MoCCA-Fest 2013 Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:42:00 +0000

MoCCAfest 2013 Recap and Review

Last weekend (April 5-6th) was MoCCA-fest in New York. MoCCA-fest is one of two major conventions in my work calendar, so I made sure to purchase my table as soon as possible, to ensure that I'd be able to attend. Last year, I shared a table with Eric Lide, and enjoyed the benefit of his having attended SVA, as I got to meet lots of SVA comic artists. This year, I tabled with Heidi Black, and knew that without the benefit of Eric's network of friends, we'd have to step up our game. We began our planning and coordinating early, arranging for an entirely new table set up that included matching uniforms. Heidi and I have tabled together at quite a few cons, and take our planning seriously. Since we've cooperated over so many convention tables, we've honed our pitches and know how to work a crowd together, but unfortunately, this means change throws us for a loop. The addition of an additional artist's work and presence caused us a little consternation and a few sales as we struggled to adapt to the addition of a third person at a table designed for two.

Convention Prep

Lollipop buttons designed by myself and Heidi.

Assembling mini comics with the help of a bone folder and a long arm stapler.

No convention crunch is complete without copious amounts of caffination.

Our preparation began weeks before MoCCA-Fest. Heidi and I have very different color sensibilities, so to successfully share a table, we have to find common ground. In the past, we've had space themed tables (Interventioncon), and this time, we decided a candy themed table suited us quite well. We'd picked up matching rainbow wigs at Anime Weekend Atlanta last September, and figured MoCCA-fest was a great opportunity to break them out. Heidi sewed matching skirts for us, and we purchased matching t-shirts and sweaters to complete our uniform. Together we assembled mini comics, including a new volume to the Little Book of Monsters library- book two, the Friendly Book of Monsters, as well as our lollipop buttons and the matching lollipop price signs.

Friday

We left relatively late on Friday evening, flying out of Savannah around 6:30 p.m., landing in Atlanta for our connecting flight, and arriving in New York around 11:00. We hustled to our hotel room, repacked our table supplies into one bag, and passed out for an early Saturday.

Saturday

The convention floor opened at 9 on Saturday morning, so Heidi, Joseph, and myself headed out early to get the table started. In tables past, we usually average a set up time of thirty minutes, but since this was an entirely new set up, we wanted a little extra time to get set up.

MoCCA-fest changed hands over the course of a year, and was now under the management of the Society of Illustrators. This meant some changes for MoCCA-fest, including the bright red curtain shown behind our table. These curtains separated aisles, and while there was an overall more professional appearance, it also made MoCCA-fest appear more like mainstream cons. These curtains made it more difficult to see other artists from our table. Heidi and myself both noticed a dramatic decrease in mini comic trades this year, and speculate that the curtains prevented artists from easily scoping out the convention from their table.

Sales on Saturday weren't bad- they were relatively steady, but we lost a lot of sales due to the fact that our table was located near a corner, a constant distraction for customers. A lot of people seemed excited about our colorful set up, and we received more compliments than sales. Parents used our table as a meeting place for their children, but would rarely purchase anything.

The upside of Saturday was that I got to meet Ani Stoll, Hanni Brosh, and several readers in person. In case I haven't been transparent on this blog--I love meeting new people, especially people I know online! Though brief, we also got to hang out with Cassie Friere, giving her a copy of The Friendly Book of Monsters so she could see her contributions in print. All day Saturday, Joseph purchased comics and did interviews with other artists, constantly ducking behind the table to squirrel away minis.

Unfortunately, Heidi and myself were both a little sleep deprived all day Saturday, and neither of us had much of an opportunity to take a break to eat. The combination of little sleep, over caffination, and low blood sugar meant that I was crashing all day long. If you want to keep your energy up, it's important to take some breaks and to eat occasionally.

Toward the end of Saturday, our third artist arrived with some minis, and we shuffled our stuff over to give her some table space. In the past, Heidi and I have made it clear that neither of us are interested in splitting a table more than two ways, but we wanted to offer this friend the opportunity to cut her teeth at selling at conventions.

Sunday

Saturday evening Heidi and myself brainstormed ways to simplify the layout to better integrate our artist friend's work. By removing some clutter and items that weren't selling well on Saturday, we freed up a bit of space.

Heidi's tower of art, crowned with a sample copy of her beautiful artbook, ElectricAbyss: The Art of Heidi Black, which was available for special convention preorder.

Our gumball machine, my business doilies, and Heidi's promotional bookmarks, as well as some adorable lollipop signs.

Our special lollipop buttons, which sold like lollicakes.

Saturday evening we decided to change up our setup a bit, removing some items and rearranging. We dedicated an end of the table to Laura's minis, to avoid the confusion having her work in the middle of the table caused.

Sunday was a little more high energy than Saturday, as we got more sleep and showed up at the Armory at 10:30 (the show opened at 11). During the day, we were able to steal opportunities to eat, as both Laura and Joseph spent more time around the table and we wouldn't have to leave it understaffed. I took this opportunity to check out a few people I'd been meaning to meet, get a little drawing in, and generally enjoy the convention more.

On Sunday evening, we'd arranged to hang out with comic friends, both new and old, at a local Korean eatery. Bulgogi and steamed buns were shared with artists like Chris Barrett, Jon Mosley, Jon Griffiths, Eric Lide, Hanni Brosh, Pat LaPierre, Joe Ryan, Stevie Wilson, and Vanessa Stone, as well as comic buddies like Frankie Coleman, Jen, and Paul Segal.

A Round of Thanks to Our Priceless Convention Assistant, Joseph Coco

Even though he isn't a comic artist, MoCCA-fest is one of Joseph's favorite comic events. We have a lot of friends in the New York area, and MoCCA-fest gives him the opportunity to catch up with them. Joseph attended MoCCA-fest with us last year and conducted interviews, and this year gave him the chance to reconnect with some of those artists. For months he's talked about all the mini comics he planned on buying at MoCCA-fest, and he made good on his promise. If you're interested in seeing some of the swag he acquired during our trip, hang tight, those photos are towards the bottom of this post.

He didn't just spend his time purchasing comics. He also conducted several interviews, many of which have already been uploaded to Youtube. Some average questions were:

Why they came to MoCCA.
Would they recommend other artists in their situtations / skill level come to MoCCA.
What was their newest work.
What their inspirations were.

These interviews provided the interviewees an opportunity to discuss their work at length and the chance for additional exposure to a new audience. While Joseph made it a point to interview some old comic friends, he also met some new artists, and I'm pleased to have the opportunity to share those artists with you.

Joseph also photographed the table set ups of booths he enjoyed or found appealing. I've taken the opportunity to remove myself and Heidi from this selection to reduce redundancy. You can view these interviews on my youtube channel.

Appealing Convention Table Set-Ups

Appealing artist table setups from Becca Hillburn

Convention Swag

Pros and Cons of MoCCA-fest 2013

Pros

Met new comic people
Hung out with old comic friends
Engaged a potential new audience
Sold a fair amount of comics
Debuted 7" Kara Chapter 2
Now have a lot of new mini comics
Introduced to the work of new artists
Got to meet some fantastic people in person
Tried a new table setup
Created some new wares that sold well
Made back table cost
Organized and produced another volume in the Little Book of Monsters collection
Gave away all postcards and business cards brought, stamped logo on doilies, gave away all those as well
Sold out of some charm designs
Sold out of some planet designs
The MoCCA-fest volunteers were helpful and kind

Cons

Spent so much time on Chapter 2 that I didn't have time to make new charms
The entire trip was pretty expensive
Splitting a table three ways causes table clutter and mis-timed pitches scare away customers
MoCCA-fest is beginning to feel like more mainstream comic conventions
Atmosphere was not as friendly and open as last year
Didn't receive as many trades as last year
Travel was extremely expensive

What I learned this year

When you take conventions as seriously as I do, it's important to make sure your table mates take it just as seriously, and are just as prepared. Conventions like MoCCA-fest can be expensive, with tables costing $300, airfare costing $350, and hotel rooms costing $220 a night. Even preparing for a convention is very expensive, I spent $200 printing up Chapters 1 and 2 of 7" Kara, reprinting When I was 13: I Rediscovered Cartoons, and this year's ashcan. Assembly took a bit longer than expected, but the books looked nice because I invested in a bone folder for sharp creases, and a long arm stapler.

Although having an attractive setup brought people to our table, it didn't necessarily mean they spent money. Being a meeting place for families may seem like a captive audience, but many of the parents attending MoCCA-fest this year had no interest in buying comics for their children. This meant that the kids touched and read everything on our table, but we received no profit. Of course, this wasn't always the case, and we met many wonderful parents and children. Next year, I think it would be beneficial to tone down the spectacle of the table a bit to put the comics themselves in better focus.

The uniforms Heidi and I designed seemed to be a good idea at first, but ended up preventing me from leaving the table. Whenever I left the table, people assumed I was cosplaying, and I was asked several times which pony I was cosplaying. Unfortunately, this appears unprofessional at a mini-comic and indie comic convention, and may have reflected poorly upon me. Because of this, I stayed behind the table. In addition, the heavy wig I wore both days gave me a migraine and was extremely itchy.

I regretted not having a new charm set to offer at MoCCA-fest this year, as I try to release five new charms every six months. I'd chosen to focus on finishing chapter 2 of 7" Kara instead, and really tried to push both chapters. I knew when I made that decision that I would lose a lot of impulse sales, but I'd hoped that the lollipop buttons and space buttons would mitigate those lost sales.

I do not regret attending MoCCA-fest this year, as I got to meet a lot of new people, hang out with old friends, and was introduced to new career opportunities. Convention season marks an increase in momentum for me, and I try to use it to the best of my advantage.

Recommendations

I recommend plenty of time to prepare for MoCCA-fest, as it's an expensive con to blow off. I recommend printing and assembling your mini comics ahead of time, including your name, website, and email address if possible. Preparation is particularly important if you plan on tabling with someone, and cooperation can make for a very successful convention. I sold a lot of things for Heidi while she was on break simply because I was very familiar with her products and could recite her pitches.

Swag from BookOff

No trip to New York would be complete without visiting Kinokuniya or BookOff. For those unfamiliar with the chain, BookOff is a franchise of used book stores across Japan. The New York branch is no exception, and the basement floor is filled with manga and artbooks in both English and Japanese. Whenever we visit New York, we make sure to leave plenty of space for books.

Interview with Chris Pausen, creator of Precocious

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:27:00 +0000

Promotional artwork for the second Precocious collection

Becca: Hey Chris, would you like to take a moment and introduce yourself, Precocious, and your Kickstarter?

Chris: My name is Christopher J Paulsen, and I draw the webcomic, Precocious - a daily, newspaper-style comic about kids who are too smart for their own good. I've been hammering at this thing for over four years, and loving it so much! The campaign I'm running now is to fund the printing of the second Precocious print collection - and giving me a vehicle to develop and promote lots of new Precocious-themed goodies for my readers. I'm finally doing fancy cartoonist things, such as offering my original comics for sale, and hiring some great artists to work on collaborations! For those wondering, Copper Road is the Precocious spin-off strip, focusing on the *other* side of the main kids' class. The major arcs in book two focused on bringing both sides together. One of the several bonus sections in the book is a collection of some of my favorite Copper Roads!

Becca: Wow! Your second book! That must be pretty exciting. Do you mind sharing with us how you published the first volume, and where readers might purchase it?

Chris: Darc and Matt Sowers, of Code Name: Hunter/RCSI Publishing, approached me about publishing the first Precocious collection, and I happily joined up with them. They had the skills and experience I did not, and without their help I still might be bookless. When RCSI underwent a change to focus more on hosting, I moved to publishing the books on my own - with them helping me through the learning process. Due to this transition, book one of Precocious was off the market for many months. For those who missed out, this Kickstarter campaign allows me to order a new printing of book one. They can be ordered along with book two (including a second chance to get book one artist editions), and will eventually be available in the upcoming Precocious store, as well as at conventions.

Becca: I have a copy of Volume 1 that I bought from you at Interventioncon, and I thought the design looked fantastic. It really reminded me of newspaper strip collections like Calvin and Hobbes Treasuries. Will Volume 2 follow suit? Chris: Thank RCSI for the nice layout touches. I kept the same format for book two, as it worked pretty well! I enjoyed the chapter breaks, with commentary at the beginning. It's a nice tidbit for those who want it, and easily skipped by those who just want the comics uninterrupted.

Photoshopping the book 2 cover into a photo of books ones to show how good life can be!

Becca: I feel late in the game, I'm interviewing you for volume 2 instead of volume 1, on a comic that's been online since January 2009, but I'm not sure my readers are too familiar with your comic. Would you mind sharing the inspiration behind those troublesome kids?

Chris: I began playing with my characters way back in 1991. I had read newspaper comics religiously since I was five and I wanted to see what I could do. Early drafts were based around my experiences in an elementary school for the gifted, mixed in with my 6th grade class, which was a special program designed for gifted kids.

Believe it or not, it was the Super Nintendo that really boosted Precocious into becoming my life's big project. I looked at this new game system (which I never actually owned) and thought about the expansive games that could be made with that power! I took my characters and imagined a game that was basically Grand Theft Auto: Grade School. That thought exercise expanded the cast, gave us the Gemstone Estates setting and locked in the kids' destructive natures.

I gave up on cartooning by the end of middle school, as I wasn't any good at it then. It wasn't until my late 20's that I resurrected the Precocious idea and turned it into a real thing.

Becca: Your Kickstarter's been going strong right off the bat! You met your initial goal in an amazing 24 hours and 4 minutes. What other exciting treats do you have in store?

Chris: I'm so flattered and overwhelmed by the positive support I've had so far! This is so important to an emerging artist, as every additional pledge gives me the ability to try new things and expand both my offerings and the conventions I can offer them at. Everything I earn is going right back into the business, in hopes that I can keep momentum going and expand Precocious' reach.

Things are getting interesting now, as the fancy goals are being unlocked. I'll begin expanding my convention staples, with new approaches in buttons and charms. New art options for the books have appeared, and I'm really excited about hitting the collaboration tier. Hiring you to help with the swag and art, and getting Duae Cat Designs on board, provides a big level up in offerings, as you all cover skill sets and abilities that I lack.

Amigurumi created by Duae Cat Designs, an unlockable stretch goal featuring a collaboration of talents

Becca: As one of your campaign advisers, I have to admit, I am the most excited about your stretch goals. Would you mind sharing the process behind a few of them, particularly the Tiff and Bud amigurumi plushies?

Chris: During our visit to Intervention last year, sales may have been weak, but that did mean the dealers were able to socialize and get out from behind the table a lot more than normal. I had so much fun talking to so many quality artists, and the friendship we struck up with Cat and Eric (he's the amigurumi virtuoso) was wonderful. I was so happy when they agreed to work with me for this campaign, and the dolls produced so far are amazing! This is an investment I couldn't have made without the crowdfunding system of Kickstarter.

I have many ambitions for the expansion of Precocious merchandise - One day, Bud Light night light, one day! - and this outpouring of support means I can show off new projects. I get to hire artists that will make me and my comic better, and invest in a variety of charms and goodies that will make readers happy and serve me well down the road.

Becca: You're offering to bring on different artists for incentives as another stretch goal. As an artist, I can see the value of this sort of incentive, and really, it's very clever. I stand to benefit from promoting your work, as that stretch goal means I see paying work. I wish more artists offered these sort of incentives with their Kickstarters. Who did you pick and why?

Chris: I'll go off on a tangent here about what I call the mid-tier curse. When you're trying so hard, pushing and fighting to edge your way into a very crowded market, it requires a lot of focus and energy. It's very difficult to pull back from your work and then give energy over to help others. You see lots of collaboration at high-tier levels, as the cartoonists have the funding and confidence to make it work, as well as in lower-tier levels, where the community nature of comics really shines. The middle tiers are a no man's land sometimes, so it's important to me to encourage a sharing nature among this usually-stressed group and pay it forward. We're all involved in turning comics into a more mainstream market, and one person's success will help others. Every new set of eyes brought into the realm of comics is progress for us all.

I have a wishlist of items I want to offer, and if I have a friend who works in that market it means I can support someone I care about in addition to getting what I want. I go down those avenues first! I'm starting relatively small now, but I hope these collaboration efforts grow and expand as we move forward.

Becca: You've been planning this Kickstarter for awhile. Care to list some of your biggest crowdfunding inspirations, and share with us what secrets you took from their campaigns?

Chris: It was a blog post by Keith Knight about a year ago that really got me thinking about this campaign. Since then, I've watched so many cartoonists use Kickstarter to their benefit, and tried to see what worked for them. I liked the no-nonsense advice of Iron Spike (Rule #1: Have an established audience that wants your product) and seeing how campaigns for Dave Kellett's Stripped film and Ryan North'sTo Be Or Not To Be evolved showed me what Kickstarter could do at high levels. Those are top-tier projects - Useful, but I lack the audience to throw around like they do. It was Tiffany Ross, of the Cyantian Chronicles, who finally convinced me to use Kickstarter by showing how effective it is even on smaller stuff. She's been doing tiny projects with Kickstarter and has really embraced the system. It's not just a way to know what's actually wanted by one's readers and avoiding costly mistakes, but an easy way to organize everything you need for fulfillment.

As for tips, I learned early to focus on timing. It's the early push and the end push that provides the most funding, so make sure the end is scheduled for a proper day and hour. My goal was set low, just enough to cover basic costs, with the hope of being able to expand. New tiers and offerings can be added as the campaign goes on, so I started basic and adapted as feedback came in. Hidden/unexpected costs are dangerous, so one has to plan for them. (Examples include forgetting to factor in the shipping cost of getting the goods you ordered to you, or not realizing you have to buy the boxes/envelopes for mailing too.) There's always a surprise in a campaign. Shipping is also very dangerous, as international rates seem to have doubled this year. This is where I'm very worried, as I know I'm not charging enough already. If my weight estimate was off by even an ounce, I could be in a lot of trouble. I did the best I could this time, and I hope my "learning experiences" aren't too painful. For me, this is a once-a-year push, and the results will guide me for the rest of the year. I must get all I can out of the experience, and take notes so I can do better next year.

Becca: Besides your super stretch goals, do you have any other aces up your sleeve for this Kickstarter campaign?

Chris: I will adapt to feedback and see where that takes me. I have a few high-end comic promises that I have yet to make, but they won't come into play until there's a clear need for a second set of stretch goals. Focus now is on making sure I'm offering what people want as rewards. Super duper stretch goals don't matter unless I have the offerings and audience to get me there.

This campaign is the first official chance for readers to own original Precocious and Copper Road strips.

Becca: So who are you going through for your printing, and any particular reason why you chose them?

Chris: Like last year, I am printing with Ka-Blam. This year I was going out on my own, and RCSI helped me out by providing the template from Book One. It was helpful as I was an InDesign novice going in to this. I knew the format already worked, so I had more confidence as I went along. Next year I may get bolder - especially since that's when color could factor into things - but sticking with Ka-Blam fit the needs I had this year.

Becca: I'm actually not all that familiar with Ka-Blam as a publisher. Do you mind if I ask a few questions for curious readers? With Ka-Blam, do you get an ISBN number, or do you need to purchase one? Are you able to sell through Amazon? Have you had any problems formatting your files for Ka-Blam's needs?

Chris: You have to purchase an ISBN on your own with this service. Instead of Amazon, Ka-Blam offers the ability to sell through IndyPlanet. I intend to ship books myself for now, just so I can be hands-on with quality control and have the access to draw artist editions, but adding the book to IndyPlanet should be a nice alternative if I want to sit back and let someone else worry about it. Ka-Blam's very good about getting quotes and the customer service has been great so far. It's aimed more for smaller print runs, but that's where I am at the moment. Once again, it's the mid-tier curse. I'm not close to being able to print larger runs yet.

Becca: What do you think of campaigns like Dresden Codak, Cucumber Quest, and Order of the Stick that far surpass the author's original expectations? If Precocious Volume 2 had that sort of success, would you be able to handle it alone, or would it be time to hire an intern?

Chris: There's a reason Aaron Diaz used a fulfillment service for the Dresden Codak campaign. Large projects like that require larger infrastructure to keep it all working cleanly. I would definitely hire help in the unlikely event the project took off to an astounding degree. I also have to be smart with limiting rewards to make sure I don't over-promise. I can only draw so many artist editions and create so much bonus art, so those tiers won't show too much expansion. There are ways to be smart about it. I'd happily add a new set of artist editions to ship a month later (giving me time to do them) if the demand was there. If people want to order books for themselves and a thousand of their closest friends, I can find a way to make that work! (Dear mythical thousand-book-buying person, if you could come back for next year, you would make so many readers so very happy, as that would enable the full-color book!)

Becca: I've been helping Ms. Heidi Black prepare her own Kickstarter books for mailing, and we've encountered a big problem in the way of international shipping. It's ridiculously expensive! Have you encountered a solution to that in your Kickstarter planning?

Chris: As mentioned above, sometimes you have to bite the bullet and bend over. I understand why the rates increased, but I don't have to like it. Last year the variance in international shipping rates caught us by surprise. This year, the post office seems to have standardized things... to a universally high cost. I already know I didn't charge the full rates, and that could really hurt me if I get lots of smaller international orders. I trust the USPS to get things where they should go, but if there's a reliable alternative, please share with me!

Becca I wish I knew, I know a lot of artists would love that information. It already seems like you're going to need a lot of shipping supplies! How do you plan on getting Volume 2 shipped to your readers, and what supplies do you recommend for mailing goodies? Any particular sites with good deals?

Chris: I used Pack Secure this time for my mailers. Their prices and shipping rates both were better than Uline, and I know the mailers work, as I used them last year. Instead of going with flimsier padded envelopes, I invested in sturdy book folds. Maybe it's just a piece of mind thing, but I like knowing the books are protected - especially the ones going international. I'm paying a lot to ship those! Don't you dare damage them!

Precocious charms! Exceedingly cute!

Becca: I know you're offering charms as an incentive, which site are you using to get them printed and why did you pick it?

Chris: I used Printsess for my initial run of (non-Kickstarter-related) charms, but that site has since closed down. For this year's bonus charms, I'm going to use InkIt Labs . This is because they offer two-sided charms and that works perfectly with the theme of book two. If I need to reorder the charms made through Printsess, I am open to other printers. We're in a time when folks are testing out the new charm market, so we all have to ask the other charm makers how their orders came out. I won't be able to add my voice to the discussion until July, though, when I have them in my hands.

Becca: Thank you so much for answering all these questions, Chris! They were all so in depth, I know my readers will find them helpful. I hope everyone checks out Precocious, Volume 2, now on Kickstarter, particularly since we're drawing close to unlocking exclusive buttons designed by moi and adorable dolls by DuaeCat!

Chris: Thank you so much for this opportunity to share! I really appreciate it!

Checking In

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:19:00 +0000

Hey guys! By now I'd hoped to have another marker test up and my MoCCA write up finished, but life took a minor unexpected detour. I'm flying back to New Orleans today to take care of some business, and won't be back until next Saturday night. I brought my laptop, so I'll continue working, and the MoCCA review should be up soon, but I lost Wednesday to con-crash, Thursday was spent at Heidi's sorting con stuff and downloading, editing, and uploading videos and photos, and today will be lost to transit. I have a lot of great content in the works for you guys, and I appreciate your patience!

Art Snacks, Box 1

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:39:00 +0000

Art Snacks, Box 1

About a month ago, Heidi Black pointed me in the direction of Art Snacks, a subscription art supply service with the intention of '...send(ing) you cool stuff to draw with'. As an avid art supply tester and a huge fan of blind boxes (ReMent, Gachapon, lucky grab bags, you name it, I've indulged) I was intrigued. I saw a lot of potential for a service that mailed out the best of the best art supplies to interested consumers, and thought it'd be a great opportunity for me to test out art supplies I might not have tested before.

Subscription boxes aren't a new thing, and I'm not new to them. Last May, I purchased my mother an Umba box subscription for three months for Mother's Day. In general, with subscription boxes, you don't get to pick what goes in them- you pay a set amount each month, and you receive your box of surprise goodies. This means, for every item you love, there'll probably be a couple flops. A subscription box is about the thrill of the unknown and the possibility of discovering new goodies.

In the words of the Art Snacks FAQ:

Will you tell me what is coming in my box ahead of time? Can I choose?
No, we won’t tell you; we like surprises. But we definitely want to know if you have suggestions for future boxes. Send us an email with a link to a cool art product and we’ll consider it for the future.

I decided to subscribe to Art Snacks so that every month, I'd have an opportunity to review art supplies I might not select for myself. I liked the idea of random chance entering my reviews, and thought that if the Art Snacks proved interesting, some of my readers might be interested in following along. I'm also a big fan of supporting small art related businesses. I ordered my first Art Snacks box sometime in February, and it arrived just this Tuesday. I had to wait until I got back from working to open it, as I wanted to be able to share my goodies with you guys.

My March-April Art Snacks came in this cute little box, the perfect size for shipping most art supplies.

Inside was an adorably wrapped little tissue package with an Art SnaDuDumcks sticker. Also included was a Dum Dum sucker and an Art Snacks pretzel sticker. I feel like their presentation was spot on- it was like getting a cute little present.

Also included was an instruction card, introducing the materials for this month (April). A very nice touch.

Close up of the pretzel sticker.

On the wrapping sticker, there's a link to share your unboxing- a clever way to promote both yourself and Art Snacks. Well played, Art Snacks.

This month's box included a Caran d'Ache watercolor pencil, a Stabilo fineliner, a tri-tip eraser, a General brand charcoal pencil, and a Spectrum Noir marker.

These are all materials I've used in the past. Recently I tested Spectrum Noir markers against Copic Sketch markers, and found that they are a cheaper, acceptable alternative. I was impressed that Art Snacks included one, since they're a newer entry to the art marker arena in the US. I was also impressed by the Caran d'Ache watercolor pencil, as those are very nice quality watercolor pencils that perform quite well. Unfortunately, the rest of the supplies were less exciting for me as they're very commonly available art supplies and tend to be staples in most high school art kits. Considering that two of the five supplies impressed me, I'd say that's a good run, although only the Caran d'Ache will be entering my usual rotation.

While I'll continue to subscribe to Art Snacks for awhile, I have to admit I'm a little disappointed with their overall selection. On the site, they promise the best supplies hand picked by artists, but the selection hasn't been exciting. I was impressed that this month's box included a Spectrum Noir marker (include link to test), as they aren't particularly well known yet, but I was disappointed that last month's box included a tube of Reeve's watercolor paint, a brand which is notoriously awful (and available in sets of 12 for $10, which is always a bad sign). I understand that $20 for 4-5 art supplies means there's limitations on what's in the box, but I'd hoped that their ability to purchase in bulk would mean exciting new test products and samples of products one might not otherwise be able to sample. I guess I'd hoped that a subscription service would have further reach than a small time comic artist.

I haven't lost hope for the future of Art Snacks. I think it would make an excellent present for a young artist who might only have a small collection of art supplies. I would like to see the company continue to grow, and I hope that as time progresses, they gain the ability to offer more exciting products. I would like to see Art Snacks begin communicating with companies like Jet Pens to bring more exotic supplies to artists, as there's a variety of exciting Japanese art and stationary supplies that are relatively cheap but not available easily in the US. I also know that companies like Dick Blick and Jerry's Artarama offer bulk discounts on supplies. Some supplies I'd be interested in seeing in future Art Snacks boxes include:

Fude pens
Watercolor markers
Colored pencil leads
Variety packs of artist trading cards (for paper variety)
Caran d'Ache non photo blue pencils
For commonly available materials included, I'd like to see one clever, little known trick included with the material.
Cotman watercolors (cheap but perform well)
Spectra Gold Watercolor Brushes or Winsor Newton Cotman Brushes (small rounds are pretty cheap, and good), Robert Simmons brushes (especially Filberts)
Liquid concentrated watercolors (vibrant colors, but few people know what they are)
Derwent Intense Stones (really really nice, rich watercolors)
Iwako's cute erasers- not really great for arting, but really really cute
Strathmore tends to be generous about their samples, maybe something like that
A variety of artist grade gel pens like white and black Signo pens, Hi-Tec C pens
Mono erasers
Pentel Pocket Brush

Also useful would be an area on the site where users could submit what they've done with the materials, and perhaps a user gallery. Submitted tutorials listing which Art Snacks materials used would also be neat, and would help subscribers who aren't familiar with the materials become familiar with them quickly. Another neat feature would be interviews with professional artists to find out what they use, include one 'recommended item' per box, and maybe a small demo or tutorial of the artist working with that material.

Art Marker Showdown: Copic Sketch vs. Pantone Universe Twin Markers

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 18:03:00 +0000

As an artist who takes her materials seriously, it still manages to surprise me that people will often pursue 'cute' or trendy materials over those that are useful or effective. In recent years, Pantone Universe (http://www.pantoneuniverse.com/)has become a popular consumer brand (http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx), with products as far ranging as Christmas Ornaments to cellphone cases. Somewhere within this wide range of products exists Pantone Universe Twin Markers, alcohol based twin tip markers color coded by Pantone's exclusive system. With a little research, I've found that these markers are on the wishlists of Pinteresters and come up regularly on Wanelo, but I have to wonder whether it's due to the merit of the markers themselves or due to the current trendiness of the Pantone Universe collection.

Letraset Pantone Tria vs. Pantone Universe Twin Markers

Pantone Universe Twin Markers isn't Pantone's first foray into the world of alcohol based markers. Previously, I tested Letraset's Pantone markers, which were also coded on the Pantone Color System. There isn't a lot of information available about Pantone Universe markers, and I'm assuming that Pantone and Letraset ended their partnership when Pantone decided to start producing their own markers. Letraset's Pantone Tria markers and Pantone Universe markers are very different in appearance, although fundamentally they serve the same purpose- both are art/illustration markers with alcohol based ink available in a wide range of colors. Both sets are based upon the Pantone Color Guide, which includes a numerical designation as well as a color name, and in theory, the old Letraset Tria Pantone markers should correspond with the new Pantone Universe Twin markers.

There are some very basic differences between the two Pantone marker iterations. Letraset's Tria marker is a round, twin tipped marker with a chisel nib and a bullet nib, the Pantone Universe marker has a bullet nib and a brush nib similiar to Copic's Super Nib. There's a lot of information available about Letraset as a company, and a lot of people have already reviewed Tria and Promarkers. Tria and Promarkers are refillable and feature replacable nibs, I haven't found any information online as to whether or not Pantone Universer markers are refillable, but I would hazard a guess to say they are not. Both Promarker and Tria are cheaper than most Copic options, but are still more expensive than the Pantone Universe markers. I dare say the Pantone Universe Markers will be the least expensive professional art markers I've tested yet.

This inexpensiveness doesn't excite me. There are plenty of cheap markers available- a stroll through the school supply section at Walmart offers a variety of options under $10. Cheap does not equate quality when it comes to professional grade markers. When purchasing markers intended to create quality illustrations, I want markers that provide uniform results, blend well together, and result in as minimal streaking as possible. In my experience, cheap markers don't promise these results. That doesn't mean I think that spending copious amounts of money on a marker collection is necessary or even advisable. It just means that I'm skeptical when it comes to a low price tag. Affordablility also doesn't mean ease of access- I've only see the Pantone Universe markers available online.

Pantone Universe Marker Twin Vs. Copic Sketch

Pantone Universe Twin Marker
Price per Marker $1.98 (DickBlick, on clearance I recommend reading the reviews before purchasing)

Available individually and in sets
Not refillable
Non-replacable nibs
Not particularly comfortable
150 available colors
Blend
Pantone Designations and names
Correspond to other Pantone products, could be used for layouts easily
Color coded cap
'Super' brush
Availability: Amazon, DickBlick (online)
Alcohol based

Source

Copic Sketch
Price Per Marker: $7.29

    Refillable
    Replacable Nibs
    Comfortable in hand
    358 available number of colors
    Blend
    Color Name and Family on Cap
    Color Coded cap
    Super Brush
    Can mix own colors, blank markers available
    Availability: limited availability at Michaels, many art supply stores, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Jetpens, Amazon
    Available in individual and color themed sets
    Alcohol based
    React to rubbing alcohol and 'blender' fluid
    Can be blended

The Comparison

The Pantone Universe Twin Markers left me very unimpressed. Out of the six markers I ordered, one arrived dry. For unused markers ordered directly from a website, this is unacceptable. I strongly hesitate to blame DickBlick. When purusing their reviews for the Pantone Universe Twin Markers, I found that a lot of customers receved dry markers, even from sealed sets. To me, this means the producer of the marker is at fault.

In general I was not impressed with the Pantone Universe Twin Markers. Not only were they all a bit dry (as compared to the juiciness of a brand new Copic), but there's little way to remedy that as they aren't refillable. I've read of some bloggers reviving old Prismacolors with alcohol, but that shouldn't be necessary for brand new markers. Dry markers are difficult to blend, and it's hard to lay down an even field of color with dry markers. Pantone's boxy markers are uncomfortable to hold, although they won't roll off your desk, and though the super brush style tip beats a dry chisel or bullet nib, it isn't enough to salvage this twin tip in my eyes.

Pantone Universe Twin Markers are temptingly cheap, but I strongly recommend against giving in and purchasing them. They don't play well with other markers should you decide to upgrade your collect, they often arrive cheap, and you can't refill them. Pantone Universe may be trendy right now, but if you have serious intentions about quality marker illustration, there are better alternatives available such as the ShinHan Twin Touch or the MEPXY. Copic Ciao, Copic's cheapest offering, is available for around $4 a marker, is refillable, features the super brush, and has replaceable nibs. While it's double the cost of a Pantone Universe Twin Marker, they should last longer and provide more satisfactory results.

Carrots and Icees

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:36:00 +0000

When I was a little girl, my parents and I had a deal.

If I stayed on the 'green' light, and didn't get my name written on the board at school, we would stop and get me an Icee on the way home from school.

It could be any flavor. Coke, pina colada, blue raspberry, orange creamsicle. It didn't matter, the choice was mine. So long as I was good, I was given a dollar and allowed to run in and get my Icee.

Some days, earning that Icee was hard. I was diagnosed with ADD at 5, and it was known early on that I had trouble focusing, staying on task, and not distracting other students. I had a tendency to finish my work early, and was often left with fairly large spans of unoccupied freetime, with little outlet for my attention. If I wanted that Icee, I had to sit quietly, which is a hard task for any 5 year old.

When I graduated from kindergarden to first grade, earning that Icee became even more challenging. Every week, my normal class assigned 20 spelling words, and my gifted class assigned another 20. While the normal class might have words like 'boy' and 'cat', the gifted class assigned words like 'turquoise'. My gifted class pulled me during phonics, which was never my strong suit despite learning to read at an early age. I guess I didn't see the need for both 'oy' and 'oi' words when they sounded exactly the same. Needless to say, spelling wasn't easy for me.

My mother, a teacher of ten years by that point, had a solution. Every single day, from Monday to Thursday evening, we'd go over spelling words. Any words I couldn't spell right the first time, I'd have to write five times each, spelling each aloud. Any I missed the second go round, it was 10 times each. The third was 20. There were a lot of Mondays where I wrote the entire gifted spelling list 20 times each several times over.

It was frustrating, and as a reward for hard work, my parents upped the incentive. For A's at the end of the quarter, I recieved $25 total. I couldn't exactly spend it as I wished (one time, I'd saved around $100 and tried to buy a used Super Nintendo. That got shot down by my mom fast), but it was mine, and it generally got frittered away on My Little Ponies. $25 may not seem like much, and honestly, it isn't (my dad upped it to $25 per A on a report card when I was in high school), but it was something. And for a goal oriented kid like me, it was something concrete to work towards.

As an adult, how do we reward ourselves for hard work? I feel like some of us are taught in college that the effort should be intrinsic, but that seems to run out after awhile. When I have the time, I treat myself to an afternoon off- picking up cat food, buying groceries, getting coffee, eating lunch out. When I don't have the time, that's when things get sticky. I can brute force myself to work non-stop for a couple weeks, but after that, I am mentally done. I start to resent what I'm doing. Resentment eventually turns to hatred, as I think about all the things I'm missing out on just to get this done.

Usually good planning prevents this sort of circumstance from occuring, but unfortunately for me, this spring has been pretty non-stop. From art histroy to MoCCA, it's been hard to make the time necessary to recharge my batteries.

It got particularly bad as I struggled to find inspiration. Sadly, I know 7" Kara chapter 2 won't make me any money in it's current print interation. Double sided, large format color printing is expensive, and I can't afford to charge customers more than the meerest profit margins if I want to see any sales. I've been posting the pages online to my Twitter, Tumblr, and to this blog, but the reaction has been muted to say the best, so completing this chapter won't make me more popular. And publishers are hesitant to print color comics by a newcomer, let alone WATERCOLOR comics by a new comer, so it probably won't advance my career. This led me to wonder "Why am I putting in all this effort?"

It took getting back to my roots to find my Icee. Talking about the stories that I love and inspire me, stories that give the reader something more than they started with. I thought about how I felt the first time I watched Howl's Moving Castle at the Canal Place Theatre on Canal Street, in a theatre no bigger than my living room with a screen hardly bigger than my current TV. I remember watching it with my highschool boyfriend, clutching his hand and sobbing with Sophie as she dealt with Howl's hair drama meltdown. I remember crying at the end, when Sophie returns Howl's heart, and I remember hearing others in the audience sniffling as well.

I'd gone into that movie annoyed, tired, cranky at getting lost on the interstate for thirty minutes. I left that movie hopeful and happy, wanting to create something amazing. I was inspired and my head buzzed with ideas.

The only reason I make comics is to give a gift to others. I want to make others feel happy or inspired. If I'm successful in this, even a little bit, then the time it takes to make those comics is worth it.

In three years of critiques of my anatomy, perspective, shot choices, and style, I'd never once been critiqued on how successful a mini comic was at conveying its story. It seems like we focused on everything but, like we danced around the heart of what makes this job worth it. It's a sensitive subject, one we try to ignore perhaps, but all roads lead to Rome. Money, popularity, those things pay the bills yeah, but they also indicate that what we created has value to SOMEONE. This is why people slave over webcomics. It's why they sell their mini comics for a dollar a pop, when time and labor would cost ten times that. We all want our work to have value to others, we all want the sacrifices we've made making these things to mean something. Otherwise, it's just wasted time.

My reasons for writing this blog aren't far from my reasons for making comics. I want to give a gift, if I can. I spend a lot of time and money trying to share what I know, and to find out answers, in an attempt to help others. It's discouraging when all I hear after months of radio silence is a complaint about how I may be possibly doing something wrong (protip: I research stuff before advising it, or else I am very clear that it's how *I* personally do it, and that results may vary.) It's never a quiet email to alert me to this fact, it's always very public- a barrage of tweets where everyone can see, no private opportunity to resolve the matter, and I find this discouraging. I try to keep in mind that when 'everything is going well, no one notices, but if you make a mistake, the world will hear'.

This is a bit rambly, but I have two points to make. 1. Find your Icee. and 2. Pursue it. And if you have trouble attaining that Icee, vocalize it. Maybe others are willing to help you get it. Maybe others want it too, and you can work together.

Art Marker Showdown: MEPXY Markers Vs. Copic Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Becca Hillburn) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:21:00 +0000

There's a new, potentially heavy hitting, contender in the alcohol marker world, available at an increasing number of brick and mortar art supply stores. MEPXY markers share many of the same qualities that have made Copic markers so popular with professional artists, and are now offered at many of the venues that have traditionally sold Copics. Online, MEPXY markers are available in sets and open stock, but in stores like DickBlick, I've only seen sets offered behind the same glass housing that protects the Copic sets from admiring hands.

I was eager to get my hands on a few, so I ordered from Jerry's Art-A-Rama when I placed an order for Pantone's Color Universe markers.

MEPXY Background Information

Source

MEPXY markers come in two options- black design markers, and white brush tipped markers. Markers are divided into sets with designations like 'basic' 'pastel' 'skintone' 'vivid'. These sets contain 12 markers, and retail on the MEPXY website for $49.99. Larger sets contain 24 ($99.99) or 36 ($139.95), or 60 ($199.95) markers.

It's difficult to find photos of the MEPXY Design Marker uncapped online, but it looks to be a twin tipped marker like the MEPXY Brush tip, and I'd hazard a guess to say that one end is chisel nib and the other bullet nib. It seems that more companies are offering a brush option in addition to a chisel nib option- Letraset, Prismacolor, MEPXY, Copic, TriArt all offer options for both bullet nib and brush tip alcohol based markers. Perhaps as alcohol marker becomes a popular choice for illustrators as well as layout artists, we will see even more companies offer a flexiable brush nib.

MEPXY (pronounced like 'Pepsi') touts the translucency of it's ink, and the fact that it's toner safe. From this, I assume that MEPXY ink isn't alcohol based after all, but utilizes some solvent similiar to the ADPRO markers. In the future, I may have to test their compatibility.

MEPXY vs. Copic Sketch

MEPXY

When ordering my MEPXY markers, I went for bright colors that I don't necessarily own within my range of Copic markers. Although this makes comparing colors more difficult, it makes intregrating the sets easier. MEPXY are similar in design to Spectrum Noir markers in that the cap is flared.

The MEPXY marker caps are pretty accurate to the color the markers produce. They are rich and vibrant.

As you can see, the MEPXY is much larger than the Copic sketch, although their brushes and chisel nibs are about the same size. The MEPXY is a bit bulky in the hand. Like the Copic Sketch, the MEPXY has a grey end for the brush tip to make it easier to find.

Price per marker $2.79 (www.dickblick.com, marked as clearance)

Refillable
Replacable Nibs
200 available colors
Blendable
'Super' brush
Color code on cap
Availability: DickBlick, Jerry's ArtaRama, MEPXY website, Amazon
Sold individually and in sets
Blender marker available
Design and Brush options available

Source

Copic Sketch
Price Per Marker: $7.29

Refillable
Replacable Nibs
Comfortable in hand
358 available number of colors
Blend
Color Name and Family on Cap
Color Coded cap
Super Brush
Can mix own colors, blank markers available
Availability: limited availability at Michaels, many art supply stores, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Jetpens, Amazon
Available in individual and color themed sets
Alcohol based
React to rubbing alcohol and 'blender' fluid
Can be blended

The Comparison

In this test, the dark red MEPXY performed much like the Copic Sketch- neither reacted strongly to either brand of blender, and blending between the brands was difficult to judge based on the saturation of both colors. Future testing with a greater discrepency between colors is necessary to truely judge MEPXY's compatibility with Copic alcohol ink.

From what I have seen of this test, both brands seem to perform on the same level. MEPXY markers retail on the MEPXY website for around $5.00 each, which while far below the average price for a Copic Sketch, is not nearly as low as they retail for on DickBlick's website. I have not seen them sold open stock in any brick and mortar art supply store I've been to, but this may because the product is still relatively new. I have not seen refill ink nor replacement nibs available online nor in person, so these supplies may be hard to come by, and I have zero familiarity with the MEXPY brand, nor parent companies. I am also not sure how well these markers hold up to long term use, this is something only repeated and prolonged testing will reveal.

I intend to perform further testing with MEPXY alcohol based markers to determine just how comparable they are to Copic Sketch markers, but as of right now, I will say that they aren't a bad choice for a beginner artist, particularly if they're purchased online during a sale. When purchasing these markers, I advise keeping in mind that refill ink and replacement nibs may always be difficult to procure, so these markers may be more disposable than intended. If refill ink never becomes easily available in the United States, that would decrease their monetary value to me by about three dollars, making them a fine sale purchase, but not worth their full price.