...and that reminds me that I loaned out my copy, to whom I don't remember at all, and the bastard never returned it! Grrr!

Great book. It motivated me to buy the more or less complete Zot, also by McCloud. In a way , Understanding Comics is a treatise on the meaning of life and/or art.

I use a quill pen, most usually a "crowquill" pen, the really small one. I worked with little thin brushes for awhile, but they're too "floppy" for my tastes. With a quill, the metal nib has enough give to it for some line variation, but the tip doesn't flip around suddenly.

Be aware, though, that using a quill pen takes a long time to get good at. I've been using one since 1991.

As for coloring, I color just about everything I do with watercolors, but you have to make sure that you're using a perfectly waterproof ink. Coloring on photoshop is loads of fun, too. You just have to make sure that all your lines meet, so the color doesn't spill out into places it's not supposed to be.

In a few months I should better be able to tell you, and I'm still a total novice, but I do things the way most comic book and cartoon artists do:

I generally sketch, scan the sketch, "ink" the sketch in PhotoShop or Corel (or someday Adobe Illustrator when I get the money), and digitally color it.

You can add a layer, color on the layer, then "flip" the layers so the "inks" end up on top of the colors, if you want. SO MANY tricks in dig programs.

For "real life" inking I keep meaning to get some cheap Kohinoor knock-off pens, but I never get around to it. If I had the time and a workplace away from the cats, I think I'd use India ink and old-fashioned quills like interrobang. You can get some nice effects with the thicker nibs, like chisel-points on the ends of your ink lines, that you can't do very well with a fine-point Kohinoor. McDonough, the artist of the cartoon Mutts (who is also on the Board of Directors of the Humane Society of the U.S.) does his 'toons the old-fashioned way, and once lost an entire Sunday strip when his cat jumped on it and smeared the slow-drying ink.

Also, for some weird damn reason I like cheap drafting pencils, the kind you put the lead in yourself. I love charcoals and "real" artist's pencils but I always return to drafting pencils.

If you're interested in digital "inking" I'll point you to an old thread where I showed off my noobie idiocy and was skooled by some MeCha pros (mostly re inking nice clean lines using vectors), and also some other resources.

Oh, by the way: if you play with a digital program like Adobe or Corel for a while, you'll be able to go out and look at a bunch of cartoons and comic books and all of a sudden you'll be saying, "Wow, I understand HOW the artist did this, and WHY he did that," and you'll just pick up all kinds of technique just by appreciating other's work.

Oh, and you want a paper that can both handle the wetness of the ink (because it buckles the paper) and the impressions your marking instrument makes. A lot of papers bleed, and that totally sucks. I like Strathmore 100 pound Bristol, but anything 60 pounds and up is good. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Youknow those "brush-ink-pens"? Some with names like "straedler 3000" or other such rubbish? (that would be the good brand). Yeah, get yourself one of those and dip it in ink to use for shading and inking the black in. Won't go all wonky on you like a brush, costs about as much as a brush but last a million years longer. Reshape it on toiletpaper or napkin whenever you're done re-cap it and it'll last and last.

I use rapidograph pens and small watercolor brushes for my inking. I don't color. I don't sketch out my panels that much, which probably shows. Breaking scenes down that way is a total bore for me. And, since I'm just doing it for fun I've built my "narrative" around a more rapid work process. That said, I love my rulers and french curves. Love 'em. Can't get enough of that tight line action. Uh..I'm actually procrastinating finishing a few pages right now so this is like some kind of cosmic reminder of what I should be doing. Ok, got to go now. Thanks for the buzzkill! teasing :) Have fun!

He has a new book: Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels.

IMO, the book should be required reading for anyone designing an application GUI.

You probably don't want to do things my way but, I use cheapy Pilot Precise V7 pens and I like to use them on Bristol Board if I want to get particularly fine lines, if not napkins and copy paper are what I use. If I need to pencil or really plan I will draw it out in Non Photo Blue Pencil and either ink over that, but lately I am really liking lightboxing the pencils and inking on a separate sheet of paper. I have weird clunky work habits that really go against the grain of what you SHOULD do, but I also feel that every extra step can stall the natural energy of a drawing or a page, I'm still trying to figure out how best to work.

I don't even know if I have a way of doing things yet, Mrs. PANTS! I just was very curious, being the non-graphically oriented chap that I am, after reading this book, what WERE the materials people used who kicked ass at this kind of thing?

And just looky at alla yer responses! Rapidograph and Kohinoor, Bristol Board and lightboxes! You're like elves, is what you are! Little Drawing Elves!

Okay....maybe it's time for walkies.