Q: What are some of your favorite drawing tools (e.g. type of pencils, drawing software, etc.) you use?

A: I get this question every so often so once I year (or so, actually it’s been since 2009) I do an updated answer. Here is 2012′s version:

In the Studio

For doing my publication work I use a lot of different tools and materials. While most of what I do these days is digital I do occasionally, when the job calls for it, pull out the old paints and such. Here are the tools I like to use in the studio:

Paper and boards-

Paper for roughs- I generally just use my live caricature paper for my rough sketches and layouts, which is a 67lb vellum bristol. The equivalent would be a Strathmore sketchbook heavyweight paper that comes in pads.

Boards for finals- Strathmore 400 or 500 series bristol, usually vellum finish but lately I’ve been using the smoother stuff sometimes… mainly when I know I’ll be doing my “colored line” style of digital finals. I like a smoother line for that. If it’s a real painting I’ll use a piece of illustration board with a kid (rough) surface as it won’t buckle when I apply a lot of washes. BTW, Strathmore has had it’s problems in the last few years with quality, but it seems they have figured out the problem, so it remains my board of choice.

Pencils-

I like the mechanical leadholder type pencils like the Staedtler Mars Technico Lead Holders with F or HB leads. They are comfortable to hold and the lead pointers make keeping a sharp point easy, but it also has a thickness that the ultra thin mechanical pencils don’t have. Otherwise I have been known to just grab a handy No. 2 school pencil. Lately I have been playing around with mechanical pencils that use a 0.5 mm lead, requiring no sharpening. I kind of like these, because the quality of line is so… uh… mechanical that you don’t get caught up in the aesthetics of the line and can concentrate on the forms you are drawing. It seems to work well when you intend to ink the results.

Pen Nibs-

I use mainly the Gillott 303 but occasionally the classic Hunt 102 crow quill. The Gillotts are tough to find in the US. You have to order them from overseas, and that’s expensive. But, if you have to have them, try:

Scribblers (UK)
John Neal Booksellers

There are others but these are the cheapest I’ve found online. If you look elsewhere, usually the good nibs are found listed under “Copperplate” among calligraphy supplies. These suppliers have lots of cool nibs like Brause and such, so if you are looking for something that “feels right” buy some singles and try out a few. You can get pen holders here as well.

You could try my method of getting Gillott nibs: beg a friend and colleague who lives in Great Britain to order 1,000 nibs at his local art store and bring them with him to the NCN convention in the states, where you pay him for them and then buy him some beers in gratitude. I am still a few Guinness shy of total compensation. Thanks, Steve!

Pen Holders-

There are lots of different kinds, but I found one I really love called the Universal Pen Holder. It’s just a clear plastic rod with a soft plastic sleeve around the end to hold the nib. The soft sleeve also acts as a cushioned finger grip. Simple but great. You can get them at John Neal on this page.

Brushes-

I use a red sable #1 and #2, and a #6 for big areas. Winsor & Newton Series 7′s set the standard but they are expensive. If you take care of them they will last a reasonable length of time, but ink destroys them much faster than watercolors do. You can find these brushes at virtually any art store.

I have recently gotten a Kuratake No. 40 Sable Brush Pen, and using their Carbon ink cartridge (waterproof) am enjoying the results. It’s great for certain stages of a piece when you need a brush’s touch but are moving about a lot and dipping/rolling the brush is a pain.

Inks-

For the dip pen I use Pelikan Drawing Ink A. It used to be hard to find this ink but now they are more readily available.  If you want to get a BIG bottle, try:

MisterArt

For the brush I like Dr. Ph.Martin’s Black Star HICARB or Tech 14W Black, which are both much more dense that the Pelikan and make for better brush work.

Digital Color: Software-

I use PhotoShop for all my digital color work. I know a lot of people swear by Painter, but as I can accomplish everything I want to in PhotoShop I do not see a compelling reason to switch. Currently I am using CS5, and I suppose eventually I will upgrade but again I feel no need to rush to do so.

Digital Color: Hardware-

My current computer is a 27″ iMac. I used to have a more expensive Mac Pro but honestly the memory and processor speed of more “standard” computers are so strong now that they can easily handle imaging tasks… even big images. I recently did a 29″ x 40″ movie poster illustration, 300 dpi and CMYK and with multiple layers that weighed in at a whopping 360 MB, and my iMac didn’t even break a sweat. These days unless you are doing 3D modeling or video rendering work, you can use computers right off the rack at Best Buy or the Apple Store for most any illustration.

I use the Wacom Cintiq 21UX as my graphics tablet. Its’ a workhorse and has served me well for many years. It’s the original 21UX model from 2005. The new 24HD widescreen Cintiq looks awesome, but as long as mine keeps on trucking I can’t justify that kind of expense to upgrade. Maybe after I win the lottery.

Real Paints!-

When I do get out the real paints I basically work in a combination of acrylics and watercolors with both a brush and some airbrush touches. I have no preference as to the manufacturers of such materials, and have a hodge-podge of tubes of various types. The last time I did a real painting was last winter for a personal commission, which I didn’t bother to scan. Here’s a spot from a few years ago I used real paint to do:

Live Caricatures

Pencil-

I learned to work in pencil so I stick with that. My pencil of choice is a Caran D’ache FixPencil 3 using the 6B leads. I also use a Create-a-Color 5.6mm leadholder with a 4B lead.

Blending Stump-

Standard No. 8 stump for shading. I soak the new stomp in tap water for about 10 minutes, then put it on a paper towel and place it in a sunny window for about 3 days until it’s fully dried out. This has the effect of loosening the glue that binds the stump and making it much softer. Then I sand off one of the ends to a much rounder shape, so I have a fine end and a wide end. I know… that’s a lot of work for a $1.65 tool, but it’s much more useable after that process.

Airbrush-

I use the Iwata HP-SB Plus for live caricature work with a 13 bottle palette. I also use this same brush in the studio. I have metal bottle hardware custom made, as the plastic horrors available for general purchase are garbage. In fact I make the entire bottle assembly myself (Please don’t write me asking to buy a set… I don’t sell them except to artists who work with us in our caricature concessions).

Airbrush Paint-

Mostly Com-Art Opaque and Transparent paints by Medea.

Thanks to Grant Jonen for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Yep… paying the price for my Maui vacation. I can almost still taste those mai tais now…

We interrupt this blog for a few days while the blog admin gets himself a serious sunburn and combats the pain with copious amounts of Mai Tais on vacation. The blog will resume with the Sunday Mailbag. Mahalo.

Q: I’d like to do freelance illustration and cartooning for a career, but I hate marketing and invoicing and dealing with the business side of things. I just want to draw. How do you handle all that business stuff?

A: There is supposedly a scientific reason for a highly creative person not liking (or in some cases being any good at) the business side of art. Most people have heard of the concept of “right-brained” and “left-brained” people. As the theory goes, people who’s brains are left-side dominant are more analytical and logical, and are generally better at math and other structured concepts. Those who are ride-side dominant are more creative and artistic. Obviously we all use both sides of the brain, so to say either are mutually exclusive is silly, but it does seem to be true that many artistic people don’t get along with math or business. That said, I know of many terrific illustrators that are also exceptionally good at the business side of it, so take that theory with a grain of salt.

Being a professional freelancer takes more that just the artistic skills. You need to have great communication skills to work with art directors and clients, the ability to manage your time and meet deadlines, strong marketing senses and the ability to handle the contracts, invoicing, paperwork and other business things that are part of being a freelancer. I know many very talented artists who can’t make a living freelancing because the don’t have those other parts of the whole that make one a professional. That’s not an indictment of their talent as an artist or cartoonist, but being able to create that work within the demands of the marketplace is necessary if you want to make a career out of illustration. Some artists just don’t have that skill set.

One solution is to find a business manager or rep to handle that end of things. That’s really ideal if you just won’t or can’t do any of the business stuff. I know a few successful illustrators who would not be able to function without that rep. Of course you have to give up a percentage of your fees for that service, but a good rep easily makes up for that in more work and in building solid relationships with clients. I’ve never had a rep, and good ones are hard to find.

Another solution is to get your spouse involved if he/she is willing or able to do so. I also know of a few “spouse teams” where the non-artist husband or wife acts as the manager for the other. It takes a pretty special spouse to do that… I’ve got one of those myself! The Lovely Anna helps me out enormously with paperwork and other business tasks that free up my time to do the artwork.

Finally, as always, there’s an app for that. Actually there are many computer programs that help with the business end of things, from accounting to time management to marketing. I use Intuit QuickBooks to do all my invoicing, accounts payable and all the money stuff. I have a small to-do program called Things that I use to manage my time, setting goals for various tasks and deadline reminders. I know there are some programs out there dedicated to the freelance professional that incorporate several elements together in one place. Mac Freelance is one I know of. I am sure there are others but as I have never used any I am unable to recommend one. That might be something to look into, though.

The reality is there is an art side of being a professional illustrator, and a non-art side. Both are important, and both need to be handled competently for to succeed in the tough world of freelancing.

Thanks to John Larson for the question. If you have a question you want answered for the mailbag about cartooning, illustration, MAD Magazine, caricature or similar, e-mail me and I’ll try and answer it here!

Michael Cavna of the Washington Post‘s Comic Riffs blog on cartoons, comics and culture posted his list of the Top 12 Books of 2011 That Made Us Smile… and The Mad Art of Caricature! tops the list! Thanks, Michael!

I read over on Mark Evanier‘s excellent blog that the short lived Bob Newhart sitcom series Bob is about to become available on DVD. It’s billed as “The Complete Series”, which is a bit of a joke as it only lasted 33 episodes, or about a season and a half. I remember the show very distinctly because it was, in a way, a moment of TV fame for the little group of theme park caricaturists I was a part of.

Kind of.

Sort of.

We went with it, anyway.

Set in present day (at the time 1992), the show’s premise was that star Bob Newhart’s character was a cartoonist and the creator of a 1950′s comic book superhero called “Mad-Dog”. The Wertham congressional sub-committee hearings had resulted his character being axed, and Bob quit comics and became a greeting card artist. 40 years later the rights to Mad-Dog are bought by another company, and Bob agrees to come on board to help revive his character despite their wanting Mad-Dog to become a violent vigilante. The studio Bob goes to work in is located in Chicago…. bear with me here, I am getting to the point.

Like all Newhart series, Bob is an island of common sense and normalcy in the midst of a group of nutcases and oddballs. The staff of this comic book company was no exception. It was peopled with all sorts of kooks. One of them was this druggy, spaced-out inker named Carl. Carl and Bob had this exchange in the pilot episode (I’m paraphrasing, it’s been 20 years since I saw this episode):

• Bob: “Besides inking, what other kinds of artwork do you do?”
• Carl: “I worked as a caricature artist at Six Flags.”
• Bob: “Was that interesting?”
• Carl: “It was brutal, man. Really cutthroat. You had to have a gimmick to make your work stand out.”
• Bob: “What was your gimmick?”
• Carl: “I drew caricatures with leaches on the faces.”
• Bob: “….. Leaches?”
• Carl: “Yeah. You know, Burt Reynolds… with leaches. Victoria Principal… with leaches.”
• Bob: “…”

No doubt after 20 years that actual exchange is very different on the upcoming DVD, but that was the gist.

Now, this took place in Chicago. The Six Flags he must have been talking about was Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago. I worked as a caricaturist at that Six Flags from 1985-1989 for Fasen Arts, who still had the concession there in 1992. Ergo, Carl was one of us!

Kind of.

Sort of.

I never drew anyone with leaches, but I was known to work in a clown smoking a cigarette in the background when the opportunity arose.

The National Cartoonists Society is starting it’s annual call for entries for consideration for their NCS Divisional Awards recognizing excellence in professional cartooning. As always, you DO NOT have to be a member of the NCS to have your work considered for a divisional award… all that is required is that the work be eligible as detailed below.

New this year is a division for Online Comic Strip… see this post for the details on this new category.

Below you will find a list of the juries which will judge the categories, the jury chair and the address to which you will send your entry. As always, NO EMAIL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED, with the exception of Online Comics, which allows an emailed PDF submission. Below is a short recap of several rules and guidelines, which govern the awards:

Please remember only recent work can be considered. This means work published between the dates of December 1, 2010 and December 31, 2011.

Please submit published tear sheets when possible and document when and where the work was published. Online Comics should provide Archive.org links for verification.

Online comic creators and their comics must adhere to the following criteria for eligibility:

• Comic-strip format only (no single panels, long-form narrative. etc.)
• Originally published in English or pantomime
• Must be web only publication (any syndication in print would make it eligible for the Newspaper Comic Strip Division)
• Must be at least a weekly
• Must have shown consistent publication based on determined time-schedule (i.e. it being a daily, twice-a-week, weekly, etc) over the course of the 2011 calendar year
• Creator must earn the greater part of their living directly from cartooning* in order to adhere to the NCS criteria that creators under consideration must be either full members or eligible for full membership

If your syndicated cartoon runs in both strip and panel format you can submit to one of those divisions, not both (your choice).

Your submissions must be submitted to their respective locations by February 6, 2012.

List of Juries and Submission Addresses:

Cartoonists are invited to submit their work (or the work of anyone else) no later than February 6, 2012, for consideration for one or more of the following Division Awards:

TELEVISION ANIMATION-
Submit one or more samples in VHS or DVD format of aired or exhibited work that was released in the year 2011 to: Chad Frye, 518 E. Cypress Ave. #C, Burbank, CA 91501 (chad@chadfrye.com)

FEATURE ANIMATION-
Submit one or more samples in VHS or DVD format of aired or exhibited work that was released in the year 20101to: David Folkman, NCS Los Angeles Chapter, 6171 W. Century Blvd. #160, Los Angeles, CA 90045 (folkmanart@aol.com)

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION-
Submit up to 6 samples of 2011 published work to: Polly Keener, NCS Great Lakes Chapter, 400 W. Fairlawn Blvd., Akron, OH 44313-4510 (pollytoon@aol.com)

GAG CARTOONS
Submit up to 12 samples of 2011 published work to: Mark Parisi, NCS New England Chapter, 16 Slayton Rd., Melrose, MA 02176 (markparisi@aol.com)

GREETING CARDS
Submit up to 6 samples of 2011 published work to: Mike Edholm, NCS North Central Chapter, 2108 Sandstone Road, Lincoln, NE 68512 (medholm1@mac.com)

NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS
Submit up to 12 samples of 2011 published work to: Rob Smith, Jr., NCS Florida Chapter, PO Box 540103, Orlando, FL 32854-0103 (ncs@robsmithjr.com)

NEWSPAPER PANEL CARTOONS
Submit up to 12 samples of 2011 published work to: Mike Cope, NCS Canada Chapter, 46 Church Street, Stoney Creek, Ontario, CANADA, L8E 2X8 (mikecope@copetoons.com)

MAGAZINE FEATURE/MAGAZINE ILLUSTRATION
Submit up to 6 samples of 2011 published work to: Brian Walker, NCS Connecticut Chapter, 34 Forge Rd, Wilton, CT 06897 (hiandlois1@aol.com)

BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Send up to 6 samples of 2011 published work to: Adrian Sinnott, NCS Long Island Chapter, 27 East 24th Street, Huntington Station, NY 11746-3701 (acsinnott@adriansinnott.com)

EDITORIAL CARTOONS
Submit 12-20 samples of 2011 published work to: Jack Pittman, NCS Southeast Chapter, 1740 Brooks Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27607-6618 (jack@jackpittman.net)

ADVERTISING ILLUSTRATION
Submit up to 4 samples of 2011 published and marketed work to: Tom Stemmle, NCS New Jersey Chapter, 184 Richards Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854 (tomstem@optonline.net)

COMIC BOOKS
Submit up to 3 samples of 2011 published work to: Bill Morrison, 786 Twillin Ct., Simi Valley, CA 93065 (roswell2@earthlink.net)

GRAPHIC NOVELS
Submit book(s) published in 2011 to: Mike Lynch, 61 Nutes Road, Milton, NH 03851-4800 (mike@mikelynchcartoons.com)

ON-LINE COMIC STRIPS
Submit 12 samples, submitted via mail or as PDF with 2-4 strips per page and bio/entry form to: Ed Steckley, NCS National Representative, 43-07 39th Place, Apt. 3-F Sunnyside, NY 11104 (ed@edsteckley.com)

Online Comics must also adhere to the following:

• Comic-strip format only (no single panels, long-form narrative. etc.)
• Must be web only publication (any syndication in print should submit to Newspaper Comic Strip Division)
• Must be at least a weekly
• Must have shown consistent timely publication over the course of the 2011 calendar year
• Creator must earn the greater part of their living directly from cartooning*

Once again: Each entry must be accompanied by a completed ENTRY FORM
and a BIO SHEET (click on links to download PDFs of both). ALL SUBMISSIONS (with the exception of the On-Line Comic Strip Divisions) MUST BE PRINTED AND MAILED. NO EMAIL SUBMISSIONS PLEASE.

All winners will be announced at the 66th Annual Reuben Awards Dinner at the Green Valley Ranch Resort and Spa, Henderson, NV on May 26, 2012.

* This originally was poorly worded. As with all other divisions, you do not need to make the majority of your income from one single property or strip, but from cartooning in general. So, if you are an animator or comic book artist who also does a web-comic but it isn’t your main source of income, you still qualify for professional NCS membership, which is all the NCS rules require for your work to be considered eligible.

As many readers here may know, I am the current president of the National Cartoonists Society, a title affectionately known as “the office nobody else wanted or were dumb enough to take on”. The president does a lot of stuff, like plan the annual NCS Reuben award weekend, help co-ordinate the awards, provide snacks at the NCS board meetings… you know, presidential crap. Occasionally the NCS board even does something new, exciting and important—like this:

It’s been a long-time coming, but the NCS will have a web-comics division for the Reuben Awards this year. Awards membership chairman Sean Parkes and I, along with input from the rest of the NCS board, have been working on this for a few months. We have enlisted advice and thoughts from several knowledgeable sources including Dave Kellett (Sheldon, Drive), Andrew Farago (curator of the Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco), Michael Jantze (The Norm, Professor of Sequential Art and Animation, Savannah College of Art and Design) and a few others. There are many challenges involved, the crux of which is separating those web-comics creators who are doing truly professional work from those who are just enthusiastic hobbyists.

To this end, we are introducing a purposefully narrow-focused new division this year, which will be called “Best Online Comic Strip”, and will be judged by the NCS board in anticipation of being done by an NCS chapter in the future. Here is the criteria for eligibility we have come up with:

1. Comic-strip format only (no single panels, long-form narrative. etc.)
2. Must be web only publication (any syndication in print would make it eligible for the Best Syndicated Comic Strip Division)
3. Must be at least a weekly
4. Must have shown consistent publication based on determined time-schedule (i.e. it being a daily, twice-a-week, weekly, etc) over the course of the 2011 calendar year
5. Creator must earn the greater part of their living directly from cartooning* in order to adhere to the NCS criteria that creators under consideration must be either full members or eligible for full membership

* This originally was poorly worded. As with all other divisions, you do not need to make the majority of your income from one single property or strip, but from cartooning in general. So, if you are an animator or comic book artist who also does a web-comic but it isn’t your main source of income, you still qualify for professional NCS membership, which is all the NCS rules require for your work to be considered eligible.

Submitted work itself must be:

1. No more than 12 samples, submitted as physical prints along with submission form and bio or as PDF with 2-4 strips per page and including bio/submission form
2. Work must have been published (posted) during period from Dec. 1, 2010 to Dec 31, 2011 (archive.org links must be provided for each strip for verification).

The tricky part is the definition of “professional” with regards to web-comics/self-published work. The NCS awards are industry awards, not art awards. One of the criteria for consideration is that the creators be a professional cartoonist, and eligible for NCS membership (they do not have to BE members, but must be eligible for membership). Without independent verification (like a syndicate, editor or publisher who pays the cartoonist for their work) of a few criteria to that end, it’s difficult to separate the pros (i.e. those who are both fully committed to their craft for a career, and who make some substantial amount of income from it) from the hobbyists. We need an independent “screening committee” to review the creators who’s work is being considered to give us their opinion on if they meet the definition of “professional”, and this is what we have put together. Our screening committee will be made up of six experts on webcomics who are deeply involved/knowledgeable in the world of online comics including journalists and professors from major art colleges who are very enthusiastic about participating. Our panel of experts include:

• Bill Amend- Creator of Foxtrot
• David Allan Duncan- Professor of Sequential Art Graduate Coordinator, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Andrew Farago-  Curator, Cartoon Art Museum, San Francisco
• Michael Jantze- Professor of Sequential Art and Animation, Savannah College of Art and Design
• Rick Marshall- Freelance Writer, Editor, and Producer, Time Inc., MTV News, IFC, Movies.com, Digital Trends, CBR
• Gary Tyrrell- Writer/Editor, Fleen.com

The screening committee has two jobs. First, they will review the submitted artists list and recommend those that they feel meet the criteria of eligibility as listed above. Second, they will recommend for consideration anyone who did not submit but they feel both meet the criteria and are representative of the best online work. They will forward their recommendations to the board, who will then judge the submissions and determine nominees and a winner as with any division.

This is our first stab at this kind of thing. It is bound to have some bugs which we will learn from and hopefully improve the process next year. The important thing is that efforts are being made to include work being done on-line in the NCS’s recognition of excellence in professional cartooning.

The fine people at Wells & Drew have generously published these awesome, free “shortcut cheat sheets” for the users of Adobe Illustrator and Indesign:

Brought to you by Wells & Drew, makers of fine engraved stationery.

Courtesy of Business Stationery

Click on them to go to their website and get versions in various resolutions or in PDF form. Nice that they have both Windows and Mac versions listed. No real instruction here, just a very handy list of shortcuts.

I wish I’d had that Indesign one when I was designing the book. I basically went from 0 to 100 mph in knowledge of Indesign, thanks to some initial tutoring by my pal, illustrator James Hungaski and another friend of a friend, plus copious amounts of Googling “how do I…?” when I got stuck.

Not sure if they plan a PhotoShop version (probably not as they are mainly designers), but that would be awesome.

Comic Book Resources recently published an all-MAD edition of their enjoyable “Comic Book Legends Revealed” feature. In it, they tackle three legends (or myths if you prefer) about MAD:

1. Alfred E. Neuman existed well before Mad Magazine ever came about.
2. Mad Magazine used to sell actual straight jackets!
3. Every Mad cover has an easter egg of the letters “ind” to form “Mad Mind”.

Check it out here! They even linked back to one of my posts here on The MAD Blog concerning legend number one (Thanks, CBR!), but they also debunk my explanation of the “ind” legend… you decide which explanation is true.