And I don't even know where my Ames lettering guide is...

Nice topside, kind of sinuous midsection and decent thighs.

I wonder what you could have done about the blobs of ink in, say, 1980? Lots of X-Acto action?

The pen ink was on typical copier paper. Nothing that could be reproduced or modified at some later date,


Sorry, i didn't specify year and pen models ... i have pens from ages ago that are still working ... ... there are some ranges of pro trad ink stuff that i need to make some mini-tutorials on,

sorry - note to self on making a mini-tutorial on trad line art to digital line art. There are always new folks who don't know the basics and options ....

I started playing with Speedball pens (mostly for lettering) and Hunt Crow Quills (drawing) in the middle '70s. By the mid '80s I could no longer hold a pencil or pen due to Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Yeah, I could probably obtain a tablet but I still can't hold a stylus.

That said, I still love learning about the mechanics from the pros.

My 70's through '80s inkings were mainly crow-quills of various widths with some speedball and ruling pens used for outlines - and with some technical pans - Rapidiographs and Mars - and some brush and ink. In the early '90s i switched over to Steadtler and Sakura (Pigma) disposible technical pens - much more convient and the nylon tip had more thick-to-thin possibilities than the old metal nibbed tech-pens. (This pic was probably done with a Steadtler, as i recall that their early waterproof pens had that bleed issue if the nib was in contact with the paper for more than 1/2 a second.) i Now use Copic pens with refillable nibs and ink cartridges and some Sakura Pigma Sensei pens for thicker lines as well as trad pens and brushes.

Cool -- I need to see how many of my old tools I can find in closets and the attic -- and an old desk in an outbuilding (three squirrels tried to eat the kneadable eraser and died on the spot). I rustled up some Letraset dry transfer letter sheets hunting for some old books over the weekend. Brittle!

In trad flexible pen nibs there is an element of metal fatigue. A new crow-quill nib was stiff, and, if you tried to put pressure on it, it would sometimes break, spattering your drawing with ink. So there was about a four month process of breaking in a new nib for it to become flexible. A very similar process came with the nylon tipped technical pens - wearing the nib down so that it's surface was at an angle - then you get some thick-to-thin inking effects bt subtlely rotatating the pen and applying pressure ... a combination of those two trad techs lead to the digital inking programmes re pressure-to-pen-size settings today.

Huh. So the digital systems are aping an acknowledged wear pattern. I never would have known this or thought to ask, but it makes perfect sense. It would also simplify the transfer of skills from traditional to digital. That adds to user comfort and fights (some) frustration.

It was a sort of warp between "Rockadoodle" and 1930's "noodle" animation style.

Refillable Copic pens you say? I didn't even know they had those. I'm certain the art shop close to my workplace doesn't have those either (then again....I can't remember the last time I actually drew something traditionally )

These are the guys :
https://copic.jp/en/product/multiliner-sp/

This pic was made with old Steadtler pens.

*Gasp* Removable nibs too?!?

The copics are that good compared to the Steadtlers (I "use" Sakura microns)?

The Copics are a little more precise - with the Microns in that you can replace worn nibs and ink supplies when you want to. Otherwise they are similar - a nylon nib that gets worn down to an angle (that's a good thing if you want line width variation). And on a tiny scale it's less plastic pollution.

I really like the compositions too, this is really nice.

All the funny angled panel lines are because it was one tiny panel on a sketch page. When confronted with Necessity i went with Invention.