They're Just Not That Into You

There is nothing so wonderful/heartbreaking/thrilling as falling in love.

Just please oh please, don't fall in love with pens and paper.

The people who make the art supplies do not love you back.

And what do you do if the stop making you pen? Or, even worse, what do you do if they stopped making your pen over 20 years ago?

My brave cartoonist pal Stephanie Piro writes about her personal struggle over making the pen relationship work at the Six Chix blog here. (No permalink, but it's at the top of the page as of today.)

And my friend, cartoonist Sandra Bell Lundy, writes that her favorite drawing paper is going to be discontinued.

I got a call yesterday from a friend who was looking for the non-photo blue bristol with the pre-lined comic book and newspaper strip dimensions. I couldn't help at all.

When I show my cartoons in galleries, the medium is noted on that little card next to framed original as "ink and wash on typing paper." I could lie and just say that I used cheap materials so as to maintain a low overhead, but that's just a side effect to not being in love with any particular pen or paper. A blessing I never counted until I heard about my friends' agonizing ordeals from this past week.

Above photo: Stephanie's beloved 20+ year old Koh-i-noor Artpen taken from the Six Chix blog.

Tangentially related: the MY PEN!!!! film from Kids in the Hall. It runs just over 4 minutes and is one of the funniest things I've seen:



My other weird Bruce MacDonald fave short of theirs is Mr. Mann's Wig Shop.