Travels with Ink and Nib and Brush

Next week it's NYCC time (New York Comicon). The convention is a great time, of course. The journey there maybe not as much. Here's some advice I posted from January 2010 about traveling with your precious old school drawing tools:




Traveling? I don't envy you. But if you have to travel, and you are a dedicated old school cartoonist who loves the old school drawing tools, then you already have a method for safely transporting your beloved art supplies through the rigors of the TSA, the baggage handlers, airplane pressure, etc.

Here's what I do:


Nibs! Those nibs (that you have delicately broken in) can be easily placed ...


... in a protective matchbox. When the TSA employee asks, Do you have anything that could be considered a weapon? -- Well, I have do not believe that nibs could be used as a weapon. At least, not a very effective one. Regardless, nibs get checked thru baggage. Along with the holder.
I like the ink in those squatty glass containers that are tough and ready for some travel tumbling and turbulence. (No Higgins Ink plastic containers if you please!) Wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap and then this baby is wrapped again in swaddling clothes (i.e., a black t-shirt),

A good brush is like your pal. Like a pen nib, it needs to be broken in and then it can last (with the proper care) for a long time. The problem is how do you protect your brush shape?

I just get a card (an index card, or piece of cardboard) and tape the brush down. And then I take another card and tape it on top, creating, for all intents and purposes, a snug brush sandwich.

Confession: I usually use those Pigma permanent ink pens. Below is a drawing from last year depicting "the pens on my desk:"

Related: Some sketchbook drawings and a few more of my sketches.

Also related: Do you have too many sketchbooks?

Twilight of the Smores

Another season has passed! The town beach is closed, the geese are flying south -- along with the marshmallows. Here are 3 sad things and a happy thing about fall that I've noticed.

Seen at the Market Basket grocery, way in the back, next to the deli counter and on the way to the toilets: I saw the shopping cart below, full of the past summer's marshmallows, now on clearance.

I suppose the marshmallows need to move to make way for packaged firewood. A lot of it is processed in some way. I made up the names:

• EZ Light
• Firewood For Dummies
• Kindling Akimbo
• Bag O' Wood

And my wife and I went to have ice cream at the Lone Oak roadside stand. There were a good number of cars there and everyone was eating in their car. This is status quo for rainy fall days.

 But, hey, there are happy things about the new season. We went apple picking at McKenzie's.

 

More sketchbook entries:  

Our Prince Edward Island Vacation.

Travels with Ink and Nib and Brush

Our Prince Edward Island Vacation

 

My wife and I spent a few days in Prince Edward Island. I told you about the international editorial cartoon exhibition, Freedom in Broad Strokes. Now, below, are some scenes from our trip.

These are color sketches, blown up from my sketchbook. I was doodling and scribbling with no pencil foundation so, you know, it's doodly and messy and all that

TOOL NERD INFO:

• Pen: Micron Pigma 5mm
• Color: a kids' watercolor set from a dimestore

First up: Canadian Maritime Swimwear. It's a bit chilly, but the locals are used to it!

Below: Camping in PEI! Active fun for some, passive smoking for others!

Night time was dark and you could only hear voices and see everyone's campfire. One young girl was thrashing on an old guitar, singing what sounded like folk songs, but, when listening closely, they all turned out to be old Alanis Morissette hits. The middle aged fellow in a Winnebago was visibly smitten, He really did stand at the edge of his site and go "Wooo!"

Some good things and bad things about the trip:

EDIT: "NO BARS" should be on the right and "IRISH BARS" should be on the left. Thanks to Caryn Alma for pointing out my transpositional boo-boo.

"No bars" was probably for the best. My wife played great Irish music with the session players at The Old Triangle. She was in top form!

And here are the actual uncut pages:

Yes, that's the bookmark hanging there on the page. I am a lazy scanner, huh?

Oh, the toe's all better now!

Sketchbook: Bakugan Battle Brawlers

Some doodles from my sketchbook.


I am fortunate to have some talented, great friends who let me stay with them when I'm in Brooklyn. Their son (sketched above) is a terrific kid. He's very inclusive. He shows me all of his toys.



I had never heard of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers, which are hard plastic balls that *SPROING* into little creatures when you push them against a bit of metal, like a fridge door.

Below: he explains their operation to me and which one is his favorite (there are many kinds of balls that turn into a variety of creatures).


Above: the horned Pyrus Dragonoid. Nix's Mixed Bag has photos.

Sketchbook: Traditional Irish Music Session

Sketched in between pints of Smithwicks' at The Shaskeen in Manchester, NH. This was a traditional Irish music session on Saturday afternoon, December 11, 2010. I accompanied my wife (not pictured), who was one of the half-dozen musicians who there that day. She plays the fiddle and flute. I am not a musician myself.







I try to be unobtrusive. But, as I was sketching, the woman next to me noticed. She leaned way over to look. She made a noise -- something like "Oh" or "Oooh." When the musicians get going, it can be hard to hear. Anyway, she looked at me and smiled and said, "I thought you were doing your school work." (!?!?!?!!?!) I suppose I should be flattered since the last time I was in school was in the 1980s.

Travels with Ink and Nib and Brush

Traveling? I don't envy you. But if you have to travel, and you are dedicated old school cartoonist who loves the old school drawing tools, then you already have a method for safely transporting your beloved art supplies through the rigors of the TSA, the baggage handlers, airplane pressure, etc.

Here's what I do:


Nibs! Those nibs that you have delicately broken in can be easily placed ...


... in a protective matchbox. When the TSA employee asks, Do you have anything that could be considered a weapon? -- Well, I have do not believe that nibs could be used as a weapon. At least, not a very effective one. Regardless, nibs get checked thru baggage. Along with the holder.
I like the ink in those squatty glass containers that are tough and ready for some travel tumbling and turbulence. (No Higgins Ink plastic containers if you please!) Wrapped in a couple layers of plastic wrap and then this baby is wrapped again in swaddling clothes (i.e., a black t-shirt),

A good brush is like your pal. Like a pen nib, it needs to be broken in and then it can last (with the proper care) for a long time. The problem is how do you protect your brush shape?

I just get a card (an index card, or piece of cardboard) and tape the brush down. And then I take another card and tape it on top, creating, for all intents and purposes, a snug brush sandwich.

Confession: I usually use those Pigma permanent ink pens. Below is a drawing from last year depicting "the pens on my desk:"



Related: Some sketchbook drawings and a few more of my sketches.

Also related: Do you have too many sketchbooks?

Video: Tom Gammill Lesson Twenty

I can always count on laughing out loud at Tom's videos and this one, starring Tom Gammill with special guest star Tony Carillo, was no exception. Tony was so good I'm now hoping for a Tim Conway type of recurring guest star slot position for him.



Below: My favorite shot in the video: Tony F-MINUS Carillo's sketchbook:

Too Many Sketchbooks

I had a great time traveling to NY last week. I think I packed pretty well for a week away. Except for sketchbooks. I put it to my friend Juana Medina when I asked, Do I have too many sketchbooks?

I have four. Each one has its special purpose.

• A new 8 1/2 x 11 spiralbound book for new commercial projects (a comic strip idea and a graphic novel idea),
• another sketchbook for doodling gag ideas (I draw on both sides of the page, dividing each page into 8 squares. I really get my money's worth out of this small book),
• a third teeny, eentsy pocket sketchbook for doodling ideas for cartoon classes,
• and a nice clothbound landscape book for drawing travel diaries (like in my Sketchbook collection -- a few copies of which are still available!); the black sketchbook, looking like a rectangular black hole, is in the lower right of the above photo.
  

And so Juana told me how organized I was, which was very nice and very flatterg. I told her that, although that's a nice thought, I think I am toting around just too much mass. Why not just have one, big, general sketchbook?

I am curious to hear if other people have more than one sketchbook and, if so, are the sketchbooks divided by project? Do you have a "nice" sketchbook for your best work and one "not so nice" sketchbook, for not so important drawings? Do your sketchbooks vary by the medium you use?

Chuck Jones Blog

Craig Kausen, Chuck Jones' grandson, has a terrific blog, Chuck Redux, dedicated to his grandfather.

Take a look at some of these Chuck Jones Sketchbook Pages. Wow!

Back in New York City

Below is a page of impressions as I traveled to the NY Comicon this past weekend. It's a quick (no pencils) page from my sketchbook.


It was nice to be back in New York City, where I lived for a long time. Above are some moments while I was in town. My thanks to my pal Trade Loeffler and the one and only great gag cartoonist Don Orehek for putting me up in Brooklyn and Port Washington, respectively.

Above: Smith Street in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn; my old neighborhood.

Tom Spurgeon has an amazing NYCC round up if you want to see photos, vids & write ups on the convention.

NYCC: Bus Critic

Here's a freehand true-life story from my NY Comicon sketchbook. (Which is why the panels are all wonky.)

The first thing I have to do, to get to the NY Comicon, is get a bus to take me from the New Hampshire mountains to the megalopolis that is Boston. Like Jean Shepherd's "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss," most of the fun of getting somewhere is the journey.

Just 15 minutes into my 7 hour trip, I overheard this story, told by the bus driver, about a colleague. It reminded me that creative people are not the only ones who are criticized.

From the Sketch Pad

I was traveling last week. I took my sketchbook (the landscape hardbound 3.5" x 5.5" Global Arts Hand Book Journal hardbound) with me to capture a few moments. I used a Pigma Micron pen and a bit of watercolor here and there. I carry a kids' $1.99 bought-in-a-drugstore watercolor paint set in my bag.


Above: St. Louis is deserted. Or rather, the St. Louis airport is deserted around lunch time on October 28th, when I had a layover.

I had a bite to eat in a lonely cafe and read the Post-Dispatch, and, of course, noticed the Weatherbird on the cover. Currently drawn by Dan Martin, the Weatherbird has been on the cover of every PD edition since 1901, making it "the oldest continuously running daily cartoon in the country" according to the Weatherbird blog. Yes, the Weatherbird has his own blog!



Above: this fellow was in front of a line at the airport newsstand. He was assuring VERY LOUDLY whoever it was on the other end of his Bluetooth that he was a deadly efficient capitalist businessman -- all the while, the man was grindingly slow to find any valid currency on his person to complete a transaction of 75 cents. Ugh.

Above: on the bus -- this woman seated behind me kept up a color commentary for the 2 hour ride from Dover, NH to Logan Airport. Click to supersize, natch.

SPX 2008: In the Airport

Here's a couple of sketches of fellow airline patrons while waiting for the plane to BWI on Friday. Click, as always, to supersize.



This was drawn freehand with a Pigma Micron 01 on a "Handbook" sketchbook manufactured by Global Art Materials, Kansas City, MO. Spot greys with a dimestore watercolor set.



More anon.