I was up till seven in the morning last night and it's four o'clock now (I've been under
some deadline pressure lately), so I'm gonna tuck into bed and assemble this week's entry tomorrow. I have the photos readied, they just need assembling.In the meantime, here are some tools I came across on a neat blog called "Cool Tools", and I thought some people might find them helpful:
This is a mechanical pencil that has a mechanism that rotates the lead a tiny bit with every stroke, preventing it from developing that chisel profile mechanical pencil leads ten to get as you draw. I personally strive for that chisel shape and can't draw with a lead that doesn't have it, (by using the blunt side I can keep my lines indistinct enough for inking and also not dig into my paper as much), but I know many people actually rotate their pencil by hand to prevent it, and according to the review this pencil is solidly built and long-lasting.
I don't use the kind of lead pencils that need sharpening, but if you do, I can concur with the review that this is the best lead pointer available. And here is their review of the sort of pencil you'd use with the lead pointer, if you've never heard of a lead holder pencil as opposed to a wood pencil.
Here's my favorite tool that I saw on the blog: a Japanese paper drill, which is a punch that rotates as you press, putting a neat hole through up to 15 pages of paper in one press, anywhere you want it. I bet you could do some fun things making minicomics with this thing. Off the top of my weary head, you could do a comic where someone had shot holes all the way through the book. Or you could bind the book with paracord, since the holes would be just large enough. Or you could do a comic about facial piercings, draw a face on the cover, and pierce it according to people's requests when they bought it. Or, you know, it doesn't need to be a face on the cover. You could get crazy. This thing just looks like an amazingly fun little toy.
Okay, so I'm gonna go to bed, and I'll post my tutorial tomorrow. Good night!