notasdecine

2011-11-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

Stanley Arthurs

1877 ~ 1950

2 Series of Illustrations from Scribner's Magazine

November/1908

March/1912

2011-11-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

Anton Otto Fischer

1882 ~ 1962

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

by Jules Verne

Published by John C. Winston ~ 1932

2011-11-15T18:14:00.000-08:00

William J. Aylward

1875 ~ 1956

Scribner's Magazine ~ August/1912

2011-11-14T18:03:00.000-08:00

Rudyard Kipling

In The Matter of One Compass ~ 1892

Illustrated by Bruce Horsfall ~ 1899

2011-11-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

Henry McCarter

1866 ~ 1942

Century Magazine ~ August/1898

2011-11-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Home made inkwell

Comic Tools reader Amalgamated Biscuit just showed me this terrific inkwell he made:

From his post:

"When my ink runs low I have to fish around at an angle to get enough ink on my nib and I usually end up covering my pen and hands. So I created this inkwell which is just deep and wide enough for my biggest nibs."

Too cool, right? Though I feel it's seriously lacking in a pair of googly eyes. The bottom in-action photo is slightly obscene, which I also feel googly eyes would help. Not help make it less obscene, mind you, just more hilarious.

Thanks to Amalgamated Biscuit for sharing!

2011-11-13T06:11:00.000-08:00

Best nib holder I've seen:

T achikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder - Model 36 - White Grip

No surprise it's from Japan, where drawing with ink tools is still so large an industry that nibs and other inking tools are still made with quality. I have several friends who've switched to this and they just love it. One really cool thing is it accepts crowquil/mapping nibs, which have round, circular bodies like this:
as well as regular nibs, which are concave troughs of metal like this:
Most nib holders can only accept one or the other, and the holders for mapping nibs tend to be thin, exacerbating strain during fine work when using a tool used almost exclusively for fine work. The Tachikawa's thick body reduces wrist strain, and the rubber grip makes it easy to hold. Nibs sit securely in it, but the plastic isn't as rigid as on a Speedball holder, so you don't have to jam nibs in or strain to pry them out again.

Jetpens.com also has a fantastic selection of Japanese cartooning nibs, the best money can buy, unless you go antique hunting. (Fun fact about the two brands of Manga "G" nib: they're literally made across the street from one another. Both factories buy the same steel, mill it on the same machines, and put different brand stamps on them. They're otherwise identical, sort of like Olfa and NT blades, also made in Japan in neighboring factories using practically identical methods. NT's cutters are way better, though.) They also stock the sometimes hard to find Pentel Pocket brush refills at a not-bad-not-amazing price, and sell the brushpen itself at a pretty amazing price.

The Tachikawa is well worth the six bucks, being comfortable and well made, and would be the only nib holder you ever had to buy in your life.

2011-11-13T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, Comic Tools is now on Facebook and Twitter!

Both featuring my new, more dressed icon photo:

My old icon photo, which was actually my first photo of the face rig I use:

2011-11-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

This week's title is a video:

Start at 6:32

Wow, I still have 237 followers? Why? Did you all forget to unsubscribe? Well, either your loyalty or your laziness are to be rewarded, because I'm starting again.

It's funny, you know what the impetus was, the thing that finally broke the intertia? I'm working at an art store now, and some old man came in having had trouble with his nibs, which he is new to using. I was explaining to him what he was doing wrong and how to fix it, and then driving home that night it hit me: I can't really deal with giving advice to strangers who walk in the door, and not my Comic Tools readers, who have truly done for me in the past. And besides, my broken life is finally back together enough that I feel like I can bust out a column about something regularly.

So, Hi! Surprise! And let me start my being back with the advice I have this old man: keep your nib clean while you work, always move it towards the concave belly, and always clean it when you're finished.

And Happy Birthday, Rivkah!

2011-11-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

Deep Water Days

Published by Macrae Smith Co ~ 1929

Art by Hargens, Schoonover, Rogers, Wyeth, Arthurs & de V Lee

2011-11-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

Hannes Bok

The Engels Bok Portfolio ~ 1946

2011-11-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

Virgil Finlay

Famous Fantastic Mysteries Portfolio ~ 1942

2011-11-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

J Allen St John

1872 ~ 1957

Chicago Sunday Tribune Supplement ~ Feb 13, 1949

Favorite Mystery Stories

Published by Grolier ~ 1953

2011-11-08T18:07:00.000-08:00

Frank Frazetta

1928 ~ 2010

misc artworks

2 unpublished tryout pages for Space Rangers at Fiction House

3 pages in collaboration with Sid Check

2011-11-07T18:12:00.000-08:00

Olivia De Berardinis

Bettie Page

2011-11-06T18:14:00.000-08:00

Jack Kamen

1920 ~ 2008

misc EC stories

Haunt of Fear #9 ~ Sept-Oct/1951

Weird Science #11 ~ Jan-Feb/1952

Shock Suspense #7 ~ Feb-Mar/1953

Weird Fantasy #18 ~ Mar-Apr/1953

2011-11-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

N. C. Wyeth

The Courtship of Miles Standish by H. W. Longfellow

Published by Houghton Mifflin ~ 1920

2011-11-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

Edmund Dulac

The Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Published by Hodder & Stoughton ~ 1912

2011-11-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

Edmund Dulac

The Kingdom of the Pearl by Leonard Rosentahl

Published by Brentano's ~ 1920

2011-11-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

Edmund Dulac

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Published by Hodder & Stoughton ~ 1909

2011-11-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

Edmund Dulac

1882 ~ 1953

Shakespear's The Tempest

Published by Hodder & Stoughton ~ 1908

2011-11-01T09:56:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead

2011-10-31T17:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Zacherley, The Cool Ghoul!

2011-10-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Bizarre ~ March/1962

2011-10-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

Aurora Monster Models ~ 1961-66

Cover art by James Bama

Our original kits still with us after all these years!

2011-10-28T18:03:00.000-07:00

Virgil Finlay

1914 ~ 1971

H. P. Lovecraft Portfolio ~ 1977

2011-10-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

Kelly Freas

Mad #59 ~ December/1960

2011-10-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

Harry O. Morris

Halloween in Arkham Portfolio ~ 1979

2011-10-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

Barry Moser

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Published by University of California Press ~ 1984

notasdecine

2011-10-26T09:13:00.001-07:00

welcome, hello fellow friends from around the world.

2011-10-25T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Bride Of Frankenstein

Universal ~ 1935 ~ Directed by James Whale

2011-10-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Vincent Price

1911 ~ 1993

Retrospective & Appearance at Yale University

March 26-31, 1984

2011-10-23T18:03:00.000-07:00

Lynd Ward

1905 ~ 1985

The Haunted Omnibus edited by Alexander Laing

Published by Farrar, Rinehart Inc ~ 1935

2011-10-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Arthur Rackham

1867 ~ 1939

Tales of Mystery & Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe

First published in 1935

2011-10-22T09:01:00.000-07:00

Landmarks of Poe in Richmond Virginia

Century Magazine ~ April/1904

Art by Harry Fenn

2011-10-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

Harry Clarke

1889 ~ 1931

Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe

Tudor Publishing Co ~ 1933 Edition

2011-10-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

Warren Apaptations of Poe Stories

Reed Crandall ~ Creepy #3 June/1965

Reed Crandall ~ Creepy #6 December/1965

Jerry Grandenetti ~ Eerie #11 September/1967

Tom Sutton ~ Eerie #12 November/1967

Tom Sutton ~ Creepy #20 May/1968

Berni Wrightson ~ Creepy #62 May/1974

2011-10-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Edgar Allan Poe on Film

2011-10-18T21:20:00.000-07:00

Will Elder

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

MAD #9 ~ Feb-March/1954

2011-10-18T18:14:00.000-07:00

Richard Corben

The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Creepy #67 ~ December/1974

2011-10-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Virgil Finlay

Illustrating Poe

2011-10-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

THE RAVEN by Edgar Allan Poe

Illustrated by Gustave Dore'

Published by Harper & Brothers ~ 1884

(The Last book illustrated by Dore')

2011-10-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Edgar Allan Poe

1809 ~ 1849

2011-10-15T18:12:00.000-07:00

Howard Pyle

1853 ~ 1911

The Broomstick Train or The Return of the Witches

by Oliver Wendell Holmes

Color Edition published by Houghton Mifflin ~ 1905

2011-10-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

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