Finding a happy medium

[the_z]

That's art humor, by the way. Laugh cretins

Comments

[mad_and_crazy]

Hmm. How about watercolour paper? You can buy it in large bulk sheets (at least at my art supply store, Opus), then cut it down into appropriate sizes. That should be good for markering on.

[the_z]

I have some on hand, but watercolor paper has always struck me as too rough and porous. I'll give it a try. At this point, I'm exploring what options I can afford. It's certainly thick enough! Though it usually doesn't hold up well to harder erasers.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[nightambre]

I was going to suggest the watercolor paper myself. If you go through Dick Blick, they offer tablet like things of a hundred of Canson's watercolor paper for a fairly good price. I think the weight is about 90lbs. I've played around with it, and I like the results. I've seen a lot of people who say if you can't get your hands on marker paper, that watercolor is probably a good bet to go with.

[animarelic]

I find watercolor paper is next to impossible to sketch on, esp. The 'really good' stuff - it's so rough that a really sharp pencil tip or a mechanical pencil doesn't make enough contact with the paper when you're sketching. Unless you move the pencil really slow.

I sketch pretty quickly, and rapidly came to hate watercolor paper, because of all the texture.

On the other hand, it's absolutely marvelous for keeping watercolors in one place and I never tried markers on it.

[rayechu]

I think you are worrying too much about it. If I bought a picture at a convention, the first thing I would do would be to take it to my room and pack it carefully away. As a customer I would be satisfied with a plastic report cover, so I wouldn’t smudge anything. I am not saying you shouldn’t think about your customers needs, but I also don’t think you should use a paper you like less just because a customer might not be careful with it. If you can find a happy medium, great. But I would rather see an artist use what they like, then cater to customers who probably won’t even appreciate it.
That being said I hope you DO find a happy medium.

[the_z]

Thank you for that!

Yeah, I think I'm just looking out for the customer more than anything in this case. Right now, bristol is a good compramise and I like working with it. It just has its drawbacks.

It would break my heart to hear that someone's picture got damaged because they couldn't store it properly or they accidentally bumped into someone (the paper really is that fragile).

I might look into report covers, but if I remember correctly, they're even more expensive than polybags and boards together. I could offer them at a price I suppose :/a

Thanks again!

[tim_almasy]

I will not laugh at your horrible art humor. I will however compliment you once again on your artistic awesomeness.

[the_z]

LAWL or else!

But thanks for the compliment :D

[tammylee]

I like Paris Bleedproof. ^_^
But I mostly work b/w with real media and do my colours on the computer. I have used markers on it before but the colour tends to bleed through to the page beneath, so I would tear the paper off and use the back of the pad (the cardboard part) as a blotty board.

[the_z]

That looks very promising and it's a good price too. Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think they carry it at my local supplier, so I'll probably have to order through DB.

[tammylee]

What I especially like about it is the paper doesn't yellow. (At least, when I go through my bins of finished art the paper seems to stay nice and white?) I haven't had any sitting out in the sun to compare.

It's very smooth and is orgasmic when I use nibs for inking (nothing kills nib inking faster than having 'tooth' on your paper grrrr), you can also erase pencil very nicely. I used to use it quite a bit for comics until I got lazy and started buying the sheets with rulers printed on. Now I just use it for illustrations.

Glad to have helped! I hope it works for you. ^^

[sw_inku]

I second paris bleedproof, I'm fairly certain you've seen my maker stuffs, well all of that is done on that paper. It allows for fairly heavy marker work , its pretty archival certainly more so then bristol which I've found to start fading with in 2 years. I love the stuff and swear by it, good for inks and easy to get pencil off of it. Mmmmm sexy. Its a decent weight too. :D

[the_z]

Awesome! Yeah, that seals it. I'll have to get some of this stuff. I've noticed the fading problem with bristol too. It makes my squid sad :(

[sw_inku]

Paris feels like laser copy paper. That makes me happy.
I always disliked the Bristol texture; it holds the pencil to well. I've colored stuff for other people on it who were heavy pencilers and nearly screamed from trying to get it cleaned up.

I should note "Paris" comes no smaller then 9x12. I found white mailing envelopes are handy for giving clients originals in.