Wednesday, December 27, 2017


Have you ever wanted to walk around Deckard's apartment in Blade Runner? Now you can. This VR version, of the inside of Deckard's apartment from the first Blade Runner was created by the talented artist Quentin Lengele

Here is the link to experience it for yourself. http://www.br9732.com


Below are a few screen shots.


I have to admit, this looks pretty amazing. Great work!


The detail is incredible.


It even features the music of Vangelis.



Monday, December 25, 2017


Wishing you all the best in Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure comic books this holiday season.




Saturday, December 23, 2017


By turning computer circuits into unsolvable puzzles, a University of Michigan team aims to create an unhackable computer with a new $3.6 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

Todd Austin, U-M professor of computer science and engineering, leads the project, called MORPHEUS. Its cybersecurity approach is dramatically different from today's, which relies on software—specifically software patches to vulnerabilities that have already been identified. It's been called the "patch and pray" model, and it's not ideal.

This spring, DARPA announced a $50 million program in search of cybersecurity solutions that would be baked into hardware.


"Instead of relying on software Band-Aids to hardware-based security issues, we are aiming to remove those hardware vulnerabilities in ways that will disarm a large proportion of today's software attacks," said Linton Salmon, manager of DARPA's System Security Integrated Through Hardware and Firmware program.

The U-M grant is one of nine that DARPA has recently funded through SSITH.

MORPHEUS outlines a new way to design hardware so that information is rapidly and randomly moved and destroyed. The technology works to elude attackers from the critical information they need to construct a successful attack. It could protect both hardware and software.

"We are making the computer an unsolvable puzzle," Austin said. "It's like if you're solving a Rubik's Cube and every time you blink, I rearrange it."

Yeah, Okay... We'll see about that. It seems like every time some team comes up with an unhackable computer, guess what happens.



Friday, December 22, 2017


The upcoming Godzilla: Monster Planet anime movie coming to Netflix features the largest King of the Monsters ever. At almost 1000 feet tall, it crushes the others!

Artist Noger Chen posted the picture below, comparing the height of Godzilla in all of the previous Godzilla films.

The original 1954 Godzilla has a height of just 50 meters (164 feet), while the 2014 Godzilla came in at 108 meters (354 feet), and the most recent to appear in Shin Godzilla comes in at 118.5 meters (389 feet).




Godzilla Planet of the Monsters.

The Godzilla anime trilogy is now on its second film, and thanks to the series' official website, we just learned that there's a new name for the "super gigantic" version of Godzilla that we met in the first film, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters. The official name is "Godzilla Earth," and we'll see Godzilla's take on Mechagodzilla in the second installment, Godzilla: The City Mechanized for the Final Battle ("Godzilla: Kessen Kidō Zōshoku Toshi").



Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters opened in Japan last month and the film is slated to start streaming on Netflix January 17, 2018. I can't wait, this looks really cool. I am a huge anime fan anyway, but with Godzilla... Get out! If you can't wait for the release, check out this anime Blame on Netflix. It's dark and trippy, but awesome.



Here's the official story summary: 

The planet is beset by the emergence of colossal creatures that roam the earth, and king among them is “Godzilla”. For a half a century, these beasts engage in ferocious battle with each other and mankind. But humans, unable to compete, prepare for exile from their home planet. In the year 2048, a select few humans are chosen by the central government's artificial intelligence infrastructure to set out on an interstellar emigration vessel, the Aratrum, on an 11.9-lightyear journey for the planet Tau-e in the Cetus constellation. But when they arrive after 20 years of space travel, the remnants of mankind find the environmental conditions on Tau-e to be much different than expected, and basically uninhabitable by humans.


One youth on board the emigration vessel, Haruo, had seen his parents killed by Godzilla before his eyes when he was only 4 years old. Ever since, he has thought of nothing but returning to Earth to defeat Godzilla. With the doors to emigration now closed, Haruo and other crew spearhead a “return to Earth” decision despite severely attenuated and hazardous conditions on board for such a long trip back.



Somehow, the Aratrum makes the return journey in one piece, but the home they return to has become an alien planet. 20,000 years have elapsed, and a new ecosystem has emerged with Godzilla atop the food chain. Can mankind take back its native planet? Will Haruo get his revenge?


Godzilla: The City Mechanized for the Final Battle will open in Japan in May, 2018. 

Update! Netflix will start streaming on January 17, 2018. Woo Hoo!


Thursday, December 21, 2017


Check out the new trailer below!



STARGATE ORIGINS explores the journey of young Catherine Langford embarking on an unexpected adventure to unlock the mystery of what lies beyond the Stargate in order to save the Earth from darkness.


Stargate Origins is a digital streaming prequel apparently 10 episodes at 10 minutes each, which debut's February 15th 2018. I'm hoping for the best, because I am a Stargate fan, but the teaser below leaves me a little bit like... The Librarians with a slice of cheddar. Check it out for yourself.





Wednesday, December 20, 2017


I created an animated comic book cover for my first issue some time ago, and just ran across it again. I thought it was time for a little re-post while I stay focused on drawing my next issues of Prisoner of the Mind.


Prisoner of the Mind Issue Number 1 Allan Linder. A few years ago, mine made it on to Buzzfeed.

I have to admit that I love animated comic book covers. So, I decided to give it a shot. Here is my first issue of Prisoner of the Mind animated cover. Below that, you'll find a myriad of inspiration from other artists. You'll probably have to wait a few minutes for these Gifs to load, but it's worth it.


Batman Number 15, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.









Amazing Adventures Number 4, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Amazing Spider man Number 33, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Batman The Dark Knight Returns Number 15, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Daredevil Number 7, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Fantastic Four Number 51, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Ironman Number 128, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Justice League of America Number 6, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Jack Kirby Machine, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Lois Lane Number 29, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


Nick Fury Agent of Shield Number 4, Animated cover by talented artist Kerry Callen.


The Incredible Hulk Number 315 by Jim Groom.


I just love Geof Darrows work, it is insanely detailed, completely politically incorrect, and sometimes awesomely raw. I am not the only fan of Geof Darrow, this one is from Michael Branson Smith. It's an animated cover of Hard Boiled, and I just had to share it.


Animation by Kerry Callen, art by Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn


Animation by Brad Backofen, art by Chris Samnee

If I missed anything cool send me an email and I will ad it.




Monday, December 18, 2017


Mortal Engines By Philip Reeve Predator Cities 7 Books Collection Box Set. Mortal Engines is the first book in the series that focuses on a futuristic, steampunk version of London, now a giant machine striving to survive on a world running out of resources. The book has won several awards. (Teaser at the bottom of the page)



The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world, ravaged by a "Sixty Minute War", which caused massive geological upheaval. To escape the earthquakes, volcanoes, and other instabilities, a Nomad leader called Nikola Quercus installed huge engines and wheels on London, and enabled it to dismantle (or eat) other cities for resources. 


David Wyatt and Philip Reeve have also been collaborating on a graphic novel version of the story.

The technology rapidly spread, and evolved into what is known as "Municipal Darwinism". Although the planet has since become stable, Municipal Darwinism has spread to most of the world except for Asia and parts of Africa. Much technological and scientific knowledge was lost during the war. 


This is more of David Wyatt illustrations for the Philip Reeve's story.

Because scientific progress has almost completely halted, "Old Tech" is highly prized and recovered by scavengers and archaeologists. Europe, some of Asia, North Africa, Antarctica, and the Arctic are dominated by Traction Cities, whereas North America was so ravaged by the war that it is often identified as "the dead continent", and the rest of the world is the stronghold of the Anti-Traction League, which seeks to keep cities from moving and thus stop the intense consumption of the planet's remaining resources.

Peter Jackson presents an epic new saga. 




Thousands of years after civilization was destroyed by a cataclysmic event, humankind has adapted and a new way of living has evolved. Gigantic moving cities now roam the Earth, ruthlessly preying upon smaller traction towns. Tom Natsworthy (Robert Sheehan)—who hails from a Lower Tier of the great traction city of London—finds himself fighting for his own survival after he encounters the dangerous fugitive Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar). Two opposites, whose paths should never have crossed, forge an unlikely alliance that is destined to change the course of the future. Mortal Engines is the startling, new epic adventure directed by Oscar®-winning visual-effects artist Christian Rivers (King Kong). Joining Rivers are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies three-time Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who have penned the screenplay. The Universal and MRC adaptation is from the award-winning book series by Philip Reeve, published in 2001 by Scholastic. On board as producers are Zane Weiner (The Hobbit trilogy), Amanda Walker (The Hobbit trilogy) and Deborah Forte (Goosebumps), as well as Walsh and Jackson. Ken Kamins (The Hobbit trilogy) joins Boyens as executive producer. Universal will distribute the film worldwide. www.mortalengines.com


Wednesday, December 13, 2017


This is the first live action film version of Alita: Battle Angel based on the original Comic book (Manga Series) created by Yukito Kishiro in 1990's seen below.


The Manga was later developed into an Anime series (below) released in 1993.


It is still a pretty awesome story for more than 20 years old. Now with current technology, anime and manga come to life.


Visionary filmmakers James Cameron (AVATAR) and Robert Rodriguez (SIN CITY) create a groundbreaking new heroine in ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL, an action-packed story of hope, love and empowerment. Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita (Rosa Salazar) is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido (Christoph Waltz), a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. 

Everything is new to Alita, every experience a first. As she learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield Alita from her mysterious past while her street-smart new friend, Hugo (Keean Johnson), offers instead to help trigger her memories. A growing affection develops between the two until deadly forces come after Alita and threaten her newfound relationships. It is then that Alita discovers she has extraordinary fighting abilities that could be used to save the friends and family she’s grown to love. 

Determined to uncover the truth behind her origin, Alita sets out on a journey that will lead her to take on the injustices of this dark, corrupt world, and discover that one young woman can change the world in which she lives.

DIRECTED BY

Robert Rodriguez

SCREENPLAY BY

James Cameron and Laeta Kalogridis and Robert Rodriguez

BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL (“MANGA”) SERIES:

“Gunnm” By Yukito Kishiro

PRODUCED BY

James Cameron and Jon Landau

CAST

Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson

Following the arrival of the first trailer above, 20th Century Fox has now released a new featurette for Alita: Battle Angel which sees Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron take us behind the scenes of the upcoming manga adaptation and includes interviews with the director and producer; watch the featurette below.





Tuesday, December 12, 2017


Ready Player One is Steven Spielberg's 54th Movie that he's directed, and it looks amazing. There are a ton of familiar faces in just this one trailer, I can't even imagine what is to come.


Here is just a partial list of all of the comic book, video game and anime characters spotted this far:

The Iron Giant, Gundam, Chucky, Deathstroke, Joker and Harlequin, Ryu, Battletoads, Tracer from Overwatch, Lara Croft, and more ...

From filmmaker Steven Spielberg comes the science fiction action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, which has become a worldwide phenomenon. 


The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger. 

Spielberg directed the film from a screenplay by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. The film was produced by Donald De Line, Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Dan Farah; with Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Chris deFaria and Bruce Berman serving as executive producers.

Come back for more...


Monday, December 4, 2017


Altered Carbon is a 2002 hardboiled cyberpunk science fiction novel by Richard K. Morgan. Set some five hundred years in the future in a universe in which the United Nations Protectorate oversees a number of extrasolar planets settled by human beings, it features Takeshi Kovacs as a former U.N. elite soldier and a native of Harlan's World, a planet settled by a Japanese keiretsu with Eastern European labour.

A ten-episode TV adaptation by Netflix was announced in 2016. It will premiere on Netflix on February 2, 2018. It definitely looks like it has the right ingredients for some really cool sci-fi. I guess we'll have to wait and see.







Writer and Top Cow President/COO Matt Hawkins (THINK TANK, SYMMETRY) teams up with writer Bryan Hill (POSTAL, ROMULUS) and artist Yuki Saeki (GameSpace, Crash) for the realistic science fiction graphic novel GOLGOTHA. Free Preview at the bottom.


In the near future, a group of scientists and military operatives are sent on an interplanetary mission to develop Earth's first off-world colony. While the crew of the Golgotha hibernates for travel, technology on Earth continues to advance—so much so that when they land on the planet, the crew finds it already inhabited...by another team from Earth that arrived years before they have.


Now the crew of the Golgotha find themselves relics of their own time, unwanted by the colony that's been expecting them for a generation. And this new planet holds its own secrets—secrets that could change the nature of humankind itself. “GOLGOTHA combines my obsession with religion and science fiction, and was a fun project to do,” said Hawkins. “Bryan Hill and I always looked at this as a kind of Apocalypse Now meets 2001 mash-up.” “GOLGOTHA is the most hardcore science fiction story I've worked on,” said Saeki. “It's packed with action and mystery. I had fun drawing it.” A 20-page preview of GOLGOTHA is available HERE.



Sunday, December 3, 2017


The video below was taken from Chris Robert's key note. Which teases some game play for the new roll out of Star Citizen 3.0. Check out the 13 minute mark of the video. So apparently every aspect of this new game can be explored. Wow! 







Thursday, November 30, 2017

If you missed Part 3, check it out here.


Step 4: Drawing supplies and tools I use to make a comic book and graphic novel:

As an artist you probably already use a range of pencils, pens, rulers, erasers etc… over the past 30 years, I have amassed a large collection of just about every kind of drawing implement you can think of. I will share with you my favorites, and the ones I think you should use to get started on your graphic novel. If you already use something different, fear not, draw with what you are comfortable and familiar with.


I try to approach using and buying pencils, pens and other tools with three simple rules. Easy to get, price is right, easy to use.

The whole point of using the right tool for the right job is that the tool will help you get the job done with minimal problems. The tool should almost be invisible; it is an extension of your talent and skill. If you have to think about how to use it or change your style completely to use it, maybe you need to put it down. Once you get into drawing your graphic novel, your choice of drawing tools should be seamless and everything should flow without hesitation. Because, you have a long road ahead and the last thing you want to do is change drawing tools midway through your project. Figure it out now and you will be much happier later.

I am by no means a Pen or Pencil expert; I leave that to Brad: http://penaddict.com/ and Fisk: http://www.penciltalk.org/


However, what I can tell you is that I have used many different pens and pencils boiling them all down to what you see here. Traditionally, “Back in the day” comic book artists used a range of quill pens that they dipped into vats of ink and various other methods that leave room for a lot of mistakes. I too started out with this method, but over the years, I've experimented with new materials, and pen technology has reached a truly amazing, sophisticated level. I don’t think it's necessary to dip a pen into ink wells and worry about ink blotches, dripping, drying and myriad other problems from these older methods. If you are a truly traditional artist and have your heart set on it, then go for it, but the older methods have a pretty hefty learning curve if you are just starting out.

I approach my drawing for graphic novels in several steps and I use different tools for each step. 

Tool Chart: Here is a list of all of the tools I use for my graphic novels and how I use each one with an example, and where to buy them.

 1)  Character design: I use whatever I want/have at the moment of inspiration. The character design process is for me and me alone. I am not making presentation boards for Marvel or DC Comics; these are my rough ideas. They are for me to get a look and feel of the character, think about costumes, etc… At this stage, I often use whatever I have available. Typically, I use a mechanical pencil with a .007 lead because I sketch on the train there is no time for me to sharpen pencils. Sometimes I use a sharpie for heavy lines, and sometimes I use my Ticonderoga Erasable blue 420T. (I’ll talk more about these below in the examples.)




     The black one here is my mechanical pencil, which is cheap and easy to use. The .7mm replacement leads and erasers refills are a cinch. This pencil is the Pentel Twist-Erase III Automatic Pencil, 0.7 mm, Black. The blue pencils are the best, I use these like I breathe. I take one with me everywhere. They're easy to erase unlike some of the other so called erasable pencils, and the price is right at $7 and change for a dozen pencils that's pretty good, because you will use a lot of them. Dixon Ticonderoga Erasable Blue Pencils.




      In Fig. 1, The astronaut was drawn with a Pentel .7mm lead above. Fig. 2, Is the cover image of the first issue of Prisoner of the Mind drawn with the Dixon Ticonderoga Erasable Blue.

2)   Thumbnail sketches: of each panel before storyboarding: (same as above) I usually use a mechanical pencil with .007 lead. The lighter .005 lead breaks to easily for me, because I am a heavy-handed artist pressing down snaps these lighter leads quickly. If I had my choice, I would probably use trustee #2 yellow pencils but as I said before, I don’t have time to deal with sharpening them.


3)   Rough Storyboarding/Panel Layout: Only Dixon Ticonderoga Erasable Blue Pencils (same as above). This pencil meets all of my needs as far as my three simple rules. Easy to get, price is right, easy to use.




4)   Final storyboard: (Same as above) Only Dixon Ticonderoga Erasable Blue Pencils. Using a blue pencil like this makes the clean-up very easy, it is also very easy to go over with ink when I get to the final step below. A lot of professional comic book artists use a regular series of drawing pencils for this stage. 2mm to 4mm leads in HB to 6B range or even good ol number 2. However, sometimes it makes clean-up and inking more difficult which is why I prefer blue pencil to standard graphite.



5)   Final Ink/Clean Up: For outlining over your blue pencil drawings you need a pen that acts like a pencil. It feels hard when you press down, you can feather it easily and it doesn't bleed too much because you don’t want to redraw the whole damn thing. When doing final ink I use a series of pens to get my results. You can check these out below.

Here is the blue pencil cleaned up of this cover image.

 
Here is the inked version.

And this is the full color digital paint after it's been scanned.

The Sharpie Pen, Fine Point: The perfect pen? Well, sort of.

Let me start with this, I personally love Sharpie pens, I grew up with them, and I'm sure you have seen a sharpie at some point in your life. The black ink is very consistent and looks great even after ten years. I can attest to this because my graphic novel has taken at least 16 years to make and even my early work hasn't faded. The tips are strong and they last quite long. They are a solid American brand, but they have some problems. Sharpie started out with a wonderful waterproof marker that was primarily used for industrial purposes, you could write on fabric, boxes and many other materials that other markers couldn't compete with. They were the only game in town when it came to that. However, Sharpie didn't know what they wanted to be when they grew up. They've been trying to be an art marker and an industrial marker manufacturer too. But, one of the biggest problems is that Sharpie’s tip sizing is screwy. They need to do away with the whole thing and start over even with a simple 1, 2, 3, etc… to really get the attention of professional artists that don’t already use their products. Here is the example below:


Japanese pens are huge in the Comic book industry, because they understand correct tip sizing for the professional artist. You don’t have to guess, I think if sharpie wants to be a contender in this field, they need to make some changes.

There is one other problem too. The Sharpie pen below is my beloved personal favorite for outlining all of my comics and illustrations. The pen is well balanced, it feels nice in your hand, the ink lasts a long time, the tip is firm and it almost writes like a pencil, and doesn’t bleed too much. You can find them at any office supply store anywhere. I’ve tried the Copics and many others, but this Sharpie Pen meets all of my criteria. Easy to get, price is right, easy to use.





When this pen first came out it had the first tip above on the left. Over the past few years, Sharpie quietly changed the tip from the one on the left to the one on the right, there is nothing on their blog about either. Shame on you Sharpie! It's not the same pen. The newest version of this pen bleeds a little more than the original. I had to change the way I use it to outline my drawings. 

Sharpie Pen Fine Point Pen , 4 Black Pens (1742661). It's still a really great outline pen and the price is right, for 4 Sharpie fine point pens are about 5 to 6 bucks which makes each pen around $1.50 or so. Not bad, what can I say; it's a damn near perfect pen.


If you want an alternative to this pen I suggest you try the Stabilo Point 88 Fine Black. It meets all of the criteria at around $1 each, you can't beat it. It feels a little thin in my hand, It's long like a pencil and bleeds a little, but the ink quality looks good, and overall it's a very good pen for outlining your comics. That's German engineering for you!







This is my process of outlining one of my pencil drawings for a page in my graphic novel Prisoner of the Mind. All three images show the progress through to the finished drawing.

6)  Heavy Black Coverage: Once you outline, you'll need a pen that you can cover large areas in black  that looks consistent for heavy shadows etc… It comes back to Sharpie for me, for this I use my 1, 2, 3, punch above on my Sharpie chart. The blue tape in the first image is my own method of keeping track of the newest pen with the best tip. If you've ever used these pens after a little while they start to dry and, or get a little mushy. They are still very usable, but if you want that crisp edge than you need a new one, hence the blue tape.


7)   Varied Line Wwidth: You’ll occasionally need a brush pen for feathering lines from heavy to thin and back again. This is an amazing pen. I truly love this pen. It feels great in your hand, the brush stays firm without spreading out and you have a large and small tip at your disposal for whatever you need. The one thing about this pen is that it takes a little getting used to because of the tapered tip. You truly can cover large areas or with a twist of your wrist, or whip it into a fine hairline. It is a little mushy compared to the hard tipped outlining pens above, but with a little practice you'll love it. This is the Uni-ball Double Sided Pocket Brush Pen - Fine& Medium PFK 205. At $3.30 each, it's a steal.




8)   Superfine detail: You will also need a super fine needlepoint type pen to get into some serious detail work. I use these for hair, fine shadowing and minute mechanical details as well. You will definitely like the level of detail you can get with this pen, it has solid ink flow, without many start and stop problems, but the barrel feels a little cheap in your hand, overall you'll love it. 



The Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gel Ball Point Pen, 0.3mm Extra Fine, Black. is one of the most amazing needlepoint pens you will find anywhere. This pen is around $1 each if you buy them in a 6 pack. This is a Japanese import, so the prices might vary. 


I know it seems a little pricey, but there is a great alternative. The Pilot G-Tec-C Gel Rolling Ball Pens, Ultra Fine Point, 3-Pack, Black Ink (35483)This is the exact same pen as the Hi -Tec-C, it's just made for the U.S. Market.


9)   Correction/White Ink: You’ll need white out or some method of covering over your black ink. It’s not just for mistakes, although mistakes are a great learning tool. You must think about your drawing as a building up process. You can’t create a masterpiece in one step, it takes a steady build from the outline to final touch ups. So, for this and some special effects I use a range of white ink products. Here are several, the first one is Pentel Presto! Flat Barrel Correction Pen, which is great for large coverage areas, or overdrawn lines. It’s unfortunate that Bic White-Out brand doesn't do the job for comics and graphic novels because White-Out was the only brand I really grew up with. Anyway, the next two are finer tipped white ink which is good for a range of different uses. Experiment with them on black and you’ll see.










Above is the original drawing of lighting which I added white ink to, feathering out the lighting giving it more of a stylized look. I purposefully didn't adjust the contrast so you can see where I drew in the white to cover up lines and where I added to the black ink. The image on the right is the finished page.

10)  Erasers: I use several different erasers for several different things. Just about every drawing implement that you have will rarely do everything that you need. Most drawing tools are highly specialized to do one thing really well. Therefore, you’ll need several different things to get the entire job done.

     I use a vintage Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph Electric Eraser Model #2850C, it’s big, bulky, powerful and erases everything, it's like freaking paper drill. I personally love it, especially for my blue pencil touch ups. But here is a newer electric eraser model Koh-I-Noor Battery Operated Eraser, Lightweight, Latex-free, 1 Each, Silver (EB-1200) that is less expensive and less bulky, but I have had this one for many years and it works great.

I also use the Staedtler Mars Plastic Erasers,Pack of 4 (52650BK4), also made in Germany. I use a lot of these, and they are great. They are pure white, non-streaking or crumbling, and they will erase almost any line.


I use a Large Kneaded Eraser 2 Pack, which is almost like pliable putty. You can stretch it into almost any shape for hard to reach areas and it has ultra soft erasing for delicate fixes.



The illustration above has no eraser cleanup yet, and you can still see the blue pencil lines. The page layout on the right is cleaned up and finished. You can really see the difference a good eraser makes.

11) Light Table: This is an essential part of your drawing studio. There are some very reasonably priced light boxes out there. Here is one example: The Artograph LightTracer Light Box 10 in. by 12 in



There will be many times you need to make alignments on a page, or copy one portion of your drawing to the next page. Traditional animators use a light box extensively. There is nothing wrong with tracing your own drawings, it's not cheating it's art.


12) Rulers: Through most of the drawing process you'll need some type of ruler for straight lines. I used a wooden ruler for years, a T-Square and then finally more sophisticated rulers. Typically, you need a straight edge. You might need one that is curved, and one that is flexible. Here are just a few that can be found in your local art supply store or online.




The flexible rulers come in very handy when you are on the go. I stick one in my drawing pad as a bookmark.

13) Templates: This is another essential for your studio. The whole process of making sequential art is very time consuming because of the numerous steps involved. If you can reduce some of those steps and cut a few corners that's what it's all about.  The great American comic book artist Wally Wood once wrote: "Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up." He was all about efficiency. Templates are used by architects and designers all around the world. They are extremely useful. Most of them can be purchased from your local art supply store.



14) Tape: Masking tape is very useful for a number of things. When I start the storyboarding process for my graphic novel, I use tape to place everything on the wall. For me it's all about the big picture. Sometimes when you are drawing page after page, you want to see it all together in order. This also allows me to move pages around to see if one scene works better somewhere else. The second use is inking, After I cut a page out of my sketchbook, I tape it to my drawing table securely so it doesn't move around. Blue and Green Masking Tape are not as permanent as the regular stuff. It's no fun ripping a page in half trying to remove it from your drawing table.





15) Paper: This is a big one for comic book artists; most comic artists will tell you that they use pre-made drawing boards such as Bristol or comic book drawing pads that are available on the market today. I’ve drawn with these boards and I have to tell you, there isn’t much I can’t do with my sketchbook that I can do with boards. Here’s the thing, drawing boards are big, not very portable, and hard to scan because of their size. Most computer scanners are only meant to go up to about 11 x 14, that is why I use Artist Series Sketch Book, 11"X14" Hard Bound sketchbooks to draw my comic books or graphic novel on. The paper quality is great, they’re portable so I can draw anywhere, and when I’m done I can easily scan it, to layout my book. Some artist would complain that ink bleeds through the paper. Not too much, I leave one blank sheet in between each drawing and move on, and the price is right too. The end result looks just as professional as anything from Marvel or DC. Whatever you use, be consistent. Don’t change paper midway through your story or you will see a noticeable difference.





I also use Vellum paper on a roll. Occasionally you’ll need to trace a part of your drawing to move it to another page or copy an element of it. Vellum is just tracing paper, but it’s less expensive in a roll form. I use it a lot when I am doing character design. Once you get your characters position and features down, then you have to plan their costumes, instead of redrawing the same thing repeatedly, tracing makes it a little easier.


16)  Pencil Sharpeners: If you own a pencil than you must keep it sharp. I use both electric and portable sharpeners.

 


Boring pencil sharpeners are no fun try to find something interesting, why be boring, you have to look at it all the time, sitting there on your desk. I just picked up this little lunar lander pencil sharpener for my desk.


17)  Xacto Knife: This is another must have, for cutting your comic pages out of your sketchbook when you're finished.



18) Computer: You have to have a computer to layout your story and pages. It doesn't matter if it's a Mac or a PC, you can use either one.

19) Flatbed Scanner: A flatbed scanner is another essential piece of your studio. After you have all of your beautiful artwork done, you must be able to scan it and lay it out page by page, add all of your lettering or digitally paint your comic book or graphic novel. I'll cover this whole process later on. Here is a simple hi-res scanner from Staples that will do the trick for a reasonable price. 

20) Editing Software: My first choice is Photoshop. It's what I was raised on, I have used Photoshop from V.2 all the way to present, and that is a long time. However, Photoshop is a very expensive program in its current versions. I am happy to say that Adobe has released a free legacy version of photoshop CS2  to download. http://www.techspot.com/downloads/3689-adobe-photoshop-cs2.html. If you can't afford the newest versions of photoshop, then try these other options. There are great reviews about them online and they are free too. http://gimpshop.com/ or http://www.photopos.com/ Everything I’ve read about them seems very similar to Photoshop.

21) Coffee: Well, coffee cans to be more specific. I use a ton of coffee cans to hold and organize all of my pens and pencils, brushes, etc... And yes, I drank the coffee that was in them. You may need that too once you start drawing your own graphic novel.