Kim Ku / Inverted Love

I’m nearing the end of Hearts & Holes, so in an attempt to remain spoiler-less…

I’m using these….

…to turn pages like this…

…into this…

Brought to you by:

2 brush pens (one for the trees, one for the outlines)
4 rapidograph pens, (2 for outlining the small images, 1 for making sand texture and one for the text)
1 pencil
1 eraser
1 White out pen
1 White out bottle
1 sadly dry brush for white out that I forgot to wash out

There are about 16 pages to go and I average 1 page a night… so hopefully this step in the process will be done in 2 weeks. I’m going to keep truckin’!

I’m always on the hunt for white out pens.

1. Deleter Whiteout 2 (Winner from the last test)
2. Deleter Whiteout 1
3. Copic Opaque White
4. Krink Paint Marker
5. Molotow Paint Marker

Last time I tried this test, Deleter Whiteout 2(#1) won the contest begrudgingly (that was the the control). Dissatisfied, I found a few more promising prospects and I’m back for Round 2. Once again, the goal is to promote laziness so the whites that require the least amount of layers and the least amount of tools will win.

I’ll be testing on this:

I used a Pentel Brush Pen to write this.

Here goes:

Results after 1 layer

3. Copic Whiteout
A commenter was nice enough to drop the hint on Copic Whiteout on my last test. I bought it and I have to say, it’s quite nice. It comes in kind of a solid-thick-paste, so I had to use some water to loosen the paint up to actually start to soak it into my brush. This is the only downside– figuring out the proportion of water to ink — but other than that, I’d say this is also a solid choice.

4. Krink White Paint Marker
I keep dropping money on paint pens and so few of them have worked for me. This one is no exception. This is a felt tip acrylic pen that works on glass, metal and some paper. Unfortunately, on vellum, it comes out too thin, oily and generally not pleasing. I knew from the first layer that it wasn’t going to work out between us so I didn’t try for a second.

5. Molotow White Paint Marker
I was ready to be disappointed with this pen but using after the first layer, it filled me with a lot of hope. The first layer, as you can see above, isn’t great– it doesn’t fare better than the worst performing non-pen. Wait a few seconds though, apply a second layer, and prepare to be amazed.

I'M SO AMAZED.

Conclusion: I’m tempted to say that at least for now, my white out search is on hiatus. I’ve found solutions for my inking woes in both bottled form and pen form. Here are my picks in my humble opinion:

Best Pen: Molotow White Paint Marker
It may take 2 layers to get it working but the paint dries fairly fast and the results are surprisingly good. This will be my go-to for smaller mistakes like spelling or stray lines. Not recommended for larger areas that need white out– it feels like a waste of time to use this white out in this way.

Best Bottled Whiteout: Deleter Whiteout 2
It’s thicker in consistency than the Deleter Whiteout 1 but doesn’t need water to dilute it like the Copic White. It’s the perfect combination of coverage, efficiency and laziness. This will definitely be what I’ll use for those large mistakes like spilled ink or poorly inked things. 

Thursday: Rainy and miserable. I could only pull 4 panels that day.

 
Friday: Still miserable but I pulled out 8 panels.

And here’s the fun thing I was doing. ANIMATED GIFFFFFFFF.

I realize blogging is the worst way to update this comic so I’ll have a summary slideshow post with a little surprise when I finish. So maybe the surprise will come by Saturday? Don’t mean to be vague, but I’ve started making said surprise, and it already made me happy times 100.

Today’s comic:

From yesterday– I’m excited to draw today’s comic!

I’m on a mission this week to start wrapping up my long form comic (dare I say “graphic novella”) so thought I’d spend my 20-30 minute train rides to and from work with some comic fun. Today I was lucky — I was able to get a seat and draw in comfort both ways but that probably won’t be the case every day. In the best of conditions, I was able to clock in 4 panels each trip. I’ll do my best!

The rules are simple:

• Start anywhere. My first thought was a man falling and so it was.
• Pre-plan as little as possible. Just draw what I think should come next.
• Continue the story each commute. Try to make it a legitimate story. No lame endings.

I’ll keep you updated so we can all find out what happens at the end of the pipe…

The idea log continues a week into the new year! I think I should scale down how often I make them or else I’ll burn out by the 3rd month… but for now, I’m clocking in an idea a morning. Check out the slideshow of what I did today:

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All my mockups have started on sheets of paper like this. Sized about 3 x 4.5 inches.

I decide I want to make a book with rounded edges... but I haven't thought of what to put in it.

I write down ideas but I go with a skeleton only because i can make one of the sections look like a skull. Let's see if that was a poor decision.

I clean up the drawing a tiny bit and push out the negative space.

The negative space makes me think the skeleton is buried so it makes me think I can put a narrative sequence of people burying him on the other side.

A closeup of my drawings. They're simple and done just to see if the idea is working. I do really think I'm going to give them top hats though.

The final mini mockup I always make when I'm designing books. The right page got accidentally ripped off.

I kind of think of these as a game. As a kid, I drew lots of random dots on pieces of paper and challenged myself to make drawings using all of them. It became more of an exercise of making the best of the circumstances/materials you have, which I realize I’m still trying to do with this book idea project.

Logging ideas can be fun... if you're in the right mood

Resolution for 2012: More thoughts on paper.

Friends and family can attest: my memory is generally, nearly-all-the-time, sort of poor. I’ve decided that starting now, I’m going to keep a log of my current/prospective projects. When making books, I always begin with tiny mockups which are cute but eventually become lost– so I’ve also created homemade (aka. ghetto) pockets for them. A good book is only as good as its idea — and if you don’t keep track of your own, who else will?

My resolution also includes putting new ideas into the book. They won’t all be practical but maybe I can somehow simplify them in the future. I aim for one new idea a day but I’d be happy if I get in 4-5 a week. Here’s to keeping up with goals!

My idea today: A pocketable mosaic

My hands and my brain can’t seem to move as fast as time is going but I’ll try to keep up as best as I can in this fresh new 2012.

During my week off for the holidays, I promised myself I’d work on books and comics I’ve left half complete during the year. Here’s my stash so far:

One pile is actually for defective books but the others are real, hand-made books.

A new year is just a benchmark for me– what’s changed? Was it for the better? What changes are there still left to make? 2011 wasn’t so shabby for me.

As always, I want to be making more proper schedules, designing more, printing more, drawing more, writing down more ideas, learning and teaching more, and sleeping properly if I can get to it. The only problem is time– a problem I one day hope to overcome as well.

Anyway, I’m going to blog more too– I only blogged 42 times this year. For shame! I’ll definitely blog 43 times in 2012. :)

It’s almost been 1.5 years since I’ve started working on Hearts & Holes — It started on scrap paper with stick figures and slowly found itself on better paper, penciled and inked.

I didn’t know if I’d ever finish but with a little luck, I’ll finish penciling the 60th and last page of the comic by the end of this week. Then the editing begins along with inking 40 or so pages.

2012 will be the year that I finish!!!