Isn’t it cool how the words “do” and “doodling” sound very similar? Doodling is doing.
For the longest time I’ve wanted to make a webcomic. I have lots of random ideas. They get posted here as blog posts. cool cool. But a webcomic would be able to carry those ideas very well. I’ve planned and thought and planned and brainstormed. But never really got to the do part.
Yesterday I went to Blick (I miss Pearl) and got some doodling supplies:
A small sketchbook
A big sketchbook can be intimidating. I want to be able to draw my comic on the train. And I don’t want to be one of those people with a big sketchbook who are like, “LOOK AT ME DRAWING ON THE TRAIN. I’M SO TALENTED.” I got the smaller sketchbook to be a bit more discreet.
Photo-blue pencils
I get too concerned about what I draw for the webcomic ends up being too permanent. But with photo blue pencils, I can sketch and sketch, and then when i finally have what i want, I can just ink it in. (then scan the drawing in and easily photoshop out the blue lines)
Pencil sharpener
Since I will be doing sketching on the train, I will need a pencil sharpener. But I want a slim thin one. Can you believe that Blick didn’t have a compact pencil sharpener. I think I looked at their selection for like 10 minutes in disbelief. Oh did I mention that my train ride is 30 minutes each way? That’s why I want to draw on the train.
Stickers
They were hanging by the cash registers and they are so cute. I can’t wait to use them for birthday cards at work. (When I sign a birthday card that goes around, I always put a sticker in there too). Every fun person should have a sticker file. Oh, and btw, this is not really related to the webcomic. It’s just fun. Oh wait. webcomics are fun. So they are related. So there.
Now I just need to do by doodling.
They also had this same size sketchbook, but with the binding along the left side, instead of the top. But I figured the top binding was less spirals, so it would weight a little bit less. Plus, pulling the binder with the side binding out of my bag would be more likely for the spiral to get caught on things in my bag. Which reminds me, there is a bag at Nordstorm Rack that I’ve been thinking of buying. Maybe I’ll get it today at lunch.
I used to have a sticker file. It was packed full … some said I had a sticker “problem”, but I could still pay my rent and buy liquor, so … where’s the problem?
How about it, tom. I don’t get why people don’t understand why I have a sticker file. It’s like, uh… 1) Do you like stickers? If yes, then you should like to have a bunch of stickers ready to use. If no, then you are just lame. Sticker files rule.
Tom, what happened to your sticker file? You should start doing one again.
I’ve used most of them, I still have a few, but not nearly the quantity and variety I had before. I am always tempted by stickers. Paper Source has some very cool vintage Halloween candy stickers. I’m strapped for ca$h, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t add them to my Amazon.com Wish List via the Universal Add to Wish List button! 😉
nice tip on using blue pencils to easily photoshop out the blue in Photoshop.
I started a sticker book a couple years ago in a photo album I bought for dirt cheap at The Pottery Barn. Yea, “dirt cheap” and “Pottery Barn” don’t go well together. But the book was about 50-80% off. It is about 6″ wide and 14″ tall. Very slender. Red canvas hardcover. nice book. The plan was to completely fill the pages with stickers. That didn’t quite happen yet.
oh the blue pencil tip is not mine. These are non-photo blue pencils. Industry standard for comic artists.
Oh a sticker book is nice. But you can’t reuse the stickers. I’m talking about a sticker file where you can easily pull out the right sticker for any situation and use it. Although I suppose a sticker book would be fun. It would be fun to curate the stickers in a manner where there are interesting combinations. Remember in 1985 how we collected stickers more than we did baseball cards? We were obssessed with trying to fill up our baseball card sticker album. I have an RSS search on ebay for the stickers from that year. I haven’t gotten many results. When you think about it, stickers should be worth more than cards, because I bet there aren’t many unused stickers around anymore. Does Topps still make baseball stickers?
My sister had a sticker photo album back in the early to mid 80’s when stickers were really all the rage. You could use the stickers if you wanted, but it was more of a collection, so you wouldn’t use them. A sticker file’s purpose, as you noted spud, is to hold stickers until you find something for which to stick them to.