Copper

I don't know why but Wednesday's have always made me contemplative. Ok, not really. These just happen to fall on the middle of the week.

This is one of my favorite comics on the web. I've taken a vested interest in the world of webcomics in the past two years or so. Up until then, I didn't even know there was a world of comics on the web. Now, I've got about 25-30 that I read just about everyday. They're all so varied and interesting. Some have horrible art, but make me laugh every day. Some blow my mind with the quality of their artistic offerings.

Copper is one of those. Once a month, Kazu Kibuishi has managed to make a touching, interesting and beautiful comic about a boy and his dog. I've admired his work for two years and every issue has me saying "How in the HELL does he do that?" Well, as it turns out, I'm not the only one who asked that question. And as a response to our outcry, he has put up a tutorial on just how he makes a Copper comic. And it sent me into a surge of inspired motion. Like everything I get excited about, I had to imitate it. So I raced out to our art supply stores and got myself some large 18x24 Bristol and the blue pencil he works with. And I also got...ink. Not just a pen, but the whole real deal. I got the quill pen with the Hunt 102 tip. I got the bottle of India Ink. Shudder.

See, I've been afraid of ink since as far back as my artistic memory will go. My first real experience with it was "inking" some cells that I had gotten from my dad. I think it was just some cheap transparency stuff, but I thought it was big time. And I was going to ink and paint my art just like the animated pros did. Well, call it fate, call it bad ink pens, call it no technique but the experience was awful. The art looked horrible. It threw every imperfection I had into stark relief. It was as if the ink called out to tell me just how bad I was and how the pencil had been hiding it from me all this time. I tried inking a few comics I had created with limited success and about that time, threw the whole idea of working in ink away.

As I entered the world of webcomics myself a few years ago, at the behest of others at GamingWorldX.com, I had to find a way to make ink a part of my reality. I cheated. There was no way I was going to go through that whole thing again, especially since I was nervous about the state of my artwork as it is. I needed confidence, not reality. So I figured out how to do the inking on the computer. I found programs that would aid my sloppy technique and it's worked for me. I enjoy it now, mostly because it's relatively painless.

But I'd always look at a comic like Copper and think: This guy's doing it for real. So, being all inspired by Kazu, I decided it was time to be brave and give it a shot. So I bought the ink and the pen and the paper. I sketched out some ideas I had, and got down to it. And, damn it all, if I don't love it.

I'm not good. To be honest, I'm terrible at it. But the feel of the pen and ink just feels good. Like I'll get it if I try long enough. The wall seems to have a crack in it and I'm starting to get my hand through it and the other side looks very, very cool. One of the things I hated most about digital inking is that the lines always seemed to steal the heart and soul of my pencils. Not that I'm incredible, but there seems to be a life to the pencil drawings that goes away. Like someone put a veil over my characters and turned them into plastic figures. But last night, the inkwork looked like...well, an ink version of my pencils. It was rough and a little smudgy yet I could recognize the art as being mine. As having the same feel and character as my pencil work. How exciting. I'm looking forward to practicing now and getting better at it. You have to love it when you grow. You have to just love it when someone gives you the inspiration to push out into territory you didn't think you could travel. So, thanks Mr. Kazu Kibuishi, for all the help.

I'll post some of my work up here as I learn and get better. In the meantime, if you can, go check out Copper and marvel at his fantastic work.