Draw for Me! kris dresen's tools of the trade

A Tour of Kris Dresen's Tools of the Trade

THE WHOLE SHEBANG
The tools I use to make all of my inky pictures. I'll give you a moment to gawk in wonder.

RAPIDOGRAPHS? REALLY?
Yep. My father gave me my first Rapidograph when I was eight or nine. It was an ancient, cloggy, splattery, inconsistant mess to work with, but I was in love. Over the course of my life I have dabbled with other means of conveying India ink to paper, but I always come back to my beloved pens.

Pictured above are all of the pens that I use when I'm drawing. Most if not all of the pens shown will make at least one line per image. And for comics that means per panel. I've worked with these particular brands of pens for so long that I know what pen is needed for what line I'm making instinctively. Except for the blue-bodied one on the left, the MarsMatic. That's a new one to my arsenal and I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's a little bit heavier than the others and the barrel is about a half inch shorter. It makes for a weighty, uncomfortable pen. I'm not crazy about how the needle hits the paper, either. Seems too close to the nib...

Oops. Sorry for geek-stray. Anyway, the white-bodied Koh-I-Noors are my standbys. The green ones are TG1-S from Faber-Castell. I cannot find these anywhere anymore. They are amazing workhorses. Where I go through the Koh-I-Noors like they were Bic pens, I've kept these last few TG's around and working for almost five years now. Minimal nib wear, incredibly sexy lines, excellent ink flow...sigh.

DON'T WORRY, BABIES, YOU'LL DRAW COMICS SOMEDAY.
This where I keep my pens-in-waiting. Extra nib keys, spare pen points, bottles of ink, and on the left a Staedltler Mars Professional technical pen thing. Eh. It feels and makes lines like a cheapie Flair pen. It's too light for my liking. I like my pens like I like my women, with a little heft, y'know? Looks cool, though. Like a spaceman's pen!

MORE POINTY THINGS THAT MAKE LINES (AND THEIR FRIENDS)
For my pencil work I generally stay away from traditional graphite. I draw all of my roughs/thumbs with Polychromos non-repro blue pencils. I then tighten the linework with Prismacolor blue indigo pencils. The Prismacolors have a softer lead that draws over the Polychromos' somewhat harder line fluidly and quickly. I use the Ploychromos black pencils insead of graphite for my pencil-rendered work. Their linework looks like graphite but without dust or smudging. Truly amazing pencils. Pricey little buggers, too. I'm using the Prismacolor scarlet lakes for a new project. Shh!

The mechanical pencils are what I use for my everyday writing, sketching, and whatnot. The silver, Marina City-looking pencil holds 0.9mm red lead, the blue and silver pencil holds, duh, 0.9mm dark blue lead.

For mistakes I use FW Acrylic Artists Ink to hide the evidence. I plop a few drops in the soda cap shown below the bottle. There's about a good half inch of dried ink in there. The fresh ink absorbs into the dried ink quickly so I'm left with a less watery, smoother ink to cover my lines with. I just use whatever cheap sable brush I care to buy.

For ink I use the Trans Mix media ink that comes with the Koh-I-Noor rapidograph sets. It ain't no Higgins Black Magic back when it was a good and viable ink, but it works beautifully with my pens.

HOLY MOLEY! WHAT'S WITH ALL OF THIS STUFF?
My drawer of pencils. I always have plenty of pencils on hand. I can grind through those babies really quick when I'm on a roll and there really isn't any place to get them at 2AM. Since the 0.9mm colored leads can be difficult to locate at retail, I buy all that I can when I do find them.

I also have several sets of Pitt pens in their various packs. I love those things but I just can't figure out how to utilize them in my work. Well, not yet, anyway.

WHAT DO THESE GUYS DO?
On the left is a folding bone. I love making books by hand and this tool is a must-have. It's for folding paper -which you wouldn't think is rocket science - and this tool just makes folded papers look so damn hot. And all of my guy friends get to Beavis and Butthead when they hear me say "folding bone."

That's the cheap-ass brush I don't give a damn about.

I never liked eraser sticks until I found the Tuff Stick. I love you, my little
Tuff Stick. (See above reaction to the name Tuff Stick.)

And for hard-core screw-ups you can't go wrong with a white plastic eraser. Both it and the Tuff Stick handle erasing the colored pencil stuff pretty well. Not that I really need to erase, mind you.

I LOVE IT SO MUCH I WANT TO MARRY IT
And the most important ingredient of all - paper! I use nothing but Paris Bleedproof Paper for Pens. I have for years. This paper was made for me. I can't imagine drawing on anything but this fine, fine product. The surface is glass-smooth, bright white, and takes ink like it's having marital relations with it. I use it for my pencil work, too, although I don't think everyone would like it for that. Another somewhat difficult product to find at retail, so when I go to my source I always buy as many pads as I can.

And that's the end of the tour, folks! Be sure to tell all of your friends!