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Comic and Rant for Tuesday, March 2, 2004
PETA Can Kiss Our Asses Day (Cancelled) |
In case you’re wondering, this was originally intended for an event called “PETA Can Kiss Our Asses Day,” scheduled for June 20, 2003. Sadly, after I had one panel pencilled, it was cancelled due to lack of interest, so this and this seem to be the only published strips. Why pick on PETA? Simple: while they make some good points, their methods leave much to be desired. You need look no further than here, here, and, perhaps most notably, here. Anyway, as I said before, I had one panel pencilled, and I kept hoping to finish it in case the event was revived, then I just said “heck with it,” and finished it to post today. Which brings me to the subject of my new pens. As you may recall, I recently bought some Staedtler Mars Professional felt tip tech pens, and mentioned that they might replace the Staedtler Marsmatic rapidograph pens I’d been using. I love that the rapidographs make a smooth permanent line which doesn’t bleed and can, if necessary, be scraped off with a razor blade (though Photoshop has pretty much eliminated the need for that, comic strip-wise). I also find the slightly raised ink on the paper aesthetically pleasing, which seems unimportant until you consider how quirky artists are, especially about their own work. If this makes any sense, it only looks right when it “looks right.” There were other reasons why I stuck with the rapidographs. One was my stubborn streak - I paid Good Money for these pens, so by golly I was gonna use ’em! (which is odd, as I never use the word “golly”) - but the main reason was they made me feel more “professional.” I never saw any pros using anything other than metal tipped pens (unless they were dong a sketch, and even then they used a magic marker, not a tech pen). Charles M. Schulz’s devotion to dip pens is legendary, and I’m sure I remember reading somewhere of his disdain for drawing comic strips with felt tip pens. I have neither the time nor the patience to ink a comic strip with either a dip pen or a brush, but rapidographs are relatively low-maintenance, and much more portable. The set I have comes in a container that can easily be carried, and if I need to ink I can just pop open the box, take out the pen I need, and Bob’s your uncle! It may not be as “professional” as what Sparky or Jim Davis’ lackeys use, but the pens are metal-tipped and, by golly (no, really, I never say that!), they’re not something ordinary people use! There’s also an environment aspect - felt tips are neither refillable nor recyclable, but though there are disposable rapidographs, mine are refillable, so the only thing that gets thrown away is the ink bottle, and then only after a long, long time, and even then it’s probably recyclable. That’s all well and good, but there are also some negative aspects. First off, while they’re easier to carry around and start using than dip pens or brushes, the carrying case is still a bit bulky - unlike my felt tips, it doesn’t fit in my pocket - and there’s no way I’m going to carry them without the case. This is partially because of an anal-retentive desire not to break up the set, partially because of my penchant for losing things, partially because I want to have the ink bottle with the pens in case they run dry, and partially because I’m afraid of the caps screwing off and the ink leaking (the same reason I’m not carrying the ink bottle outside of the case). Another con is that, unless used on a regular basis (and I think you can guess from my update schedule that I don’t), rapidographs tend to dry out, requiring messy and time-consuming cleaning. Need I really say more? The final two cons are both related to the unusual way in which I hold (as either my seventh or tenth grade History teacher - Mr. Pepperday or Mr. Bussman - used to say) a writing stick: 
At any rate, after trying to ink with a rapidograph where the ink had somehow become diluted (my guess is that the tip didn’t dry sufficiently the last time I cleaned it), I was able to overcome my psychological inhibitions, and I bought the felt tip tech pens. As you can see, if nothing else, they allow me to work faster (and yes, the ink dries faster, and they don’t snag on the pencil indentations). On another subject, before I forget again, I did last week’s drawing at work, which is why I accidentally drew six buttons instead of four. Like anyone cares... Another thing I keep forgetting to mention, The impetus to finally complete my mini-comic (which I’ll snail mail to anyone who donates $3 or more) came from the State College Office Max going out of business, allowing me to afford a paper trimmer and a booklet stapler. Now I had to finish it in order to justify those purchases! Oh! Before I forget, one final thing about my reluctance to use felt tip pens because they didn’t seem “professional”: The Dilbert DVD includes footage of Scott Adams drawing the strip with, you guessed it, felt tip tech pens. This also helped me get over it, so to speak. As long as I don’t use a ball point or a roller ball, right? ^_- Well, that’s enough ranting for now. Maybe I’ll put some Oscar stuff up later (I’m writing this on Saturday night, while finally getting around to finishing the commentaries on Fellowship - I haven’t even started on Two Towers!). Cinera ma appears to be the first webcomic to break the news, Theater Hopper has thus far only mentioned it in the rant, and all I’ve had time to do was this little doodle on a calendar at work: 
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