Cheapest paper strong enough for comics?

[grummancat]

The story is pretty well fleshed out and I have decided it's time to start the physical workups to my comic. Traditionally, I have always used bristol paper to draw on. Good, strong, takes ink, expensive. eek Especially if you plan on doing 30-100 pages AFTER getting the characters right. rolleyes

On the other end of the spectrum, computer paper (ducking tomatoes here). I suppose that could work if I planned to make it a pencil-only comic. Haven't necessarily ruled that out either.

But- there's gotta be some stuff in between. Can take at least SOME ink and is cheaper than bristol.

[iianbe]

I blueline, pencil, and ink on typing paper, and it works fine, but I'm not using a lot of wet media or a nib pen. Have you thought about heavyweight inkjet paper or more lightweight Bristol? (Assuming you were using 80# or 100# before)

[l Meri l]

Printer paper is what I use, and I'm pretty certain a large number of other comic artists do, too. I use ink pens, and it turns out fine. If you're planning on doing professional-grade comics, that's when you might want to get better paper, but if you're not making profit, printer paper should work just fine.

[Sera Michaelis]

Normal printer paper works fine with ink for me too. I use technical pens, and occasionally, water-based marker. So long as I don't use a nib pen or layer my markers, it works perfectly.

[grummancat]

Thank you! I'll probably stick with some kind of computer paper. I will check out that heavy duty inkjet paper.

[Kyousouka]

Printer paper is great for drafts, but it doesn't take ink very well.
Bristol can get expensive, but cardstock is just as effective for most purposes and much cheaper ($14-ish for a ream of 250 at Office Depot).

I prefer pre-lined paper and pay out the a** for it, but in terms of actual paper quality, it's not noticeably better. The extra money is for the convenience.

[Vicemage]

OfficeMax sells reams of "Bristol" that seems to be slightly higher grade than cardstock, but without too much expense.

But, like others here, I blueline and pencil on regular old printer paper. I ink on a fresh sheet of cardstock, but that's more because I like the weight when I'm moving the papers around while inking than anything about quality; a sheet of cardstock taped to a sheet of printer paper is more substantial and easier for me to handle than two sheets of printer paper taped together.

I've done some on the "fancy" prelined boards, as well, and they're okay, but unless I'm buying them in bulk for cheap, they're not really worth the expense and inconvenience of size.

[Kyousouka]

Vicemage: I've never been able to find pre-printed sheets in bulk. Could be my requirements though - I need ISO paper sizes.
Paying 50 cents per sheet sucks, but such is the price of convenience.

[Cetriya]

go to walmart (or other cheap supply story in your country) and get a pack of think printer paper ie. cardstock. 250 for about 5$

but if you work with nibs you have to keep buying bristol or deleter manga paper because those paper are special coated to not make the ink bleed

[grummancat]

Thanks again everybody! I have decided to use regular printer paper at least until it frustrates me. xd

I have done some sketches I like so far and will try inking them when I get the time.

[Vicemage]

Kyousouka

Vicemage: I've never been able to find pre-printed sheets in bulk. Could be my requirements though - I need ISO paper sizes.
Paying 50 cents per sheet sucks, but such is the price of convenience.

Wish I could remember the shop I got it from, but I've got a pack of 100 Canson Fanboy (God I hate that name) Manga Art Boards that I picked up for, I think, $25-35 USD or so. They're the 10 x 14.25, 150 lb bristol ones, with the preprinted lines. They do also do the Comic Art Board size, at 11 x 17 (I've got a pile of them already, though, from classes back in college, and thought I'd try a smaller size). The shop had both of them, for roughly the same price.

I don't use them very often, though, because I do a lot of my pencilling at work and can't carry a larger art board with me as well, and because I honestly hate reassembling scans.

[Kyousouka]

I have a pack of those. They are B4J size, lined for C4. There's something about the surface that bugs me, I'm avoiding using the pad I have. I've been using Letraset comic paper instead, I find it more pleasant to work with. It is A4 lined for B5J, which is more convenient for me to store, and much closer to final print-size (A5). ...but I've so far not found any place better than the link above to get it.

Ffff I should really order more soon. I've been drawing pages faster recently, I'm going to run out soon at this rate.

You need to update your sig D:< You still have December goals. It's February.

[Vicemage]

And now I have no goals. Go me!

I suppose I just don't have a great deal of issues with surface... I have to use just about everything as a surface for work, so I get used to different grades of paper pretty fast. Mostly I use either basic cardstock or Strathmore 300 series Bristol for my own work. The Canson and Blueline Pro papers I use are just an occasional thing at best.

I've never tried the Letraset paper, but if I happen on a small pack of it, I might give it a shot and see what the surface is like.

[Kyousouka]

I use cardstock for my marker works, it's awesome. I prefer the surface of Bristol, but cardstock is a lot cheaper but works pretty much the same.

The Canson fanboy papers feel coarse. I haven't done any art on them, I've only tested my pens. Looks great, feels weird, so I'll probably stick with my Letraset papers which occasionally bleed D:

Though if I could get a 100-pack of the Fanboy papers (crappy name indeed) for that price, I'd definitely use them. I got my pack of 15 (not even enough for a single chapter, ugh, and switching papers mid-chapter is a no-no) for about $2-3 at a sale, it was the last one left.

I've never seen the Letraset paper sold in a real store, or in a pack of more than 20 D: And at $8/pack, I think I might have to start lining my own pages D:<

Speaking of which - do you think it's a good idea to pre-print one's own pages? Obviously the effect won't be non-repro blue, but if I make it pure Cyan, I should end up with a nearly uniform blue colour that I can remove in PS. I think the problem lies more with how printer-safe cardstock is, and how consistent home printers are...

[Vicemage]

It's Canson that picked the retarded name, not Strathmore. smile I don't think Strathmore currently has a line of non-repro comic boards. And true, it's not nearly as nice as the Blueline Pro boards I have, but at the price I figured it was worth it, even if I only use it for side stories.

I do actually print out my own "lined" paper for doing my pencils, using a color that's as close to non-repro blue as I could guess at. It's all copy paper run through a standard home-type printer; cardstock through that printer works just fine too.