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 Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 7:32 pm
As the title says, I need to know of some cheap materials, that are still decent, of course. I'm on a rather small budget, and my parents would NEVER let me get Photoshop. And what are some good, inexpensive traditional mediums? I'm leaning towards markers as they're simple to use, and I've got a couple of Prismacolors lying around.
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:04 pm
COPIC, the marker of choice of manga artists, is rather expensive ($3 - 5 a pop!), but according to both amateurs and professionals alike, they're godly. You could stick to Prismacolors and let your collection go, since they're cheaper than COPIC.
However, many people including myself agree that the Prismacolors colored pencils are very, very good. They're far more expensive than Crayola's, but with those, you can make practically anything.
You can also consider watercolors. There are already two tutorials in a very well-known website on shoujo-styled manga coloring with watercolors.
As far as paper goes, just buy yourself a nice artist-quality sketchbook. The paper is thicker than printer paper and helps blend markers/colored pencils better. You can get that sketchbook from any drug store (CVS, Rite Aid, etc.) or arts and crafts place (Michael's).
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 8:10 pm
Hmm.. well, I used to use ColErase colored pencils, and I found those were pretty good. :3 Not too expensive either, as far as pencils go. A little more expensive are Staedtler and Prang.. but I don't think they're quite as much as Prismas. Maybe.;; I think they're more vibrant than ColErase though. Oooh, but you could always get a few Copics, (the Ciao Copics are actually half the price of regular ones, and only a little smaller so they need to be refilled sooner.. Prismas have no refills at all.) and then do your shading with some cheapish pencils. ;D That's probably a good way to get nice colors for not much $$.
Also, I've got this great little pocket set of Winsor and Newton watercolors. Comes with a tiny little brush, too. XD I forget how much it was, but it wasn't as bad as buying separate tubes/cakes, and it works really well. It's a little white case, about 5 inches long and 2 wide. 12 colors. (Including white, but no black. But who needs black?)
Hmm.. as for pens, even expensive ones aren't too bad. $2-4 for most of the pens I usually get. (Pilot, Copic, Deleter) But a lot of people just like cheap Bic ones and such anyway. But they smudge some, even when dry, and it's annoying when the ink stops flowing in the middle of a line, so I think the extra couple $$ for a Pilot ball-point is worth it. (Comes in more sizes and colors, too.) It's hard to find cheap dipping pens though. But you don't need those. X3 Much better to have a pen you can just whip out during math class or whenever.
And there are a ton of free CG programs out there. I think even Photoshop Elements is legally free at this point. Just Google around. mrgreen
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:40 pm
kupocake COPIC, the marker of choice of manga artists, is rather expensive ($3 - 5 a pop!), but according to both amateurs and professionals alike, they're godly. You could stick to Prismacolors and let your collection go, since they're cheaper than COPIC.
Yeah, right, if your pocket money is something like 50 dollars a week.
And it ain't for amateurs at all. you have to act really quickly to make it look good and for someone, who doesn't have any idea about color theories or stuff, Copics aren't definitely the answer.
Really, bottle of ink, G-nib and synthetic brush is everything what you need.
And what about the watercolors?! Really, you can get really good one in 30 dollars and you get all the colors you ever need (like 30 dollars is enough to get NEARLY all Copic warm or gray scale).
"But they make they are hard to use and they doesn't smudge like Copics".
I have colored with markers longer than with watercolors and I can say that watercolors aren't hard at all, if you just have proper equipments for that (correct brush and some tape to keep the paper steady). If you tape the paper well, you don't need any 2 dollar costing watercolor sheets, anything little bit rough (rought than laser printer papers) and about 110g/m thick paper is good for watercoloring.
And what come sto smudging, it's just about using enough water and color to make gradient colors.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:23 pm
Every media has its advantages and disadvantages.
If you want cheap supplies you'll have to deal with most if not all of these disadvantages:
Non archival quality- not really much of an issue, except your art will get yellow and faded after a couple of years. If it's only a practice piece chances are you won't be hanging it on a wall for years to come.
Undesired results (bleed, smudge, fade, colour quality, etc) This is something that can happen with ANY media. The only way around it is to play with your media, get a feel for it and learn how it does its thing. However, if you're going to use paints I HIGHLY recommend buying student grade before you shell out for the uber expensive pro stuffs.
Supplies running out. Cheap items tend to deplete much faster, as anyone who's had a cheap set of pencil crayons can tell you.
It is definitely much better to learn and get your bearings with cheap supplies- why invest hundreds of dollars when you don't know what you're doing yet?
For paper I say decent quality sketchbook paper. That'll set you back anywhere from 8-25$ depending on what size and where you get it. I suggest coil bound either 8.5x11, 9x12, or 11x14. That last one I can guarantee wont fit entirely into your run of the mill everyday scanner so keep that in mind. If you get the ones with perforated sheets it's easy to tear them out to do water colour or other painting without worrying about bleed through. And/or just use blotting paper underneath. Sketchbooks can be found almost anywhere.
If you're looking for paints, Reeves makes fairly decent acrylics, oils and watercolours for about 12 or 16$ per set. They carry them at walmart.
They're good for just playing with without the guilt of spending a fortune on paint.
Pens range from 2.50-6$ per pen for pigment liners (I don't enjoy them at all, the lack of variation feels stale to me), About the same or a bit less for gel pens or quality ball points. (Those aren't exactly archival either, unless it says so on the pen).
You can also shell out 5$ for a pot of ink, under 3$ for a holder and less than 1$ per nib. Unless you do a LOT of ink work that one pot can last for AGES. It's not that portable though so it's something to keep in mind.
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