Budget art?

~Aairo Nov 19, 2012

I am an aspiring comic artist with an unfortunately low budget. I need to work with screentones, markers, multiliners, pens, etc, but I am having a hard time firstly deciding which tools I need and secondly finding ones I can afford.
Does anyone have any advice on this matter?
-Aairo

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Devious Comments

~Vineris Nov 20, 2012 Student General Artist

If you have a low budget, use dip pens, bottled ink, and stay away from screentones and markers. Spend your money on decent paper and a supply of nibs and if you really can't do without colour, go for watercolour. The paper will be expensive but you'll only need 6-8 colours of paint instead of 50+ markers.

Remember -- comics are about visual storytelling and not special tools.

PS - I see your comic page has vertical balloons. Japanese is written vertically. English is written horizontally. Manga translations use vertical balloons because they can't redraw the balloons without ruining the original art, not because it's awesome. They squish words into the balloons they've got and everybody sounds vaguely like William Shatner with... inappropriate... pauses... everywhere. When the original artists make manga in English, like when Kia Asamiya did a Batman book, they use balloons that are appropriate for English. Don't blindly follow the parts of manga that don't make sense for English-language comics. It looks like crap.

~Aairo Nov 20, 2012

I know how to write comics, I use the balloons not because its 'japanese', I use them for visual effect, so you can 'hear the words' in a sense. That's the style I prefer and its not the style I use all the time. I don't like horizontal balloons that much, they don't look right in my opinion.

~Damian-Blaze Nov 20, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

The most successful people in history focused on what they had and never dwelled on what they didn't have. You'd be surprise what you can do with what you have.

~Aairo Nov 20, 2012

I know, I'm not concerned with that. Its a medium I would like to use. Its not the only option for me but its one I would like to use.

~DANgerous124 Nov 20, 2012 Hobbyist Digital Artist

Invest in a tablet and buy Manga Studio. It has everything that you need to create a manga/comic book.

~Aairo Nov 20, 2012

I do have both of those but I very much prefer traditional art... I know I'm picky

=nelchee Nov 20, 2012 Professional General Artist

Do you really need the screentones?
Cheapest ink is bottled ink. If you can switch from multiliners to dip pens and brushes, that would save you money in the long run (if you keep your drawing tools clean). As long as the ink is black and waterproof, anything goes.

You can add color digitally in GIMP, which is free, and you can do that without the tablet if you use cel shading. It's possible to do soft shading without a tablet too, but imo not worth the hassle, and a cheap tablet is still cheaper than a full set of markers.

~Aairo Nov 20, 2012

Yes, I really need screentones. I have completed a few pieces and would very much love to move forward. I don't like uploading to DA that much, but I appreciate the community.

~Monoklo Nov 20, 2012

First off all you should know you can draw with just about anything it is fine.
but if you really want to buy some stuff here are some sugestions:
-a G-pen [link] around 15 bucks for 10 nibs
-pilotink [link] around 10 bucks
-cardboard paper (because regular paper isn't strongh enough)don't know about that... but artistic paper do cost around 15 bucks for like 40 pages
-a free or cheap software to add screentones and colors digitaly so you wont have to pay like 500 bucks or more for markers just to start.
and if you do chose to add screentones or colors digitaly a tablet is nice but not a neccessity considering you are sort of low on cash.
Actually, if you could also go for digital by buying yourself a tablet and a nice software... that is if you are okay with digital art [link] the cheapest is 50 bucks and some wacoms tablet even come with softwares like photoshop element
if you want to talk more about it a bit more just send me a note. for now it is 3:48 am I have class tomorrow... or should I say today so I'm going to go to bed. xD but I would be happy to talk more about some of the products I've bought and experimented.(I did kinda tried a lot of stuff)

good night

~Aairo Nov 20, 2012

Thank you! and I'd love to hear about it!

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