Hot copic.

Here are some sketch cards I did today. I've mentioned before that I'm a big Archie comics fan. I'll do some more of the secondary characters over the next couple days. Colored them with my Copic Sketch markers. If you have any desire to purchase any of these just let me know. What's a reasonable price for that sort of thing? Do people actually buy sketch cards?

This is how much my collection of Copic markers has grown since I got my first one (Colorless Blender 0) back in October. I've got a pretty good selection of colors so far, but there are still so many more that I want to get. I almost have all of the colors that I want from what Michael's carries (they only have 60 different shades in store) so I'll have to start ordering them online. I want to expand my earthtones, grayscales, greens, and blues a little more; Maybe some muted grayish hues. I usually just buy them one or two at a time so I can use a 40/50% off coupon. Michael's just raised the price to $7.99 this last week which is ridiculous (this is a dollar above MSRP). Even so, with a coupon it still comes out a little cheaper than online ($5.24 is the lowest I can find for the Sketch markers). The good thing is that after you've got all of the colors you want, Various Ink refills are only $5.99 and they can refill the marker about 10-12 times (making it about $0.50-60 per unit). In the long run that's still a better value than Prismacolor ($2.11 on dickblick), not to mention they come in a much wider range of hues and values. I may wind up getting some of the Ciao markers because they are cheaper (the brush nib and chisel tip are identical to the Sketch), but I don't really want to because I really like the way the Sketch markers feel in my hand. Its also a big plus that they are oval shaped and won't roll, and the Sketch just plain look cooler.

I've been practicing my lettering a bit. Trying to figure out what sort of pen works the best as well as just generally improving my handwriting. I've always had horrible handwriting so its been challenging for me. I've made it a point to study the lettering in more detail in the comics I read (when they're hand lettered at least; I find the digital lettering in most mainstream comics today disturbing, especially when the word balloons are digital, it sticks out and looks out of place). With more practice I should start to see some more improvement; I already notice a huge change from the stuff I was doing in 2010.

 I don't think I'll be able to complete BDP#3 by FLUKE since I really want to work on improving my drawing skills before I really tackle it. I'll probably do one or two new shorter comix instead.