Pen Problem

I was fooling around today, doing a few panels of my old comic strip, "Mr. Weems." I thought I'd put them up so you would see the kind of thing I was working on before I quit writing and cartooning back in 1990.

I decided to do half a strip on Canson Professional Bristol board, and the other half on Strathmore 500 Series. I wanted to see which was best, because I can get Canson locally, and it would be nice to avoid the hassle of mail-order.

I sat down and sketched out half a strip, I did the lettering, and then I started inking. I was surprised how hard it was to make a thin line. And the pen was temperamental about being pushed forward and sideways. I figured I was getting old and feeble.

Turns out I was using the wrong pen. I thought I was using a Gillott 170, which is probably the most popular cartooning pen. However, I was actually using a Gillott 290, which is a bear to control.

What a bummer.

But I'm not doing the strip over. You can look at the difference when I put it up. Only the first panel is affected.