Hello Mr. O'Malley! I recently bought a new natural hair brush (I don't have its brand name sadly) and I found that it's very thick and not a choice brush for inking comics/other art. Do you know of any good names or lines to recommend (and whether they're better to use than synthetic-bristled brushes)? Thanks! :3
I’ve never had good luck with synthetic brushes, and I learned on cheap brushes, but you really have to switch to a pure kolinsky sable brush as soon as possible if you want to get serious about brushes. There’s just no comparison IMO. I started using one partway through Scott Pilgrim volume 2 and you can see the difference. People always ask if I switched to digital inks. It’s just that much cleaner.
These days I use the Rosemary & Co Series 33 Kolinsky Sable. http://www.rosemaryandco.com/watercolour-brushes/pure-kolinsky-sable/pure-kolinsky-pointed
I used size 3 for the last few Scott Pilgrim books and I am hoping to use a size 1 for Seconds (but I haven’t started inking it yet).
The ‘classic’ brush that cartoonists use is a Windsor & Newton Series 7, size 1 – this is what Jeff Smith (of BONE) always talked about using and what I went for when I was starting out.http://www.winsornewton.com/products.aspx?PageID=325
I had trouble with a size 1 so I ended up using a size 2 for much of Scott Pilgrim. I switched to the Rosemary & Co brushes around volume 5.
The problem with the Series 7 for me was that they were often damaged or unusable. I don’t know if it’s the shipping or the storage or the manufacturing or what, but maybe 1 in 5 brushes was actually any good, and when they’re $20-30 each, that’s a lot of money to throw away to find one good brush.
The Rosemary & Co brushes are cheaper, but just as good if not better, and I’m not sure I’ve ever had a dud brush from them. They ship from England and I buy 5 at a time to make sure I get good ones (I was paranoid after years of Series 7 purchases). I already probably have enough good ones to last me a decade!
Anything below a pure kolinsky sable brush is going to have the problems I outlined above (ie bad quality brushes) but amplified x10 or more. A good brush is an investment and if you’re moderately careful with it it can last you years.
As for ink, I use Koh-i-Noor black drawing ink. It’s just my favorite. It flows really well. It has a yellow label and here’s the amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Kohinoor-Drawing-Ink-9065-d-Black/dp/B000YQERWW/
Rosemary & Co brush + Koh-i-noor ink has gotten me through a lot of pages of comics!
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