Review: Canson 5x8 Sketchbook

The Canson 5.5 x 8.5 is my first sketchbook of this size. The above picture is the most current photo I have of it. Please excuse all the edges and dog-eared corners. XD This sketchbook is about 5 years old so I think it's lasted a good amount of time and I'm still using it. I want to try to use it up as much as possible before I move on. I didn't bring it everywhere but I did bring it along for a lot of trips. Fits well into a bag or a purse, much better than my larger sketchbooks. Right now I just use it at my desk since I didn't want to risk losing any pages on the road.

I actually really like the paper which is a nice off white shade. The paper has a little tooth and texture but it's hardly noticeable unless you really love smooth paper. I really like how it handles different media. Even handles fountain pen ink pretty good! Just make sure it's not too wet or it'll bleed through.

As you can see, the pages are perforated and I actually like it because I can't tear in a straight line if my life depended on it. Unfortunately, I didn't use the perforated pages enough to warrant the use of them because I wanted the items to stay in the sketchbook. Still it's nice and convenient. Haven't had any trouble with any of the pages falling out either.

The spiral binding didn't bother me too much or get caught on stuff. If the spirals did bother me I would just flip it so the spirals were on top (like in the photo below). It did get bent out of shape a little when I crammed it in a bag but I just pushed it back into place. A lot of my sketches posted will be from this sketchbook or my other larger one that I haven't reviewed yet.

Some sketches and experiments with some new inks and pens. I used Nooder's Bulletproof Black in my Noodler's Brush Pen. :) You can see how well the inks held up but I had no problems messing around with the different media in this sketchbook. If you do watercolor it does buckle a little but I don't mind too much. :D Colored pencil or pencil does smear so you'd have to use a fixative or something to prevent it from doing that. Otherwise I've just tried to learn to sketch with pens because they smear less. :D

Some close ups of other sketches showing the Lamy Blue Ink with my Lamy Aquamarine Safari. Just wanted to show how well it took the ink. :D Sorry for the not-so-great quality of the image but hopefully it gets the message across. Overall I really like this sketchbook which had pretty good paper in my opinion. :D Let me know if you've used them and if you like them or not! As always feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions! :)

The Start of my Comic/Manga Obsession

(Sorry for the late post. I had it all typed out and I meant to schedule it for Friday but forgot...>_<;;)

Becca, the author of a great and useful comic blog I follow (Nattosoup.blogspot.com) had asked several good questions on Twitter.

She asked webcomic friends: How'd you get inspired, how was your start, how have you kept it going?

Well I thought those were some great questions and thought I'd share with you all how I became addicted attached to comics/manga. :)

My Start
How I first came across manga-styled art was actually when I was younger and watched cartoons. I actually came across Sailor Moon when watching TV but surprisingly that wasn't what made me fall in love with comics. XD



I later got into the craze for Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. I collected the games, toys and cards but that still wasn't how I got into comics. (Yeah I know, keep dragging it out why don't ya. XD)

Now it was when I was in High School and my sister had told me to read a book that she liked. I accepted since I think I was bored at the time. It was a manga called "MARS" by Fuyumi Soryo. I became entranced with the illustrations and the complex storyline. That manga started my addiction to reading manga and leading me to other online comics. The rest was history, I just kept finding more and more online comics and manga to read. My sister liked comics/manga but eventually got tired of it. I ended up continuing it fueled with passion. :D

My Inspiration
I get inspired by reading other manga, online comics, and novels. I also get weird ideas from dreams sometimes. lol Sometimes I see glimpses of everyday life that is inspiring. Such as people watching (I'm kind of an avid people watcher sometimes. lol). The different personalities based on their appearances can lead to some interesting character designs. Overhearing conversations also can be pretty funny and inspirational.

How I Keep Going
I kind of laughed at this because I'm STILL going.

I don't know why I keep going exactly. Maybe it's my creative outlet? The unfortunate thing about this is that I wish I had something actually finished. I know this is my own fault. I keep trying to improve myself that I keep forgetting it's ok to make mistakes and just move on.

I seem to dwell on several projects half finished and just stop and ask myself, "Is this ok? Is this good enough? Is it too predictable?" I do this because I want it to be perfect. I want to create something epic, something people will remember. Perhaps it's my "perfectionist" persona at work but I know that I can never be known or improve if I don't put myself out there.

So there ladies and gentlemen, that is how I got my start. I thought these were some good questions and in the spirit of sharing I'd like to ask you guys these same questions! If you feel up to it, reply to the questions above either in the comment section or through a blog post. If you write a blog post, link it to me and I'll share it here on my blog. :D

Thanks for reading! <3

Story Predictability

I've been thinking about stories and how predictable they can be. I know a lot of you are creators/comic artists/writers, and if you've done your studying on creating a good story you would know the basics of a good story structure. Then based on that certain structure a writer could create good stories and plots. Good story-tellers follow them and great story-tellers follow and break them.

Lately I've found that I can predict some, not all, story plots in movies or TV shows. There are a few well told stories where I'm pleasantly surprised by the ending. That just increases my love for the movie/TV show/writers. How is it for you guys? Do you enjoy being able to predict the endings? Or would you rather enjoy a good surprise? I personally enjoy a good surprise. :)

As I've been writing and creating I feel as if my stories are too predictable and cliched. I want a good well-written plot with a twist ending. I know I can be my own worst critic but sometimes I feel that if a scene is too easy to figure out, I try to twist it so it's less predictable. Then it makes the story much more complicated. I don't know if the reader understands or can follow the story if I use that technique too much.



However, since I know the ending of my stories I get flustered thinking that my readers will either figure out the ending or get confused and think the end is a total bomb. I know there is a happy medium but I'm still learning. I should give my readers credit, they are intelligent. However, I'm afraid my skills to carry them through the story won't be sufficient and would leave them staring blankly at the page. Too often I found myself reading the end of a good book only to find the end unsatisfying. It ruins the series for me and makes me lose faith in the writing skills of the author.

Don't get me wrong, I know there are many talented and well-written authors who have started and ended their stories wonderfully. I guess I feel that I just don't want to be one of those "failed" authors/creators. Practice does make perfect and I know I should just do it but it can be hard sometimes not knowing how others will react to your story. An author's wish is to always hope that their readers enjoy the story.

Sorry for the self-doubt. Just wanted to get my thoughts and ideas out there. Are there any of you writers/creators who also noticed this? Or is it just me? lol Feel free to discuss here or on Twitter. :)

 

Oh have some line drawings/sketches!

Old/Ugly Sketch Dump

As the title says, this is a small sketch dump of old or ugly sketches. This post is quite embarrassing but this is pretty much how some of my sketch pages look like. lol Not all are this ugly but they can be uglier sometimes. XD

The first image below is a character I was drawing that my brother and I created but turned out she has too much attitude than what he wanted in the character. He wanted a more timid character so that she could grow. I like my girls strong. lol

Ok, I was messing with some paints that I won not knowing they would bleed. Decided it added a sort of funky feel to my sketches so just sketched on top of it. lol Also I don't like wasting blank pages so I just did whatever to cover it. Looks like a mess but it was interesting. Right so the black dots are my BIC Pen ink that I broke. lol BICs don't usually break, I wanted to use all the ink because it stopped flowing so I cut it with scissors and dotted the pages. XD

Ugh, my poor attempts of drawing Niella's face semi-realistic. She looks like a clown with big lips...>_<;; lol Ah well, practice makes perfect!

Sorry, these are old (2008 I think) and ugly. When I first started my sketchbook and was still finding my own style. Even before I started to date my work. lol Head shots galore! Still need to work on my character consistency. XD These guys are from my comic Perfectly Imperfect.