And the finished product will be Thursday's strip

Dope, thx for the walk-through deej ...

That was great thanks. TIKIS RULE!

Kewal.

Excitement indeed! Great Tutorial. Ya know I have a Tiki that's just collecting dust at my parents place. I should send it your way DJ.

All tikis are welcome here.

One question... does your .5 blue pentel lead break every other pencil stroke like mine does, no matter how light you press? I love the convenience of it, but it seems to break on me way too often, giving me sharp edges that dig in too much.

If not, where can I get a pair of your magic hands?

ok.. two things. One, you're pushing too hard! Try using a brighter light to see the light blue and practice not pushing as hard. I use to have that problem.

TWO-- it could be the pencil you're using. My lead use to break and it was a pain in the ass.. but i went and bought a new "twist erase" pentel pencil, that's actually BLUE style on the outside, and the tip of the pencil holds the lead REALLY FIRM and keeps it from breaking. So, I found that even the smallest looseness in the tip of your mechanical pencil and REALLY break leads. Any flexibility there is too much.

All your art equipments seems pricey. Are there cheaper alternatives for the more budget minded artists?

Closest so far is buying blue & red colour pencils from my local art store.

The PC equipment seems pricey as well. Again for the budget minded, what are the minimum requirements?

The Wacom Intuos 9X12 is sold here for nearly US$500, which is a quite pricely if translated to the ringgit. Should I settle for the Graphire?

And scanners. Are cheaper scanners OK?

Photoshop, no problem, I can buy pirated ones at the local malls
OK, I kid you, I'll find the original at the local licensed vendors.

Do you happen to remember which style of pentel it was beyond the twist erase kind? My 10-year old pentel quicker clicker broke (the actual clicker part went and cracked.. it's still funtional if you like to jab small objects against its insides), and the the quickly purchased replacement (I was on vacation at the time) is crap, so now's the perfect time for me to buy a new one or two.

I'm almost finished moving in to my new house, so once I can set up my new drawing table with my really bright light, I'll see if the lighting improvement is my main issue too.

Thanks for the suggestions

Here's what Im using now and it breaks WAY less lead-- http://www.dickblick.com/zz207/52/

Altercator---
My stuff isn't too pricey. Like i said, I use disposable pens to ink-- the most expensive thing is the Wacom tablet, I think I'm using a 6x9?? really anythign bigger is a waste. YOu can find reasonably priced ones on ebay for 100 bucks or so I bet. Even a 4x5 will do the job. I only really use it for coloring.

I also am on a DELL computer, and they are reasonably affordable computers in the states. I don't know about Malaysia--- but 500 US in Malaysia is a rip off man... dont pay that.

Especially since Dells are made in Malaysia.

Graphire or Intuos?

And if I can't afford any of those, is the good old mouse & pad suffice to do colouring in Photoshop?




Malaysia Boleh! (Malaysia Can Do It!)

Id'd say Intuous or Intous 2

Here's one on ebay-- 72 bucks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intuos-2-4x5-Profes ... dZViewItem

Intuos3 6x9, man. Worth every goddamned penny.