Bad Sable brushes

I've been reading Scott McCloud's Making Comics, and I'm actually learning a lot. Buy it, read it, live it. If you don't mind working alone for the next few years. That's life as a comics artist.

In one of the footnotes I read something I strongly disagree with. Here's the email I just wrote to Scott:

Dear Scott,

I've been eagerly reading your new book, Making Comics. Some of the stuff feels familiar after 12+ years in the biz, some is totally new. I've never before learned how the facial muscles affect expression explained before. Bravo!

Anyhow, I wanted to disagree with the brilliant Paul Smith opinion, "Winsor-Newton makes the finest brush in the world...every once in a while."

They're at least 95% perfect when made. They only go bad after the art supply store opens up the bags and leaves them to dry out. Just like human hair, sable fur can frizz and become unmanageable if left in dry hot conditions.

I buy my brushes in the airtight bags that Winsor Newton ships them in. I believe they come three to a bag now. They always come out of the bag perfect.

Because they're expensive I get very finicky about how I treat them. I store the bags in my fridge (just as a fine sable coat should be kept in a refrigerated room during the summer). If I only use part of a bag I take the leftovers and store them in an airtight freezer zip bag, with a clean paper towel doused with distilled water. 50F and 50% humidity is ideal, but you don't want it so wet they rot.

I clean the brushes after use with B&J Master Brush Cleaner. Do not mash the brush into the hard cleaner! Scrape some up with your finger nail, work it until soft, and massage into the brush hairs. Rinse and repeat (seriously). After you're done, flick excess water from the brush and work a little more B&J in as a leave-in conditioner. Hang to dry point down. There are special racks for doing this, sometimes called a 'metal brush washers'.

I've had no problems with sable brushes since I started doing this.

Gene Ha

"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." H.L. Mencken

The end of the Republic

One of the formative events of my life was 1976, America's bicentennial. It was a vivid red white and blue year. I learned that these United States stood for liberty. We would never bow to a tyrant.

Later, I learned that our struggle for liberty is a continuation of the British struggle against tyranny. Beginning with the Magna Carta, the people of Britain slowly limited the once absolute power of the king. Every English school child learns why the head of state is not allowed to arbitrarily arrest and torture suspects. Because this kind of power will always be abused. The right to challenge your arrest is known as habeas corpus. If the king doesn't have to justify why someone has been arrested then he can silence anyone.

It is important to note that of all the civil liberties we take for granted today as a part of the Bill of Rights, the importance of habeas corpus is illustrated by the fact that it was the sole liberty thought important enough to be included in the original text of the Constitution.*

The right to challenge tyranny in court is gone. As Pat Lang writes, we live now in a monarchy. One without a living constitution to protect us. Mr. Lang is one of those traditional conservatives who finds himself defending the US shoulder to shoulder with liberals like me. From the Sic Semper Tyrannis blog:

God Save the King

The republic ended today with the signing of the "Military Commissions Act." This law ended the "Great Republic" as Winston Churchill described the United States.

With this new law the country became a place in which the president/commander in chief (emperor) can classify whomever he likes as an enemy combatant beyond the reach of habeas corpus. This means that the executive branch can arrest and hold without trial anyone in the world (including American citizens). He can also hold anyone without confronting the detained with the case against him/her or the evidence involved.

Americans, you are now "subjects" and not citizens. Accept your new role.

At the end of his program tonight Keith Olberman said to Professor Jonathan Turley, "I'll see you in Guantanomo."

Maybe we can start a chess tournament.

Pat Lang

It's odd that "Republicans" should be the ones to destroy our Republic. Take a little time to mourn, then get ready to fight again.

Sketches

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd post some small JPEGs of some sketches I did for one fan. He has an insanely good sketchbook collection (as in, he's been collecting for decades). Here's my small contributions. The first one's from a layout by Zander, the second was to recover after having to draw King Peacock's pants.

2006 FallCon

Well that went pretty well. I got to do several sketches for con volunteers (free), more to pay for the trip, and a few in exchange for my dares.

This girl got the first one. Last year at the Fall Con she performed the origin of Mary Marvel as live theater. When she flew I carried her around the convention hall. But this year she was first in line so I didn't torture her too much...



Gene Ha, corporate shill for an unnamed evil international multimedia conglomerate.


But the big dare was painting a fan up in Elektra's costume. Originally, the fan wanted to pay for the sketch. But he came back later with a friend willing to get hair spray painted to save his buddy $125. Here's what Elektra is supposed to look like:

I was going from memory, so here's how he ended up.

I think someone owes his buddy a few rounds of drinks this year. Mr Elektra went around shirtless for the rest of the FallCon.

I also traded Ryan Kelly for a page of comic artwork. But I did it on the condition that he let me pick a page five years from now, after he's bloomed into a pop culture phenomenon. Like Paul Pope and James Kochalka rolled into one! So join me on his coattails and check out his latest book Local with writer Brian Wood. You can see some of Ryan's painted work here.

"Heroes"

I've noticed that most people who I think of as heroes are embarassed by that title. I think its a matter of degree. They can think of people who they consider real heroes and don't feel worthy of the title. But from the viewpoint of someone who sits by himself creating light entertainment the world seems full of brave and heroic souls.

What's really weird is that some of them are my readers. I draw 'heroes' in books but its a lot easier drawing heroics than actually doing it. Writing and drawing inspiring stories is no mean thing, but its not the same thing as living it.

Anyhow, I wanted to single out a few folks who are everyday heroes.

First off I'd like to mention Mark Schweikert. He's a cop in the annoyingly sunny streets of Phoenix, AZ. Some day I'll write about how I learned I wasn't cut out for crime fighting. It's a tough job and its easy to make mistakes that leave folks scarred for life. You need steady nerves and excellent judgment to survive as a cop. And a good sense of humor. So thanks to Mark and all the other cops like him out there. This post and Top 10 are dedicated to you.

I think I do have an okay sense of humor. But my nerves and judgment are pretty well suited for working alone...

And a "hey!" to Joe Miller. I first met Joe at Ohio comic cons. I was just out of art school and he was in middle school. He's gone on to get married and serve our nation in the Navy. He's a good guy.

I got a second email today from Jeff G, who I first met in sixth grade. He's been in the Navy too. We used to play RPGs way back when. Some D&D, superhero stuff, and a military RPG called "Twilight 2000". So I was surprised to find out that actually became the kind of guy we pretended to be. He's been in Special Operations and has served for the last 18 years. Those who can, do. Those who can't, draw. So another shout out to Jeff, his beautiful wife and their 21 month old daughter!

Finally, another nod to Tobias G. He's a foot and ankle surgeon at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. I suspect I embarassed him with my email back thanking him for his work, and this post might make it worse. But his job is positively biblical: he helps the lame to walk. When Christ asked us to take up our crosses this is part of what he was talking about.

In addition to that, he got me to add notes to my website on how to subscribe to my email newsletter. While I was at it I updated my FAQ. So you have Tobias to thank for that too! My dad's an anaesthesiologist, so I'm used to taking orders from doctors.

Again, thanks to everyone who has dedicated their lives to making concrete improvements to peoples' lives.Now that I've annoyed and embarassed these folks I promise my next post will be about something more crass, like comics or politics.