Before you do anything, make sure you have all your tools ready. Here’s what I use:

Paper:
Following in the footsteps of the more classic comic book artist, I use bristol board cut to 11"x17". While I formerly used a standard smooth white bristol, which was fine for the Micron pens, it wasn't doing the job when I made the switch to dip pens. The ink tended to bleed on the surface of the page, making the final line quality unsatisfactory.

So, after some experimenting I discovered I could get superior results with Strathmore vellum bristol. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come in 11"x17", so I have to cut it down using a paper cutter.

Pencils & Erasers:

• 5mm generic mechanical pencil
• H, HB, 2B wood pencils
• Pentel ‘Clic’ eraser
• Staedtler Mars plastic eraser
  

For pencilling, I usually use a generic .5mm mechanical pencil for most of my drawing. Although, I also use classic wooden pencils with H, HB, and 2B lead during the early layout phases.

I use Pentel ‘Clic’ erasers for general erasing, and a big Mars block eraser for large areas and clean-up after I've finished inking. I’ve found that I get the best results from soft white plastic erasers like these.

Ink Pens:

• Sakura Pigma MICRON disposable technical pens
• Small & Large Hunt Nib holders
• Hunt 56 School Round point nibs
• Hunt 101 Imperial point nib
• Hunt 108 Flexible point nibs
• Higgins Fountain Pen India Ink
  

When I first started drawing PS, I inked exclusively with Sakura Pigma MICRON technical pens, because they were cheap and mess-free. But as time progressed, I began experimenting with more varied line weights and the MICRONs just weren’t cutting it. So, I took the plunge and started playing with old classic-style dip pens. I went through several different nibs before finally settling on the Hunt 108 Flexible nib. With it I get everything between really thin and really fat—it’s perfect for the character inks I want. The 108s eventually do clog up, though, so I replace the nib every few pages or so. Also, for things like ‘starburst’ effects and like, the Hunt 56 School Round Point nib works great, as does the Hunt 101 Imperial point nib.

Word to the wise, dip pen inking is not for the faint of heart. When you’re first starting out, be prepared to deal with smudges and drips before you finally get used to handling the pens. Though, unless you’re really sloppy, it’s nothing whiteout or an image editor like Photoshop can’t fix. But, in terms of line quality, I find dip pens to be unmatched—even by my Wacom drawing tablet.

I still use the MICRONs for all my backgrounds. Though, I’m probably going to start going the rapidograph route eventually. I like the more fluid lines that free-flowing ink produces. But, for now the budget won’t allow it.

Straight-edges:

• 24" T-square (not shown)
• 12"x6 7/8" 30/60 degree triangle (not shown)
• 10"x"10" 45 degree triangle (not shown)
• 8"x4 6/8" 30/60 degree triangle
• Classic school 12" ruler w/ raised metal edge

You can’t do without some sort of straight-edge. I use the big T-square and triangles to do initial page layout, and everything else comes into play when dealing with background perspective. The old school ruler has turned out to be pretty good for inking lines with the dip pens. Someday I might upgrade to a longer inking ruler, but for now it does the job.

Digital Production Tools:

• Apple™ PowerMac™ G4 Quicksilver (867Mhz, 640MB RAM, 80GB HD)*
• Adobe™ Photoshop™
• Adobe™ Illustrator™
• Microtek E6 Scanner
• 8.5"x6.25" Wacom Tablet

When you do artwork on a computer, do make sure you have a machine that can handle the job. Luckily, these days most mid-range computers have most of the horsepower required to handle decent sized images, though I would recommend having lots of RAM and HD space over a beefy processor.

As a professional graphic designer, I happen to prefer the Macintosh environment for my digital production, but I know plenty of artists out there who do fine work on equivalent Windows PCs. I also highly recommend Adobe products if you afford them, but there are plenty of more inexpensive apps that do a decent job in the right hands, too.

The Wacom tablet isn’t necessary, but boy does it take the pressure off in the drawing stage. If you screw up, it’s really easy to fix on the computer when you can draw in your image editor.

* Don’t let that scare you off. My freelance career required a major upgrade when my old machine died last summer. I did PS pages on a less than half that machine up until then!