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Drawing and Inking a POLE Strip

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The drawing process: For simple storage reasons I switched years ago to draw the strips on Canson Pro-Layout Marker Paper – 9” x 12”. One sheet fits two strips. Drawing small has also the advantage, that you can work faster. On the other hand … it helps me to avoid getting lost in too many details.
The inking process: For inking I use a Rapidograph with real ink. The lightbox helps me to find the lines. It is, after all, due to the small format sometimes easy to make a mistake …
When all lines are inked, I erase the pencills. The Rapidograph was originally a tool for drawing technical stuff, where every line has to be the same. For a comic, that’s a bit boring. And that’s why the inking process has two stages.
The simple lines get some life. After filling in all the simple black spaces, I start to ink the lines again to get to the effect of (simple) brush lines. It takes more time using a Rapidograph, sure, but it has its advantages, because I can easily make up some smaller mistakes in that process. I started experimenting with the Rapidograph after reading an interview with André Franquin. He drew his Idées noires with a Rapidograph. – And I love that book. – After the inking process I scan the strip, clean it digitaly, do the lettering and finally add the colors.

You can find the finished strip here.