Thursday, 18 December 2025
It WAS The Golden Age of the British Small Press
This 2008 posting from the old Word Press CBO should have been saved here but I can't find it so let's do another reposting shall we?
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Well,you will have to excuse me and the fact that this is going to be a lengthy text/illo item. The article was written a year ago for someone but never used. As I looked through my boxes of Small Press items I realised that there were some publications I missed out -unintentionally.
In reality,the article I wrote would make a hefty little book!
The joys back then were getting the latests from Hawarden,Cheshire -from Rich Holden’s Caged Comics -A5 and mini comics. They were a riot of fun.
The same can be said of the great Merv Grist and his Gristavision comics. I still have the classic cassette tape he sold at the time -”The Slugs That Ate Manhattan” -WHERE are you,Merv?!
And Cosmic Comics produced by Steve Lines between running his band Stormclouds [I still have the cassette tapes from back then and they are still a great listen];Blake The Egg was the oddest lines character -and Steve’s music zine,The Marden Beat,was a source of much interest if you were into Indie music at the time.
Fran Ashcroft. What can one possibly say about Fran Ashcroft -or creation Spoonsy?!
So,to all of those I’ve missed out:my apologies. You made the 1980s great!
Above:brother Mike,publisher of Zine Ager,to the rear Doc N,scribe of Vigilante Vulture,
the superb John Erasmus and some bearded maniac;Tom “lovely” Elmes. Westminster,c.1987
above:a rare newspaper photo c.1988 from the Bath mart:Jerry Holliday of KYO Comics,brother Mike,Sally & David Johnson and Dave’s dad.
And now -the article!
British Small Press –The Golden Age
Terry Hooper-Scharf
It can truly be said that the 1980s to early 1990s was the Golden Age of the Small Press,or Zines as they were known.
The term “Zine” was derived from “magazine”,basically because the fan press was mainly text and illoes only at one time –and later we saw “strip zines” added to these. But Zines was an all-encompassing term.
One of our [UK] first,if not the first fanzine was Heroes Unlimited in 1967. This was a gestetner copied publication and the major contributing illustrator was none other than Paul Neary –a memorable Justice Society of America cover amongst his contributions. Fantasy Domain in 1973 was a kind of “what comics are out now” and reviews along with “for sale” ads. Blitzine was Phil Elliott and Paul Chester’s gestetner [look it up on the internet,kids!] magazine from 1975. Paul E. Schofield came along in 1979 with the A5 [Digest] sized New Aeon.
It has to be remembered that the gestetner printer was,for many years,the only way of producing your fan magazine. Basically you typed cutting into the stencil sheet which eventually went onto the roller of the hand cranked copier. Any typoes had to be corrected using such stuff as nail polish! My own school magazine from 1972 was produced by using the gestetner –don’t try looking for copies because the magazine was banned while being printed. Starkers –The Magazine That Tells The Naked Truth would,I am sure,have lived on in infamy!
In the mid-1970s I well recall that fantastic new machine the photocopier. You could walk into a printers or stationary shop and they would copy off your pages! Copies became cheaper and so more and more would-be publishers decided to leap into the future!
Our mainUK news,reviews and articles publication would have been BEM and then Fantasy Advertiser,published by Martin Lock [the Harrier Comics publisher] and later Martin Skidmore. And for those looking for style and distinction there was Paul Gravett’s Escape magazine –now an online site.
Strip-wise,we had the superb Super Adventure Stories published by Michael Gibas –which gave us classics such as Johnny Kurzman’s “Red Dragon”,whose saga was great fun and pre-dated both my own and Grant Morrison’s [Zenith]Red Dragon.
But it was in the 1983-84 period that things really went crazy. We had great zines from Shane Oakley [ofAlbion fame] and Andrew Yoxall in the form of Hardware –which featured the very early work of Matt [D’Israeli] Brooker,Art Wetherell and the “where is he now??” Iskander Islam;and I must mention the inimitable John Erasmus. But there were other contributors –including the Oakster and Yoxies own mad-cap work.
Dan Rickwood and Adam Thomas brought us the insane and often near legally prosecutable Bum Comic! The often ‘saner’ contributions came from Matt Brooker and Ben Dilworth. There was even an experimental Landscape format one off REQUIEM with a Dilworth dash of water colour added for colour.
Mark E. Ford produced,before being told to stop by DC,Eat The Magic Batzine which was a fan mag with covers and illoes by…Ben Dilworth! Steve Lines produced his spooky,pop art orientated Fantastic Stories and Creepy Crawlies –again,Ben contributed and so did I with a Christmas tale featuring my sorcerers Kotar,Sabuta and Lady Silvana along with the “Keeper Of Tales”,The Creeper himself!
Of course,Ben produced his own publications under the Penguinflight banner. A Letter From Siberia was A3 [larger than US B3] in size and in the middle was stapled the Digest sized Picasso’s Café. This publication was produced using colour washes,ink washes and even colour pens.
Later,Ben and I designed acetate covers for my Preview Comic wherein we used stencilled images and car spray paint! Ben was probably one of the group of ground-breaking creators responsible for the “Golden Age” of British Small Press and when he moved toJapan things were never the same.
But we also had Help Shark! And titles such as “Love Given Lightly” and “Splendid”,
both by Steven Martin. Cally Stapleton produced wonderful art using linoleum cutting and Myra Hancock was…well,fab!
Cover designs and even art style techniques were experimented with and there was a huge interest in British zines from the US,Europe and beyond. Ed Pinsent ran Fast Fiction but in 1985 I joined up with Jerry Holliday,Paul Brown and Darron Northall [on copying] to create the news,reviews,previews and interviews mag Zine Zone,which also became a mail order and mart service.
Zine Zone and the “Zine Zone Zoot Suit Crew” actually started out-selling Fast Fiction and promoting creators such as Rich Holden and his Caged zines and Fran Ashcroft’s Fenlock,Paul Grist’s Dancing Elephant Press and other new creators that were emerging kept the scene fresh. I used to have “open house” in the apartment I was living in and anyone involved in the Small Press passing through or near Bristol popped in –the door bell ringing at anytime [including 3am in the morning thanks to my legendary insomnia!]. I could get 30-60 packages of publications or art samples a week
Bristol tended to be the place to be and 1984 had seen school kid Jerry Holliday and pal Joe Leigh produce Knock Yaself Out Comix –this developed into one of the best mixed-bag publications around and spawned some spin-offs such as Jerry and Joe’s Doxi The Dog [something Jerry is still working on over 20 years later]. How the magazine ever got published between the drinking bouts seems incredible!
The legendary anthropomorphic series Vigilante Vulture was written by Darron Northall and drawn by Paul Brown –based in the urban war zone known as Kowle West! Even today,after so many years,it’s still a good read! Interestingly,at one of the UK Comic Art Conventions,Shane Oakley and Andrew Yoxall were overjoyed to meet Brown and Northall –apparently,VV had been Oakley’s favourite “pick-me-up” read during his college years! Sadly,the plans of Seattle based MU Press to publish the series in the US came to nothing.
Tom Elmes,last heard of heading for France,produced the often gorey Post War Funnies,Post War Casualties and even the wickedly named [nothing to do with the contents] shocker titled Incest! The Worm sticks in my mind. However,the most cringable was without doubt “The Man Who At Himself To Death” –and he did! These days Tom is back in the UK and working on some award winning animation projects.
Another creator who liked to shock to see the reaction was Stephen Harrison and he drew the Andrew Yoxall written “The Little Git With The Chainsaw” –inspired by the Daily Mirror newspaper strip Andy Capp and the film ”The Evil Dead”!!!
It seemed that everyone knew everyone else in the Small Press back then,if they didn’t then either Ben Dilworth or myself quickly introduced them.
By the early 1990s most of the creators were either working in other media or had gone on to professional comics. Zine Zone had become Zine Zone International covering the Small Press from around the world. The UK Small Press,however,was deteriorating fast.
Probably the most successful,or best publicised,Small Press comic of recent years has been the O-Men,seemingly inspired by the great Silver Age comic series’ such as Doom Patrol –for those who missed out,the early issues have been compiled in “trade book” style.
Magic Malcolm is a US sized comic of superb quality which,from issue 10 onward will only be appearing in graphic novel style books. Blink Twice Publications are Robin Etherington [creator and writer] and Lawrence Etherington [co-creator and artist]. This is a superb series that looks like a combination of Little Nemo,Alice In Wonderland and much more –but even that doesn’t do it justice. You can check out more at www.studioblinktwice.com and learn not just about Magic Malcolm but also Tusk and Moon!
Dutch born,Bristol resident,Willie Hewes,has even featured in the local press with her stylish Amaranth comic;the story of a young woman living in Bristol who discovers she is a demon trapped in a human body and gets whisked off to meet the Lord of Hell. A book that has achieved a cult following. Learn more at Willie’s site www.amaranthcomic.tk
My personal favourite,not just because it has Goth chicks,but because of some superb black and white artwork is Marcus Jones’ ZELTA. Not for the faint hearted,this is definitely an adults only comic under Jones’ Screaming Demon Comics banner. The story is about unhappy tattooist,Alex,who meets the girl of his dreams [or is that nightmares?],Zelta. However,Alex starts getting strange dreams and visions….is Zelta really the Devil’s daughter?? Check out www.zeltacomic.co.uk
The big problem is that,with easier access to photocopiers and,of course,computers and printers,creativity has given way to the more boring and mundane. More and more Small Press items appear with “biographical” on the cover and high prices for just a few pages. At one time,I can recall there being so many zines of quality that it was hard to select which to buy! Talking to others who have been buying Small Press since the 1980s,I’ve heard the same thing “99.9% of what’s out there is crap” and “There is nothing out there these days”.
Well,there are a few,as I’ve noted,but where has all that creativity gone? Staff at one comic shop that stocks Small Press items came up with the comment “we keep getting sent all this rubbish”!
When I had the chance to promote Small Pressers in the UK on the internet and via printed publications I put the word around –to publishers and even a service selling the publications. It was now I learned just how much had changed.
The service promised to forward the information to publishers via its newsletter. It never did. Publishers who did respond [and that was unbelievably few] said that,yes,they would like their zines reviewed and publicised…..and I could buy those review copies direct! Buy review copies?!!
Unbelievably,the opportunity to let,potentially,thousands more comic buyers know about their publications was not good enough. The attitude was “why should I give away a copy of my comic –you want to review it then buy a copy”
And the mail order zine service I’ve had no explanation from. Theirs was the “purchase from” address I was going to give.
In all my years reviewing Small Press publications,from Zine Zone to Comic World,Comic Collector and Comics FX,I have nevercome across such negativity and lack of support to publicise zines. It may be controversial but I think it safe to say that over-priced,uncreative publications are the norm in the UK these days with few exceptions. A pity considering the
UK once led the way.I am still interested in the Small Press! It would be interesting to know what is being published in the US,Canada and elsewhere so,if you are out there and publishing,email me or send me a copy of what you’re publishing. But don’t give up –if you want to produce your own zine:do it!
Email:hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com
Terry Hooper-Scharf
Wednesday, 17 December 2025
Cinebook Ltd XIII 27 - Spaso House
Authors: Yves Sente & Youri Jigounov
Age: 15 years and up
Size: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 48 colour pages
Captured in Cuba as he was trying to exfiltrate a Russian hacker on behalf of Janet Fitzsimmons (the woman who controls him through a chip in his head and secretly runs the entire US government), XIII is taken to Moscow, where he once operated for a faction of the KGB. Caught in a deadly power struggle between Russian intelligence services, he must discover what happened during a decades-old mission … of which he has no memory!
Artwork is perfectly fine. No problem with it at all. Same goes for the story which is well enough paced and the right amount of "passive" and action scenes. When the original series ended it did so cleanly and it was a series I read through more than once and I still do not think that it can be beaten.
However, I do wonder whether this type of thing has run its course? It's a problem with comics, movies and TV that there is a success and no new ideas around so "Hey -that XIII series was very popular and got good reviews so let's keep flogging it!" And that is the impression I get here. I read it and think back almost immediately to the first series and that this does not compare. If it had been The XIII Legacy looking at what happens to another agent who has memory loss then it might have worked with a clever twist to the agent finding out about the first (XIII) one.
Of course, my opinion means nothing and so all I can do is ask how long the series can drag on when fans thought it was all over a long time ago?
I also know that there will be fans of the series out there and THEY are the ones who count because THEY pay for the books and their likes and continued support keeps things rolling on. Maybe this year I am the Scrooge of Comics Christmas?
Hexagon Comics Kabur #10: The Hounds of Kyros
KABUR #10: THE HOUNDS OF KYROS by Jean-Marc Lofficier, Roy Thomas; art by José Luis Ruiz Pérez, Luciano Bernasconi, Miguel Angel Yzaguirre; cover by José Luis Ruiz Perez.
7x10 squarebound comic,
76 pages b&w
ISBN-13: 978-1-64932-394-1.
US$12.95
https://www.hexagoncomics.com/shop-kabur-10-the-hounds-of-kyros.html
32. THE HOUNDS OF KYROS story by Roy Thomas & Jean-Marc Lofficier, dialogue by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by José Luis Ruiz Pérez.
EPILOG: AND YET IT MOVES story by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Miguel Angel Yzaguirre.
BAO IN VENLANA story by Jean-Marc Lofficier; art by Luciano Bernasconi.SKETCHBOOK by José Luis Ruiz Pérez.
As Kabur approaches the Mountains of the Moon, he witnesses a strange metal fortress fall from the sky, destroying a nearby village... With the help of several travelers he must then face the terrifying creature that emerges from the ship, accompanied by two fearsome hounds... Fortunately, in this desperate fight, Kabur will be able to rely on another extraordinary visitor, also from the stars...
This 48-page saga by Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier and José Luis Ruiz Pérez is supplemented by an Epilog by Miguel Angel Yzaguirre and a tbonus ale recounting an heretofore untold adventure of Bao by Luciano Bernasconi.
I love looking through a well drawn black and white comic and the artists on this book are well worth studying. The stories are all well written (Roy Thomas writes one!) and the action well paced. I like the blend of barbarian and sci fi and Homicron looks really good in this incarnation and I don't think I've seen the character drawn like this before (but my mind is a porridge filled with over 5 decades of comic characters so who knows!).
Nice to see an old hand like Bernasconi drawing a comic strip and that can only be topped by José Luis Ruiz Pérez sketchbook pages. Quite honestly you cannot go wrong with this book and I got far more enjoyment out of it than I do the current Avengers run at Marvel -a series I have followed since the 1960s.
I'm hoping Hexagon books get good sales but it deserves to get them. If you have not tried a Hexagon book before 😲 then try this one and if you don't find it a fun read well...why are you here?!
You can order via the Hexagon link provided and at least that way you know the money from sale goes straight to the company.
Info Uploaded. Next Reading and then Reviews!
😳 Right, I have just uploaded the details of 12 books to review that all turned up at the same time and just as the severe eye strain hit and then my older brother passed away.
I will start read later on (it's 14.40hrs UK) and the first reviews should appear tomorrow and as this is Hexagon Comics character Kabur's 50th I'll start with one of the four books featuring him.
My mother always kept saying that if I carried on doing it I'd go blind but I never realised she meant reading comics!!
My apologies to Cinebook Ltd and Hexagon Comics for the delay.
Tuesday, 16 December 2025
Working For The Small Press -What's It Worth?
Within a week I could guarantee having enough material to fill 2-3 zines. And, if contacted by other zine publishers looking for material, well, yes, I'd send something to them.
At no point did anyone ask "How much are you paying?" It was simple fun -contributors got a copy of the zine their work was in. Again, no one asked: "If you make anything out of this what's my cut?"
We were selling our "end product" for 25 pence. 50 pence. 75 pence or, and, I tried and succeeded in never crossing this particular price barrier myself, £1.00. Yes, £1.00 which back then was 50 cents? So, buy my zines and you got a lot of pages for little money. I try to keep doing that still.
Although, via Zine Zone mail order or marts you could sell quite a few zines -in fact, it's odd but you would guarantee at least doing fairly well sales-wise back then where as now the attitude and expectation is that selling one or two books is a good day! In fact, zine publishers reported that they did far better sales-wise with Zine Zone than they did with Fast Fiction (which saw ZZ as a competitor though we never considered there to be any rivalry).
"Hey -I made £2.00!" Not bad -snicker- now to divide that up between 10 contributors! Seriously, no one expected to make big money because it was all for fun. Also, a lot of the creators of the 1980s who made it into comics as writers or artists all started in the Small Press -it was seen as a place where you could hone your skills. It is interesting to note that a few of these creators when asked how they got started in comics tend to gloss over any mention of the Small Press! It all seems to be "I started writing/drawing and used every opportunity to hone that skill and then DC/Marvel saw my work" I think that is actually shameful.
People ask me how I got started I'll tell them. Putting together a school magazine (Greenway Boys School, Bristol, 1972) titled Starkers -The Magazine That Tells The Naked Truth which was a title suggested by our Deputy Head, Mr Wright. Getting everything together, drawing, typing on the stencils for the Gestetner copier and then....getting banned by the Head because one of the secretaries complained about the title (yes, there was more to it because I was seen as an "H-dropping" pain-in-the-ass by the snobbish head and his school kid cronies).
Then I got work with a printer. I then started working with the early photocopiers. I wrote articles on everything from nature to astronomy and history and then I decided I wanted to get into publishing so I got friendly with those folk as well as editors and distributors and even stupidly spent money buying rights to certain characters/publications (see one of my previous big posts -they are there somewhere).
Putting all of this together helped in making dummy copies of proposed titles to submit to publishers. Some of those titles, such as Preview Comic got a few people into permanent comics work both in the UK and US. Then there were scripts for London Editions, Fleetway/Egmont, Marvel UK and so on. And even while doing my comic work (and the officially unofficial other job) I was writing comic articles for publications such as Comics FX and other publications promoting comics and particularly the Small Press which has never gotten even 2% of the publicity 'real comics' do.
Today, obviously and I never ever do this any other way, all art is (c) the artist. If the contributor wrote and drew something then it is all (c) the creator. Even if I lost out I made sure contributors got something. But then you hit the big problems.
You learn, quite by accident, that an artist you have written a script for and who then with no explanation break all contact, are actually trying to sell the strip with a couple of character name changes. When found out and contacted over this there is either silence or "Oh, I thought you'd left comics" -right. Then you have the artist who wants to have full control over the end product which includes changes made "to make it better" and believe me I have had artists change characters names, sex and even whole chunks of story because they feel they know better. That just is not on. The writer writes and the artist draws -perhaps making an odd change to make action flow.
I have had one artist ask me to draw character sketches because he just could not understand what I meant by stating the right hand side of a characters body was all robot while the left was wholly human. Another had to have a sketch when I described a central tower in a city had, at the very top, a clock face on each of the four sides...?
Then you get an email out of the blue "I don't want this published unless I get a 60% royalty deal, a page fee and creative rights" hmmm. Or, you publish after putting a lot of work into a book and the artist then says he doesn't want to be associated with it because it might affect his work prospects with Marvel or DC???
You will also get artists who email every single week asking about sales. "You can't be doing enough to promote the book!" And then there are the artists who complete books and simply vanish. They no longer answer emails and so the book HAS to be withdrawn. Or the families of people you have worked with....don't even get me started on that.
There are no huge profits in Small Press publishing and Independent comics will not make you rich! So, as a publisher you have to make decisions that affect your output. Books are withdrawn. Decisions are made so that you no longer have to rely on other creators and all the problems associated with them.
Black Tower no longer accepts proposals from creators. Everything is in-house and there are only two creators...and a very large selection of books to buy. No distractions or problems other than those you get normally as the UK largest Independent comics publisher.
The small Press rely far less on collaborations these days. There are some but more and more it's an individual thing with the creator writing, drawing and publishing the book. No profit no problem. A profit -nice.
I think the anthology titles of old with any number of contributors will eventually vanish because unlike the doing -it -for- fun days where publishing was smooth and creators did not scream out "I'm a star! Pay me!"
If you ask what money you are going to get out of the Small Press as an artist or writer then the true answer is that you'll be lucky to make any. And the proof is there if you don't believe me: publish yourself and see all the 'joys' first hand!
Ultra-Updated: Berol Pens, Sharpies and the Drawing Essentials
Since originally posting this Berol has pulled its socks up so that you can find their Fine line pens rather that6 use the awful Sharpies. A box of 12 (if you cannot find them in a shop) will set you back £9.99 BUT there is a lot of use in these pens.
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When I first wrote this post it was the early 2000s. I've up-dated it a few times since and I have had to drop and change implements as things change. If Berol, Sharpie, Spirograph or any other art related company would care to sponsor CBO just get in touch!My hands are now such that using Chinese brushes is difficult ( I LOVE these brushes and first started with in the mid-1980s after picking some up in China Town (London) while visiting Fleetway and Marvel UK. Well, no more business trips since the comic industry died and when my old Chinese brushes eventually reached the end of their work lives I purchased a set of Crimson and Blake Chinese brushes from an old Chinese supermarket in Bristol...ten years or more ago.
I just realised it was much longer ago than ten years!!
Here is my article as published in 2016 and I'll update as I go.
Comic Artists and What To Draw With -Berol, Uni Ball and Rotring Tikky Graphic
Considering I had a conversation today with someone who had no idea what to draw comic strips with -he was starting out and was telling me how he was about to order the most horrifically expensive "graphic pens" you can get, which are not much good- I remembered the old post.
I keep getting asked by people trying to get started in the industry what I would recommend to draw with.
I have used Rotring pens (over priced and not great -this was in the 1980s), Guillotte nibs, caligraphy pens and even the very cheapest fibre tip you can get. I HAVE used brushes and still do but mainly for inking in large areas or effects. I used to go to the old Westminster Comic Mart in London and visit China Town to buy cheap brushes and b-i-g bottles of black ink. I am not joking about big bottles of ink. A bottle would cost under £2.00 which is what you could pay for a 14 ml Windsor & Newton bottle of black ink. Take a look at this -the label went years ago but think of the amount of ink and that saved an artist a LOT of money (I think the bottle last 4 years).
However, if you try Berol you can find Broad and Fine tips but also Handwriting pens that allow you to draw using an even finer line. You can do almost everything the very expensive pens can and quickly. The only thing I would say is, once you’ve inked art using a Berol pen give it time to dry and do not try to erase pencil lines straight away as it can smudge.
Since the 1980s I have (despite the fact Berol seem to be harder to find in Bristol) used various pens but the main ones have been Berol Fine and Broad -the line is so good (until the tip wears down and even then are still good) that other professionals have sworn blind that I am using brushes! And when I say “use” them I mean a lot -the last little stationer I used sold me the pens in the boxes at a discount after the owner saw me looking at the pens and said “You’re an artist, aren't you? You can get a trade discount”! (Was it so obvious -must have been the tatty clothes and hungry look!)
You can also take Berol pens around with you for sketching.
The colour Berol pens I have had little experience with as they are harder to find. However, I knew one artist back in the 1980s (Paul Slydel) who only used Berol colour pens to colour and when I first saw his work I thought he had been using brushes and colour inks. Hard to find these days and if you do the price can be high.
You have to find the bloody pens first but I’ll come back to that in a while.
At the moment there are a selection of pencils/pens on my table because I do like experimenting a bit -the joy of being your own publisher is that you can do this. However, the main items I use are these:
There is the Uni Ball “Eye” which is about 0.5 despite saying “Fine” and most “fine” pens you’ll find in stationary shops and W. H. Smith are 0.5 which is not what I call fine at all.
In fact, the Berol Fine is about 0.3 when new but after usage will get to a 0.5 line but the good thing is, if like me, you live in a cluttered working area with LOTS of brushes, pens and pencils, if you lose your Berol Broad -good for filling in large areas of solid black though BIG areas of solid black I still use brush-ink, then the Fine can handle the Broad’s job!
The effect? Well, I tried drawing with a migraine the other day (the current weather is **** up my head) and my eyes…yeuch. But I did a rough for a cover I wanted. Yes, I can see the faults in the illo but no one is perfect and I’d not use this one any way!
I posted it on Face Book and another site and then came the comments -was I using a “dip-pen” (Guillotte nib)? What type of brush was I using? I explained but some still think I’m joking. Seriously, this was all Berol Fine.
I did, at one point, use Papermate Rotring Tikky Graphic -these are designed by Rotring but came in a pack of three -0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 -a nice range of nib sizes though I would have loved a 0.1 and 0.2 combination as well. The three pens cost about £4.95 in Summer 2011 but have currently hit £7.90-£8.00 in Tesco and other outlets so, for me, that is getting too pricey.
There were problems with these pens. I bought about three packs in 2011 and I found pens from different packs began seeping ink from them -just by the red seals you can see in the photo above. Now, unless they are clogging like the old Rotring pens (and you wonder why so many artists stopped using them?) then there has been a problem in filling them during manufacture. Each 0.7 from two packs got two uses out of them and then…no ink. This also happened with all three 0.3s which really **** me off. What also annoyed me was that in all the packs I purchased the nibs fell out of the 0.1 as soon as it touched paper.
For, now (2016), £8 a pack of three I just simply would not recommend them. Put it this way, okay, they look sleek and well designed, but a Berol Fine, used properly can do the job of all three -skillfully used the Broad could replace the 0.7 if you had to.
“Spatter” effect. No, I do not use a computer created effect (NEVER!!!) it is the traditional old way -ink on toothbrush and careful use of the thumb to get the spray right -experiment if you want to try this BUT make sure everything is covered up first and that includes other panels of art on a page you are trying it on!!! Bit of advice: some of us used to blow onto the brushes to make the ink splatter out -it'll make you dizzy so stick to thumb on brush!
At the moment I have a big tub of about 50 pens -if you work like me then use a pen. Put it down. Lost,. Next!
A better view from the side!
These the basics I use:left to right -Uni Pin Fine Line with nibs 0.05/ 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.5/0.8.
Pen #7 is a Pilot Marqueur A Dessin 0.2.
The next a Uni-ball Eye Fine.
Then the Luxol Micropoint 0.5.
The legendary Berol Fine (blue) is next followed by the Berol Broad.
Now I do have a big tin full of all sized brushes mainly for large solid black areas but you then have to wait for the ink to dry. So, for speed, that big chunky grey pen is a bog standard Permanent Marker -Berol did them but they are far too pricy. You can pick these up for 35p each or even packs of four for £1.00.
Nice effects can be achieved with biro pens but that is something you’ll find out eventually through experimentation.
Also, I have used Spirograph effects. Enlarge them or same size. Nice results. In fact, last time someone asked me how I achieved certain effects in an interview people started going out buying sets! Mad but...
Now, such is Room Oblivion that I have lost all my Spirograph wheels. They are here but where I have no idea. I was about to order a new set when my sister returned from shopping and carrying a 1965/1966 Spirograph set -complete for £2 from a charity shop. The box is not in perfect condition but these can fetch up to £29 on Ebay.
At the moment there are a selection of pencils/pens on my table because I do like experimenting a bit -the joy of being your own publisher is that you can do this. However, the main items I use are these:
There is the Uni Ball “Eye” which is about 0.5 despite saying “Fine” and most “fine” pens you’ll find in stationary shops and W. H. Smith are 0.5 which is not what I call fine at all.
In fact, the Berol Fine is about 0.3 when new but after usage will get to a 0.5 line but the good thing is, if like me, you live in a cluttered working area with LOTS of brushes, pens and pencils, if you lose your Berol Broad -good for filling in large areas of solid black though BIG areas of solid black I still use brush-ink, then the Fine can handle the Broad’s job!
The effect? Well, I tried drawing with a migraine the other day (the current weather is **** up my head) and my eyes…yeuch. But I did a rough for a cover I wanted. Yes, I can see the faults in the illo but no one is perfect and I’d not use this one any way!
I posted it on Face Book and another site and then came the comments -was I using a “dip-pen” (Guillotte nib)? What type of brush was I using? I explained but some still think I’m joking. Seriously, this was all Berol Fine.
I did, at one point, use Papermate Rotring Tikky Graphic -these are designed by Rotring but came in a pack of three -0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 -a nice range of nib sizes though I would have loved a 0.1 and 0.2 combination as well. The three pens cost about £4.95 in Summer 2011 but have currently hit £7.90-£8.00 in Tesco and other outlets so, for me, that is getting too pricey.
There were problems with these pens. I bought about three packs in 2011 and I found pens from different packs began seeping ink from them -just by the red seals you can see in the photo above. Now, unless they are clogging like the old Rotring pens (and you wonder why so many artists stopped using them?) then there has been a problem in filling them during manufacture. Each 0.7 from two packs got two uses out of them and then…no ink. This also happened with all three 0.3s which really **** me off. What also annoyed me was that in all the packs I purchased the nibs fell out of the 0.1 as soon as it touched paper.
For, now (2016), £8 a pack of three I just simply would not recommend them. Put it this way, okay, they look sleek and well designed, but a Berol Fine, used properly can do the job of all three -skillfully used the Broad could replace the 0.7 if you had to.
“Spatter” effect. No, I do not use a computer created effect (NEVER!!!) it is the traditional old way -ink on toothbrush and careful use of the thumb to get the spray right -experiment if you want to try this BUT make sure everything is covered up first and that includes other panels of art on a page you are trying it on!!! Bit of advice: some of us used to blow onto the brushes to make the ink splatter out -it'll make you dizzy so stick to thumb on brush!
At the moment I have a big tub of about 50 pens -if you work like me then use a pen. Put it down. Lost,. Next!
These the basics I use:left to right -Uni Pin Fine Line with nibs 0.05/ 0.1/0.2/0.3/0.5/0.8.
Pen #7 is a Pilot Marqueur A Dessin 0.2.
The next a Uni-ball Eye Fine.
Then the Luxol Micropoint 0.5.
The legendary Berol Fine (blue) is next followed by the Berol Broad.
Now I do have a big tin full of all sized brushes mainly for large solid black areas but you then have to wait for the ink to dry. So, for speed, that big chunky grey pen is a bog standard Permanent Marker -Berol did them but they are far too pricy. You can pick these up for 35p each or even packs of four for £1.00.
Nice effects can be achieved with biro pens but that is something you’ll find out eventually through experimentation.
Also, I have used Spirograph effects. Enlarge them or same size. Nice results. In fact, last time someone asked me how I achieved certain effects in an interview people started going out buying sets! Mad but...
Now, such is Room Oblivion that I have lost all my Spirograph wheels. They are here but where I have no idea. I was about to order a new set when my sister returned from shopping and carrying a 1965/1966 Spirograph set -complete for £2 from a charity shop. The box is not in perfect condition but these can fetch up to £29 on Ebay.
Lovely photos of the set:
Never ever be afraid to try odd things to see whether they work for you. The computer for a real hands on artist should always be the very last resort for special effects. Maybe if they had used Spirograph those people who claimed "This is done on the computer!" would know better. After 40 years Spirograph is still a good tool for me to use.
But as freelance artists tend not to make a lot of money they need to keep costs down so Berol pens are perfect -as are various nib sized gel pens.
Back in the 1980s-late 1990s you could not walk into a supermarket, newsagents or other store without seeing the tubs of Fine and Broad (black as well as the other colours) but today.. Saturday morning I went into W. H. Smith in Broadmead, Bristol and was astounded at what little selection in pens they have -all sorts of brands and prices but generally all 0.5! There was a big (b-i-g) box of Berol colour pens but at the price Smith’s were asking (I think £20 plus) I didn’t even consider them. But Broad and Fine black? No. Not one.
In fact, I spent around an hour looking around City Centre shops -not one Berol pen in sight.
This is a great pity because I think that for a working cartoonist/ comics artist/ illustrator there are no better pens. I’m told Berol may no longer be making Fine or Broad pens but as this only came from two store owners who did not seem interested or, at first, know what I meant, I’m hoping they are wrong.
In fact I can add an up-date to this item. Everyone seems to be stocking Sharpie pens and they are relatively cheap but I hate them. Firstly, they smell! Secondly, with fat nibs they are nowhere near as versatile as Berol pens. A Sharpie cost 65p. A Fine Berol pen set me back £1.00!!!
Berol produce excellent products but they do not seem to be pushing them at all. Who ever is in charge of promotion and sales -bad job. Over thirty years I've championed and recommended Berol pens and I still do and it's great to hear budding artists have tried them because of recommendation
Berol needs to get on the ball because I would hate to see those Sharpies be the only pen out there!!
Back in the 1980s-late 1990s you could not walk into a supermarket, newsagents or other store without seeing the tubs of Fine and Broad (black as well as the other colours) but today.. Saturday morning I went into W. H. Smith in Broadmead, Bristol and was astounded at what little selection in pens they have -all sorts of brands and prices but generally all 0.5! There was a big (b-i-g) box of Berol colour pens but at the price Smith’s were asking (I think £20 plus) I didn’t even consider them. But Broad and Fine black? No. Not one.
In fact, I spent around an hour looking around City Centre shops -not one Berol pen in sight.
This is a great pity because I think that for a working cartoonist/ comics artist/ illustrator there are no better pens. I’m told Berol may no longer be making Fine or Broad pens but as this only came from two store owners who did not seem interested or, at first, know what I meant, I’m hoping they are wrong.
In fact I can add an up-date to this item. Everyone seems to be stocking Sharpie pens and they are relatively cheap but I hate them. Firstly, they smell! Secondly, with fat nibs they are nowhere near as versatile as Berol pens. A Sharpie cost 65p. A Fine Berol pen set me back £1.00!!!
Berol produce excellent products but they do not seem to be pushing them at all. Who ever is in charge of promotion and sales -bad job. Over thirty years I've championed and recommended Berol pens and I still do and it's great to hear budding artists have tried them because of recommendation
Berol needs to get on the ball because I would hate to see those Sharpies be the only pen out there!!
And, yes, I asked Berol twice whether they might sponsor some features on CBO about their pens -supplying a selection so their use could be demonstrated. Nothing. Not a word.
I have known any number of artists who have no idea how to use a pencil or pen on paper. 90% act very superior to you when you say you are what they call "old school"...but then you have to put up with their nervous breakdowns when their computer or tablet or whatever they use crashes (and they have not saved their work on external storage devices). If you cannot use a pencil, pen or brush and use your hands to draw on paper then you are NOT an artist. You may use a computer to 'draw' but storing up images to copy and paste onto new work because it saves time is without real soul -it's letting the device do the work.
Where's the challenge?
(c)2018 Terry Hooper-Scharf
(c)2018 Terry Hooper-Scharf
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