Right now I am in the middle of drawing thirty-seven cats for a cat coloring book. Color The Cats: 37 Cat Coloring Pages to Calm The Spirit. It is coming out on Amazon the beginning of December. I want to share my favorite pens and paper with you.
My plan was to have 30 cats, but I keep finding more cats to draw. At some point I will have to stop adding cats, as there are over six hundred million small cats in the world, and a coloring book with that many pages would be impossible to carry. And, it would take me at least ten million years to draw all the cats.
I may have trouble saying no to the cats who want to model for me, but I at least I made up my mind about what paper and pens to use for the drawings.
When I started drawing the cats, I used cardstock, but the paper was too absorbent, and the colors came out gray instead of black.
My favorite paper
Borden and Riley #234 Paris Paper For Pens, really is great paper. And according to the Border and Riley company, who have been paper experts since 1910, the paper is ” a smooth and bleedproof all-purpose paper. It is ideal for use with all pens and markers. A perfect paper for Manga and other types of illustration.”
The size I am using is 9×12. It is a 108 pound paper.
I love how the ink glides on the paper.
I completely forgot to turn my phone horizontal. Sorry for the narrow view. And, I am really sorry Wes Wages. I did pay attention in your video class, but I forgot in the heat of the moment.
The best felt pens
Now when I say the best. I mean, my favorite. Let me tell you why.
- I love the Copic Sketch Pen. #100 Black. It has two tip ends. One has a brush nip and the other end is like a chiseled marker.
The line quality is like a paint brush. I love that I can vary the thickness of the line. I use this brush for the main body of the cat. - For thin lines I use Sakura Pigma Micron pens. Ranging from 0.2 to 0.8. The ink is archival, and it doesn’t bleed. I use this pen for the smaller lines.
After I make the drawings I scan them into Adobe Photoshop. Then they get placed into Adobe Indesign, made into a PDF and uploaded onto Create Space, the publishing arm of Amazon.
Who are the cat models?
The cats started out being fictional characters. Cats from my imagination, not a drawing of a specific cat. When I ran out of ideas, I asked for cats to model for me. Now I have cat models from all over the world. A cat who was rescued from a busy highway in Singapore, a cat who came from a dump in France, and a cat who was rescued from a snow bank in Canada.
10% of the money from the coloring books will go towards animal rescue. The book will come out the beginning of December.
After the book comes out, then I will clean the house. The only job I do every day is to clean the seven litter boxes. Well, sometimes I cook. And I will cook a Turkey this Thursday, in between drawing cats.
Learning as I go
I am learning as I go. This is me sharing my process. Not me, being a smarty pants, and saying I know everything there is to know.
Please give me your suggestions, what you like to draw with, your favorite pens, paper.
I am taking an InDesign class at my local community college, I am still learning. Making mistakes, but learning.
Now back to drawing.
xo
Pamela
As always I love to hear from you. Please click here to comment.
p.s. I will post a link here when the coloring book comes out. Or email me at pamela@ipaintiwrite.com, and I will send you an email when it is finished.
