Making Sketch Cards!!

Sketch cards are fairly expensive when you consider the amount you get for the money. I recently thought I'd found a great deal from etsy.com and orders 50 cards for $4. Turns out, they were just cheap, thin & flimsy card stock. So, I devised my own method of making good quality sketch cards. You will need a few things.

1. Poster or Bristol board
2. Razor knife and/or paper cutter
3. Printer
4. Sketch Card template found HERE

And please visit:
http://comicbookgraphicdesign.com/category/free-comic-book-resources/
For more nice design templates and useful tools.

So let's begin!

First you have to prep the board you are going to use. If you are using Bristol board that is 11"X17", just cut it in half to make an 8 1/2"X 11" sheet that you can feed through the printer.

I personally am using a nice grade of poster board for mine. Not all poster board paper is suitable though. I tried many different kinds of poster paper in my quest to find something similar but less expensive than Bristol. I discovered the white poster board carried at "Dollar Tree" stores is the best around for laying down inks, pencil & marker without spending the extra cash for Bristol board. Using a razor knife, you can cut out three 11X17 boards from one .50 cent sheet. On my resources page you will find the template I use for printing my own comic boards but let's carry on with the sketch cards! If you are using the poster board and have already cut it to 11X17, just cut it in half just as you would the Bristol.

Now, one to the printing. You will need to get the above mentioned template. You can use a photo editing program to alter it if you like but for our purposes, we will just leave it alone.

Here  is the Template we are using in a hi-resolution PDF file. I have no idea why uploading to this blog darkens the white of the template sheet so please download from the provided link. You an extract the image from the PDF file with Photoshop or other software.

If you prefer blanks:

Ok, now the fun stuff!

This part is easy. Just take your pre-prepped 81/2"X11" Bristol or Poster board and load into the print tray of your printer. Using the Windows Photo Viewer, click "pint" and make sure you have "Fit to picture frame" checked. This is important because we want them to print at trading card size.

Also, if you are using poster board as I am here. Remember to load the printer with the shiny side up so that it will print on the rougher side.

Note: If Printing from PDF file directly, UNCHECK "Fit to page"

Lastly, it's time to cut out the cards. Again SIMPLE!

Using a razor knife (or preferably a paper cuter), follow the dotted cut lines. 

Some sketch cards

Just a couple of sketch cards I sold on ebay a while back. 

Busy working on a lot more of these!

My Little Studio

http://jcatstudios.blogspot.com/p/my-studio.html

Up Coming reviews

Hang tight true believers! Coming in the next few days I have more classic Spidey revues as well as the new Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales), The new Amazing #1-5 & Captain Midnight!!! 

Come back in a few days for my take on these exciting titles 

My Spidey sense is a tingling!!!

Just a little warm up sketch from earlier in the evening. Armed with a brand spanking new # 2 pencil, sketch pad and a couple of fantastic old classic Spidey comics for inspiration! I used to love when the did the split face in the comics when indicating Peter's dual identity. BTW, that faceless guy is none other than Spider-Man's first foe, The Chameleon! Hence the, "First".

Amazing Spider-Man #96, 97 & 98 Review

Check out my review of these three great Amazing Spider-Man issues

http://jcatstudios.blogspot.com/p/comic-reviews.html

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby is a comic book artist who died in 1994. I doubt most of the general public has even heard of him but I'll bet almost everyone has heard of Stan Lee. Jack Kirby was the co-creator of the 'Marvel Universe'. He along with Stan Lee and Steve Ditko (co-creator or Spider-Man) turned a failing comic company into an empire. Kirby is the driving force behind the creation of the world of the Fantastic Four, Avengers, Captain America (with Joe Simon), X-Men, Hulk, Thor and a whole slew of supporting characters, not to mention the DC title "Mister Miracle".

 

Despite his accomplishments and contributions to the entertainment world, Jack Kirby is still relatively unknown to the vast majority of the public who buys tickets to the movies that would not exist if not for him. Stan Lee however, is known as the father of Marvel comics and is the poster boy for comics in general. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Stan Lee and everything about him. He's led a fascinating life, he's still married to the first woman he fell in love with in the 40s. He's had a great career in the industry and is just one cool old guy. There's nothing wrong with him getting the credit he deserves but he worked with other great story tellers who we never hear about. The worst part for Jack Kirby though is, he became depressed and reclusive because everyone loved his work but nobody knew it was 'HIS' work. Finally years after his death, he's starting to get the recognition he deserved during his life time. I won't even get started on Steve Ditko but he's the man who designed the world of Spider-Man. Stan Lee gave him a name and said here, turn this into something. Thousands of comics, multiple movies/TV shows and billions of dollars later....how many of you have heard of Steve Ditko? Guess what, he's still alive and can receive recognition so, where is it? That's what I mean by celebrating life while the person is still here to be a part of it.

 

  

Welcome to my blog!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. Here I will share my journey as an amateur comic artist who is striving to improve my craft. Stay tuned for many updates. 

The NOT so Amazing Spider-Man