Geek Speaking New Toys

Geek Speak: There are worse things...

Having made a connection with a human who quite literally understands them, I think any animal would go to extremes to resist being dragged back into the usual circumstances where that level of understanding is missing. It's certainly that way in this case, but then she's probably going to make Wuffles try on the slightly used tutu she just got off "the eBay."

New Toys for Artist Boys
Yesterday there was a package in the mail for me from Cheap Joe's Art Supplies. This was something I'd been looking forward to getting for several days. Over every lunch break for the last week and a half I've been checking the tracking page, eagerly following my package (I know how that sounds, moving on). Yesterday it happened to arrive while I was on my lunch break. After it arrived I eagerly opened my package knowing I didn't have time to play with it on my lunch break (...moving on...). The contents of the eagerly anticipated envelope revealed themselves to be ten brand new, high quality art markers from Prismacolor.

On my most recent paycheck I set aside some money so that I could order the markers from Cheap Joe's. The markers I ordered are a gradient from black to light gray, in cool and warm tones. I started out with gray markers because most of the work I do is in black and white, and I needed a way to put down smooth, even, layered "colors" that would look good even after they're scanned. Although I enjoy working with pencil, and I'm happy with the results overall, I don't feel like the artwork in my strips is as "clean" as it could be.

It'll probably take some trial and error to get to where I like the look I'm getting before I start making heavy use of them in Geek Speak, but I like the results I'm getting the little that I've been able to play with them. It's definitely going to change the feel of the comic, but I think it'll be for the better.

On another note, Cheap Joe's Art Supplies lives up to its name. Prismacolor is a premium brand, and their line of professional art markers is especially expensive. The price for the set on Cheap Joe's was much less that I could get from Amazon or anywhere else. Two sets of markers were only slightly more than one set if ordered from Amazon. Both sites offer free shipping.

I quickly learned the only downside of ordering from Cheap Joe's and using the free shipping option is that it takes a long time. That's really a relative term. While I was growing up it was considered really fast if you could order something and have it arrive in a week. Now people get bent out of shape if an online merchant's standard 3-5 day shipping isn't offered for free. That said, it took eight days for the markers to arrive. It doesn't make much sense to pay the extra fees for expedited shipping (they have options for 3-5 day, 2 day, and overnight). After shipping costs I could probably get the same thing from Amazon, for about the same price, and not pay shipping if it falls under Amazon Prime.

I like the prices on Cheap Joe's but I can only recommend it if you're ordering something you don't need right away and you don't mind waiting to get it.