so I've been lookin forever for industry standard 11x17 artist boards to work on my tattoo flash art as well as for some of my stories.

needless to say, it's been a major pain in the ass to hunt this spit down but i finally found some at a nationwide "art and hobby" chain store. here's the schematic of what they're offering though:

20 sheets with non repro blue line gridding for a guide for twenty bucks.

the name brand is a canson product called "fanboy~get out of the basement." and they also sell "manga" standard size sheets which are fairly smaller without the blue lines for about ten bucks. now, does this sound about right to anyone else? or does it sound like a ripoff? i mean, to me, it sounds like a ripoff but because it's been such a pain in the ass to find this specific size cut i decided to shell out for a few tablets.

I have no idea, so I did a search for it, and found a "review" of the boards in question.

http://andrewwales.blogspot.com/2008/02/create-your-own-comic-book.html

It looks like you can get the stuff cheaper online at http://www.dickblick.com/products/canson-fanboy-comic-and-manga-papers/ at $11.67, plus a minimum of $6.95 for shipping (unless you plan on making a purchase of over $200), it ends up being $18.62, which is, what? $2 Cheaper?

I checked a couple other online retailers, and they all stick to a $20 cost, so I guess, yeah, $20 sounds about right.

(Though, my dad works in paper, and I know that that is WAY more than what the paper actually costs. Must be the blue ink, or the plastic wrapping.)

does the blue ink not show up in photocopy?
if so sounds good.
I have a friend who is an artist and hits up lots of Conventions.
It is a good way to make connections and shop your work around.
He's lucky if the sold work covers the booth expense so beware.
He normally has original work as well as prints for sale.
Also, just started to work with vinyl stencil t-shirts. Its kinds cool you just stencil the design on cut it out and *bam*. Some of the layering can turn up nice surprises.

According to the review I read, the blue only shows up if it was scanned in color. In black and white, it does not appear. But, really, how hard is it to remove some blue text in photoshop?

well, the blueline stuff hasn't really caused any probs anyway cus i just use the opposite side of the panels anyway (it's only printed on one side) and yeah, i kinda had a feeling i was paying a little more than i should have been.

yeah, conventions are great to go to. havent found this stuff at any local ones though. mostly all the vendors section out here are just the big three comic shops tryin to hock a quick buck off of damaged boxed miniatures for half cost and flavor of the month comics....oh yeah and s.s crompton selling copies of demi the demoness for fifty cents a piece. (carnal comics is based out here) havent even thought of bringing my art to a con though. last time I told someone i was an artist they gave me a weird look (arthur suydam of all people) like I was joking.

Wow, 11x17 is always premium when dealing with bristol. Unless you need the blue line guides, I would look for plain bristol in bulk. I always hashed my margins with blue pencil anyway.

Check print houses and newpapers. Some smaller ones still do pasteup and may have a tip on a cheap paper supplier.

I always hated bristol when I was pencilling. I would bury my hatching into the surface since I was so used to using fine mechanical pencils. Inks are another matter.

it took me a few tablets of the cheaper stuff to get used to but i've grown accustomed to using bristol. and yeah, for some reason that cut just seems to be a real pain in the ass to find. i've asked a few copy shops around fi they carried bristol in that size and if they sold it but ofcourse~no, they don't sell it. which is lame lol.

where's a good place for blue pencils btw. haven't been able to locate those down. right now i'm using an h lead pencil and a soft mechanical with brushpens which has been working good for the most part but occassionally i do end up with lead markings that just don't seem to wanna come out with an eraser.

edit: meh, never mind on the blue pencil question. I tested my scanner out with my new avatar image i posted up (that count orlaf lookin fella in blue) and it scanned just fine without the excess pencil markings showing through. I figure since most of my stuff is gonna be on an 11x17 format and my scanner only really does normal sized document paper i won't be using it for my flash and am gonna have to take those down to a professional to scan and copy but for teeshirt designs and my own comic i'm gonna use the manga size panels or smaller bristol since it's cheaper. and since the comics i'm doing are all gonna be online or ashcan anyway.