This is a strange little comic I did a while back when a friend suggested a group of us each do a comic-format story based on Batman. This was my take on it. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Web-comic format, so I assembled all 10 pages of this story into one long strip to see how it would display on a phone or iPad. Hopefully you will find it amusing. Enjoy!
What the deuce indeed!
Having fun with a simple ball point pen and some watercolor washes. There’s something fun about the humble Bic medium point – the ink is waterproof and the pen is so familiar that I can concentrate on drawing and not have to think about the pen. I think I started using one of these in third grade. My son introduced me to the Uniball Signo white ink pen – also a lot of fun.
Very satisfying getting these uploaded finally!
A typical scene from work…
At the Moonlight Roller Rink
The kids and their cousins after a sleep-over. 
I don’t know why these two drawings are put together, but they are.
Another one with the Ackerman Pump pen. More on that later…
Anotha cuppa java.
“Purging” these drawings from my old sketchbook before putting it up on the shelf. I have got to learn to post more often, as I draw them, to prevent the inevitable backlog…
Sketches from a meeting
I finally got one of these and I’m hooked, despite myself. I can’t imagine life without it 🙂
From my wife’s reading table by the bed.
For the trip to the hardware store…
My son at the computer.
These plastic 120 format cameras are coming back in style.
Look over there.
Co-worker on the Cintiq.
Trying out some new pens, old fountain pens, different inks…
At a high school parent meeting…
Using the strange, yet compelling Ackerman Pump pen.
Cuppa joe at work.
Lately I’ve been nearly obsessed with “building” my own sketchbook instead of buying one pre-made at the art store. I did a bit of research on-line (a couple of good starting points, if anyone else wants to try it, here and here, although I’ve changed a few things to suit my own way of doing it), and got a bit of help from my wife who took a book binding class a while back. This is the fifth or sixth book I’ve bound, each slightly different, as I experiment with different ways of stitching the signatures or gluing the spine, etc. So far this is the best sketchbook to date. I’ve come down to the last two spreads in my current sketchbook and felt the pressure to get a new horse to jump on to, so to speak. (By the way, I have only posted a fraction of those sketches — which I need to remedy. Stay tuned, as they say.)
Below are some of my notes on how I did made the book you see above. They’re not meant to be a how-to, by any means; but more like notes to myself for me to remember what I did this time so I can repeat it or improve upon it next time. 
The whole process takes me about two and a half hours, start to finish, then letting the book dry overnight, clamped and weighted down. In the morning when I take the binder clips off it’s like opening a present! There’s something really enjoyable about making these sketchbooks that I can’t explain. And it will be interesting to see how it will be to draw in this new creation. Perhaps I’ll have more of a sense of accomplishment over the whole process. I’m not sure I’m ready to start making my own paper, though – ha.
Also I wanted to have a book that was a different size than what I can find in the art stores and on-line. This one is six by six inches — a square book to try out, and a bit smaller than the HandBook brand I usually use, which is a fantastic sketchbook. It’s good to know I have a great book to fall back on in case this little experiment doesn’t work out. But I’m definitely going to continue making them…
This was from a few days ago. She crawled into our bed after we got up and fell back to sleep. They’re easy to draw when they’re not moving!
Every Christmas I try to do a painting for my wife. This year’s painting features our daughter’s tortoise in my wife’s garden. This is the reference sketch I made, which was a huge help.
I know it’s a few days late for Christmas, but things have been unusually busy at the Zierhut household this year. Have a great new year!
Anthony Zierhut 