Cartooning Supply

Andrew --

Just about any digital paint or photomanipulation software will work fine for coloring a cartoon. I like to use Adobe PhotoDeluxe myself. (It came included with my scanner.) You can paint in shades of gray, or you can paint in color and later convert it to black-and-white, if necessary.

You might also like to check out a product called Grafix Duoshade. It's been around since at least the 1930s, and it's not cheap, but it's still practical, and a lot of fun to use.

Duoshade is a paper (available in several weights, from tracing paper to Bristol board) printed with two different shading patterns (for instance, a fine dot and a heavy doy pattern) in invisible ink. By painting on it with one of two chemical developers, you can bring out one or both of the patterns. It's like painting with polka-dot ink. You can get a starter kit (four sheets and two jars of developer) for under $10 at http://www.grafixarts.com/duoshade.htm

Also, take a look at the Joe Kubert Art Store's online catalog at http://catalogs.google.com/catalogs?issue=8328&catpage=cover

They have both Duoshade paper and Chartpak shading film for sale. See pages 32 and 33.

Thanks for asking!
-- Bob
http://www.cartoonacy.net