eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.
Summary: Why cartoonist prefer to use blue lead pencils from their easy erasability to future inking considerations; learn this and more in this free online art lessons about creating comic strips taught by experienced cartoonist and graphic artist Matt Cail.
"For the next step, I'd like to discuss why we're going to use blue lead in our mechanical pencil, as oppose to traditional graphite pencils. There are a number of properties that the blue lead has, which make it far superior to our graphite options. First, blue lead is very easily erased. It's a very light color. If you're drawing something, it's a lot easier to erase that as oppose so meting which is much darker. The erasing effect is much easier if you have to go back and erase. The other thing I'd like to point out is the importance of inking. Blue lead is a lot easier to cover with your felt pens later on, which we're going to cover in more detail when we go over inking. If you ever want to make a photocopy of your art, the blue lead will not show up as readily as your darker graphite will. These are 2 things to keep in mind and why I heavily prefer to use blue lead in my comic stripping."
eHow Article: Why Use a Blue Pencil for Comic Strip?