DIY COMIC - Paper Choices

There is a ton of paper out there to choose from!

This is a quick little guide of the paper choices I have 

made and why. I will also include some of my experimental 

choices, including thoughts on some future choices.

When making mini-comic you have 2 different 

paper choices to make -

Cover Paper Stock and Interior Paper Stock. 

as well as 2 common sizes to choose from 

8 1/2 x 11 (letter) and 8 1/2 x 14 (legal).

I tend to use legal paper more often because it makes 

the books a little wider and I think that makes them look

closer to the size of actual comics. (The books also

fit nicely in a comic bag/board at this size.)

COVER STOCK - For the cover I try to use a card stock paper. 

Currently I've been using a 67lb Bristol for my self made 

mini-comics. This paper comes in quite a few color choices, 

so that I do not have to repeat colors very often. However

because I print my book on legal size paper my choices 

are a little more limited.

When I print my color covers, I send my work off

to be printed elsewhere, and I have it printed on 

 a 100lb Bright White Opaque paper.

I believe the choice of a heavier card stock paper makes 

your book feel sturdier in the hand of your fans, 

which adds a little more value to your product.

INTERIOR STOCK - For the interior of the book I use normal 

copy paper, which is a 20lb paper (24/67lb in this case.)

There are also many color choices for the interior paper, 

so DO NOT USE WHITE PAPER! I tend to use a Cream Color

or a color that matches the cover for my interiors,

When I send my work off to be printed in color, I still 

choose a 20lb paper. I know sometimes the printer will 

suggest a thicker paper for color, but I have not had an

 issue with the 20lb paper yet.

But remember DO NOT USE WHITE PAPER!

Why should you not use White Paper? Because it looks

like common copy paper, so with just that change that to 

a different color (I prefer Cream) you will increase 

the value of your book.

EXPERIMENTAL PAPER - I have tried many different papers

 and will continue to experiment on future products. 

One of my favorite experiments was using a brown paper 

that I purchased at a local packing/mail store. I was trying

 to find the paper that grocery bags are made out of and 

this was the closes that I could find. I used this paper for 

a cover, my goal was to make a brown bag type edition. 

The main issue with the paper was that it was very thin and 

could not be ran through a copy machine, so I had to use my 

ink jet printer (which still ate every 3rd-4th piece.)

In the future I have plans to use a Black Paper for a cover,

but you cannot print on it, so I thought I would use spray

paint/stencils to make the cover (or perhaps screen 

printing? or maybe even some rubber stamps?) 

I'm thinking this might be perfect for a 

Jenny Spookawski mini-comic.

I would also like to use Rag Paper, which is the paper 

that money is printed on. I thought that this might give the

 book an interesting feel. Still not sure what project

to use this on?

Currently I'm printing my color pages through Moxi Copy

and I purchase my paper locally at Paper Plus.