Lars,

   That used to be my standard equipment, along with scrap notebook paper and a stapler, when I was a little boy.  There are times when I wish that I had kept the two or three little "graphic novels" that I threw together, as a sort of relic of where I've been and how I started doing comics.  Very well done for the medium, if I'd say so.

   I have got to get my creative juices flowing again...

The pen was kinda dying so I was sort of able to lightly sketch with it and then darken it up as needed. Same with my daughter's markers, I was trying to use them all up before throwing them out. I'm like "It's still good, I ain't throwin' it out yet!"

It reminds me though, back in high school we did a project where we had to dip a pen with nibs into actual ink to render the picture. A cornocopia if I recall (a wicker horn-of-plenty). I really enjoyed it and it turned out great. The teacher kept it (!)

But I've never tried inking with a brush, even though that's how professional comic inkers do it. Brush squiggles can be so loose and energetic but since I'm not adept at the brush I stick with pencil mostly. I've spent many hours trying to force a million pencil-lines into simulating the soft curve of a brush stroke.

   I'm not very proficient with brushwork myself.  That's why I prefer nib pens and felt-tip markers for my inking.  The most that I've done with brushes is fill in black areas on a drawing and put down a few thicker lines or effects where it would look "right".

    The ball-points were good for just about everything, with the possible exception of filling in solid areas.  My stuff with them was fairly well laid-out, but it was like any other 6- to 10-year old boy's.  Little more than cartoon figures.  I was drawing comics with dinosaurs as the main characters, and almost no humans.

   After I was introduced to Marvel comics and JB's X-Men, I began to seriously pursue a more realistic style of drawing.  Within a few years, I had even put together short comics of my own, though these also didn't survive to be salvaged.  It's a shame, because some of the characters and stories that I created in them are still with me today, in a slightly modified form.

Not wanting to let too much time go by between sketches...

Noticed Darren's She-Hulk above.  I sense George Perez vibes in there, Darren.

This is what tends to happen in my home when my ride is late picking me up and I have "idle hands".