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Deleter: have you ever wondered?

Savvy comics artists have been using Deleter brand graphic white to correct their art for years. Despite the name, it’s a Japanese brand, very high density, easy to use, good coverage. Finding a good graphic white is tough: when you find a good one, you really feel some loyalty. Deleter has earned ours.

You can get Deleter online a few places, and in New York at New York Central Art Supply (our fave all-around cartooning store) as well as DaVinci Artist Supply on 23rd at Lexington, courtesy of the efforts of a talented former student who now works there, David Fernandez (I’m sure he won’t be there for long).

The one problem with Deleter, which comes in both black and white? There are many numbered types, and all the information on them is in Japanese, so we poor illiterate-in-Japanese Americans have no idea what we’re really getting, or why we’re paying $8 instead of $5!

Well, no more. Thanks to our pal, painter and musician Hiroshi Kimura, here’s a translation of the descriptions on all the bottles. An informed consumer is the best customer!

(Note that Hiroshi translated prices on a Japanese site: import prices may be much higher.)

Deleter Black (FYI: the black is nice, but not radically better than other Western brands)

  1. Water based. Good with line or paint. 280 Japanese Yen ($3.4)
  2. Water based. Good for detailed pen drawings. If you use an eraser over the ink, the lines stays strongly. (it sounds a bit stronger than water based #1 –Hiroshi). 380Yen ($4.4)
  3. Waterproof. Perfect for painting a black area, it will be very flat, even. 380Yen ($4.4)
  4. Waterproof. This is very dense black. This black doesn’t fade after many years. 540Yen ($6)/most expensive)
  5. This is Japanese Sumi ink for comic drawing. Nicely shiny black. 220Yen ($2.8–cheap! Poor Garo artists might use this one! –H)
  6. Higher grade sumi ink for comics. Fast drying. Perfect for Kent paper. (“Kent” is thick, shiny surface paper, very popular for Japanese Manga artists since the 1960’s –H) 380Yen ($4.4)

Deleter White (we use #2! About $6 retail in the USA, and worth it.)

  1. All-purpose, not necessary to add water, you can use it right away. Good for detailed work. 450Yen ($5)
  2. This white will be waterproof when dry. Less transparent white, and thicker. 280Yen ($3.4)

Comments

9 Comments to Deleter: have you ever wondered?

  • by Matt

    On February 10, 2011 at 1:07 pm

    manga-heads, be sure to read Hiroshi’s savvy annotations!

  • by Jessica Abel

    On February 11, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    great tip from @joedecie via Twitter: a handy chart of all the Deleter inks and their various properties is here http://www.dinkybox.co.uk/acatalog/inkchart.png

  • by Sarah S

    On February 15, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    This is my first time here and I just wanted to stop by and say hello all.

  • by Jessica

    On February 18, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Welcome, Sarah–come back often!

  • by Daniel Werneck

    On July 11, 2013 at 4:59 pm

    Thank you SO MUCH for this!!! I’m going to NYC next week and I was desperate trying to find some Deleter materials for sale over there. I hope I can find some halftones too, but just finding these inks, specially the white ones, will be worth the trip!

  • by Jessica

    On July 12, 2013 at 12:39 pm

    Hey Daniel, welcome to the USA! Hope you find Deleter and screens, both DaVinci and NY Central are good sources for all things cartooning. NY Central especially for NIBS of all kinds.

  • by Drake

    On September 20, 2013 at 8:02 pm

    New york resident here! just wondering do these two stores still carry these inks and G pen nibs and holders? I looked on both their websites and after various searching, I could not find anything about deleter products or nibs.

  • by Jessica

    On September 21, 2013 at 9:03 am

    As far as I know, they do. No reason to think they will have stopped! You’re in NYC; just go in there. Neither is the kind of store to really have a complete web listing of all their products. You could call first if you want to check.

  • by Daniel Werneck

    On September 21, 2013 at 9:34 am

    While in New York I couldn’t find the halftone sheets anywhere, but Books Kinokunyia had all kinds of nibs and holders (and brushes and engraving tools and Doraemon coloring books and virtually anything you can think of except halftone sheets).

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