Editing Calvin and Hobbes (section)

== Production and technique ==
[[File:Calvin_Runs_Through_the_Streets_of_London_(4913938447).jpg|thumb|right|alt="Calvin runs through the streets of London" temporary illustration outside former location of Gosh Comics, Great Russell Street, London|"Calvin runs through the streets of London" temporary illustration outside former location of Gosh Comics, Great Russell Street, London]]
Watterson's technique started with minimalist [[Sketch (drawing)|pencil sketches]] drawn with a [[light pencil]] (though the larger Sunday strips often required more elaborate work) on a piece of [[Bristol board]], with his brand of choice being Strathmore because he felt it held the drawings better on the page as opposed to the cheaper brands (Watterson said he initially used any cheap pad of Bristol board his local supply store had but switched to Strathmore after he found himself growing more and more displeased with the results). He would then use a small [[Kolinsky sable-hair brush|sable]] brush and [[India ink]] to fill in the rest of the drawing, saying that he did not want to simply trace over his penciling and thus make the inking more spontaneous. He lettered dialogue with a [[Rotring|Rapidograph]] [[fountain pen]], and he used a [[quill|crowquill]] pen for odds and ends.<ref name="Watterson 1995 p. 20">[[#CITEREFWatterson1995|Watterson (1995)]], p. 20.</ref> Mistakes were covered with various forms of [[correction fluid]], including the type used on typewriters. Watterson was careful in his use of color, often spending a great deal of time in choosing the right colors to employ for the weekly Sunday strip; his technique was to cut the color tabs the syndicate sent him into individual squares, lay out the colors, and then paint a watercolor approximation of the strip on tracing paper over the Bristol board and then mark the strip accordingly before sending it on.<ref name="Watterson 2001">[[#CITEREFWatterson2001|Watterson (2001)]].</ref> When ''Calvin and Hobbes'' began there were 64 colors available for the Sunday strips. For the later Sunday strips Watterson had 125 colors as well as the ability to fade the colors into each other.<ref name="Watterson 1995 p. 20"/>