Paper tests with a tech pen

I decided to do a quick paper test for a new comic I'm working on. I was going to go with Bristol board as the drawing substrate and thought I'd give it a quick test.

drawing of a chair in a corner with lamp and side table
Test drawing number 1 (bristol)
I was a little unhappy with how the pen moved across the page, the Bristol makes my tech pen drag a little which caused a few minor errors.
I decided I needed another test drawing, and seeing how I mostly draw in my sketchbook, I gave that a go next.

drawing of a chair in a corner with lamp and side table
Test drawing number 2 (sketchbook)
This was definitely much easier to draw on and I found the pen flowing over the paper more easily. These kind of tests can be hard as by the second time you have drawn an image you have become better at it anyway and make less mistakes. I was sure the second one turned out significantly better, although after scanning, cleaning and saving they look almost identical to me!

Do you see any difference?

I like to follow blogs on creative thinking and innovation and a mantra that is often repeated is 'fail early and often'. By testing the paper out with one panel and then realising it's not going to work, I have made a small mistake instead of the massive mistake of penciling and inking the whole thing on that paper. I could argue that the difference would be minor, but you have to take any small wins you can get.

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