In the mail today I got a package of large ellipse templates. The auction actually said “Vintage Ellipse Templates” and that is because not many people use them anymore except me. There isn’t much mechanical drawing that is done by hand these days but ellipse templates used to be used by comic book artists all the time. That’s why I first started using them.
First off I better explain what an ellipse template is to those who don’t know. It’s a piece of hard plastic, usually around 8×10 inches, that has a bunch of different size ellipses cut out of it. Ellipses are squashed circles or symmetrical egg shapes. They are organized by degrees. A one inch 45º ellipse is wider than a one inch 30º ellipse.
When drawing a comic book there are all sorts of reasons for having to draw an ellipse. Anything that’s a circle in a straight on shot is an ellipse when turned at an angle. Some artists draw them freehand but some want the perfection of an ellipse template. You can make a drawing exact with them.
Most of the drawing I do these days that require ellipse templates are my “Covers to Comic Books That Don’t Exist” series. I’ve done a lot of them. I don’t really draw exacting perspective in those but I do draw a lot of design elements. It’s these elements that are often ellipses and I still hand draw them.
Back in the early 1990s I used to collect ellipse templates. By that I mean I wanted all the different sizes and degrees of them. A basic set of ellipse templates had 20º, 30º, 45º, and 60º in them. The templates stared out with an ellipse 7/16 of an inch high and went up to one 2 3/4 of an inch high. The main brand was Berol RapiDesign and I think I bought this set in my school days in the mid-1980s.
It wasn’t until I got to Marvel in 1990 that I started going to the NYC art stores regularly and started collecting as many different ellipse templates as I could. They weren’t easy to find individually but the base set was everywhere. I eventually filled out my set so that I had from 10º to 60º in increments of 5º. Except for 50º. For some reason I have two 55º templates and no 50º one. They’re all Pickett brand too.
All of us young would-be cartoonists who were working in the Marvel Bullpen were always looking out for ellipse templates. We wanted more of them because we never had the right size or they weren’t big enough. One day we heard of a big set of them. A large series of ellipse templates by Alvin (formerly Lietz as it says on the envelope). Ellipses from 2 1/8 of an inch to 4 inches. I, and my friends, trudged down to Pearl Pain to check them out.
There were actually three sets of ellipse templates but it turned out that they only had one set at Pearl. The least helpful set it ended up being. The set was a set of five and had 10º, 65º, 70º, 75º, and 80º. The 10º one is really narrow and the rest were the ones closest to a circle. There was just less call for them for whatever reason.
The two sets they didn’t have was the one set of ten with ellipses from 15º to 60º and a set of 15 with 10º through 80º (in other words the first two sets put together). That 10º to 60º was the one I wanted to match the smaller temples I already had.
Pearl Paint didn’t have any of the last two sets but tons of that first one that nobody really wanted. That’s probably why they still had them. I’m pretty sure the sets were old in 1990. The package looks like 1950s industrial design and I’m pretty sure they were going out of style even in 1990s. They were still expensive though. I don’t remember what I paid but it was probably around $60-$70 for the set. I used to pay $6-$7 for an individual small ellipse template.
Just recently I decided to look for them on eBay. They might have been hard to find in the early 1990s but we have eBay now. Sure enough all three sets were listed and for various prices. Fairly expensive prices too. I ended up getting set two (ten with ellipses from 15º to 60º) for $45 shipping and taxes included. It was the cheapest one as it was listed for $40 bucks I made an offer of $30. It was accepted right away. I’m guessing these aren’t in high demand.
A separate story that goes with these ellipse templates is that they’re not bevelled. The plastic lies flat and flush with the paper. When you use an ink pen with an un-bevelled template the ink can leak under the template and smear. To cure that Pickett makes something called a Template Ink Riser. It’s a punch that puts little dents in the plastic of the template. These dot dents raise the template off the paper just a tiny amount. That is the equivalent of a bevel.
These ink risers were harder to find than the templates. I don’t think I ever saw one in an art store but I may not have looked very hard. It’s not a tool you need all the time. You only need it when you buy a new template. I just used to bring my new templates to Marvel and use the “Beveler” (that’s what we called it) there.
The problem was that someone was always walking away with the beveler. I don’t think it was expensive. It was probably under $20. Probably some freelancer needed one for his templates at home and just took it. In those days Marvel was always handing out art supplies to their artists so why not? Usually when someone noticed that it was missing a new one was ordered.
I never took a beveler home until the very last one at Marvel. In the early 2000s Marvel moved out of their 1980s to 1990s building on 28th Street up to 40th Street. By that time the Marvel Bullpen had been digital for at least six years. The days of the endless supply closet and Marvel handing out art supplies were long gone.
After the move everything had to find a new place and the beveler popped up. It didn’t have a place and most people there didn’t even know what it was. After months of it kicking around in random spots I decided to take it home. I still have it and now I have a use for it. I’m going to bevel these new templates.
Let’s hear it for some old technology. I can’t help but wonder if I’m the last person bevelling templates.