OT: Which of the "How to draw comic books" Books is the best?

[Mikolaj]

Hia all!!
I was hoping that some of you drawing wizards here could give me some insight on which of the many "How to draw comics" books should I choose.
I'm try'n to put something together and I'v decided that I need some serious training ;)
I will be thankfull for any guidelines!

[fitzroy]

I'd have to say the first volume of Wizard Basic Training. It's great

[Neil Hill]

Chris Hart has a nice series of "How To" drawing books (like a whole bunch of them, running the gamat of genres- Manga, Superhero, etc.). Also, there's the classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. Just go to your local Barnes and Noble or Borders, and sift through the "How to Draw" section. I'm sure you'll find quite a few that provide the basic instructions on how to get started.

I hope this helps you!

[Mikolaj]

Thanks for the insight, both of you!
The problem is that I can't scan any of these as there are none of these in Poland and the only way to get my hands on either of thoes is to order'em from the US- that's why I would still be more thankfull for any other opinions.

[Petersen]

How to draw comics the marvel way has some GREAT lessons about composition and emphasis on the right pose & camera angle.

[Ivar_L]

Hi,

I'm another one who must order most of my books from the net. Not that I complain...
:)

My suggestions:

this "Marvel Way" book is always suggested, but when I got it yeas ago I was disappointed. If you already know about perspective and some basics then there really isn't much to learn. Of course, I'm not interested about drawing superheroes, so...

I'd recommend Burne Hogarth's Dynamic Figure Drawing.
http://www.utv.ee/~ivar/comics/pics/dynfd.gif
It really helps to understand anatomy without having a model. I have a couple of more his books but I think this one is the best. Dynamic Anatomy has more pages but big part of the book is history and not so much drawing.

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is the one to read to understand better how comic books work.

Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation is the BEST book about animation. If you like cartoony style then it's the book to get. I saw it first time in an animation studio here long time ago (it was autographed by both authors and dedicated to the owner) and got my own when it was re-issued in 1995. Lot's of pictures and concept art.

I'm not a big fan of manga how-to books, most of them are boring or the style can be somehow weird. I think Newtype USA magazine is better than any of them, but now I'm looking more for inspirational artbooks anyway. Some of the artbooks I love (I'd like to know about any other good ones!):

The art of Noir (big book about old movie posters)
The Art of Hellboy
The Art of Greg Horn (tasteless layout and typography but great craft)
Tha Art of Porco Rosso (or any other Miyazaki artbook, another English version will be out in USA by Viz in a couple of months - Kiki's Delivery Service)
Batman Animated
Claire Wendling Drawers 2.0 (this one is from France)
The Story of the Fifth Element (got the English version from Ebay for 12.5 Euros!!!)
Uncovered - The Hidden Art of Girlie Pulp (cover art for pulp magazines)
The Art of Incredibles
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

And, you know, I'd really recommend to get some animation DVD-s, like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. There are some nice galleries and documentarys. Also, there are some really good tutorials in the net, the latest ones I found:
Making Copper (http://www.boltcity.com/workshop/copper_tutorial/)
http://daredetectives.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=419

[hellboyone]

Stay AWAY from Christopher Hart's books. The guy's a hack. His books look impressive because of the sheer volume of them, but I believe he's harming a lot of kids more than helping them.

How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way is the grand-daddy of drawing books for comics. Start with that. Nobody's gonna teach you better fundamentals than John Buscema and Stan Lee! (I still have my 20 year old copy...all raggedy and held together with tape!)

That and draw people as much as you can from life. Draw ANYTHING from life. Life drawing gives you the fundamentals as well.

R.

[Neil Hill]

Stay AWAY from Christopher Hart's books. The guy's a hack. His books look impressive because of the sheer volume of them, but I believe he's harming a lot of kids more than helping them.

Don't listen to this Rick guy. He's just trying to lead you astray. :p

A "hack" he may be sometimes, but certain of his books have proved useful at least to me. :o

[Jon D.]

I need to buy some of these as well, think any of these are available on wallmart or amazon? haha

[Mikolaj]

Thanks for all teh opinions, everyone!

[Neil Hill]

I need to buy some of these as well, think any of these are available on wallmart or amazon? haha

Amazon definitely, but Walmart I'd say not so much. Best of luck to you though in your search!

[tomasej]

I'm not an artist, but the Magazine Draw from Tomorrows seems to have a lot of good stuff in it. Any artists have thoughts?

[Ivar_L]

Also, can somebody comment the books by Ben Caldwell -
Action! Cartooning
and
Fantasy! Cartooning?...

[hellboyone]

Also, can somebody comment the books by Ben Caldwell -
Action! Cartooning
and
Fantasy! Cartooning?...

They're absolutely fantastic. The trap with these books is that the artwork is so good an artist might end up just copying the style and then he or she will end up a Ben Caldwell clone. If you can keep from doing that, these books have TONS to teach you.

DRAW! magazine is also a great asset.

R.

[Ivar_L]

Thanks! Looks like I will get them both.