A Little Advice Please

[quddusaliquddus]

Hi all :) ,
I am completely new to comics (though i did buy a couple of X-Men comics quiet a few years ago). This is a great forum.

I wanted to know - how can i become a good comic book artist. Im not too good at drawing. ANY advice is appreciated!

Thank You

Q

PS
Plus any advice on other (important) aspects of comic-creation would be super! :D

[mattbib]

I wanted to know - how can i become a good comic book artist. Im not too good at drawing. ANY advice is appreciated!
Practice, practice, practice.

[Kara Zor El]

Hi all :) ,
I am completely new to comics (though i did buy a couple of X-Men comics quiet a few years ago). This is a great forum.

I wanted to know - how can i become a good comic book artist. Im not too good at drawing. ANY advice is appreciated!

Thank You

Q

PS
Plus any advice on other (important) aspects of comic-creation would be super! :D

If you are not too good at drawing then becoming a good comic book artist might not be achievable.

There are so many skills you'll need.

Anatomy of humans and animals.

Perspective.

Technical drawing.

Fluidity and action.

Composition.

Design.

Originality.

Patience.

Draftsmanship.

Dynamics.

The list goes on...

[DWEarhart]

That says it all. There's no magic trick, no instant talent pill. It's all about time and effort.

Draw everything.

[quddusaliquddus]

Thank you all for your time and advice. :)

[quddusaliquddus]

If you are not too good at drawing then becoming a good comic book artist might not be achievable.

There are so many skills you'll need.

Anatomy of humans and animals.

Perspective.

Technical drawing.

Fluidity and action.

Composition.

Design.

Originality.

Patience.

Draftsmanship.

Dynamics.

The list goes on...

So would you say that if i started to study anatomy of humans and animals that'd be a good start?

[T51R]

I'd say, anatomy IS the beginning. The second is perspectives. Worry about these first, concentrate on producing anatomically accurate bodies of different age groups, male and female. Make sure you can draw what's in your head, this is very important.

Don't just study anatomy, draw it as often as you can. Light build, heavy build, fat, short, learn to draw the different body types in different poses.

[quddusaliquddus]

ill keep that in mind. thanks again T51R

[Kara Zor El]

Then the next big step after learning anatomy is lighting. Do you have more than one light source? Or just sunlight? which direction is it coming from etc...

Someone like Alex Ross uses models and photographs them in the relevant poses.

[T51R]

As a substitute, you can buy posable figureines from the art supply store and use them as your basis along with a table lamp. These don't offer musculature, so you'll need to pay attenton to it more.

[Winslow]

I've started to use digital photographs as reference for my drawings (I strike a pose).

I then adjust or exaggerate the pose to get the "effect" I want.

It's made a huge difference in the quality of my doodles.

So don't be afraid to use reference would be my advice. Most of us don't have the time to develop anatomy sketching skills.

[quddusaliquddus]

thanks for all your advice. very helpful.

[Alex Dragon]

Forget about the comicbook part when you're first starting out and just worry about becoming a good artist. After you become a good artist in general then work on applying that to doing comicbook art.

Get some "How To" books and work on following the lessons in them. Start off with the basic ones like the ones that cover how to draw faces and the human body. Buy the cheapest sketchbook you can find start drawing faces and work on drawing the human body seperately. Don't draw clothes or costumes on the bodies. Keep things to a minimum and mostly worry about getting proportions right. Learn how to construct/build the body starting with stick figures or frames. Have your "How To" book or reference handy and get your sketch book and draw as many drawing as you can at a fairly fast pace. The mistake lots of new artist trying to learn make is they spend way too much time drawing and erasing one drawing trying to get it perfect when they're trying to learn. The secret is that most people have to get past a certain amount of "bad" drawings before they can start doing the good ones. If it takes you 100 "bad" drawings before you can start to get good then don't spend that much time on the "bad" stuff. Figure out why it's bad and get on to the next one. Fill up that sketch book as quickly as possible and work on filling the next one. Don't worry about being neat or trying to make things look "pretty" in the beginning because you aren't going to show anyone the "bad" stuff. It's purely about learning in the beginning.

Don't draw totally out of your head in the beginning. Look at refefernce. Look at the "How To" books. Even look at other artists but don't try to make it up when you're trying to learn or you'll just end up doing stuff you think is right but probably isn't. Don't just draw everyday but work on learning or working on something everyday. It's not even important that you draw everyday but start getting in the habit of looking at how things actually look and how other artists handle things.

Good luck.

[quddusaliquddus]

thanks for the advice Alex Dragon.