Starting to draw.

Spawn_Kcb · 05-25-2007, 06:36 PM

Hello All,

I know it may be a bit late in the day to start thinking about picking up the mechanical pencil but I love comics and have always had a creative side that I have nurtured as something of a writer (I have been published several times now) however I have always had a latent ability to draw as well, nothing near a professional level, but I have been playing around copying pictures from books etc.

However, what I was wondering is if there are any websites/tutorials etc out there on how to actually go about drawing comics. I have both Eisner books and McClouds as well however I have found these more useful as a writer than a artist and I am just looking for simple things to give me a bit of practice and, basically allow me to show of a little.

I know all this sounds bad but I just thought it might be fun.

Thanks for the help and for any and all replies, who knows I may even have a couple of sketches up in the next few days for you to all laugh at.

Thanks again.

Regards

Kevin McHugh

The Anti-crest · 05-25-2007, 08:50 PM

There are books out there that teach you how to draw like certain people draw, but you might want to stay away from those if you've already got your own style and vision.

They can be helpful though, to people who want to draw the same superhero images other people are drawing.

I would suggest, and this is some advice I give to people who ask for it, that they find websites, like this one for instance, that have writing sections where people post a page of sequential art up to get help. These writers are not pro's and they mostly want to see how their stuff looks on page but can't because they aren't ready to start a real project.

Email these people, the ones whose page or two or what ever script you like and ask if they would mind if you drew them to post sequentials in other parts of the message board.

Most writers would love to get that email and it will get you started on reading scripts, practicing panel lay outs, seeing how much detail you can put into small panels, how much space you have to fill in large panels and help develop your own style of imagery and story telling.

But you know, I'm just a writer so what do I know.

JAQ · 05-25-2007, 11:18 PM

[Insert obligatory comments about Grandma Moses here.]

I blew off my "shows some promise" drawing skills in high school, and didn't get back to seriously studying illustration until several years of doing other kinds of work. In my case I had to concede that I was never going to get good enough for people to hire me to illustrate their stories, but (thanks to my unique access to the images in my own head) I could do it well enough to illustrate some of my own stories.

One of the things that made a big difference for me was life-drawing class. Whether you take a formal class or do it on your own with a book to guide you, drawing human figures from real live people (or in a pinch, photos of them) teaches you so much more about how to draw characters in a comic than you can get from copying figures from other illustrations.

spider · 05-26-2007, 06:54 AM

If you want to play around with some established characters, there are a few scripts here...

http://homepage.mac.com/dmcduffie/site/Scripts.html

chaosgoat · 05-26-2007, 08:06 AM

Invest in some anatomy books. Best advice I was ever given was to study and reference. Dano actually got me into my good reference habits when I first started here.

For structuring the story, McCloud and Eisner's books are great. Christopher Hart's books on comics always have a helpful section on how to lay out the page and design panels. There's one website that I went to for a while... it was really helpful, and I can't for the world of me remember the guy's name... He did the art on Nightwing for the longest time... Anybody??

I'm pretty sure if you google "comic book tutorial" you could find at least a dozen websites to help you.

And, of course, there's always this site. Post you work in the artist showcase and sequential showcase, and you'll not be wanting in helpful advice. I can always find someone who will point out what I've done wrong and how I can fix it.

Toyandgadgetguy · 05-26-2007, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaosgoat

For structuring the story, McCloud and Eisner's books are great. Christopher Hart's books on comics always have a helpful section on how to lay out the page and design panels. There's one website that I went to for a while... it was really helpful, and I can't for the world of me remember the guy's name... He did the art on Nightwing for the longest time... Anybody??

Scott McDaniel?

j giar · 05-26-2007, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toyandgadgetguy

Scott McDaniel?

Is that Old McDaniel? He had a farm....
Seriously, one book that I would highly recommend is Panel Discussion. I was intrdoduced to that on here somewhere..by someone. (oddly enough, it to may have been Dano.) It's invaluable if you want to do sequential art, in my opinion.
Another book I discovered is Facial Expressions by Mark Simon...This has everything you would want (or just about.) as far as different ages, male and female. Young and old..Even covers phonemes or the position of the mouth during speech.

jimmybott · 05-26-2007, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaosgoat

There's one website that I went to for a while... it was really helpful, and I can't for the world of me remember the guy's name... He did the art on Nightwing for the longest time... Anybody??

This is the site I think Chaosgoat was talking about.
http://www.scottmcdaniel.net/

If you click "drawing comics" in the top left scroll menu then all the subject headings appear in the menu bottom right.

It's got some really useful information on it. Definately worth exploring. A few years back I used to read this site all the time and still pop back from time to time.

chaosgoat · 05-27-2007, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toyandgadgetguy

Scott McDaniel?

Yes! I knew it was Scott something!

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimmybott

This is the site I think Chaosgoat was talking about.
http://www.scottmcdaniel.net/

If you click "drawing comics" in the top left scroll menu then all the subject headings appear in the menu bottom right.

It's got some really useful information on it. Definately worth exploring. A few years back I used to read this site all the time and still pop back from time to time.

Yep. That's the one. It's a great site. Check it the heck out, Spawn_Kcb.

05-25-2007, 06:36 PM	#1
Spawn_Kcb Spawn_Kcb Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 41	Starting to draw. Hello All, I know it may be a bit late in the day to start thinking about picking up the mechanical pencil but I love comics and have always had a creative side that I have nurtured as something of a writer (I have been published several times now) however I have always had a latent ability to draw as well, nothing near a professional level, but I have been playing around copying pictures from books etc. However, what I was wondering is if there are any websites/tutorials etc out there on how to actually go about drawing comics. I have both Eisner books and McClouds as well however I have found these more useful as a writer than a artist and I am just looking for simple things to give me a bit of practice and, basically allow me to show of a little. I know all this sounds bad but I just thought it might be fun. Thanks for the help and for any and all replies, who knows I may even have a couple of sketches up in the next few days for you to all laugh at. Thanks again. Regards Kevin McHugh

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05-25-2007, 08:50 PM	#2
The Anti-crest Robert Tidwell - JUGGALO Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 2,554	There are books out there that teach you how to draw like certain people draw, but you might want to stay away from those if you've already got your own style and vision. They can be helpful though, to people who want to draw the same superhero images other people are drawing. I would suggest, and this is some advice I give to people who ask for it, that they find websites, like this one for instance, that have writing sections where people post a page of sequential art up to get help. These writers are not pro's and they mostly want to see how their stuff looks on page but can't because they aren't ready to start a real project. Email these people, the ones whose page or two or what ever script you like and ask if they would mind if you drew them to post sequentials in other parts of the message board. Most writers would love to get that email and it will get you started on reading scripts, practicing panel lay outs, seeing how much detail you can put into small panels, how much space you have to fill in large panels and help develop your own style of imagery and story telling. But you know, I'm just a writer so what do I know.

05-25-2007, 11:18 PM	#3
JAQ Jason A. Quest Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Purgatory, Michigan Posts: 1,785	[Insert obligatory comments about Grandma Moses here.] I blew off my "shows some promise" drawing skills in high school, and didn't get back to seriously studying illustration until several years of doing other kinds of work. In my case I had to concede that I was never going to get good enough for people to hire me to illustrate their stories, but (thanks to my unique access to the images in my own head) I could do it well enough to illustrate some of my own stories. One of the things that made a big difference for me was life-drawing class. Whether you take a formal class or do it on your own with a book to guide you, drawing human figures from real live people (or in a pinch, photos of them) teaches you so much more about how to draw characters in a comic than you can get from copying figures from other illustrations.

05-26-2007, 06:54 AM	#4
spider Still has his job, HA! Join Date: May 2003 Location: Up my own ass. Posts: 2,220	If you want to play around with some established characters, there are a few scripts here... http://homepage.mac.com/dmcduffie/site/Scripts.html

05-26-2007, 08:06 AM	#5
chaosgoat Uh-huh... Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Kentucky Posts: 2,441	Invest in some anatomy books. Best advice I was ever given was to study and reference. Dano actually got me into my good reference habits when I first started here. For structuring the story, McCloud and Eisner's books are great. Christopher Hart's books on comics always have a helpful section on how to lay out the page and design panels. There's one website that I went to for a while... it was really helpful, and I can't for the world of me remember the guy's name... He did the art on Nightwing for the longest time... Anybody?? I'm pretty sure if you google "comic book tutorial" you could find at least a dozen websites to help you. And, of course, there's always this site. Post you work in the artist showcase and sequential showcase, and you'll not be wanting in helpful advice. I can always find someone who will point out what I've done wrong and how I can fix it.