Anatomy Books for Drawing Comics Part 2

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In my last article Anatomy Books for Drawing Comics Part 1, I discussed books by Burne Hogarth and George Bridgman. Now I am going to jump over to a former student of Bridgman’s, Andrew Loomis. I honestly never heard the name Andrew Loomis until the early 2000’s. I was on a website called conceptart.org, which I don’t belive is around anymore. It’s a shame, as a lot industry professionals posted helpful content there. Anyway, I was reading a post about everyones favorite figure drawing/anatomy books and quite a few people mentioned a book called Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis.

I had never heard of this book before nor did I know anything about Andrew Loomis. A quick background, Andrew Loomis (1892-1959) was an illustrator, author and art instructor whose work was featured in many magazines and advertisements. He is also known for publishing a series of art instruction books between the years 1939 to 1961. To complicate matters all of his books were long out of print. If you were able to find one in a mom and pop book store you were going to pay a pretty penny for it as the book was published in 1943. You could find scanned pdf versions on the internet, but they were not of the best quality. Luckily, around 2010 I believe, the demand for the books brought them back into print and they are now easily available.

Now, I had said in the first part of my anatomy book article that there was not just one book that was going to teach you everything, well this book comes pretty darn close! In Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth, Loomis put together a tome which covers so many concepts for drawing the figure. Things like proportion, drawing the mannequin, weight distribution, values, lighting, bones, muscles, drawing using landmarks, perspective, flat diagrams, movement and about 100 other things too long to list. It is a 208 page book full of beautiful illustrations and diagrams reminiscent of the type of illustrations found in magazine ads from the 30’s and 40’s. You could spend a few years studying everything in this book, but the information is so worth the investment in time.

Sample pages from Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis

Loomis put out several other books. They are all fantastic, but if you want to draw comics I would suggest Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth, Fun With A Pencil and Creative illustration.

Since I’ve covered the big three of Hogarth, Bridgman and Loomis, I thought I would move on to some of the more recent books that are making the rounds and have found favor with some of todays top artists.

Michael Hampton’s Figure Drawing Design and Invention is one of the newer books that a lot of artist from newbies to pro’s seem to really like.
I would have to agree with them as it is a really great book on the subject matter.

Hampton’s book is like a mix of Hogarth and Loomis. There are a lot of gestural line drawings mixed with traditional figure drawings. Then there are more diagrammatic drawings that isolate certain body parts and illustrate the structure and the mechanics of how the body part works. Most of these illustrations are color coded which makes for easy understanding of the material.

Sample pages from Figure Drawing Design and Invention by Michael Hampton

In general the books goal is to provide a simple understanding of anatomy in order to clarify the mechanics of the figure, help facilitate the invention of figures from imagination, and ultimately develop the artists skills to be successful across different media. Definitely a worthwile book to have in your reference library.

The next book I’m going to talk about is not your traditional figure drawing book, nor does it have to do with comic book illustration. Anatomy for Sculptors Understanding the Human Figure by Uldis Zarins with Sandis Kondrats is a book targeted at sculptors, particularly those sculpting digitally in ZBrush or Mudbox or any of the various modeling programs.

So why put this book in an article about figure drawing for comic book illustration? Because…..this book is awesome! The authors put a lot of thought into the material in this book in order to help sculptors learn how to portray convincing anatomy. The figure is presented as a whole but then broken down into parts in color coded illustrations that run the gamut from diagrammatic images to fully rendered figures.

Sample pages from Anatomy for Sculptors Understanding the Human Figure by Uldis Zarins with Sandis Kondrats

For the aspiring comic book artist, this book is an easy reference guide on how to construct figures, what the masses of the body look like, how they are formed and how they work with one another. The illustrations are a combination of 3d sculpts, wireframe meshes and actual photographs. Sometimes all layered on top of one another to help illustrate how the layers of the body work. So while this book was created with 3D sculptors in mind, there is plenty of reference material to learn from for 2D artists.

The last book for this article is Force: Drawing Human Anatomy by Mike Mattesi

This is a book is more about the motion of the human body and how to draw it convincingly as opposed to just learning straight up anatomy. Mattesi stresses the function of each body part and how gravity effects the appearance of the muscle forms relative to the pose the body is in. This is super helpful information for comic book artists, as comics are all about movement and action. If you want to work in comics, you are going to need to know how to draw the body in action convincingly. To that end, this book allows you to concentrate on mastering one body part at a time using the color coded illustrations as a reference guide.

If you like Force: Drawing Human Anatomy, Mattesi has another book called Force: Dynamic Life Drawing which demonstrates the Force line and how to apply the technique to draw dynamic figures. The 10th Anniversary addition has a companion app that launches over 30 videos of Mike as he demonstrates the concepts in his book. So if video is you thing the 10th Anniversary addition is the way to go, if not you can get the standard addition. Either way you won’t be disappointed.

So that is going to wrap up part 2 of my anatomy books article. I really hope these books help you in your artistic journey. I only wish someone would have compiled a list of books like this back when I was a younger man looking for this information. My goal now is to make things easier for the next generation of artist looking to find their way. Good luck to you all!

Comicbook Studio On-the-Go

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You’re a comic artist, sketch artist or illustrator and you have to travel. Maybe you’re doing a convention or an artist appearance and you don’t want to haul a ton of supplies with you. You just need something that you can lay down some pencils and ink over without having to bring brushes and bottles of ink with you. It’s got to be portable and not take up a lot of room in a suitcase or backpack. If this sounds like you check out the Copic Biwal Black Ink Pro Wallet Set.

This set contains one Copic marker, one Sketch marker, one Wide marker, one Various Ink refill, four Multiliner in .1mm, .3mm, .5mm, and brush tip, and two SP refill cartridges. The set comes in a black, book-style case with an extra slot where you can put a pencil or pen. I like to throw in a lead holder such as the Prismacolor Turquoise Lead Holder .

You’re going to need a small sharpener to keep a point on your lead. One that fits perfectly into the case is the Kum 303.58.21 Plastic Lead Pointer Pencil Sharpener. These are maybe an inch long so they can fit right into the Copic wallet and not take up much space at all.

Last but not least, you’ll need an eraser. Throw in a June Gold Kneaded Rubber Eraser and your all set.

Now that you have all your drawing implements fit into one handy dandy wallet, all you need is some paper to draw on. If you’re going to lay out some sequential pages bring a Canson Comic Book Art Boards Pad with you. The pad comes pre-lined in non-repro blue so you’ll know exactly where your bleed and trim lines are. It is 150 pound heavyweight paper so it can withstand lots of erasing and scraping.

At this point your pretty set, but if you require a portable drawing surface you may need an Artist Tote Board. The 18 x 18 US Art Supply Artist Sketch Tote Board would fit the bill. Just fasten your comic board into the two metal clasps and you can literally draw anywhere. This board is 18 x 18 but you can get them in other sizes. Just keep in mind you standard comic page is 11 x 17 so you want the tote board to accommodate your paper size.

If you decide that you need to bring all of these supplies with you, you’re going to need to carry them in something. If you’re just bringing the Copic Wallet then you can throw that into a standard suitcase or backpack. However, if you’re bringing the comic art boards and the tote board, you are going to need something to carry them in. I would suggest either of these artist tote bags. The Artist Portfolio Backpack and Tote can be pulled with a handle, worn as a backpack or carried at your side using the side strap. It’s sturdy and roomy enough to fit your supplies and art boards.

The Welldeal Heavy Duty Art Portfolio Carry Case Bag Backpack is a sturdy yet roomy backpack that can accommodate a sizes up to 26″ x 19″. It has a sewn in wire frame so the bag maintains it shape. It’s also water resistant to help protect your art when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

So there you have it. You can travel really light with just the Copic wallet with an added pencil, sharpener and eraser, or you can travel a bit more robustly by adding comic boards a tote and a large backpack to fit it all in.

I hope this article was helpful in getting you set to create on-the-go.
Now go forth and make something great!

Anatomy Books for Drawing Comics Part 1

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If there was one question I would say is the most prevalent amongst anyone wanting to learn to draw comics, it’s what figure drawing/anatomy book should I but to learn from. That is not an easy question to answer because there is no one all encompassing resource that you can buy that will teach you everything. There are some books that have loads of information in them and require in depth study in order to be able to utilize the material. Others have general overviews of the basics to get you up and running. The truth is if you want to draw comics, you will pull information from a variety of sources. Books are a great resource that you can constantly refer to when you need reference for anatomy or a particular pose. Studying from real life through figure drawing classes and just daily observation of people should also make up part of your study program. Since the title of this article is about anatomy books I am going to focus on those books that I feel are the most helpful. Keep in mind this is not the be all end all list of books as new ones come out all the time, and you as an artist should investigate new books to see if you can learn anything from them.

So what books should I start with? Good question! I asked myself that same question back when I wanted to start acquiring reference books. Unfortunately it was the early 90’s and the internet did not exist so I couldn’t just look it up on Google or Amazon. What we did have back then was a magazine called Wizard which was a comic industry fanzine. They would always have interviews with the hot artist of the month where they would ask standard questions like how did you break in, did you go to art school etc. On occasion some of the artist would mention the books they use to study from. One of the books mentioned constantly was called Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth.

Sample pages from Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth

Of course I ran to the local book store to hunt down this tome of anatomical wisdom. When I got it home I remember looking through it fascinated by the drawings contained within. Beautiful rendered drawings of both male and female figures in all sorts of contorted poses. Hogarth was an illustrator and teacher and worked on the Tarzan comic strip. I learned that these drawings were gathered from the various figure drawing lectures Burne Hogarth would give at the schools he taught at, in particular the School of Visual Arts in NYC which he co-founded with Silas Rhodes. The school was established in 1947 as The Cartoonists and Illustrators School and eventually was renamed The School of Visual Arts in 1956.

Many artist from Marvel, DC and Image recommended this book as well as some of the other Hogarth books that were available such as Dynamic Anatomy which actually came out in 1958 and preceeded Dynamic Figure Drawing which came later in the 70’s.

Sample pages from Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth

In addition to Dynamic Anatomy and Dynamic Figure Drawing, other books in the Hogarth series are Drawing Dynamic Hands, Drawing the Human Head, Dynamic Light and Shade, Dynamic Wrinkles and Drapery and The Arcane Eye of Hogarth which is a sketchbook of Hogarth’s pencil drawings and not particularly focused on anatomy. These books are a great starting point to build you library of anatomy reference.

The first time I heard of the name George Bridgman it was in a video called Stan Lee Presents The Comic Book Greats Volume #10 with Jim Lee. It was a video series that focused on a particular “hot” artist in the early 90’s and would discuss how the artist goes about drawing comics. You can view the video on youtube here. Jim Lee was demonstrating a gesture drawing and mentioned he wasn’t someone who memorized all of the muscles, but was more into the gesture and studied George Bridgman. Jim Lee, at the time was a monster of comic art. Image Comics was newly formed and in the comic book world, Jim was basically a rock star. When I saw this video my first thought was, hell if Jim Lee uses this book, then I need to get it asap! So back to the book store I went to hunt down George Bridgman’s Life Drawing.

Sample pages from Bridgman’s Life Drawing by George B. Bridgman

The first thing you’ll notice is that the drawings in this book are very crude. What I mean by that is in comparison to the Hogarth books, the drawings contained here are very simplistic line drawings. However, that is the beauty and power of his books. Bridgman used the least amount of lines as possible to illustrate the gesture of the human figure. He used basic shapes and showed how they wedged and interlocked into each other to form the masses of the body and how they work with and relate to one another. Bridgman showed how these forms create 3 dimensional shapes that construct the body. Bridgman was truly a master of gesture and anatomy. Other famous artists that he had taught in his classes are names you may know, such as Will Eisner artist of The Spirit comic, author of Comics and Sequential Art and the man who The Eisner Award is named after. Andrew Loomis, illustrator, author and art instructor whose books I will cover in part 2 of this article was also a student of Bridgman, as was Gifford Beal, Paul Manship, Edmund Ward, Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Norman Rockwell. This book along with some of Bridgmans’s other books such as Constructive Anatomy , Heads Features and Faces, and The Book of 100 Hands should all occupy a spot on your reference book shelf.

That is it for part 1 of this article. In part 2 I’ll go over a few older books and some more recent ones that I feel can be very beneficial to the aspiring artist.

Cheating in comics! Is there such a thing?

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If you belong to or read any of the art forums pertaining to comic book art you will no doubt find a thread or batch of comments pertaining to “cheating” in comics, or more specifically “cheating” in the creation of comic book artwork. Is there really such a thing as cheating in making comic books? Some would argue yes, there is, and list off reasons why any particular offense is considered cheating. Off the top of my head, the ones that come to mind are tracing photographs, particularly if they are not photographs you took yourself; using poseable mannequins either as reference or to trace over pictures of; the use of 3D software whether it is Sketchup for buildings or DAZ3D or Poser for figure work. Some fan famous artists have been flamed for using porn models for reference in their comic work, which isn’t a sin by any means, but when a character should look happy at say a birthday party, it shouldn’t be because they are on the verge of an orgasm as some characters are often drawn by the artist(s), who will remain nameless. Others have been accused of portraying entire scenes from a photo in their work without changing anything about the original photo. Still others have been accused of using their own past artwork to create newer artwork by recycling poses or faces. Lastly, there are those who obviously swipe the work of another artist and do what should be an homage piece but fail to site the original artist or worse, claim it as their own (I’m looking at you Granito!). So are all of these examples of “cheating”, in my personal opinion, no! “WTF, seriously”! Yes, seriously. Why some of the fan perceived offenses I mentioned are somewhere on the scale of lazy to immoral, they are not cheating. So how did I come to this brainfart of a conclusion? Well, that is a good question, one which I will try and break down for you.

What is cheating?

That is kind of a loaded question because the answer really depends on your perspective and what you are applying it to. Cheating can be boiled down to anything you do that can influence the outcome of a something, particularly in a favorable way. At least that is how it is perceived. I think we can look no further than professional sports for the genesis of where cheating has become a negative thing in our culture. Take football for instance, NFL, not soccer. Athletes train for years to get to a professional level. They learn all the aspects of the game and commit to grueling practices and classroom study to hone their craft. At some point every athlete, especially those whose income and livelihood depend on their body, will seek out ways to perform better. They may employ specialized workouts, hire performance coaches, use supplements, specialized diets, oxygen chamber therapy, cold therapy, chiropractic manipulation, custom fitted gear and a host of other things all meant to give them an edge. These technically can all be considered “cheating” because any one of these or a combination of these can influence the athletes performance. Now, no one would bat an eye at any of these things or think of them as bad or cheating. Honestly they sound pretty routine for just about any athlete. Now if we move over to the “dark side” i.e steroids or PEDs (performance enhancing drugs) this is where the negativity come in. This is what gives athletes and sports a bad name. But does it really? Let’s set aside the fact that steroids are illegal (because the government ignorantly declared them in the same class schedule as cocaine and heroine, they are not by the way). What happens if some players take the juice? Well, if they do it in a responsible manner (Dr. supervision) they get bigger, stronger, faster and perform better. All good things, especially if you own the sports team with said players. Well, not so fast. First not every player does or wants to use PED’s, which is fine, it’s a personal choice. The overarching problem with PED’s use is that if say my team is juiced and the opposing team is not, there is a really good chance my team will win if all skills are equal between the two teams. The PED’s being the factor that gives my team a better chance. So what happens when my team keeps winning because we are juiced? Well, ticket sales for games goes up due to increased game attendance. My team gets more TV time or talked about more on the sports radio channels. Sales of team merchandise goes up and money is raked in by the owners of the team, the merchandise vendors, the soda and beer stands, the hot dog cart and pretty mcuh everything else financially tied to the team. This sounds all well and good, except that the other team(s) who lost get the opposite outcome. The bottom line is that some very rich folks won’t make as much money as the other rich folks who own teams. So in order to not have to hear the team owners whine and complain about dollars lost, they ban PED’s to keep the playing field equal and give everybody a chance in the spirit of sportsmanship. Well guess what? Comic book publishers don’t give a damn about any of that nonsense. No publisher who makes money in the comic book business is going to complain because they sold more books due to an artist tracing photos to help get the work done faster. There is no ruling body who will hear complains from DC and make rulings on art etiquette if they accuse Marvel of using Sketchup models in their backgrounds. All the publishers care about is putting out a top notch product and selling lots of it!

So where does the idea of cheating in comics come from?

Honestly, who the hell knows! I couldn’t pinpoint the exact origin of it but it does exist. But why? Why is it so important to some people to point out that something was traced or a 3D model etc. That’s a good question. I think it is rooted in a few things. First I think it’s a bit of hero worship. As comic art fans we all have our favorite artists. As an artist myself I have a slew of favorites who I admire and look up to. But also as an artist, I respect and appreciate what they do and realize to them it is a career. I think “civilians” tend to look at an artists work and see what they can do and to them it’s like magic. These people whose work they admire can literally conjure beautiful pieces of fantasy from nothing but their hand and a pencil. They create something where once there was nothing. Being an artist, if you think about it, is the closest thing a human can get to being god outside of childbirth (creating another human). I think when a civilian sees exactly how the art they love is made and realize that not everything is conjured straight out of the artist brain, that there may be reference used, or some tracing or 3D work, it kinda kills the magic for them a bit. It’s like loving sausage until you see how it’s made! Seeing how comic art is made may be a let down for some people who think artists pull everything right out of their head. Since their image of that artist is now tainted they equate their art techniques to “cheating” because it’s not strictly out of their head. I know this sounds pretty crazy but I’ve heard it myself. I will draw something and use a reference pic and someone will say “oh that’s cool, but you looked a photo, it’s not like you really drew that”! Really, here’s the pic, you give it a go and see how yours looks! In my head a strangulating murder is taking place on said fool.

I think another scenario is artist on artist hate. Well not really hate, but you know what I’m getting at. One artist may be really good pulling things from their head and can pull off some things a less experienced or talented artist cannot do without reference. So of course if the less experienced/talented artist can achieve a similar result using reference the more experienced artist may throw some shade their way to alleviate their ego being challenged. It’s as if the less experienced artists work is not as valuable because the result wasn’t achieved the same way as the more experienced artist. I’ve seen forum comments that echo this sentiment in a bunch of places. Why? Honestly, who cares! Look go to any art school and in any given class you’ll have the one or two prodigy types who are just that good, then you have everyone else in varying degrees of talent. No ones work is more valid than anyones else’s, so why try and put people down. There is room for everyone to create. The marketability of an artists work is determined by the free market and the people willing to pay to consume it, not other artist or haters on the internet forums.

So it’s not cheating?

Now that I ranted a bit let’s get to why the things mentioned are NOT cheating. To do that, I am going to approach this from the perspective of a graphic designer and not a comic artist. “Why the hell are you doing that”, well because the answer is A. I’m a professional graphic designer (who also draws comic inspired art) and B. because at the end of the day, a comic book is a piece of graphic design. It’s no different than a catalog, brochure or sales aid. Basically, graphic design is the intentional pairing of typography and images to create a device to communicate a message, tell a story, convey an idea or sell you something. In the case of comic books, they are created to tell a story but also to sell you the brand. Marvel Comics tells you great stories with their characters but they are also constantly selling you the Marvel brand. So does DC, IDW, Dark Horse and pretty much every comic book brand. Ask yourself how many acton figures you own, how many superhero movies you’ve seen or how many comic book character tee shirts you own, then tell me they aren’t selling to you. Having said all of that, in graphic design we have to employ many techniques to achieve the result that is going to solve the clients problem in an aesthetically pleasing way. That means if I have to trace something, I’m tracing it. If I have to freehand draw it, I freehand. If I need a 3D object I buy a model, model it myself or pay someone to do it. Most of the time we are using photographs which are sourced from stock photo sites or you have to pay a photographer to do a photo shoot unless you can shoot your own photos. Whatever technique I have to use to get the job done I use. This is also true for comic book artist, but for some reason when they do it it’s a travesty! I wonder how many of the people complaining about how an artist gets their work done are actually professional artists themselves? They have no idea what it is like to have to solve creative problems on a daily basis when you are up against a deadline! Not to mention, the artist may have a family to take care of, bills to pay, maybe an ill parent or other personal issues to deal with while trying to get their work done. While I say that, I realize I have it easy as I can use photos, comic artist have to draw everything. While the comic artist draws their imagery, keep in mind that although the art is beautiful and cool, at the end of the day, it’s just a piece of production art, at least to the publisher it is. They use it for their purposes and then give it back to the artist. The end result is a cool looking comic book that can be enjoyed. So who cares if the artist traced all the hands in his art to speed up the process. It still looks cool in the final printed book right? Why worry if your favorite artist traced over Sketchup models to get the look of the background buildings looking right. Maybe he/she had a family emergency that week and had to do that to make their deadline. The book came out on time, it looked great and you bought one and enjoyed it. So why are you complaining about how it’s made. One of my favorite artist has recently been rendering out DAZ3D models and digitally inking over them to complete his work. Although his work looks a bit different then it used to I still enjoy the book, so why crucify the guy for not drawing traditionally? Keep in mind, artist are people with lives and deadlines. Sometimes life encroaches on the deadlines and at times you may have to use the technology at hand to help get the job done on time. That’s called being a professional, not a cheater!

Tracing?

But…but.. what about people who trace everything? They most assuredly are cheaters right. No, wrong! Consider this scenario. A person desperately wants to create a self published comic. They have a great story but they kinda suck at the art. They decide that since they cannot draw that well they will instead shoot photos or get a stock photos (paid) for all of their scenes. They will then trace over the photos for each of their panels to get the basic art structure in place and then pencil in the light/shadows and details on their own. Should we condemn this person for trying to create something that is obviously a passion for them because they cannot execute on the level of other more seasoned artists who do not need to trace photos? No we should not! Obviously the artist in this case would probably like to draw better and perhaps tracing the photos will help them out in that sense, at least if we are to believe what comic book legend Neil Adams says about tracing photos. We should encourage this artist because to not encourage them might rob the masses of a really great story. To not encourage this artist may crush their creative dreams and why should we do that. Like I said earlier there is room for everyone to create. Take the final piece of work for what it is and don’t worry about how the artist got there. Although there is artistry in how a person creates a piece, that part of the journey is more personal to the artist. The final product is the artistry they share with the word at large. Though there are some artist that share their process, not every artist is that open and we should accept that.

3D?

Ok, so tracing may not be that bad, but those 3D model users are definitely cheating, I just know it! Uh, ok, calm down. To answer your question, they are not cheating. They are simply using the technology of the day to speed up the tasks they do on a daily basis. For instance if all you did was draw with a pencil and someone approached you with a brush and a set of paints, wouldn’t you want to try using the “new” technology to make better art at a faster pace? Of course you would, so why are 3D models a bad thing? If an artist can use the models as reference or incorporate them into the page layout and still get a result that is consistent with their personal style, isn’t that a good thing? Especially if they can get books done faster. If you want to see really cool 3D work used to create entire comic books then go look up artist Brian Haberlin and his book Anomaly or Anomaly: The Rubicon. Brian uses a combination of digital and traditional techniques to create some awesome comic art. Is his work less legitimate because he used 3D models in the work instead of drawing everything? Of course not. Are animated movies less fun to watch because the hand drawn animation has been replaced by 3D animation, uh no!

Recycling?

“Alright, we’ll let the tracers and the 3D people slide, but these recycling guys gotta go”! Really, you’re mad because an artist recycled a face from an older comic he/she drew and put it into the current issue. Really, that’s the battle you want to fight? WHO CARES!!! Look if an artist decides to scan in their work so that they can swipe from their own art, let them and quit your bitchin! At least they are using their own art. I’ve read of comic strip artists doing this with some of their characters stock poses. This way they don’t have to redraw it a thousand times. That’s not cheating, that’s called smart!

Swiping?

“Ok, I see your point, the recyclers can stay, but the swipers are just evil”!
I will agree with you and disagree at the same time. If an artist swipes another artist work for the sole purpose of doing an homage, I see nothing wrong with this at all, provided proper credit is given to the original artist. This is not cheating at all. However, there are some individuals with loose morals who think nothing of swiping other peoples art and claiming it as their own. This too is not cheating, it is outright theft and it is evil! Back about 2010 there was a self proclaimed artist, and I use the term artist loosely, who was accused of swiping the art of famous comic artists, making some changes in photoshop and claiming the art was his own. Some were outright trace overs. No credit was given to the original artists. Thus the term being “Granito’ed” became synonymous with having your art stolen. After appearing at dozens of cons over the years he was finally confronted by real artists in the industry who outed him and had the con remove him from the show he was at. Word got around and he was banned from basically the entire con circuit. I actually bought a few prints from this guy back before he was outed. Once I found out about his theft I trashed all of the prints.

Those little art dolls?

“How about those little figure reference dolls that are so popular now, those have to be cheating”. For the love of god, no, they are not cheating! Those little art dolls such as the Body Kun DX & Body Chan DX are awesome!! You can pose them in so many ways and the male and female work great together. They have accessories like swords and guns and they even have stands to help pose them in the air. You can pose the figures, take a pic and either trace over it or look at it for reference. Total time saver! If you don’t like those there are others like Max Factory Figma Archetype Next Male and Female Action Figures. Seriously, you can’t go wrong with these. It’s almost criminal to not get a set and use them. Again, not cheating!

To be clear, there is no cheating?

Correct, all of the things mentioned are just techniques used to create production art that at some point will finally be used to produce a comic book. The only way I would view these techniques as cheating is if you are learning to draw comic art and you rely too much on these techniques to the detriment of your learning to draw. At that point you are cheating yourself of the joy of drawing. Seasoned artists and pros may use these techniques, but they have also put in the time to learn to draw, they are using these things as a time saver, not a crutch. Remember when I said cheating depended on your perspective?

Well that’s all I’ve got. I’ve been wanting to write something about cheating in comic art for a while since it is so hotly debated in art circles. This is just my opinion so feel free to agree or disagree. Now to go work on my anatomy book post.

Comicbook Inking Resources

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This one is going to be a short post. In my last post I talked about some of the tools you can use for inking. While not a definitive list of everything available, I gave an overview of some of the basic tools used to ink a drawing. So great, you got a pencil drawing done on a nice piece of bristol board and you already bought the brushes, ink and pens you want to use. Question is, how the hell do I use this stuff?! In my very first post on this site I mentioned some of the best books for drawing comics. In those books they all pretty mush review the tools to use and have some small examples of how to ink. Most of them do not go into much depth. However there are a few books on the market that do go in depth and provide exceptional examples of how to ink. The first book that comes to mind is The Art of Comicbook Inking by Gary Martin with Steve Rude.

The first edition of this book came out in 1997. I remember getting this when if first came out and was ecstatic. Up until then, there really were no books strictly on comic book inking. Yes, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way talked about inking but not that in depth. This book however covered all the bases. From the tools, to line weights, spotting blacks, textures and advanced techniques like using zipatone. There were examples from several different prominent inkers like Scott Williams, Brian Bolland, Terry Austin and Kevin Nowlan just to name a few.

About 2005 Volume 2 of the book came out that added samples from about 33 different inkers. The material covered is basically the same only with more examples. There were also pre-pencilled boards included in the book you could tear out and practice your inking on.

A quick search of Amazon has revealed that a third edition of this book is coming out on October 15th 2019. It looks like there are some new names added to the roster of inkers as well as some of the names from the first two volumes. This expanded addition also goes over digital inking. Anyone who has searched Youtube for inking tutorials has no doubt come across tons of digital inking videos. This is an important addition because it is where the industry is going. Every publisher wants their artists to be able to work faster and more efficiently while also providing high quality work. Computers with digital tablets allow you to do just that. Again, search Youtube and you will see a lot of artist have changed their workflow to incorporate digital tools.

Due out October 15, 2019 according to Amazon.com

Another really good reference book for inking is DC’s Guide to Inking Comics By Klaus Jansen.

This book came out in 2003 an is part of a series of subsequent DC books. The others being DC’s Guide to Pencilling Comics, DC’s Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling, DC’s Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics and DC’s Guide to Drawing Comics Digitally. Inking aside, All of these books are stellar and deserve a place in your artist library. That said, DC’s Guide to Inking is a pretty thorough book. Klaus Jansen, who is inking royalty, goes over everything you need to know from the tools of the trade to the techniques. There are sections about what an inker does which begs the question, “To trace or not to trace” (Chasing Amy fans will appreciate that discussion). The rest of the book talks about the use of light and dark, textures, feathering and how to actually ink.

You might be thinking, how many more comic inking books are there. Truthfully, that’s about it. There aren’t many that I have found. There may be a random one or two on Amazon by independent publishers, but I have not read those so I will not comment on them. I think that lack of books on this subject, and comics in general is due to the rise of the internet, in particular sites like Youtube, Twitch, Udemy, Gumroad and Skill Share. While some sites like Youtube are free and you can literally swing a cat and find 40 inking tutorials. Other sites like Udemy allow you to pay for professional instructions in a plethora of subjects for very little money. While I will say books are great for reference and inspiration, they just don’t beat watching a video of an artist ink, pencil or color a drawing. I feel that seeing the exact technique is a faster way to learn, or at least enhance what you learned from the books.

If videos are your thing then I will mention a few here that may help. There is a school out in California called The Gnomon School of Visual Effects, they also own The Gnomon Workshop. They used to sell DVD tutorials on everything from comic illustration to ZBrush sculpting to post production for film. Instead of the DVD’s they have moved to an all digital platform where you can but the tutorial you want or subscribe and get all their tutorials. As it pertains to this blogpost, the tutorial Comic Book illustration Vol. 2 Comic Book Inking with Joe Weems is is a great instructional video. Joe goes through the process of inking an illustration pencilled by Dave Finch, which is also an available video tutorial on their site. I like Gnomon’s videos a lot, the only thing is they are sped up so you may have to watch the video a few times to grasp some of the concepts.

Another site I am going to mention has several video tutorials on inking, however they are all for digital inking. Digitalarttutorials.com is a site owned by Brian Haberlin, owner of Haberlin Studios and formerly of Top Cow Productions under the Image banner. Brian is the co-creater of Witchblade and spent time working on Todd McFarlane’s character Spawn, among other titles he’s worked on. Brian is a master of digital production techniques and on his site I found 5 inking tutorials ranging from beginner to advanced. Many of the videos have free previews so you can see the quality of the instruction you will get. If you are moving into a digital workspace, these tutorials are definitely something you should look into.

As for instructional materials, that is all I have for today. I will offer up some inspirational materials for you though. When I was younger my favorite comic was The Savage Sword of Conan. This was a black and white magazine sized book. The artwork in those books is utterly fascinating. I would go so far as to say, any inking technique you can possible learn is in those books. Since they were not colored the inkers had to do a lot of work to create mood and texture and make the figures pop off the page. Work by artist such as Alfredo Alcala, Ernie Chan, Rudy Nebres and Tony DeZuniga is just breathtaking. I always felt like I had watched a movie when I got done reading an issue. If you come across any old SSoC’s at a con, pick them up and study the inking, you can learn a ton from those. If you can’t find them, Dark Horse reprinted all of them into collected editions which you can find online or in most comic shops. In April 2019 a Savage Sword of Conan Omnibus was released which has all 235 issues plus a few issues of Savage Tales.

A page from The Savage Sword of Conan

Another book I would recommend is Secret Teachings of a Comicbook Master: The Art of Alfredo Alcala. This book has a ton of amazing pen and ink work. Looking through the book makes you really appreciate the artistry and patience it takes to ink something with the amount of texture and detail Alfredo put in some of these drawings. While most comics today are not inked with this amount of detail due to being digitally colored, it is still a valid book for learning and inspiration.

That’s all I have for you this week. I am going to work on getting some videos up on this blog using some of the inking tools I talked about in my last post. Then I will have an article talking about “cheating” in comics. I see this discussed a lot and there is no real answer. I am going to try and break that down and make some sense of the argument. Stay tuned!

Comicbook Inking Tools

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What should I use to ink a drawing? What’s the best type of ink to use? Can I just us a Sharpie marker or a Bic pen? These are some of the questions I see daily on any one of the comic art facebook groups I belong to. Honestly, these are all legit questions. For anyone just getting started with inking the tool choices are many and can be confusing. If you watch Youtube, and who doesn’t these days, you can pull up hundreds of artist videos showing how to ink a drawing. If you notice the tools the artists are using, you’ll notice they are varied and might not all be what many of the “How to” books tell you are the “standard” tools for inking. While everyone has a favorite brush, pen or marker they like to use, there are some tools that are considered industry standard, but that is not to say those are the only tools you can use. Lets talk a bit about inking and then I’ll go over some of the tool types available to help get you started in the right direction.

First and foremost, what is “inking” exactly, isn’t it just tracing? In basic technical terms, yes, it is a form of tracing, but if Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy has taught us anything, inking is definitely not tracing! So what does happen when a drawing is inked? Well, the inker will take a pencilled comic page or drawing and reinterpret the pencillers lines using a diverse set of pen and ink techniques to enhance the drawing and give it depth by manipulating light and shade. This is not something that can be achieved by simply tracing. The inker must be able to interpret what the penciller is trying to achieve in the piece and create that feeling with ink. Typically the inker will trace over what the penciller has done as a guide. Then they will move around the page, isolating sections where spot blacks will go or where feathering or cross hatches will be. At times the inker may have to adjust the lighting scheme of the piece because the penciller may have pencilled something incorrectly in contrast to the light they indicated in the piece. In this regard, the person inking should be as good or better an artist as the person who pencilled the piece. A good inker can make bad pencils look great, conversely a bad inker can make great pencils look bad. Considering that the inked line is what will be printed, you want the inker to be top notch. As an example, Scott Williams has inked over Jims Lee’s work for years. Scott is an accomplished artist in his own right and knows exactly how to interpret what Jim puts on the page. His inking enhances the art without overpowering what Jim has pencilled. That ability is something that is honed with time and hours upon hours of study and practice. Since I mentioned Jim Lee, he is also a very accomplished inker in his own right. If you watch any of his videos on Twitch, you’ll see he does more of the drawing in ink then he does in pencil. He also uses a lot of different techniques, in particular, using tissues to create a cloud effect for his backgrounds. So now that we know a bit about what an inker does let’s talk about the tools.

Before the internet, trying to find out what comic artist’s used to draw was a bit of a chore unless you knew a comic artist. Back in the late 80’s early 90’s we had Wizard Magazine which came out monthly and would always have a small How-to section in the book featuring an artist in the industry. It was here I first learned about what an inkers tools were. Two tools were always mentioned consistently, a crowquill pen with a 102 mapping point and a Windsor Newton Series 7 no. 2 brush. Great, where do I find those! A quick trip to the art store solved that. So what are these anyway? Well, a crowquill pen is basically a plastic handle that you insert a steel nib in the top of. The steel nib, a 102, comes to a point but has a split in the middle. You dip this nib into a bottle of india ink. The ink fills up the slit in the nib and you can then ink with it. Though made of steel, the nib is flexible so that you can use varying pressure to make thick or thin lines.

There are a lot of other nib sizes you can get to ink with but the 102 was the nib of choice and to this day still is. Quill pens are used mostly in calligraphy but can easily be used for comics and cartooning. If you are going to use a quill pen you will need the other component which is the ink. As an example I am showing Dr. Martins Hi Carb Black Star ink, but there are several on the market such as Pelikan, Higgins Black Magic, Speedball Super Black India ink, Koh-I-Noor Black India Ink, Blick Black Cat and Daler Rowney Pro inks.

Now the other tool, which is my favorite of the two and one which I think every artist should own is a brush. The most popular brush for comic inking that I always saw mentioned by pretty much every inker ever interviewed is the Windsor Newton Series 7 No. 2 brush. It is a natural sable hair brush, meaning the hairs are from a small mammal called a sable, or can also be from a weasel. Both are small animals that are similar to ferrets. The fine hair of the brush holds a good amount of ink and is capable of making the finest thin lines to very thick expressive lines. Also when you have to fill in large areas of black you can do that easily with this brush.

Other brushes in this category that are equally as good are the Raphael Kolinsky No. 2 and the Isabey 6222 No. 3. Both are equally as good as the Windsor Newton. These type of brushes vary in price depending on where you buy them. They may seem a bit pricey, but if you take care of the brushes they will last quite a long time.

One thing to keep in mind, inking with a brush requires a lot of patience and skill, so like the crowquill, you have to put in the time to study and practice your technique. Once you get the hang of it the brush will be your best friend!

Being we are in the year 2019, pen technology has come a long way. If using a traditional brush is not your thing you may want to try some of the brush pens that are on the market. The ones that you can buy today are amazing and can give you lines on par with sable hair brushes. Some brush pens literally have a brush at the tip tethered to a handle where you can place an ink cartridge. Other brush pens use soft flexible nibs that you vary the pressure on to give you beautiful thick to thin line work. The beauty of these pens is that you can get them fairly cheap, you don’t need bottles of ink, you can buy refillable cartridges in bulk packs and they come in various sizes and styles. For instance, once of my favorites is the Pentel Pocket Brush Pen. All the functionality of a brush in the small size of a pen with a cap. Easy to take with you and no bottle of ink required.

A similar type of pen to the Pocket Brush pen is the Pentel Fude Brush Pen. This pen has a similar brush tip to the Pocket Brush pen. The long handle is a softer plastic that you can squeeze to feed ink into the brush tip. These are similar to some degree to Sumi Brushes. Again, an excellent tool for spotting blacks or doing fine line work.

Next up we have brush tip pens, but these have flexible nibs as opposed to actual brush hair tips. There are several brands on the market each with their own feel and performance. I would encourage you to try out a bunch of them and see which ones you like the best. After all, the best tool for the job is the one that makes you feel comfortable using it. These area bit cheaper than the hair brush tipped pens and can be found online or at any art store. I will say that most of these seem to come out of Japan, so kudos to Japan for making really cool art tools! I guess we should thank the Manga artists as it seems that is the market in Japan that these pens are made for. Anyway, here are a few you may want to check out.

The Sakura Pigma Brush pen is a a nice option. The pen tip is capable of making nice thick and thin lines and the nib glides smoothly over the paper surface. You can find these in a Hobby Lobby for about $3-4. They do sell sets of 6 pens in various colors for about $10-12.

Also by Sakura are these medium and fine tip brush pens. These pens are fairly cheap in price but they perform great. The nibs are sturdy but flexible enough to allow nice line variation and control. The ink is nice and black so you can do some nice ink work with these. These are also great to take to a convention if you are a sketch artist, just buy a bunch of them and you’re all set.

These two pens are the Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pens in hard and soft tip. I got these on a whim after some Manga artists were raving about these. Since I’m always open to trying new tools, I ordered these from Amazon and they came all the way from Japan. I have no idea what the packaging says since it’s in Japanese, but in English I think it means “These are really frikken cool pens!” Seriously, I like these a lot. They move smoothly across the paper surface and can make very fine lines to very thick lines. A lot of Manga artists are using them, so if that’s your style of art you may want to give these a try.

Both Copic and Prismacolor also have really good brush nib pens similar to the Sakura and Tombow pens. They are equally as good. Honestly, I would be hard pressed to pick one over the other. I like all of these brands but ultimately, you will have to find the tools that fit your budget and feel right when your using it. I know it’s tempting to order everything from Amazon, Blick or Jet Pens, but before you do, if you have an art store close to you, go there and look for these pens and see if they have a sample one out that you can try. If you like it, buy it, or check the price and then see if it’s cheaper online and get it there. Better to test drive the pens in a store then order online, hate them and have to return them.

The last group of pens I’ll talk about are technical pens. These pens were traditionally used in architecture, drafting and engineering drawings (until AutoCAD took over). They are ink pens with very fine tips ranging from .005 through 1.0 mm. You can buy them separately in the size you need or in sets. The sets sometimes also come with a brush pen and a chisel point pen as well. You might hear artist refer to these as “Microns” or “Rapidographs” which are two very popular brands of technical pens. Most of the pens sold now are disposable and can be gotten fairly cheaply. You can buy more expensive refillable ones as well. Most of these have somewhat flexible felt nibs capable of making nice accurate lines. Back in the early 90’s I had bought a set of technical pens with jewel tips for architecture school. They cost about $200 for a set of 5 pens and you had to use an electrostatic cleaner to keep them clean and gunk free. You really don’t have to do that nowadays. Technical pens are great for doing crisp even line work for things like backgrounds, buildings and other elements that require fine detail. You can do your figure work with these as well. Comicbook artist Todd Nauck comes to mind. If you’ve ever seen him draw on his Youtube channel, he will sometimes ink with technical pens. As I’ve said before, all of these tools require patience and practice to get good at them. If you want to be able to ink at the same level as a Todd Nauck, Jim Lee or Scott Williams, study their technique and see which tools give you line quality that you desire. It may take a combination of tools as opposed to just one. Have fun and go find out. While you’re finding out, check out some of these pens.

These are Copic Multiliners, they come is an A set and a B set. These technical pens are refillable and you can get replacement tips if they wear out or break. Plus they are made by Copic. Everyone knows that Copic makes the best markers and their pens are no slouch either. The fact that you can buy replacement tips, nibs and inks for their pens and markers make them an attractive piece of kit. These come in other sets with more sizes, this is just the one I have on hand.

Also by Copic is this set of Multiliner pens ranging from a .003 to a 1.0 and additional brush nibs pens. These come in a set and can be had online for about $20-$25 depending on where you get them. These are more disposable as opposed to the Multiliner SP pens that are refillable. The refillable pens sets cost around $50-80 depending on how many pens are in the set. Both sets of pens are good, reliable tools. You will definitely get a lot of use out of these or any technical pens you buy. Aside form Copics, as I’ve mentioned there are Pigma Microns and Rapidographs and these from Prismacolor that I like a lot as well.

Prismacolor Premier pens are another brand of technical pens that are popular. These are not refillable so once they die out you have to buy more. You can get sets like this or individual pens. This set also comes with the standard sizes .005 through 1.0 and a brush and chisel point nib. There is another set similar to this called Prismacolor Premier Illustration Marker Set for Manga which is geared toward manga/comic artists, but they are essentially the same type of pens, though the manga set may have a few different pens in addition.

So now that you know what type of tools you can buy to make awesome ink illustrations, what happens if you make a mistake? Or a big blob of ink falls off your crowquill onto the paper. Or, what if you want to make those cool rain lines or splatters that Jim Lee does on all of his drawings. Well, this is where your trusty brush comes in along with the aid of a bottle of Pro White.

Pro white is a paint like substance that can be used full strength or can be thinned out. If you make a mistake inking you can just paint over it with pro white to essentially erase the erroneous ink mark. In addition to masking out mistakes, you can use pro white to paint areas of white, flick some off the edge of a business card onto your drawing to make grungy splatter effects and use it to outline objects in the drawing to make them pop or separate. This is useful stuff so keep a few bottles on hand, you will need it!

For small areas that need correcting, or to make those awesome Jim Lee rain effects, you can’t go wrong with Pentel Presto Correction pens. Just gentle squeeze the body of the pen to feed the white correction fluid through the tip. These are pretty inexpensive and you can get them in most office supply stores like Staples, art stores, or you know, Amazon, the place of all things.

The Sakura Jelly Roll pen is good for making small precise corrections. These are also good for outlining figures to give them emphasis in an inked drawing. These are also great if you work on sketch cards as the tip is small enough to give you a line that isn’t overly thick for a small drawing on a card sized piece of stock. Another great option is the Uniball Signo White Pen. This is similar to the Jelly Roll and is a great all around pen for corrections or just adding some pop to your drawings.

The last piece of inking kit I want to show you is the Pentel Aquash Water Brush or Aquabrush for short. This is something you would use to do tonal work where you have grey tones in your ink drawings. The Aquash brush can be filled with water and used to thin out your ink to give a nice inkwash look. You can also use this with watercolor pencils, or straight up watercolor paint. At the East Coast Comic Con here in NJ I watched artist Simon Bisley use one of these to do all of his inked convention sketches. I had him do a Lobo illustration for me and he used the Aquash as a regular inking brush, dipping it into an ink bottle and going to town. So although it’s meant to be filled with water you can use it as a regular brush as well.

I hope this article has helped clear up some of the confusion about inking and what tools to use. What I’ve presented is a good basic overview of the tools available. Keep in mind that new products come out all of the time, so try out different tools and see which ones you gravitate towards. Always keep in mind, at the end of the day, these are just tools, it is your talent and dedication to the craft that will make you a better inker, not the tool.

In my next post, I’m going to continue my article from a few months ago (yes, I dropped the ball) on the best how to books for comics. It will focus on a few books for inking comics. I going to try doing a post of videos to show some inking demonstrations with some of the tools mentioned here, so be on the lookout.

Keep Drawing!

Best How-To Books for Drawing Comics Part 1

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Back in the dark ages, or late 80’s early 90’s as some would refer to it, there was no internet as we know it today. No Facebook, Instagram, Amazon or Youtube. No Google to instantly look up anything and everything. Back then we had to get information from books, newspapers magazines and television. I can remember entertaining the idea of becoming a comic book artist while I was actually going to school to be an architect. Architecture school was kinda boring and the amount of math you had to take was just mind numbing. Suffice to say, I am not an architect! Problem was, there just wasn’t a lot of information readily available to tell you how to go about becoming a comic book artist. There weren’t any schools that taught comic book art except for the Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Art in Dover, NJ. It is a great school and I know a few people who have gone there.  I took a few workshop classes there myself in the late 90’s. But the problem was that it was basically a trade school and offered no college degree. I always had it drilled into my head that you had to get a college degree or else you’d wind up poor and living in the street. So I dismissed this school as an option. In retrospect, that was a mistake. If I had to do it all over again I would have just gone there.  And I can say whole heartedly, if drawing comics is what you want to do, then do all you can to go there. It’s a school for comics taught by comic artist who actively work in the industry. It was started by the late great Joe Kubert and is now run by his sons Andy and Adam, both amazing artist in the comic industry. Kubert School aside, there were a few other schools that taught courses in sequential art such as School of Visual Arts in New York and Savannah College or Art and Design in Georgia. At least these were the ones I knew about at the time. Of course there were a bunch of colleges you could major in illustration and parlay that into comics, but again, how to go about doing that was still a mystery.

The best we had back then regarding info for getting into the industry was the Marvel Tryout Book,  which by now is a little dated, but a fun read none the less. It basically gave an overview of the different aspects to making a comic book, pencilling, inking, coloring etc. The book was oversized, I believe it was 11×17 as it contained sample comic art boards inside for you to draw pages on. It’s actually a cool book to have for your collection.

The now defunct Wizard Magazine, which was a monthly fanzine, contained info about the comic companies, upcoming books, pricing guides, but more importantly, who the movers and shakers were in the industry, particularly the artists. Occasionally they would do a spotlight on a particular artist and ask them their story, how they got into the business, what it’s like being and artist and if they had any suggestion for budding artists. These articles would offer a glimpse into the world of comics and give little tidbits on how to get in. A lot of the info was the same across the board. They would advise creating 5-7 pages of sequential art that tells a story using the characters of the company you want to apply to. Shove these in front of an editor at a convention, or mail the submissions editor at the company and bombard them with endless sample mailings in hopes they would recognize your talent, or at least give you a job so you would just stop mailing them. One of the best things to come out of Wizard Magazine was a column by artist Bart Sears called Brutes & Babes. It was a how to draw column where Bart showed you all the basics from anatomy and composition to perspective and storytelling. Not to divert from the story, but I feel it’s worth mentioning that Bart recently did a Kickstarter for a new hardcover book called Drawing Powerful Heroes Brutes & Babes where these lessons were collected along with all new information.

In it you’ll find all of Barts Brute and Babe lessons from Wizard along with new content featuring art that he has done from the many properties he’s worked on in comics and toy design. The book covers anatomy done in Bart’s own awesome style. His figures are always very dynamic with an amazing attention to proper anatomy. Bart explains the “potato sack” method for drawing figures as well as the block and cube method. Perspective, storytelling, composition and layout are all discussed with various examples shown. There are a lot of production drawings, which I appreciate as an artist. We so often see the finished work and marvel over it, but for me, as an artist, I like to see sloppy marker thumbnails, then the loose pencils and then the tight pencil work. It gives you an insight into what the artist was thinking at each stage of the process . This books is definitely work getting as it makes for great reference and inspiration. It’s not on Amazon so you will have to get it straight from Ominous Press. You can click the link above or click the image of the book to go to their site. FYI, I do not get paid for recommending Ominous Press or their products. I just like this book a lot, so much so that I contributed to the Kickstarter to get it produced.


Now in 2018, you can find tons of books as well as information on the web about becoming a comic artist. There are literally dozens of books, as well as youtube videos, twitch streams, online tutorials, training dvds, facebook groups,online courses and a lot more colleges teaching comic book illustration. If you want to learn this art form, then now is a fantastic time to be alive and if you are a young person starting out, you do not know just how lucky you have it! I would have killed to have had these resources back in the day!!

I always see young artist asking what book they can buy to learn from. Well I’ll tell you, it’s not book, it’s books! Look at any artist studio and you will see they have a lot of books. Reference books, anatomy books, How-to books, artist sketch books, illustration annuals, art technique books and Art of (insert famous artist name here) books. I’m sure I missed other types of books, but trust me, we artist have books! It’s that never ending search for hidden gems of knowledge that keep us buying new ones, well that and the fact that art is just cool to look at! Since there is now an abundance of info out there, I thought I would offer up some suggestions for what I think are a great bunch of books to get you started. These are what I call “overview books”. These are books that give a wide overview of what is involved in producing comic art. They touch on all the various areas in a general sense to help you understand the process involved.

How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema
For a long time this was considered the bible for drawing comics. This book was first published back in 1978 and if you ask any working comic artist today, I bet they will tell you this is one of the first books they bought on the subject. That is for a good reason, it’s simply a great book on the subject. Who better than Stan Lee to tell you how to create comics. The guy pretty much invented the industry. Stan created some of the hottest comic book characters in Marvel history. Characters that we get to see up on the big screen today. If Marvel has to thank anyone for their mountain of success, it’s Stan Lee. In this book, Stan, with the help of legendary artist John Buscema, walks you through the process of drawing comics from the basics to the finished inked page. They cover everything from shapes and forms to perspective. There is a lengthy section on anatomy where the figure is built up from basic gesture lines to a full fleshed out form. Action is discussed in depth, using gesture drawings and then fully drawn figures. Exaggeration of the pose is emphasized in order to give more life to the character and an explanation of a typical action scene versus the way a Marvel artist should draw it is particularly informative. Stan and John also present information on composition, foreshortening, drawing the human head, drawing your own comic book page and inking. Overall a great book that still holds up today. Obviously the technology we have today was not available back then, but the method of drawing comics hasn’t changed much, only the tools have changed slightly.

In addition to the book, there is a DVD as well which shows a lot of John Buscema drawing as Stan explains the process. I would not substitute the DVD for the book, rather let the DVD act as companion piece to the book.

If How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way was the bible for drawing comics, then Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics is the bible on steroids!! This books takes what Stan did in How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way and adds a ton of new information. There is also art from a who’s who of artists in this book. Also, this one is in color where How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way was all black and white. Here Stan gives us a bit of comics history before moving into the standard info you get with these how-to books; tools of the trade, basic forms, drawing heads and anatomy, action, characters and costumes. What’s new is info on computer technology used in comics. Info on digital drawing and using Google Sketch Up for laying out backgrounds, digital lettering and of course digital coloring where they touch on some color theory basics. A peek behind the scenes of artist working methods is also discussed. One showing artist Mike Deodato mocking up self shot reference photos into his layout is particularly eye opening and is a valuable piece of information. Two other things I like about this book is that Stan discusses pencilling styles and shows beautiful examples of various artist work to illustrate his point. He also touches on the cinematic aspect of comics by discussing camera angles and mood and common mistakes when doing layouts. This book was published in 2010, but not much has changed as far as creating comics goes since then. Sure we have newer computer programs that can help make comics, but unless you can draw and understand the basics, these programs aren’t going to do much for you. Do yourself a favor, pick this book up, study it, learn from it and practice your butt off.

One of my personal favorite books came out in 2007  published by IMPACT called Incredible Comics with Tom Nguyen: The Ultimate Guide to Creating Kick Ass Comics. Having read a lot of comics in the 90’s I can say there was some weirdly drawn stuff back then. This books instruction tries to undo a lot of those bad drawing habits by pointing out some of them, evident in the “do’s and don’ts” sprinkled throughout the book. Tom gives a good overview of anatomy, breaking down body parts and explaining how they work. Different body as well as character types are explored. Illustrating huge characters that are Hulk sized down to little kids characters. Sections on facial expressions, individual facial features, perspective, folds in clothing, costuming, composition and backgrounds are all discussed. The back 36 pages of this book, from about page 88 to 124 cover drawing comic pages. Tom takes you through the script into doing marker thumbnails, rough layouts, tight pencils and then final inks. This is a really great book, it’s beautifully illustrated and has a slight comedic tone to it that makes the instruction fun. Definitely one to have in your arsenal.

Learn to Draw Action Heroes by Robert A. Marzullo, is another IMPACT title that was just published in 2017.  If you’ve researched comic art on Youtube, you’ve most likely run into Rob Marzullo’s channel, RAM Studio Comics! https://www.youtube.com/user/MrRamstudios1.
Rob has about 78,ooo subscribers, over 5 million views and he’s posted about 500+ videos about drawing comic art. Rob has a huge presence on Youtube to say the least! He also has courses on Skillshare so check that out as well. In this book, Rob’s taken some of what he’s taught on his channel and put it into printed form. What I like about this book right away is that it has cross platform appeal. You can get the book as printed reference but then you can also go to Robs channel and get additional information to expand your knowledge base. The book is a great companion to his video lessons. Where as the other books I mentioned are more overviews of the whole comic making process, Learn to Draw Action Heroes focuses more on creating the characters for your story. Everything is broken down into digestible bits here. Male versus female anatomy; eyes, lips, facial expressions, arms, legs and torso. Gesture drawing is also covered as that is one of the most important aspects of creating a great character. Once you’ve conquered the section on anatomy, you move into the details for the character. Things like action, foreshortening, costuming and accessories are all presented. The last part of the book shows you how to set up scenes with your character from the rough sketch to the finished pose. Concepts of perspective are also brought into the mix so that you can properly pose your character into the scene. A showcase of characters in various action scenes displaying their powers provides a nice payoff at the end of the book. I like this book a lot and I think you will too. It’s a beautifully drawn book and all of the illustrations are very clean and crisp. I also like the overall design of the book, kudos to whoever the graphic designer was. Overall this is a quality book and one that deserves to be read over and over again.

So that’s it for Part One of the Best How-To Books for Drawing Comics. I’ll have another post soon with a concentration on anatomy books to get you going in the  right direction. Until then, keep practicing!!

The Best Pencils for Drawing Comics

What is the best pencil for drawing comics?

Wealthy, that’s what I would be right now if I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen this question asked! I belong to several comic art facebook groups and this is probably one of the most asked questions I see. Who could blame you for wanting the best tool for the trade, after all, you want to produce the best work that you possibly can. Doesn’t it stand to reason that you should have the best pencil money can buy? Well yes, but mostly a resounding no! The truth is that there really is no “best” pencil for drawing comics. The best pencil is the one that makes the marks on the paper that you are happiest with. Sorry guys and gals, the Mjolnir of pencils does not exist! What does exist, is whatever pencil you find to be the most comfortable for you to draw with. It’s as simple as that! “But I saw so and so favorite artist using this type of pencil, so I need the same one so I can draw just as good”. I get it, I really do, but it doesn’t work that way. Lets get one thing straight, there is no pencil, pen, marker, drawing table or other random art supply that is going to make you a better artist. The only thing that is going to make you better at drawing comics is practice, practice and oh yeah…practice! So don’t get caught up in finding the lead and wood equivalent of the Holy Grail, just find some tools you like, stick with them and draw. Now, having said all of that, there are some pencils that are widely used in the industry. I’m going to go through a few of the choices to point you in the right direction. I’ll link to some of them for you to check out. Your job is to find out which of these is the best tool for you. Don’t go crazy, remember to work within your budget. For artists, buying art supplies is a bit of a rush, especially when trying out new tools. Sometimes we want to buy a bunch of stuff at once, and that is ok, but maybe pick up one of each type of pencil to see what works best for you. If you find one you like, stick with it. If you wind up drawing for Marvel, DC or one of the other prominent companies and you can afford it, order a box or two. So without further ado here are some of the most widely used pencil types for comics.

Lead Holder

You really can’t go wrong with a lead holder. They are versatile, can take all different types of lead and they generally last a long time. I have some lead holders I use that I got back in 1989. I’m sure other artists have some even older than that. For those of you who have never seen or used a lead holder, it’s basically a metal or plastic tube, with a clip on one end for clipping to your pocket (or pocket protector if your the engineering type) and a push button on the top that actives a retractable gripper on the other end where you insert the lead of your choice. It’s super simple to use and you can change the lead out in like half a second, just push down and hold the top button and the lead slides right out. The lead holder usually comes with lead already in it, but typically you buy cartridges of different grades of lead that come 12 leads to a cartridge. Here are some examples to get you started.


This is an Alvin Ben B3 lead holder. This one is black with a metal tube body and takes 2mm lead. It’s a sturdy pencil and will last you years. Sturdy, simple and reliable.


Here is the Staedtler Mars Technico Lead Holder (780 C). I’ve had mine for years, I’ve used it for drafting, graphic design, comic illustration, sketch cards, you name it. I always see new artist asking about this one because they see Jim Lee using these, and for good reason. They are a good solid performing pencil. It has a plastic body, but again, treat it well and it will last for years.

Another solid performing pencil it the Prismacolor Turquoise. These are a bit thinner in grip than the Alvin and the Staedtler Mars, but still a solid piece of equipment. Like the Staedtler Mars, this one also has a plastic body and is really light. It has a one inch knurled metal grip surface at the bottom of the pencil to help maintain a nice grip as your drawing. Any of these will go a long way in helping you become the artist you want to be. Get one of each and see which one you like best, then practice your butt off and rule the comicbook world!!

Sharpening

Lead in a lead holder is sharpened using a special sharpener specifically for lead holders. Some are small and look like traditional hand held pencil sharpeners but with much smaller holes for the lead to be put into for sharpening. This one is the Kum 303.58.21 Plastic Lead Pointer Pencil Sharpener

The other type, which I prefer, looks like a small cup about the size of a paper bathroom cup. It has a top with a raised tube where you insert the bottom of the pencil with a bit of lead sticking out. You then move the pencil in a circular motion to sharpen the lead. You can get a really nice sharp point with these.

The two I have are the Alvin ALP41 Rotary Lead Pointer and a 27 year old Alvin standard Lead Pointer which I don’t think they even make anymore, but this one just doesn’t die so I keep using it.

Leads

While you can use any lead grade you want, most artist use a 2H lead for layout since it is a harder but lighter colored lead and HB lead for finishes. HB is a nice middle ground lead, it’s not too hard, not too soft, it’s just right. It gives a nice dark line without being too smudgy. If you go more towards the B grades of lead, like you would get in a traditional drawing set, they tend to be softer and smudge easily, something you don’t want to do to your comic pages. You want to keep your finished pages as neat as possible.
I like the Prismacolor Turquoise leads in 2H and HB. There are other leads out there, so again find the ones you like, but you can’ t go wrong with Prismacolor.

A nice thing about lead holders is you can also get non-photo blue lead for them. What is non-photo blue lead you ask. Non-photo blue lead was popular back in the day when reproduction technology wasn’t as advanced as what we have today. An artist could pencil their pages loose and sloppy with non-photo blue lead. Then they could neatly pencil over the blue guidelines they made and have the choice to pick the lines they wanted to accentuate in their drawings. When the pencil pages were finished, they would get inked and then photographed. The non-photo blue wouldn’t show up in the photographic process hence leaving behind the finished inks. Non-photo blue pencils are still in use today much in the same way they were years ago. Artist tend to like them because it allows them to draw loose and sloppy, but also the lead has a more waxy consistency so it glides easily over the paper. What’s cool is with todays technology, you can scan in your pencils and use Photoshop or another pixel editing program to drop out the blue lines leaving just your dark pencil lines, then it’s off to the inker. I personally like the Prismacolor Turquoise Non Photo leads


Mechanical Pencil

Mechanical pencils are very similar to lead holders, in fact they are technically lead holders, with some minor differences. Mechanical pencils use much thinner leads, usually anywhere from .3 to .9 mm lead. Like a lead holder you can get them in various grades H, 2H, 4H, B, HB etc. Unlike lead holders, mechanical pencils push a predetermined amount of lead out for every click of the button on the top, or side of the pencil. This is why it’s called a “mechanical” pencil, because it has a mechanism inside that dispenses the lead in metered amounts.

Like the lead holder, mechanical pencils are easy to use and come in various sizes depending on the thickness of the lead you want to use. For fine details you would use a .3 to .5 mm and for thicker lines a .7 to .9 mm.

You can also use non-photo blue lead in a mechanical pencil. Loading the mechanical pencil is slightly more difficult only because the leads are so thin and delicate. Usually you have to thread it into the tiny hole at the bottom though there are some you can load a few leads at a time into the top and the mechanism will feed them through as you click the pencil. You can find mechanical pencils in varying grip thicknesses.

For instance the Pentel GraphGear 500’s shown below in .3, .5, .7mm lead sizes are your standard thickness for a mechanical pencil.

The Pentel SideFX is a thicker pencil to grip and has the button for dispensing lead on it’s side. It also has a nice twist up eraser which is very convenient.

The Sukura SumoGrip shown in .5 & .7mm are also thicker grip pencils. These have a nice soft jelly rubber grip at the bottom which makes them very comfortable to use, especially if you have a lot of penciling to do.

If you also do a lot of digital art, these thicker grip pencils might be a better fit for you, as they are similar in thickness to the stylus pen that comes with a digital tablet such as a Wacom Intuos Pro. This way there is not much of a transition between thick to thin drawing tools if your an artist that works in both traditional and digital media.

As for the lead you can find mechanical pencil lead in different sizes and grades of lead. Though 2H and HB are commonly used, you can also find all grades of H through B leads. I have the Pentel Hi-Polymer Super brand of leads that go great with the Pentel GraphGear 500’s mechanical pencil.

Wood and Woodless Pencils

Your typical standard looking pencil, lead on the bottom, eraser (or not) on the top. Yes boys and girls you can actually be a successful comic artist using just standard looking pencils. If that’s what you like go for it. Like with the lead holders and mechanical pencils, I prefer to use these in 2H and HB but you can use other levels of lead hardness as well. Just remember if you go more towards the B’s–2B, 4B etc, the lead gets really soft and smudgy. Great for pencil drawings that use a lot of tones, not so much for comics. You can find these type of pencils anywhere and usually a box of a dozen is fairly cheap. I like Derwent pencils, but you can get any brand really, it’s up to you. These are wood pencils with a lead core just like the standard #2 pencils you used in school.

You can also get woodless pencils which are basically a pencil shaped piece of graphite wrapped in a plastic wrapper. Again, fairly inexpensive and you can find them in different grades of lead.  You just sharpen them and go, simple really. I have a bunch of these and I like to use them from time to time. I have some hard lead and a bunch of soft lead for doing more tonal drawings. I would however reserve these more for sketching than comicbook pages as the leads tend to be more in the B range.

Remember the non-photo blue pencils mentioned in the lead holder section earlier, well you can find those in a wood pencil as well. You can get a box of these to keep on hand if you decide working with the blue pencil is what you like. I recommend the Prismacolor Col-Erase Non-Photo Blue Pencil You will of course need a standard pencil sharpener, any one will do for these type of pencils. I have a Maped Tonic 2 Hole Sharpener and a Kum Color Combi 218 sharpener which is for both normal and color pencils

So that about wraps it up for pencils. Hopefully this gave you enough information to get you going in the right direction. We’ll be back in a few days with a new installment, this time talking about the best How-To books for comic illustration.

See you soon!

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