Here are a few things I have learned in my years as a failed comic artist.
You can't buy experience or ability
Buying pro-level
gear when you're starting out won't make you a pro. I've picked up two high end Wacom
tablets specifically for drawing and only used one for less than a few
hours. The worst part is that the digital tablets and the software they use
become antiquated every few years. The first one I picked up can't even
run on Windows 8 and above. I couldn't use it now even if I wanted to break it in. My drafting table is covered in expensive lead holders, curve sets, every brand of mechanical pencil I can find, and some compass looking thingy that I'm not even sure how to use.
When I was younger it just made sense that I would need the same tools that J. Scott Campbell used if I wanted to draw like him.
My main tools now are Ticonderoga and Col Erase pencils on regular printer paper. I still want to get a Cintiq... badly. Now I look at it as a goal to achieve. When I am able to use the software and actually have a work flow for my comic then I will shop around for an upgrade.
There are no shortcuts
Cliche? Check. Common Sense? Check. Are shortcuts promised in almost every book I've read? Surprisingly, yes. It's like the majority of "how to..." authors feel obligated to guarantee success with minimum effort. The recommendations in these range from practicing just 15 to 25 minutes a day. Try following some artists on YouTube and listening to their experience instead. The professional illustrators I follow suggest practicing 1 ~ 2 hours per day as an absolute minimum. Many will point out that they can sometimes put in eight hours or more each day because they do illustrations for a living.
Embrace the noob
It's hard for me to think of myself as a beginner sometimes because I've drawn on and off for so long. The reality is that my earlier attempts to reverse engineer drawing techniques by tracing dozens of panels from comics or pulling characters from Nintendo Power always ended in failure. I've improved more in a single week by following a beginners guide to drawing than I did in all the years before.
Someone had given me the awful advice of using short light dashes to work around my inability to draw long, clean lines. So that's what I did. I would make hundreds of feather like strokes for every arm, leg, and strand of hair. Because of that I never learned the mechanics of how to draw clean lines, like when to use your full arm and when to pivot at the wrist. Before I would pivot from my elbow, twist my wrist, and pull or push my fingers all at the same time to make a single line. That can be learned but it is difficult for a beginner. My lines improved dramatically when I isolated the movement to one location. I use elbow pivot for long lines, wrist for medium lines, and fingers for tight details.
Final Remarks
Here are some quick notes I wanted to get out of the way before I officially start my drawing regime.
Unless stated otherwise, all books I review will belong to me or one of the two local libraries in my area. I've seen a number of reviewers who receive free copies of products to test out, but I haven't been that lucky yet. The majority of the books on my reading list that I do own were purchased using Bing's reward program. The moral of the story is that cheap is good and free is better. Art, even drawing with pencils, can quickly become an expensive hobby. Be thrifty where you can so you have the money to spend where you need it.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Monday, December 28, 2015
Goals and Measuring Success
A lot of the posts I've read on drawing are by people hoping to making it their full time job or lounge around their house in pajamas while they live off the royalties. I'm not going to lie and say that I wouldn't give an arm and a leg to have that, but realistically I expect to always be an IT. I'd consider myself a success as an artist if I can have even a small following of fans who care about my characters and stories.
In the meantime there will be pages and pages of cringe worthy warm-ups and drills to get from here to there. That's something that I have to remind myself every time I pick up a pencil. I'm just some guy who draws for fun. Of course my drawings are craptastic compared to another guy/girl who draws for a living. When I go jogging it doesn't make me depressed that I can't put down times like marathon runners. What I'm trying to say is that you have to think about what level you're at if you can't resist the urge to compare your art to others.
If that doesn't put your mind at ease, try these words of wisdom from Adventure Time.
In the meantime there will be pages and pages of cringe worthy warm-ups and drills to get from here to there. That's something that I have to remind myself every time I pick up a pencil. I'm just some guy who draws for fun. Of course my drawings are craptastic compared to another guy/girl who draws for a living. When I go jogging it doesn't make me depressed that I can't put down times like marathon runners. What I'm trying to say is that you have to think about what level you're at if you can't resist the urge to compare your art to others.
If that doesn't put your mind at ease, try these words of wisdom from Adventure Time.
Friday, December 25, 2015
Baseline and Weekly Summaries
"The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried" Stephen McCranie
I could write for days on the small world theory, but I'll give you the short version. When you've been exposed to something in a conversation, while reading, or on TV it becomes a part of your world very rapidly. While researching the source for the above quote I found that Stephen is a comic creator himself. I then dug up an episode of Artistic Awareness that had Stephen as a guest where he was quoting Gladwell's (in)famous 10,000 hour rule. That rule predates the idea that I'm sorting out in this blog, although I'm hoping to put a greater emphasis on deliberate practice. With that out of the way, let's move on to the nuts and bolts.
Statistics and tracking data
One of the things I'm most excited about is the weekly activity summary where I can break down my time spent actually drawing, update the reading list, and track total play time on tutorials. The idea is that I'll be able to look at the blog and my weekly drawings to single out any material that might provide a noticeable change to what or how I draw.
Baseline
Here are several pages I saved from my old sketch books back when I thought I could juggle a master's program and still dedicate the time needed to improve my drawing ability. These were midway through a 30 day streak I had between terms before I got buried under school work again. I hadn't originally planned on sharing these, so I'm only just now realizing how terrible the scan settings were.
The final doodle was actual a big moment for me. Up to this point I've spent 99.99% of my effort staring at one image and trying to make a passable copy. Drawing something from nothing is a major weak point for me, so I'm going to focus on it from day one.
I could write for days on the small world theory, but I'll give you the short version. When you've been exposed to something in a conversation, while reading, or on TV it becomes a part of your world very rapidly. While researching the source for the above quote I found that Stephen is a comic creator himself. I then dug up an episode of Artistic Awareness that had Stephen as a guest where he was quoting Gladwell's (in)famous 10,000 hour rule. That rule predates the idea that I'm sorting out in this blog, although I'm hoping to put a greater emphasis on deliberate practice. With that out of the way, let's move on to the nuts and bolts.
Statistics and tracking data
One of the things I'm most excited about is the weekly activity summary where I can break down my time spent actually drawing, update the reading list, and track total play time on tutorials. The idea is that I'll be able to look at the blog and my weekly drawings to single out any material that might provide a noticeable change to what or how I draw.
Baseline
Here are several pages I saved from my old sketch books back when I thought I could juggle a master's program and still dedicate the time needed to improve my drawing ability. These were midway through a 30 day streak I had between terms before I got buried under school work again. I hadn't originally planned on sharing these, so I'm only just now realizing how terrible the scan settings were.
The final doodle was actual a big moment for me. Up to this point I've spent 99.99% of my effort staring at one image and trying to make a passable copy. Drawing something from nothing is a major weak point for me, so I'm going to focus on it from day one.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
The 3 Year Plan
My current short term goals are spread out across three separate year long phases.
Phase 1 (1/1/2016 ~ 12/31/2016)
The first year will be the foundation phase for my artistic journey. Drawing on and off in the past has made me painfully aware of the gaps in my technique and education. I've always been a fan of the "learn by doing" approach and that hasn't worked out for me. So this time around I'm going to follow some advice I picked up from Dirk Manning's Write or Wrong and focus on my skill set before becoming known for pumping out mediocre content.
Phase 2 (1/1/2017 - 12/31/2017)
With a full year under my belt, I'm going to move into a short form comic strip template. The idea is that it will give me room to apply what I've learned while getting me closer to realizing a full-fledged comic. I'm excited to reach this level because it will also give me a chance to better understand how to manage the economy of words so that I can say what I want in a tight word bubble.
Phase 3 (1/1/2018 - 12/31/2018)
By this point I will have finished several drafts and revisions of the plot lines that still click with me. If I'm able to bring my drawing skills up to par it should be a relatively smooth transition from script to comic.
That's the elevator pitch for what I'm hoping to achieve here. I plan to continue in some form past 2018. I just can't see which direction I want to go this far out.
Phase 1 (1/1/2016 ~ 12/31/2016)
The first year will be the foundation phase for my artistic journey. Drawing on and off in the past has made me painfully aware of the gaps in my technique and education. I've always been a fan of the "learn by doing" approach and that hasn't worked out for me. So this time around I'm going to follow some advice I picked up from Dirk Manning's Write or Wrong and focus on my skill set before becoming known for pumping out mediocre content.
Phase 2 (1/1/2017 - 12/31/2017)
With a full year under my belt, I'm going to move into a short form comic strip template. The idea is that it will give me room to apply what I've learned while getting me closer to realizing a full-fledged comic. I'm excited to reach this level because it will also give me a chance to better understand how to manage the economy of words so that I can say what I want in a tight word bubble.
Phase 3 (1/1/2018 - 12/31/2018)
By this point I will have finished several drafts and revisions of the plot lines that still click with me. If I'm able to bring my drawing skills up to par it should be a relatively smooth transition from script to comic.
That's the elevator pitch for what I'm hoping to achieve here. I plan to continue in some form past 2018. I just can't see which direction I want to go this far out.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Read, Watch, what...?
If you're new to this blog, welcome! If you're digging through the archives to see what you've stumbled onto, congratulations on reaching the beginning!
Read, Watch, Draw is a blog I'm writing to document my journey from artistic novice to comic creator.
Who am I?
I'm just an average Joe with below average artistic abilities that grew up dreaming of drawing comics. When I was little my dad would draw characters on those huge sketchpad sheets and hang them around my room. So I was surrounded by images of the X-men, Popeye, Link, and whatever else he thought I was into at the time. I thought if my dad could do this, maybe it was in my blood too. After years of unproductive practice, I was thoroughly convinced that artistic ability is not blood related.
Fast forward to my mid-thirties. I've read over and over again that the ability to draw is a skill not a talent. It's something that literally anyone can train to do if they give it enough time and effort. A big reason why I've picked up writing a blog is to test that theory out. Even if it's only read by a handful of people, it will serve as motivator to keep me focused on my goals.
Why would you want to read this blog?
Why would you want to follow someone who has zero experience and no portfolio? Well, who's closer to where you're at in your artistic journey? The pro that's published, who has over a decade of paid work under their belt, and rakes in over six figures through their Patreon subscription or just a normal guy that doodled when he was younger? I'm also a great worst case scenario since I've never had academic training in the arts, I'm over 30 and I have family obligations that limit the time I can put into practicing. Not exactly an ideal learning environment right? If you see improvement throughout my blog then you should have no doubt that this is something anyone can accomplish.
I've set aside three years worth of milestones, broken up over three phases. I'll write more about those in the next few posts. The big thing for me is that by the end I will have uploaded over 468 posts and put a minimum of 1092 hours into practicing with pencils and breaking in my Wacom tablet. As an engineer, I have an interest in the metrics behind the improvement I'm able to achieve. So I will be tracking things like books completed, total run time on YouTube tutorials, and hours spent drawing further broken down by medium. Feel free to skip the summaries and skim through the sketch work if charts aren't your cup o' tea.
Read, Watch, Draw is a blog I'm writing to document my journey from artistic novice to comic creator.
Who am I?
I'm just an average Joe with below average artistic abilities that grew up dreaming of drawing comics. When I was little my dad would draw characters on those huge sketchpad sheets and hang them around my room. So I was surrounded by images of the X-men, Popeye, Link, and whatever else he thought I was into at the time. I thought if my dad could do this, maybe it was in my blood too. After years of unproductive practice, I was thoroughly convinced that artistic ability is not blood related.
Fast forward to my mid-thirties. I've read over and over again that the ability to draw is a skill not a talent. It's something that literally anyone can train to do if they give it enough time and effort. A big reason why I've picked up writing a blog is to test that theory out. Even if it's only read by a handful of people, it will serve as motivator to keep me focused on my goals.
Why would you want to read this blog?
Why would you want to follow someone who has zero experience and no portfolio? Well, who's closer to where you're at in your artistic journey? The pro that's published, who has over a decade of paid work under their belt, and rakes in over six figures through their Patreon subscription or just a normal guy that doodled when he was younger? I'm also a great worst case scenario since I've never had academic training in the arts, I'm over 30 and I have family obligations that limit the time I can put into practicing. Not exactly an ideal learning environment right? If you see improvement throughout my blog then you should have no doubt that this is something anyone can accomplish.
I've set aside three years worth of milestones, broken up over three phases. I'll write more about those in the next few posts. The big thing for me is that by the end I will have uploaded over 468 posts and put a minimum of 1092 hours into practicing with pencils and breaking in my Wacom tablet. As an engineer, I have an interest in the metrics behind the improvement I'm able to achieve. So I will be tracking things like books completed, total run time on YouTube tutorials, and hours spent drawing further broken down by medium. Feel free to skip the summaries and skim through the sketch work if charts aren't your cup o' tea.
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